Podcasts about Functional magnetic resonance imaging

In this episode of Oxford+, host Susannah de Jager is joined by Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and co-author of the University Spin Out Review, to delve into the myths and truths uncovered through the review. Through the conversation, they discuss the role of universities in fostering innovation, the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in the sector, and the importance of private investment in university projects.(0:12) Introduction(1:11) The University Spin Out Review(8:52) Can every university town can have its own cluster?(22:27) The future for Oxford(33:28) Addressing the entrepreneurship gender gap(39:20) Exploring university fundingAbout the guest:Irene Tracey is a distinguished academic and current Vice Chancellor of Oxford University. Her association with Oxford dates back to her undergraduate studies in biochemistry. After graduating from Oxford, she specialised in Magnetic Resonance Imaging at Harvard Medical School before returning to Oxford in 1997 as a founding member of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, where she served as director from 2005 to 2015. Irene has occupied numerous senior leadership roles within the University and has contributed to numerous national and international committees in her field of research. Notably, she co-authored the University Spin Out Review with Andrew Williamson from Cambridge Innovation Capital, contributing significantly to discussions around the investment ecosystem in and around Oxford.Find out more about Irene's work with the University of Oxford here.Read the University Spin Out Review here.About the host:Susannah de Jager is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedInVisit our website to learn more and subscribe to our newsletter - oxfordplus.co.ukIf you have a question for Susannah, please get in touch - oxfordplus.co.uk/contactOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager, supported by Mischon de Reya and produced and edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.

Høsten 2023 hørte jeg et utrolig inspirerende foredrag på Kompetansedagen til HR Norge. Det var et foredrag med Anna Tebelius Bodin, svensk forfatter, foredragsholder og en av Nordens aller fremste eksperter på hjernen. Anna forklarer på en pedagogisk og forståelig måte hva de fleste av oss har misforstått om hjernen og læring. Hvordan vi tenderer til å blande sammen innholdskonsumering og faktisk læring, og hvilke praktiske konsekvenser dette får. I episoden gir Anna konkrete og verdifulle tips til hvordan du kan lage kompetanseutvikling som gir ønsket effekt, og hun deler noen av sine beste tricks fra egne foredrag og kurs. Boken vi snakker om i episoden heter: Vad varje pedagog bör veta - om hjärnan, inlärning och motivation, og denne finner du bl.a.  på Adlibris.no. --------------​Anna har gett över 1400 föreläsningar om hur vi kommunicerar, utbildar och leder oss själva och andra - i relation till vad som händer i hjärnan. Hon är även en uppskattad gäst i poddar där hon delar med sig av insikter som förändrar livet för människor. Hennes 5 böcker har sålt i flera tusen exemplar och är kända för att göra komplexa ämnen så tillgängliga att de gör skillnad i hur vi lever och kommunicerar. 2020 hedrades Anna med årets Mensa-pris för sin förmåga att göra det komplexa enkelt.​Hjärnan har alltid varit i fokus för Anna. Hon började sina akademiska studier med psykologi vid Lunds universitet 1999. Där kom hon i kontakt med forskning som utförts med hjälp av fMRI-kameran (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging), som då var ny. Önskan om att lära sig mer om hjärnan och människan tog henne till Harvard University där hon tog en Masterexamen och assisterade forskning inom den lärande hjärnan.Anna bedriver sin verksamhet med föreläsningar och kurser i egen regi och är inte längre knuten till någon akademisk institution. Hon följer kontinuerligt forskningen för att ständigt hålla sig uppdaterad om de landvinningar som görs för förståelse av hjärnan. Ambitionen är att omformulera den teori som forskarvärlden numera etablerat som vedertagen och göra kunskapen tillgänglig för allmänheten att använda i vardagen.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.04.25.537883v1?rss=1 Authors: Hemmerling, K. J., Hoggarth, M. A., Sandhu, M. S., Parrish, T. B., Bright, M. G. Abstract: Upper extremity motor paradigms during spinal cord functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can provide insight into the functional organization of the cord. Hand-grasping is an important daily function with clinical significance, but previous studies of similar squeezing movements have not reported consistent areas of activity and are limited by sample size and simplistic analysis methods. Here, we study spinal cord fMRI activation using a unimanual isometric hand-grasping task that is calibrated to participant maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). Two task modeling methods were considered: (1) a task regressor derived from an idealized block design (Ideal) and (2) a task regressor based on the recorded force trace normalized to individual MVC (%MVC). Across these two methods, group motor activity was highly lateralized to the hemicord ipsilateral to the side of the task. Activation spanned C5-C8 and was primarily localized to the C7 spinal cord segment. Specific differences in spatial distribution are also observed, such as an increase in C8 and dorsal cord activity when using the %MVC regressor. Furthermore, we explored the impact of data quantity and spatial smoothing on sensitivity to hand-grasp motor task activation. This analysis shows a large increase in number of active voxels associated with the number of fMRI runs, sample size, and spatial smoothing, demonstrating the impact of experimental design choices on motor activation. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.04.02.535258v1?rss=1 Authors: Han, F., Liu, X., Yang, Y., Liu, X. Abstract: The glymphatic system that clears out brain wastes, such as amyloid-beta (Abeta) and tau, through cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow may play an important role in aging and dementias. However, a lack of non-invasive tools to assess the glymphatic function in humans hindered the understanding of the glymphatic changes in healthy aging. The global infra-slow ( less than 0.1 Hz) brain activity measured by the global mean resting-state fMRI signal (gBOLD) was recently found to be coupled by large CSF movements. This coupling has been used to measure the glymphatic process and found to correlate with various pathologies of Alzheimer's disease (AD), including Abeta pathology. Using resting-state fMRI data from a large group of 719 healthy aging participants, we examined the sex-specific changes of the gBOLD-CSF coupling, as a measure of glymphatic function, over a wide age range between 36-100 years old. We found that this coupling index remains stable before around age 55 and then starts to decline afterward, particularly in females. Menopause may contribute to the accelerated decline in females. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

https://psychiatry.dev/wp-content/uploads/speaker/post-12255.mp3?cb=1678904591.mp3 Playback speed: 0.8x 1x 1.3x 1.6x 2x Download: Aberrant Large-Scale Network Interactions Across Psychiatric Disorders Revealed by Large-Sample Multi-Site Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Datasets – Takuya Ishida et al.Full EntryAberrant Large-Scale Network Interactions Across Psychiatric Disorders Revealed by Large-Sample Multi-Site Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Datasets –

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.02.15.528677v1?rss=1 Authors: Mumford, J. A., Bissett, P. G., Jones, H. M., Shim, S., Rios, J. A. H., Poldrack, R. A. Abstract: The functional MRI (fMRI) signal is a proxy for an unobservable neuronal signal, and differences in fMRI signals on cognitive tasks are generally interpreted as reflecting differences in the intensity of local neuronal activity. However, changes in either intensity or duration of neuronal activity can yield identical differences in fMRI signals. When conditions differ in response times (RTs), it is thus impossible to determine whether condition differences in fMRI signals are due to differences in the intensity of neuronal activity or to potentially spurious differences in the duration of neuronal activity. The most common fMRI analysis approach ignores RTs, making it difficult to interpret condition differences that could be driven by RTs and/or intensity. Because differences in response time are one of the most important signals of interest for cognitive psychology, nearly every task of interest for fMRI exhibits RT differences across conditions of interest. This results in a paradox, wherein the signal of interest for the psychologist is a potential confound for the fMRI researcher. We review this longstanding problem, and demonstrate that the failure to address RTs in the fMRI time series model can also lead to spurious correlations at the group level related to RTs or other variables of interest, potentially impacting the interpretation of brain-behavior correlations. We propose a simple approach that remedies this problem by including RT in the fMRI time series model. This model separates condition differences from RT differences, retaining power for detection of unconfounded condition differences while also allowing the identification of RT-related activation. We conclude by highlighting the need for further theoretical development regarding the interpretation of fMRI signals and their relationship to response times. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.01.08.523000v1?rss=1 Authors: Yassin, W., de Moura, F. B., Withey, S. L., Cao, L., Kangas, B. D., Bergman, J., Kohut, S. Abstract: Resting state networks (RSNs) are increasingly forwarded as candidate biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disorders. Such biomarkers may provide objective measures for evaluating novel therapeutic interventions in nonhuman primates often used in translational neuroimaging research. This study aimed to characterize the RSNs of awake squirrel monkeys and compare the characteristics of those networks in adolescent and adult subjects. Twenty-seven squirrel monkeys (n=12 adolescents [6 male/6 female] ~2.5 years and n=15 adults [7 male/8 female] ~9.5 years) were gradually acclimated to awake scanning procedures; whole-brain fMRI images were acquired with a 9.4 Tesla scanner. Group level independent component (IC) analysis (30 ICs) with dual regression was used to detect and compare RSNs. Twenty ICs corresponding to physiologically meaningful networks representing a range of neural functions, including motor, sensory, reward (e.g., basal ganglia), and cognitive processes were identified in both adolescent and adult monkeys. Significant age-related differences between the adult and adolescent subjects (adult greater than adolescent) were found in two networks of interest: (1) the right upper occipital region with an OFC IC and (2) the left temporal cortex, bilateral visual areas, and cerebellum with the cingulate IC. These results demonstrate that squirrel monkey RSNs are stable and consistent with RSNs previously identified in humans, rodents, and other nonhuman primate species. These data also identify several networks in adolescence that are conserved and others that may change into adulthood. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.11.20.517264v1?rss=1 Authors: Li, G., Bo, B., Wang, P., Qian, P., Li, M., Li, Y., Tong, C., Zhang, K., Zhang, B., Jiang, T., Liang, Z., Duan, X. Abstract: The available treatments for depression have substantial limitations, including low response rates and substantial lag time before a response is achieved. We applied deep brain stimulation (DBS) to the lateral habenula (LHb) of two rat models of depression (Wistar Kyoto rats and lipopolysaccharide-treated rats) and observed an immediate (within seconds to minutes) alleviation of depressive-like symptoms with a high response rate. Simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) conducted on the same sets of depressive rats used in behavioral tests revealed DBS-induced activation of multiple regions in afferent and efferent circuitry of the LHb. The activation levels of brain regions connected to the medial LHb (M-LHb) was correlated with the extent of behavioral improvements. Rats with more medial stimulation sites in the LHb exhibited greater antidepressant effects than those with more lateral stimulation sites. These results indicated that the antidromic activation of the limbic system and orthodromic activation of the monoaminergic systems connected to the M-LHb played a critical role in the rapid antidepressant effects of LHb-DBS. This study indicates that M-LHb-DBS might act as a valuable, rapid-acting antidepressant therapeutic strategy for treatment-resistant depression and demonstrates the potential of using fMRI activation of specific brain regions as biomarkers to predict and evaluate antidepressant efficacy. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.11.17.516856v1?rss=1 Authors: Cheng, Z.-J., Zhang, W.-H., Zhang, R.-Y. Abstract: Two sensory neurons usually display trial-by-trial response correlations given the repeated representations of an identical stimulus. The effects of such response correlations on population-level sensory coding have been the focal contention in computational neuroscience over the past few years. In the meantime, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) has been the leading analysis approach in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but the effects of response correlations in voxel populations remain underexplored. Here, instead of conventional MVPA analysis, we calculate linear Fisher information of population responses in human visual cortex and hypothetically remove response correlations between voxels. We found that voxelwise response correlations generally enhance stimulus information, a result standing in stark contrast to the detrimental effects of response correlations reported in neurophysiological literature. By voxel-encoding modeling, we further show that these two seemingly opposite effects actually can coexist. Furthermore, we use principal component analysis to decompose stimulus information in population responses onto different principal dimensions in a high representational space. Interestingly, response correlations simultaneously reduce and enhance information on information on high- and low-variance principal dimensions, respectively. The relative strength of the two antagonistic effects within the same computational framework produces the apparent discrepancy in the effect of response correlations in neuronal and voxel populations. Our results suggest that multivariate fMRI data contain rich statistical structures that are directly related to sensory information representation, and the general computational framework to analyze neuronal and voxel population responses can be applied in many types of neural measurements. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

It's hard to know where the brain ends and the mind begins. How can studying our brains give us insight into our minds? On this ID the Future, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and neurosurgeon Michael Egnor sit down for a chat about all things brain related including neurotheology, methods of studying the brain, and research on how various forms of religious and non-religious meditation actually change the wiring of the brain, including in particular a study Newberg did on Franciscan nuns and what they refer to as “centering prayer.” This interview is borrowed, with permission, from Mind Matters, a podcast of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. Source

Functional MRI is a profoundly successful and powerful technique that so many of us use. It's still developing and adding to our insight about the human brain. While MRI was developed in the late 1970's and early 80's, it would be another decade before it was realized that MRI could be used to detect and map, non-invasively, human brain activation. My guests today, Ken Kwong, Bob Turner, and Ravi Menon were the first who showed this capability. Ken's successful experiment in early May of 1991 was arguably the first. Ravi, who was the key player in the Minnesota group, had produced solid fMRI results by the summer of 1991, and I had my first successful experiment in Sept of 1991. Bob Turner was a key player in his physiologic manipulation experiments in Cats. He collaborated with Ken, and also showed results of his own at 4T shortly after as well. We were all there at the Society for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Meeting in San Francisco in August of 1991 when Tom Brady (who headed MGH NMR Center at the time), first showed in his plenary lecture, the crude but stunning jaw dropping brain activation movies. The moment I saw that, I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my career. We have them all here to reflect on those heady days, what led up to their findings, and the bright future of fMRI. Guests: Ken Kwong has been conducting MRI research at the Mass General Hospital since the late 80's when he pioneered diffusion imaging, as well as perfusion imaging approaches. He's currently associate professor at the MGH Martinos Center. Robert Turner trained with inventor of Echo Planar Imaging, Peter Mansfield, among others, and while working at the NIH, performed those first critical experiments, demonstrating BOLD contrast as well as obtaining some of the first results in humans at 4T using his home built gradient coil. One of Bob's major contributions to the field was his early work in gradient coil design - which remains fundamental to what we do. From 2006 to 2014 he was the Director of the Department of Neurophysics at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and is currently retired and living in Cambridge, England. Ravi Menon was a post doc at Minnesota and a driving force in the effort to produce functional images using a highly challenging non-EPI approach at 4T. He has been a steady contributor to fMRI methods ever since and is currently a Robarts Scientist and Canada Research Chair in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Co-Scientific Director of BrainsCAN which is Canada First Research Excellence Fund, Scientific Director, Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, and Professor of Medical Biophysics, Medical Imaging & Psychiatry at The University of Western Ontario

Rarely does one have the opportunity to interview someone who, without any exaggeration, can be legitimately considered among a handful of leading figures in their respective field. This aptly describes Dr. Kent Kiehl's celebrated career as a world leading psychopathy expert. Furthermore, as anyone reading his superb 2014 memoir-cum-primer, The Psychopath Whisperer, will learn, Dr. Kiehl's career has intersected with some iconic luminaries, particularly in neuroscience and psychology, including Karl Friston, Michael Gazzaniga, the Nobel Prize winning mathematician John Nash, and the grandfather of modern psychopath research, Dr. Robert Hare, creator of the Psychopathy Checklist, which is still the unsurpassed gold standard of assessment. Dr. Kiehl completed his undergraduate degree at the University of California-Davis and earned a doctorate under Dr. Hare at the University of British Columbia. Putting his studies to practical use, for several years he worked in a maximum-security prison in Canada. Thereafter, he was affiliated with Yale and the Institute of Living, and for the last fifteen years has been a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of New Mexico where he heads the Mind Research Network, a non-profit institute. During his work at the latter institution, Dr. Kiehl and his team have used a mobile fMRI to scan the brains of over 5000 inmates in five states. In the interview, after Dr. Kiehl summarised his storied career, he spent quite some time reflecting on the scientific method, which included relating this to his own work. I asked my guest to provide the so-called “dinner party” definition of psychopathy. He then clarified the distinction between psychosis and psychopathy, as well as sociopathy and psychopathy. As we discussed, and is elaborated upon in more detail in The Psychopath Whisperer, among the principle reasons for Dr. Kiehl's esteemed stature are the landmark contributions he has made using two of the primary imaging tools in neuroscience, namely EEG and fMRI, which stand for electroencephalography and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, respectively, techniques he kindly first explained before moving onto describing his research findings. In short, after repeatedly identifying a correlation between high scores on the Psychopathy Checklist and the volume and structure of certain brain areas, Dr. Kiehl formulated what he has dubbed the Paralimbic Dysfunction Model of Psychopathy. Impressively, this is now among the most robust findings in the field. As uncomfortable as it may be for some to accept, psychopaths simply have different brains to those of us not so designated. The last major topic we discussed was whether, in light of these findings, psychopaths are born or made, which then segued into possible interventions to ameliorate these traits, or at any rate their most socially deleterious manifestations. Dr. Kiehl's personal website: https://kentkiehl.com/ Dr. Kiehl's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Kiehl The Psychopath Whisperer: https://www.amazon.com/The-Psychopath-Whisperer-Science-Conscience/dp/077043584X Twitter account for Skeptically Curious: https://twitter.com/SkepticallyCur1 Patreon page for Skeptically Curious: https://www.patreon.com/skepticallycurious

Cette semaine dans Neurosapiens, je vais parler du phénomène internet depuis quelques années : les vidéos d'ASMR. Pourquoi l'ASMR a autant de succès ? Pourquoi certaines personnes adorent l'ASMR et d'autres détestent ? Le cerveau des personnes qui aiment l'ASMR est-il particulier ? Les réponses dans cet épisode ! Si vous souhaitez avoir un éclairage neuro sur un sujet en particulier de la vie quotidienne, de notre fonctionnement, écrivez-moi à neurosapiens.podcast@gmail.com Production, animation, réalisation et illustration : Anaïs RouxLe podcast en version blog : www.neurosapiens.frA bientôt pour un nouvel épisode ! ---------------------------------------------------------------------Sources bibliographiques  : Lochte, C., Guillory, S., Richard, C., Kelley, W. (2018). An fMRI investigation of the neural correlates underlying the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR).  University of Sheffield “Brain Tingles: The Physiological Benefits of ASMR.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 22 June 2018. Poerio, G. (2018). More than a feeling: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is characterized by reliable changes in affect and physiology Seojin, L. Jooyeon, K. Sungho, T. (2020). Effects of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response on the Functional Connectivity as Measured by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Smith, S., Fredborg, B., Kornelsen, J. (2017). An examination of the default mode network in individuals with autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) Valtakari, N. (2019). An eye-tracking approach to Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR): The physiology and nature of tingles in relation to the pupil Fredborg, B., Clark, J. (2017). An Examination of Personality Traits Associated with Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) Janik McErlean AB, Osborne-Ford EJ. (2020). Increased absorption in autonomous sensory meridian response. Smith SD, Fredborg BK, Kornelsen J. (2019). A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of the autonomous sensory meridian response.  Barratt EL, Davis NJ. (2015). Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): a flow-like mental state.---------------------------------------------------------------------Musique d'intro : KEEP ON GOINGMusique proposée par La Musique LibreJoakim Karud - Keep On Going : https://youtu.be/lOfg0jRqaA8Joakim Karud : https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud--------------------------------------------------------------------- Voir Acast.com/privacy pour les informations sur la vie privée et l'opt-out. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/neurosapiens.

STEM-Talk Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can detect abnormalities in the brain that cannot be detected with other imaging techniquesEarly behavioral changes (such as nutrition and exercise) allow you to improve your risk profile for cancer, heart disease, and dementia Two key factors linked to age-based cognitive impairment: insulin resistance and glucose hypometabolism Brain networks start to deteriorate in the late 40s In just one week, fMRI data revealedprofound changes of how the brain responds to the ketogenic diet versus Standard American Diet (SAD)Administered ketones provide increased efficiency in communication between brain networks Individuals who have difficulty following ketogenic diet can benefit from exogenous ketones Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgOur guest today is Dr. Lilianne Mujica Parodi, the director of the Laboratory for Computational Neurodiagnostics at Stony Brook University. We will be talking to Lily about her paper in PNAS last year that revealed neurobiological changes associated with aging can be seen in a person’s late 40s, a much younger age than what was previously thought.  She and her colleagues at Stony Brook also found that this process may be prevented or even reversed based on dietary changes that involve minimizing the consumption of simple carbohydrates. The study’s targeted experiments  showed that the biomarker for brain aging could be reliably modulated with consumption of different fuel sources. The study showed that decreasing  glucose and increasing ketones resulted in the stability of brain networks. Much of Lily’s work over the years has been focused on developing neuroimaging tools. In today’s interview, we talk to her about functional magnetic resonance imaging, also known as fMRI, which measures the small changes in blood flow that occur with brain activity. It may be used to examine the brain's functional anatomy, evaluate the effects of stroke or other disease, and even guide brain treatment. Functional magnetic resonance imaging also can detect abnormalities within the brain that cannot be found with other imaging techniques. Show notes: [00:03:08] Dawn opens the interview asking Lily what she was like as a child. [00:04:20] Dawn mentions that Lily grew up in Maryland near the National Institute of Health. Lily talks about her experiences interning at the NIH in her senior year of high school. [00:09:41] Dawn asks what brought Lily to Georgetown University. [00:10:29] Ken asks about Lily’s experience at Georgetown University, where she majored in physics and philosophy. [00:15:16] Lily explains why she went to Columbia University after graduating from Georgetown. [00:19:14] Dawn asks about Lily’s research that led to her receiving the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Award in 2000. [00:22:44] Dawn asks about Lily’s experience giving a lecture at the NIH while she was wrapping up her doctorate at Columbia. [00:27:00] Dawn asks what brought Lily to Stony Brook. [00:30:30] Ken asks Lily what attracted her to biomedical engineering. [00:32:58] Dawn mentions that much of Lily’s work at Stony Brook has been focused on developing neuroimaging tools. Dawn goes on to ask why neuroimaging has not provided the anticipated success for psychiatry and neurology that the electrocardiogram provided for cardiovascular medicine. [00:39:04] Ken mentions that Lily is the director of the Laboratory for Computational Neurodiagnostics. Lily gives an overview of the lab and the research conducted there. [00:44:00] Dawn mentions that Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, also known as fMRI, measures small changes in blood flow that occur with brain activity, and can be used to examine the brain’s functional anatomy, and evaluate various insults, diseases, and abnormalities, that cannot be found with other imagining techniques. Dawn asks Lily to explain the technology of fMRI and its various applications. [00:45:59] Ken asks about Lily’s 2016 paper published in the Frontiers of Neuroscience journal, that ran under the title, “Signal Fluctuation Sensitivity: An Improved Metric for Optimizing Detection of Resting-State fMRI Networks.” [00:49:36] Lily discusses her lab’s involvement in the development of a technology called “Near-Infrared Spectroscopy,” which is an attempt to replicate MRI-type imaging in an ambulatory environment such as an emergency room or a rural environment. [00:51:36] Dawn asks what led Lily to start researching diets and particularly the ketogenic diet. [00:56:59] Ken mentions that there are two key factors linked to age-based cognitive impairment, those being: insulin resistance and glucose hypometabolism.

Our guest today is Dr. Lilianne Mujica Parodi, the director of the Laboratory for Computational Neurodiagnostics at Stony Brook University. We will be talking to Lily about her paper in PNAS last year that revealed neurobiological changes associated with aging can be seen in a person’s late 40s, a much younger age than what was previously thought.  She and her colleagues at Stony Brook also found that this process may be prevented or even reversed based on dietary changes that involve minimizing the consumption of simple carbohydrates. The study’s targeted experiments  showed that the biomarker for brain aging could be reliably modulated with consumption of different fuel sources. The study showed that decreasing  glucose and increasing ketones resulted in the stability of brain networks. Much of Lily’s work over the years has been focused on developing neuroimaging tools. In today’s interview, we talk to her about functional magnetic resonance imaging, also known as fMRI, which measures the small changes in blood flow that occur with brain activity. It may be used to examine the brain's functional anatomy, evaluate the effects of stroke or other disease, and even guide brain treatment. Functional magnetic resonance imaging also can detect abnormalities within the brain that cannot be found with other imaging techniques. Show notes: [00:03:08] Dawn opens the interview asking Lily what she was like as a child. [00:04:20] Dawn mentions that Lily grew up in Maryland near the National Institute of Health. Lily talks about her experiences interning at the NIH in her senior year of high school. [00:09:41] Dawn asks what brought Lily to Georgetown University. [00:10:29] Ken asks about Lily’s experience at Georgetown University, where she majored in physics and philosophy. [00:15:16] Lily explains why she went to Columbia University after graduating from Georgetown. [00:19:14] Dawn asks about Lily’s research that led to her receiving the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Award in 2000. [00:22:44] Dawn asks about Lily’s experience giving a lecture at the NIH while she was wrapping up her doctorate at Columbia. [00:27:00] Dawn asks what brought Lily to Stony Brook. [00:30:30] Ken asks Lily what attracted her to biomedical engineering. [00:32:58] Dawn mentions that much of Lily’s work at Stony Brook has been focused on developing neuroimaging tools. Dawn goes on to ask why neuroimaging has not provided the anticipated success for psychiatry and neurology that the electrocardiogram provided for cardiovascular medicine. [00:39:04] Ken mentions that Lily is the director of the Laboratory for Computational Neurodiagnostics. Lily gives an overview of the lab and the research conducted there. [00:44:00] Dawn mentions that Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, also known as fMRI, measures small changes in blood flow that occur with brain activity, and can be used to examine the brain’s functional anatomy, and evaluate various insults, diseases, and abnormalities, that cannot be found with other imagining techniques. Dawn asks Lily to explain the technology of fMRI and its various applications. [00:45:59] Ken asks about Lily’s 2016 paper published in the Frontiers of Neuroscience journal, that ran under the title, “Signal Fluctuation Sensitivity: An Improved Metric for Optimizing Detection of Resting-State fMRI Networks.” [00:49:36] Lily discusses her lab’s involvement in the development of a technology called “Near-Infrared Spectroscopy,” which is an attempt to replicate MRI-type imaging in an ambulatory environment such as an emergency room or a rural environment. [00:51:36] Dawn asks what led Lily to start researching diets and particularly the ketogenic diet. [00:56:59] Ken mentions that there are two key factors linked to age-based cognitive impairment, those being: insulin resistance and glucose hypometabolism.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.06.22.164871v1?rss=1 Authors: Willoughby, W. R., Thoenes, K., Bolding, M. Abstract: Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate cortical activity associated with peripheral tactile stimuli in a small cohort of healthy humans. MR-safe automated pneumatic stimulators modeled after the Wartenberg pinwheel were used to generate tactile stimuli at regular intervals on eight disparate areas of skin. The phase-encoded BOLD responses of voxels in the cerebral cortex were characterized by the maximal normalized cross-correlation coefficients at time delays between an idealized response and the measure time course. Overall at the group level, the somatotopic organization of the somatosensory cortex (SI) follows the accepted homunculus model, but a noticeable amount of variation was observed between individual study participants. The surface areas of cortical regions in SI activated by tactile stimulation of different body parts were calculated, giving an estimate of cortical magnification factors. Data collected with the participant actively attending the stimuli were compared to data collected before the attention task. No significant attention-related changes were observed in the somatotopic maps or in time courses of voxels well-correlated to stimuli. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

On this show we have talked a lot about functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI. We have talked about how it lets us measure the water in the brain and watching the blood flowing to neurons that are working hard and in need of more oxygen and sugars. But what if we could do more? In this episode of Water Cooler Neuroscience, sponsored by the Biochemical Society in the UK, we are talking with Alan Jasanoff about making fMRIs be able to see the neurochemicals in our brains. We are normally blind to where dopamine or serotonin is in the brain when we are doing an fMRI scan but now we can see the changes in real time. Want to know more? Then tune in.

If you’re in a coma, can you still think? Some fascinating neuroscience research sheds light on the brain function of those in comas. Robert J. Marks and Dr. Michael Egnor discuss comas, brain function, and types of thought. Show Notes 00:29 | Introducing Dr. Michael Egnor, Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics at State University of New York, Stony Brook 00:58 Read More › Source

If you’re in a coma, can you still think? Some fascinating neuroscience research sheds light on the brain function of those in comas. Robert J. Marks and Dr. Michael Egnor discuss comas, brain function, and types of thought. Show Notes 00:29 | Introducing Dr. Michael Egnor, Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics at State University of New York, Stony Brook 00:58… Source

fMRI or functional magnetic resonance imaging was one of the great inventions of the 20th century. It revolutionised medical fields allowing for examination of the body without the need to cut someone open. Equally neuroscience moved from a field constrained either to understanding the brain through surgery (hardly the same as in day to day life) or with EEG which only measured coarse electrical signals. With fMRI second by second imaging from inside the brain of a living, responding person was in grasp and after decades it is now a common place technique in dozens and dozens of neuroimaging labs across the world. But how does it work? Could you even hazard a guess? This episode brings in neuroimaging lecturer and expert on EEG and fMRI Dr Stephen Mayhew to provide a tutorial on fMRI. We go through it step by step from the atoms that have to be aligned and provoked to even get the signal all the way to a laymen’s explanation of how a brain image is generated for displaying on the evening news. While WCNeuro can’t promise you’ll be a qualified operator by the end you will know the ins and outs of one of the marvels of the modern age. For more on Stephen Mayhew please see our Floating Brains page on https://watercoolerneuroscience.co.uk/ For more information on episodes, polls and extra content please check out Https://www.patreon.com/WCNeuro Tags: neuroscience, fMRI, MRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging, psychology, imaging, tutorial, Stephen Mayhe

Organifi Quah! In this episode of Quah, sponsored by Organifi (organifi.com, code "mindpump" for 20% off), Sal, Adam & Justin answer Pump Head questions about how to hold yourself accountable & practice what you preach, increasing calories to rev up metabolism, weightlifting and bone density and if implementing mini-cuts into a bulk can be useful. Where else do you get fermented foods? Brew Dr. and drinking kombucha for gut health. (4:01) Does Organifi have SUPER turmeric? The blender strategy update. (9:57) What is the guy's least favorite house chore to do? (11:50) What are the best pranks the guys have played? Had played on them? (15:13) Could A's changing times signal end to Billy Beane era? (22:42) Has Justin gone full “Silver Fox”?? The guy's talk about the evolution of their hair and fashion styles. (28:05) Who is next? Audi names new leader after CEO arrested. (32:10) Why intelligence and integrity can be two separate things. (33:45) How the secret to a longer life is at your feet. The importance of foot strength for health and longevity. (35:56) Can you separate the psychological from the physical? How we haven't even scratched the surface of the power of our minds. (42:34) #Quah question #1 – What are tips to hold yourself accountable & practice what you preach? (54:50) #Quah question #2 - Increasing calories to rev up metabolism. How can people overcome this fear?(1:08:47) #Quah question #3 – Can weightlifting affect bone density? (1:19:02) #Quah question #4 – Do you think implementing mini-cuts into a bulk can be useful? 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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging has been around since 25 years. Last year, in 2016, a scientific article has been published stating that perhaps 40,000 published neuroimaging works are flawed. This article, published in the prestigious journal PNAS, has brought the authors and this topic abruptly into the focus. Most media coverage drastically truncated their core message, stating only that fMRI produced incorrect results and that one analysis software contained a bug. Scientific colleagues vehemently criticized the far-reaching statements of the three authors. But what is actually true? Do we have to deal here with a bankruptcy of a whole scientific branch? How many studies are affected? The number has been corrected by the authors from 40.000 to 3.500 studies which might have not used appropriate, i.e. too lenient statistical correction methods. In this episode, I'm going to talk not only to one expert but to four neuroscientists about this subject: John Dylan Haynes is a Professor at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, Germany and director of the Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging. He has become particularly known through his work on free will. For this work, he employed new methods which identify and classify recurring patterns in brain activation which allows for conclusions about the underlying subjective processes by means of the fMRI data only. Rainer Goebel is a Professor of Cognitive Neurosciences at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands and developer of the commercial software BrainVoyager. His field of research covers the areas of high-field MRI and neurofeedback. As a third guest, I am very pleased to be able to interview one of the authors of this notorious study. Tom Nichols is a Professor in Coventry in the Department of Statistics (University of Warwick), as well as Senior Research Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. He has published numerous papers in particular on statistical procedures in neuroimaging. These interviews are completed by Dina Wittfoth, head of the fMRI unit at Hannover Medical School’s Institute of Neuroradiology, Germany. Her research expertise is built around the neural and behavioral correlates of emotion regulation. She also enjoys teaching and offers workshops for data analysis in neuroimaging which focus on learning-by-doing. In these interviews you will hear neuroscience experts’ perspectives on the allegations that most fMRI studies are flawed. More information and shownotes at inside-brains.com

Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg heads the Plasticity Group at the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB). Her research focuses on how the brain changes in response to damage, learning and experience Plasticity defines an organism’s ability to adapt to change. The human brain undergoes changes each time we learn a new skill (e.g. juggling), when we age or when we suffer from a medical condition such as a stroke. Understanding why and how the brain changes will help to develop new rehabilitation processes, enhance learning and promote healthy ageing. As well as understanding the healthy brain, her work has implications for understanding and treating diseases.

Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg heads the Plasticity Group at the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB). Her research focuses on how the brain changes in response to damage, learning and experience Plasticity defines an organism’s ability to adapt to change. The human brain undergoes changes each time we learn a new skill (e.g. juggling), when we age or when we suffer from a medical condition such as a stroke. Understanding why and how the brain changes will help to develop new rehabilitation processes, enhance learning and promote healthy ageing. As well as understanding the healthy brain, her work has implications for understanding and treating diseases.

Irene Tracey is the co-founder and director of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB) Irene Tracey gives a passionate insight into her career and how she balances work and life. As she puts it 'A scientific career is not an easy one to choose: it’s tough and competitive'.

Irene Tracey is the co-founder and director of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB) Irene Tracey gives a passionate insight into her career and how she balances work and life. As she puts it 'A scientific career is not an easy one to choose: it’s tough and competitive'.

Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg gives her inaugural lecture as head of the Plasticity Group at the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB).

Irene Tracey gives a passionate insight into her career and how she balances work and life. As she puts it 'A scientific career is not an easy one to choose: it’s tough and competitive'. Irene Tracey is the co-founder and director of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB).

Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg heads the Plasticity Group at the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB). Her research focuses on how the brain changes in response to damage, learning and experience. Plasticity defines an organism’s ability to adapt to change. The human brain undergoes changes each time we learn a new skill (e.g. juggling), when we age or when we suffer from a medical condition such as a stroke. Understanding why and how the brain changes will help to develop new rehabilitation processes, enhance learning and promote healthy ageing. As well as understanding the healthy brain, her work has implications for understanding and treating diseases.

Investigating the diagnoses of headaches, and the benefits of topical and placebo treatments for chronic pain. This edition has been supported by a grant from the Scottish Government. Paul Evans meets Dr Paul Davies, a Consultant Neurologist from Northampton General Hospital, who explains that whilst most headaches are benign and can be self-medicated, some headaches – those that are frequent and very painful – require medical attention. He outlines the different types of headaches, including migraines, tension headaches and cluster headaches, and says that each kind requires a specific treatment. Dr Davies admits that GPs have a long way to go in diagnosing and treating chronic headaches effectively. Dr Mick Serpell, a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine in Glasgow, gives us an introduction to topical medicine – medication applied to the surface of the body rather than introduced into it. The medication is applied to the painful area and the drug has a painkilling effect at a local level. Topical medicines can take the form of a cream, a gel or a plaster impregnated with a drug. We hear about two types which are usually used to treat neuropathic conditions – lidocaine and a chilli pepper plaster. One benefit of topical treatments is that they have very few side-effects and can usually be used alongside other analgesics. Finally, Paul meets Michael Lee, a Research Associate at Oxford Centre for the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, who carries out extensive research into placebos ¬– treatments given purely for psychological effect. In defiance of those sceptical of the placebo effect, Lee’s brain imaging research shows that placebo medications can have a visible effect on the way that pain is transmitted to the brain. Lee also highlights the importance of psychological context in treatment, saying that what a patient believes about their doctor, their medication and the therapeutic process as a whole affects their response to medication. Contributors • Dr Paul Davies – Consultant Neurologist at Northampton General Hospital and runs headache clinic at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford • Dr Mick Serpell – Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine in Glasgow • Michael Lee – Research Associate at Oxford Centre for the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain First broadcast 28.01.14 #Clusterheadaches #Headache #Migraine #Neuropathicpain #Brainimaging #Medication #Painkillersandsideeffects #Psychologicalapproachestopainmanagement

Interview with Fabio Ferrarelli, MD, PhD, author of Probing Thalamic Integrity in Schizophrenia Using Concurrent Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Interview with Nicholas D. Schiff, MD, author of Pattern Classification of Volitional Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Responses in Patients With Severe Brain Injury and Joseph J. Fins, MD, author of Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me: Tuning In the Injured Brain

Scientists found a way to detect the order of activity in two regions of the brain using fMRI. And they found that the brain can register something as highly emotional before it actually processes what that something is. Christie Nicholson reports

Background: An important aspect in functional imaging research employing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is how participants perceive the MRI scanning itself. For instance, the knowledge of how (un)comfortable MRI scanning is perceived may help institutional review boards (IRBs) or ethics committees to decide on the approval of a study, or researchers to design their experiments. Methods: We provide empirical data from our lab gained from 70 neurologically healthy mainly student subjects and from 22 mainly elderly patients suffering from motor deficits after brain damage. All participants took part in various basic research fMRI studies using a 3T MRI scanner. Directly after the scanning, all participants completed a questionnaire assessing their experience with the fMRI procedure. Results: 87.2% of the healthy subjects and 77.3% of the patients rated the MRI procedure as acceptable to comfortable. In healthy subjects, males found the procedure more comfortable, while the opposite was true for patients. 12.1% of healthy subjects considered scanning durations between 30 and 60 min as too long, while no patient considered their 30 min scanning interval as too long. 93.4% of the healthy subjects would like to participate in an fMRI study again, with a significantly lower rate for the subjects who considered the scanning as too long. Further factors, such as inclusion of a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scan, age, and study duration had no effect on the questionnaire responses. Of the few negative comments, the main issues were noise, the restriction to keep still for the whole time, and occasional feelings of dizziness. Conclusion: MRI scanning in the basic research setting is an acceptable procedure for elderly and patient participants as well as young healthy subjects.

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +0100 https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/12591/ https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/12591/1/Doehnel_Katrin.pdf Döhnel, Katrin ddc:150, ddc:100, Fakultät für Psychologie un

Professor Irene Tracey, director of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, explains how MRI works and then talks about her research into people's perception of pain.

Professor Irene Tracey, director of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, explains how MRI works and then talks about her research into people’s perception of pain.

Introduction: Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a cognitive stage between normal aging and Dementia. It is a heterogeneous group of patients, where most of them develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD), others stabilize, and a few revert to normal. AD’s first clinical symptoms are related to memory, but it has been shown that AD involves also a processing disorder in the visual sensory pathways. Accurate visual function facilitates memory, attention and executive functions, so that perceptual dysfunction contributes to the severity of cognitive impairment. Objective: The objective of the work is to measure changes in activation in the visual system between MCI patients and old Healthy Control (HC) subjects, using two different visual processing tasks with functional Magnet Resonance Imaging (fMRI). This is the first study which makes such a comparison between MCI and HC using fMRI. Methods: Brain activation was measured using fMRI. The MCI group was composed of 16 subjects and the HC group was composed of 19 subjects. All subjects performed two tasks: location matching (position of objects) and face matching (characteristics of the objects), which selectively activate one of the visual system pathways in healthy people. Answers were given by pressing a single button. Results: Performance of the task was not significantly different in both groups. The HC group selectively activated ventral pathway for face matching and the dorsal pathways for location matching. In contrast the MCI subjects did not selectively activate the ventral and dorsal pathways of the visual system. Additionally they showed higher activation in the left frontal lobe compared to HC when performing the location matching Task Conclusions: The results suggest that even when behavioural performance between groups is the same, the neural system which supports performance may differ. MCI subjects compensate their deficits using additional brain areas to help them to maintain performance. In this case MCI subjects used the left frontal lobe in addition to perform the location matching task. This work presents the usability of brain imaging techniques especially fMRI to better understand the underlying pathology of MCI and its subtypes as prodromal conditions of AD.

Guest: Keith Thulborn, MD, PhD Host: Cathleen Margolin, PhD Keith Thulborn, M.D., Ph.D. discusses how fMRI works and it's latest uses.

Hintergrund: Diese Studie wurde durchgeführt, um Unterschiede in der zerebralen Aktivierung zwischen zwei Gruppen von einerseits Patienten mit leichten kognitiven Störungen (LKS) und andererseits gesunden Kontrollpersonen (GK) während eines verbalen Arbeitsgedächtnistests zu untersuchen. LKS wird als Vorstufe der Alzheimer Demenz angesehen. Um eine frühe Diagnose der Demenz zu ermöglichen, ist es wichtig, diagnostische Marker für LSK und AD zu etablieren. Methoden: Acht Personen mit LKS und acht GK haben sich einer funktionellen Magnetresonanztomographie unterzogen, während sie einen verbalen Arbeitsgedächtnistest durchführten. Sie bekamen fünf Buchstaben gezeigt, die sie sich nach der Einprägungsphase sechs Sekunden lang merken mussten, währenddessen sie ein Fixierungskreuz sahen. Nach dieser Verzögerung wurde den Probanden ein einzelner Buchstabe gezeigt, und sie mussten entscheiden, ob dieser Buchstabe in der vorher gezeigten Gruppe von Buchstaben enthalten war. Die Antwort erfolgte über Tasten in der rechten und linken Hand. Statistische parametrische Karten des Gehirns, die die Gehirnaktivität für die jeweiligen Gruppen zeigen, und Karten, die die Unterschiede zwischen beiden Gruppen zeigen, wurden für beide Gruppen erstellt. Ziele: Ziele der Studie waren, die Gehirnaktivierung von Patienten mit LKS und einer Gruppe von GK während eines verbalen Arbeitsgedächtnistests zu untersuchen, und Unterschiede in der Aktivierung zwischen den beiden Gruppen zu finden. Ergebnisse: Gehirnaktivierung in der GK-Gruppe wurde in dorsolateral-präfrontalen, parietalen und temporalen Gegenden beobachtet. Diese Aktivierungen wießen linksseitige Lateralisierung auf, was für verbale Aufgaben typisch ist. Trotzdem gab es auch aktive Regionen in der rechten Hemisphäre, was einen gewissen Grad von Delateralisierung bedeutet. Dies wiederum ist ein typischer Prozess der normalen Alterung. Die LKS-Gruppe wies Aktivierung in den gleichen Regionen auf, allerdings mit einem geringeren Grad an Delateralisierung. Es gab sowohl interhemisphärische wie auch interregionale Unterschiede in der Aktivierung zwischen den Gruppen. Die GK-Gruppe zeigte höhere Aktivierung in Regionen des Frontallappens, während die LKS-Gruppe höhere Aktivierung in Regionen des Termporallappens aufwies. In beiden Gruppen fanden sich Regionen, die höhere Aktivierung während der Ruhe-Phase des Tests im Vergleich zu der tatsächlichen Aufgabe zeigten. Diese Regionen werden ‚Default’-Netzwerk genannt. Die LKS-Gruppe hatte eine ausgeprägtere ‚Deaktivierung’ als die GK-Gruppe während der Wiederholungs-Phase des Tests, und eine niedrigere ‚Deaktivierung’ als die GK-Gruppe während der Entscheidungs-Phase. Ausblick: In beiden Gruppen war die Gehirnaktivierung während der verschiedenen Teile der Aufgabe in Gegenden, die während eines verbalen Arbeitsgedächtnistests typischerweise aktiviert werden. Es fanden sich Unterschiede in den Aktivierungsmustern zwischen den beiden Gruppen. Der auffallendste Unterschied war, dass die LKS-Gruppe höhere Aktivierung als die GK-Gruppe hatte, was auf Kompensierung für neurale Degeneration und kognitiven Leistungsabfall zurückgeführt werden kann. Dieser Kompensationsprozess trat während allen Teilen des Arbeitsgedächtnistests auf.

Mapping of the human brain by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is an emerging field in medical sciences. Current techniques to detect activated areas of the brain mostly proceed in two steps. First, conventional methods of correlation, regression and time series analysis are used to assess activation by a separate, pixelwise comparison of the MR signal time courses to the reference function of a presented stimulus. Spatial aspects caused by correlations between neighboring pixels are considered in a second step, if at all. Aim of this article is to present hierarchical Bayesian approaches that allow to simultaneously incorporate temporal and spatial dependencies between pixels directly in the model formulation. For reasons of computational feasibility, models have to be comparatively parsimonious, without oversimplifying. We introduce parametric and semiparametric spatial and spatio-temporal models that proved appropriate and illustrate their performance by application to fMRI data from a visual stimulation experiment.