Studying Brain Organization via Spontaneous fMRI Signal

• Published in: Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 84; no. 4; pp. 681 - 696
• Main Authors: Power, Jonathan D., Schlaggar, Bradley L., Petersen, Steven E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 19.11.2014; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Animal cognition; Behavior; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping - methods; Functional Neuroimaging; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Medical imaging; Nerve Net - physiology; Neurosciences; Participation; Studies
• ISSN: 0896-6273; 1097-4199; 1097-4199
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.09.007

In recent years, some substantial advances in understanding human (and nonhuman) brain organization have emerged from a relatively unusual approach: the observation of spontaneous activity, and correlated patterns in spontaneous activity, in the “resting” brain. Most commonly, spontaneous neural activity is measured indirectly via fMRI signal in subjects who are lying quietly in the scanner, the so-called “resting state.” This Primer introduces the fMRI-based study of spontaneous brain activity, some of the methodological issues active in the field, and some ways in which resting-state fMRI has been used to delineate aspects of area-level and supra-areal brain organization. Human brain organization, in health and disease, is increasingly studied by measuring spontaneous brain activity with fMRI. This Primer explains how researchers study these fMRI signals, and what these signals might reveal about brain organization.