fMRI Methods

Question 1

Encoding

Answer 1

Standard analysis - uses stimulus or experimental task to measure activity, looking for more activation in one condition than another

“Brain mapping”
- we see where the brain responds to a stimulus

Question 2

Decoding

Answer 2

Representational analysis - look at patterns of brain activity to predict or decode what stimulus or cognitive process is producing it
- can look closer at pattern of activity within a region where we already know general function –> predict what is producing activity

Question 3

Voxel

Answer 3

“volumetric pixel”
- brain is divided into grids of cubes (no relationship to anatomical divisions)

~150,000 in one brain; typical size 3x3x3 mm (millions of neurons) but can be as small as 1x1x1 mm or less
- fMRI measures BOLD activation level for every brain voxel