# fMRI In Neuroscience: The Basics

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a procedure used to essentially “look inside” of materials in a non-invasive manner. As the name suggests, the procedure forms images by measuring the differences in resonances of different materials while in the presence of a strong magnetic field (the details of the MRI procedure are pretty fascinating, but I will save them for another post). In the setting of neuroscience, MRI is often used to image the inside of the brain while it is performing basic functions like hearing a tone, or pressing a button. This flavor of MRI is appropriately referred to as Functional MRI, or fMRI.

The main concept behind fMRI is that as the neurons in the brain function they consume fuel (sugar) and oxygen, which is supplied by blood flow. The harder the neurons in one part of the brain work, the more blood and therefore the more oxygen flows to that part of the brain. The levels of oxygen in the blood will also vary proportionately to how quickly oxygen is being consumed by the active neurons; the more activity, the faster oxygen is consumed. It turns out the resonant frequency of a tissue will vary depending on the level of oxygen present in the tissue. fMRI essentially measures the differences in resonances of your brain tissue based on these functionally-dependent levels of blood oxygen. This is commonly referred to as the Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD) signal.

The BOLD signal is not measured from individual neurons, but rather from small (on the order of 2-3 mm) cubic regions of the brain called voxels (imagine your brain being composed of hundreds of thousands of tiny Leggos). Each voxel contains hundreds of thousands of neurons, so the BOLD signal measured from a voxel is indicative of the group activity of the neurons located within that voxel. As the neurons in a voxel become active due to brain function, the BOLD signal in each of voxel will vary over time. The work of many a neuroscientist is to accurately characterize the BOLD signal change and to relate (i.e. correlate) it to brain function.

## Characterizing the BOLD Signal — the Hemodynamic Response Function (HRF)

Because the BOLD signal is based on blood flow, it is delayed in time from the onset of neural activity due to the period it takes for blood to flow into (and out of) the voxel. The BOLD signal generally peaks 4 to 6 seconds after the onset of neural activity, after which it decreases back toward baseline, even undershooting baseline amplitude around 8 to 12 seconds after onset. This undershoot is believed to be caused by ongoing neuronal metobolism that overconsumes the initial supply of oxygen to the voxel to sub-baseline levels. If there is no addition neural activity the BOLD signal eventually (after approximately 20 seconds) returns to baseline levels. These signal dynamics are referred to as a voxel’s Hemodynamic Response Function, or HRF. A common quantiative model of the HRF is a sum of two Gamma distributions. One of the distributions models the initial peak of the BOLD signal, and another (inverted) distribution models the undershoot. An example of a model HRF is shown below.

Model Hemodynamic Response Function (HRF)

%% MODEL OF THE HRF
t = 0:.1:20;
hrfModel = gampdf(t,6) + -.5*gampdf(t,10);

% DISPLAY
figure
plot(t,hrfModel,'r','Linewidth',2);
hold on;
hb = plot(t,zeros(size(t)),'k--');
title('Model HRF');
xlabel('Time From Activity Onset (s)');
ylabel('BOLD Signal');
legend(hb,'Baseline')

It is important to note that the MRI scanner doesn’t necessarily measure the BOLD signal at such a high temporal resolution as indicated above. Because of limitations imposed by both hardware and software, the required period for an individual fMRI measurement–or TR, short for Repetition Time–is on the order of 1 to 2 seconds. (However recent advances in parallell imaging and multiband excitation technologies are vastly shortening the required TR of fMRI measurements.)

## Relating the HRF to Brain Activity — The Finite Impulse Response (FIR) Model

The HRF provides a model for how the BOLD signal in a voxel will vary due to a short burst of neural activity. Therefore, a useful interpretation of BOLD signal dynamics comes from signal processing. If we treat the HRF as a filter $h$ that operates over some finite length of time equal to the length of the HRF, then the measured BOLD signal $y(t)$ evoked by a series of bursts in neural activity can be modeled as a convolution of an impulse train $D(t)$ with the filter:

$y(t) = D(t) * h$

where $D(t)$ equals one at each  point in time where a burst of neural activity  occurs, and zero otherwise. The $(*)$ is the convolution operator (if you’re not familiar with convolution, it’s not terribly important here; just think of it as the operation of applying  a filter to some data). This is identical to the Finite Impulse Response (FIR) model used in signal processing. An example of the FIR model used to model the BOLD signal evoked by a sequence of three bursts of neural activity is shown below.

Demonstration of the FIR model of the BOLD signal

%% FIR MODEL OF BOLD RESPONSE

% HRF AS MEASURED BY MRI SCANNER
TR = 1;			% REPETITION TIME
t = 1:TR:20;	% MEASUREMENTS
h = gampdf(t,6) + -.5*gampdf(t,10);

% CREATE A STIMULUS IMPULSE TRAIN
% FOR THREE SEPARATE STIMULUS CONDITIONS
trPerStim = 30;			% # TR PER STIMULUS
nRepeat = 2;
nTRs = trPerStim*nRepeat + length(h);
impulseTrain0 = zeros(1,nTRs);

impulseTrainModel = impulseTrain0;
impulseTrainModel([1,24,28]) = 1;
boldModel = conv(impulseTrainModel,h);
boldModel(nTRs+1:end) = [];

% DISPLAY AN EXAMPLE OF FIR RESPONSE
figure
stem(impulseTrainModel*max(h),'k');
hold on;
plot(boldModel,'r','Linewidth',2); xlim([0,nTRs]);
title('HRF Convolved with Impulse Stimulus Train');
xlabel('Time (TRs)'); ylabel('BOLD Signal');
legend({'Activity Onset', 'Voxel Response'})
set(gcf,'Position',[100 100 750 380])

A useful property of the FIR model is that BOLD signals from overlapping HRFs sum linearly. This effect is displayed in the figure above. The BOLD signals evoked by the second and third impulses, which appear close to one another in time, combine linearly to form a larger and more complicated BOLD signal than that evoked by the first impulse alone. As we will see later, this linearity property makes it possible to determine the selectivity of neurons within a voxel even in the presence of rapidly-presented stimuli.

## Block and Event-related fMRI Experiments

Using fMRI, neuroscientists design experiments that present stimuli having particular features that are hypothesized to be encoded by neurons in a particular region of interest in the brain. Given the evoked BOLD signal measured from a voxel during stimulus presentation, along with the HRF for the voxel, and the assumptions of FIR model framework, it is possible to calculate the degree to which the neurons in the voxel must be selective for each the stimulus features in order to produce the measured BOLD signals. We’ll delve more into how this selectivity is calculated in a later post, but for now let’s take look at two flavors of experiment designs.

### The Block Design

One flavor of experimental design is to simply present a stimulus continuosly for a long period, followed by absence of stimuli for a long period. This is what is called a Block Design experiment. From the view of the FIR model, presenting the stimulus for a long period is equivalent to composing $D(t)$ of many consecutive impulses. Because the signal from the HRF of each impulse are assumed to sum linearly, the BOLD signal evoked by the block of impulses will be much larger than the signal evoked by a single brief stimulus presentation. This is demonstrated in the simulation below:

%% SIMULATE A BLOCK-DESIGN EXPERIMENT
%% (ASSUMING VARIABLES FRON ABOVE ARE IN WORKSPACE)

% CREATE BLOCK STIMULUS TRAIN
blocks = repmat([ones(8,1);zeros(8,1)], round(nTRs-10)/16,1);
blockImpulseTrain = impulseTrain0;
blockImpulseTrain(1:numel(blocks)) = blocks;
boldBlock = conv(blockImpulseTrain,h);

% DISPLAY BOLD RESPONSES FROM BLOCK DESIGN
figure
stem(blockImpulseTrain*max(h),'k');
hold on;
plot(boldBlock(1:nTRs),'r','Linewidth',2); xlim([0,nTRs]);
title('Simulated Block Design');
xlabel('Time (TRs)'); ylabel('BOLD Signal');
legend({'Stimulus Train', 'Voxel Response'})
set(gcf,'Position',[100 100 750 380])

Simulation of BOLD signals evoked by Block Design experiment

Here the height of the stimulus onset indicators (in black) are scaled to be the maximum height of the HRF from a single impulse. We see that the peak bold signal from the block design is much larger. The block design is used when the number of features/stimuli that the experimenter would like to probe is small. In this scenario, the increased signal amplitude results in a much more sensitive measurement of selectivity for the probed stimulus features, but at the cost of an inefficient model design. Therefore many separate block design experiments will have to be run to test various hypotheses.

### The Event-related Design

An alternative to the block design is to instead show many types of stimuli for short duations. This is what is known as an Event-related design. For instance, say are interested in how visual, auditory, and somatosensory information are encoded in the brain. We could run three separate block design experiments, one for each stimulus modality, or we could run a single event-related design experiment, where we intermittently present a subject a light, a tone, and ask them to press a button. If there exists a voxel that is involved in encoding each of these stimuli to an equal degree, it would be difficult to discover this relationship by running three separate block design experiments. A simulation of such an experiment and the responses from such a voxel is shown below.

Simulation of an Event-related experiment

%% SIMULATE AN EVENT-RELATED EXPERIMENT
%% (ASSUMING VARIABLES FRON ABOVE ARE IN WORKSPACE)

% VISUAL STIMULUS
impulseTrainLight = impulseTrain0;
impulseTrainLight(1:trPerStim:trPerStim*nRepeat) = 1;

% AUDITORY STIMULUS
impulseTrainTone = impulseTrain0;
impulseTrainTone(5:trPerStim:trPerStim*nRepeat) = 1;

% SOMATOSENSORY STIMULUS
impulseTrainPress = impulseTrain0;
impulseTrainPress(9:trPerStim:trPerStim*nRepeat) = 1;

% COMBINATION OF ALL STIMULI
impulseTrainAll = impulseTrainLight + impulseTrainTone + impulseTrainPress;

% SIMULATE BOLD SIGNAL EVOKED BY EACH CONDITION
boldLight = conv(impulseTrainLight,h);
boldTone = conv(impulseTrainTone,h);
boldPress = conv(impulseTrainPress,h);
boldAll = conv(impulseTrainAll,h);

% DISPLAY STIMULUS ONSETS FOR EACH CONDITION
figure
subplot(211)
hold on
stem(impulseTrainLight,'k');
stem(impulseTrainTone,'b');
stem(impulseTrainPress,'g');
xlim([0,nTRs]);
xlabel('Time (TRs)'); ylabel('BOLD Signal');
legend({'Light Stimulus Train', 'Tone Stimulus Train','Press Stimulus Train'})
title('Impulse Trains for 3 Different Stimuli');

% DISPLAY COMBINATION OF BOLD RESPONSES FROM EACH CONDITION
subplot(212)
hold on;
plot(boldLight(1:nTRs),'k');
plot(boldTone(1:nTRs),'b');
plot(boldPress(1:nTRs),'g');
plot(boldAll(1:nTRs),'r','Linewidth',2);
xlim([0,nTRs]);
xlabel('Time (TRs)'); ylabel('BOLD Signal');
legend({'Response to Light','Response to Tone','Response to Press','Total Response'});
title('Simulation of BOLD Signal from Overlapping Stimuli');
set(gcf,'Position',[100 100 750 540])

In this example notice how the responses evoked by each class of stimulus overlap, resulting in a complex BOLD signal. However, if each class of stimulus were shown separately, as in the case of the block design, the evoked BOLD signal would look very different, as indicated by the individual responses to each stimulus (black, blue and green responses, respectively). Event-related designs are powerful in that we can probe many features simultaneously and therefore uncover correlated selectivities/tuning. However, event-related designs require that we have a very accurate model for the HRF. This requirement is greatly relaxed for block design experiments (in fact many block-designs assume very simplistic HRF shapes such as a triangle or square waveform).

## Wrapping Up

In this post we introduced some of the basic concepts in fMRI used for neuroscience research, including the BOLD signal, the HRF, as well as Block and Event-related experiment designs. However, the underlying story used to present these concepts has been dramatically simplified. Here we ignore the effects of physiological noise, which can be a debilatating factor in many fMRI analyses. Also missing are the details of how to calculate a voxel’s selectivity to a set of stimulus features given measured data, an HRF, and an experimental paradigm. This is where the General Linear Model (GLM) that predominates fMRI research comes in. We also assume that the proposed model HRF is an accurate characterization of a voxel’s BOLD response dynamics. Though this is often a reasonable assumption for peripheral sensory areas of the brain, it is often a very poor assumption for other areas of the brain. It is therefore often necessary to estimate the shape of the HRF from fMRI data. We’ll discuss all of these issues: physiological noise, tuning/selectivity estimation using the GLM, as well as HRF estimation in a following series of posts on fMRI methods in neuroscience.

I recently received my PhD from UC Berkeley where I studied computational neuroscience and machine learning.

Posted on November 23, 2012, in fMRI, Neuroscience and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.