Introduction: The ability to decode stress levels from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) would open up exciting avenues for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy has been used to treat P...

Recent advances in functional neuroimaging, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has opened up a unique opportunity to measure pain objectively based on brain features without relying on self-report. However, the brain-based marker deve...

Background: Excitation/inhibition balance can be used as a predictor not only for the functional regional response in the task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) but also for functional connectivity (FC) strength measured within and betw...

The resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) signal corresponds to propagating electrophysiological infra-slow activity (<0.1 Hz) (Mitra et al., Neuron 98:1-9, 2018). Thus, in addition to defining the spatial topography of large-scal...

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to infer age-differences in neural activity from the hemodynamic response function (HRF) that characterizes the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal over time. The HRF results from complex...

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to infer age-differences in neural activity from the hemodynamic response function (HRF) that characterizes the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal over time. The HRF results from complex...

We examined the dynamic functional connectivity of the von Economo neuron (VEN) area of the anterior insula cortex (AIC) using two-shot echo-planar functional magnetic resonance imaging with direct electrical stimulation (DES-fMRI), seed-based connectiv...

Our eyes are constantly in motion and the various kinds of eye movements are closely linked to many aspects of human cognitive processing. Measuring all possible eye movements unobtrusively is not achievable with current methods. Video-based eye-trackers only measure rotational but not translational motion of the eye, require a calibration process relying on the participant’s self-report of accurate fixation, and do not work if vision of the eyeball is blocked. Scleral search coils attach physical weight on the eyeball and also do not measure translation. Here, we describe a novel and fully automated method to use real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for eye tracking. We achieved a temporal resolution sufficient to measure eye rotations and translations as short as those that occur within a blink and behind a closed eyelid. To demonstrate this method, we measured the full extent of the blink-related eye movement for two individuals, suggesting that the eye approaches a holding position during lid clo...

The scintillating grid illusion consists of dark illusory spots flashing on small white disks superimposed on the intersections of a grey-on-black Hermann grid. Numerous such spots are seen transiently within the white disks during saccadic eye movements or brief exposures. To see whether the pronounced flashing illusion activates brain regions known to process flickering or flashing stimuli (e.g. hMT+) we used fMRI (Siemens Magnetom Vision, 1.5 T, EPI, 16 slices, voxel size 3x3x3 mm) on 7 normal subjects. We compared the pattern of activation from presenting the scintillating grid with that from presenting an identical control grid with the disks shifted horizontally from the intersections which abolishes the scintillation. For identification of hMT+ a flowfield stimulus was included in the stimulation protocol. Results show that hMT+ was activated only during the perception of the illusion. In addition, activation was enhanced in a parietal sulcus bilaterally, a region presumed to be involved when subjec...

The discovery of lymphatic vasculature in the central nervous system suggests a close interaction between the brain and the systemic immune system (1). To study how the peripheral immune system modifies the brain, we used 3D magnetic resonance imaging (...