Modeling of fMRI signals
A form of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) known
as BOLD
(Blood Oxygen Level Dependent) fMRI can be used to measure
changes in
de-oxygenated hemoglobin in the brain and thus can be used
as an
indirect probe for measuring brain neural activity.
BOLD response has advantage over EEG/ERP in its superior
spatial resolution ($\sim$~mm) but has inferior temporal
resolution.
The brain research group is extending and developing
BOLD hemodynamic models using linear and nonlinear analysis.
For cognitive studies, short duration stimuli lead to weak
BOLD
response with poor signal to noise characteristics. Analysis
of
the hemodynamic model is yielding an optimal stimulation
pattern for
BOLD response to improve the signal to noise.
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