Time-resolved analysis of fMRI signal changes using Brain Activation Movies.

Full Abstract

Conventional fMRI analyses assess the summary of temporal information in terms of the coefficients of temporal basis functions. Based on established finite impulse response (FIR) analysis methodology we show how spatiotemporal statistical parametric maps may be concatenated to form Brain Activation Movies (BAMs), dynamic activation maps representing the temporal evolution of brain activation throughout task performance. These BAMs enable comprehensive assessment of the dynamics in functional topology without restriction to predefined regions and without detailed information on the stimulus paradigm. We apply BAM visualization to two fMRI studies demonstrating the additional spatiotemporal information available compared to standard fMRI result presentation. Here we show that BAMs allow for unbiased data visualization providing dynamic activation maps without assumptions on the neural activity except reproducibility across trials. It may thus be useful in proceeding from static to dynamic brain mapping, widening the range of fMRI in neuroscience. In addition, BAMs might be helpful tools in visualizing the temporal evolution of activation in "real-time" for better and intuitive understanding of temporal processes in the human brain.

Author information

Author/s: Windischberger, Christian (C); Cunnington, Ross (R); Lamm, Claus (C); Lanzenberger, Rupert (R); Langenberger, Herbert (H); Deecke, Lüder (L); Bauer, Herbert (H); Moser, Ewald (E);

Affiliation: MR Center of Excellence, Medical University of Vienna, Lazarettgasse 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of neuroscience methods (J Neurosci Methods), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Mar; vol 169 (issue 1) : pp 222-30

Dates: Created 2008/03/03; Completed 2008/06/23;

PMID: 18207248, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.