Projects

Data

Name Spatial and temporal patterns in functional neuroimaging

Description Elucidate the temporal characteristics of the hemodynamic response induced by neural activity, ... and develop a new hemodynamic response model which allows for prediction of neural activity from fMRI data.

URL http://neurovia.umn.edu/incweb

Category Morphology Show Other Images Show Other Protocols Show Other Software integration Show Other Mathematical software Show Other

Scale Brain Show Other Circuit Show Other

Type Experiment Show Other

Species human Show Other

Person; Role D.A. Rottenberg; PI Show Other R.P. Woods; Co-investigator Show Other D.W.L. Sumners; Co-investigator Show Other I. Kanno; Co-investigator Show Other J.J. Stern; Co-investigator Show Other K. Rehm; Co-investigator Show Other S-G. Kim; Co-investigator Show Other L.K. Hansen; Co-investigator Show Other X. Hu; Co-investigator Show Other M.K. Hurdal; Co-investigator Show Other S.C. Strother; Co-investigator Show Other John C. Mazziotta; Co-investigator Show Other

Project Description Project 1: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques provide the capability of visualizing increased neuronal activity with high spatial resolution and specificity. Further, time-resolved single-trial event-related fMRI allows changes in neural activity to be detected at a temporal resolution on the order of one second; however, most neural processes occur on a time scale of milliseconds rather than seconds. To further improve the temporal resolution of fMRI, it is critical to understand the exact relationship between neuronal activity and the corresponding hemodynamic response. Thus, we aim to elucidate the temporal characteristics of the hemodynamic response induced by neural activity, compare hemodynamic and neural activity in the same subject, and develop a new hemodynamic response model which allows for prediction of neural activity from fMRI data. <p> Project 2: A wide range of techniques and software tools has become available with which to process fMRI data sets. To date this has not been accompanied by development of a similarly wide range of performance metrics or benchmark data sets with which to evaluate and compare these tools. Thus, one of our primary goals is to provide a mechanism for calculating performance metrics within an extensible software framework for evaluation of fMRI processing tools using benchmark data sets and their test results. In addition, we plan to develop the use of combinations of activation maps in order (i) to generate consensus maps with improved performance metrics and (ii) to avoid having to choose a single approach to post-acquisition processing and data analysis of fMRI data sets. <p> Project 3: Visualization of neuroimaging data sets provides an efficient means of summarizing and communicating complex experimental results and serves as a powerful engine for hypothesis generation. Since the cerebral and cerebellar cortices are topologically equivalent to a 2D sheet, surface representations of the cortex facilitate the visualization and analysis of functional activation data by preserving important geometrical and topological relationships; moreover, surface representations are compact, provide excellent "visibility", and can be parameterized using 2D coordinate systems which respect the topology of the cortical sheet. Thus, we have focused on the development of novel visualization tools, including conformal flat- and surface-mapping algorithms and display software, and the evaluation of existing visualization tools that are popular (or promoted) within the neuroimaging and neuroscience communities.

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