Basics of Brain Function - Day 2
Peter Jezzard, Ph.D., Douglas C. Noll, Ph.D., and Steve C.R. Williams, Ph.D., Organizers
Friday, 11 July 2003, 08:40 - 15:15


Last updated 24 June 2008

Course Description
This eleven-and-three-quarter hour course will provide an introduction to all aspects of MRI of human brain function.  The course starts with an overview of regional functional specialization of the brain, and the way in which cortical areas inter-communicate.  This is followed by a discussion of the metabolic and hemodynamic response of the brain to activation.  The pulse sequences used to map brain function are then introduced, along with an overview of the artifacts that should be anticipated.   The second day of the course details the principles of fMR paradigm design, and introduces the statistical methods used to analyze the data.  After describing emerging (non BOLD) methods for assessing brain function/communication, the course concludes with a series of talks providing examples of fMRI applications.

Educational Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to
Identify the principle areas of the brain used in sensory perception, motor activity, language, and cognition;
Describe the way in which these cortical areas inter-communicate, both at the electrical and chemical level;
Describe the associated hemodynamic responses of the brain that accompany electrical and metabolic activity;
Define and compare the various MRI pulse sequences that can be used to map human brain function;
Identify the sources of artifacts that are inherent in many fMRI procedures and describe methods to minimize these artifacts;
Design a simple fMRI paradigm, and describe the principles used in data analysis;
Explain the principles of perfusion-based fMRI and the methods used to construct maps of white matter tracts;
Identify the areas of application of fMRI in neurology, psychiatry and basic neuroscience
Session V: Experimental Design and Data Analysis
08:40 Experimental Paradigm Design Nick F. Ramsey
09:15 Pre-Statistics Mark Jenkinson
09:50 Data Modeling, General Linear Model, Statistical Inference Thomas E. Nichols
10:25 Break
Session VI: Connectivity Measurement
10:45 Fiber Tracts and Structural Connectivity in the Human Brain: What Anatomy Can Contribute Katrin Amunts
11:20 Connectivity Mapping Using DTI Derek K. Jones
12:00 Break
Session VII: Perfusion fMRI and BOLD Applications
13:30 Functional Perfusion MRI Thomas T. Liu
14:00 Design of a Clinical fMRI Protocol Steve C. R. Williams
14:25 fMRI of Neurological Disorders Heidi Johansen-Berg
14:50 fMRI of Drug Abuse Thomas Ernst
15:15 Adjournment