Functional Magnefic Resonance Imaging

Since the early 1990s, fMRI has come to dominate the brain mapping field due to its relatively low invasiveness, absence of radiation exposure, and relatively wide availability. It measures the hemodynamic response related to neural activity in the brain (BOLD-effect). During planning fMRI experiment it is important to take into account equipment (MRI scan, devices for the stimuli presentation), experimental design and post processing. The last one includes several important steps, such as realignment, co-registration, normalization, smoothing. Nowadays fMRI is widely used not only in research field, especially for cognitive studies, but in clinical practice. However investigator should always remember some limitations and controversies, especially in patients with various nosological forms. It is also important to draw many specialists in experiment and its interpretation — neuroradiologists, MR-physicists, clinicians, psychologists, etc. — while fMRI is multidisciplinary methodic.