What we can do and what we cannot do with fMRI

@article{Logothetis2008WhatWC,
  title={What we can do and what we cannot do with fMRI},
  author={Nikos K. Logothetis},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2008},
  volume={453},
  pages={869-878}
}
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is currently the mainstay of neuroimaging in cognitive neuroscience. Advances in scanner technology, image acquisition protocols, experimental design, and analysis methods promise to push forward fMRI from mere cartography to the true study of brain organization. However, fundamental questions concerning the interpretation of fMRI data abound, as the conclusions drawn often ignore the actual limitations of the methodology. Here I give an overview of… 
View on Nature
people.vcu.edu
2,950 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
184
Background Citations
1,344
Methods Citations
273
Results Citations
43

2,950 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Pitfalls in fMRI
TLDR
This work reviews some essential processes and assumptions of BOLD fMRI and discusses related confounds and pitfalls in fMRI – from the underlying physiological effect, to data acquisition, data analysis and the interpretation of the results including clinical fMRI.
Functional MRI (fMRI)
Scanning the Horizon: Towards transparent and reproducible neuroimaging research
TLDR
How the field should evolve is described to produce the most meaningful answers to neuroscientific questions, and current and suggested best practices are outlined.
Deficient approaches to human neuroimaging
TLDR
This critique emphasizes recent reports of excessively high numbers of both false positive and false negative findings in fMRI brain mapping, and discusses the inherent pitfalls and shortcomings of methodologies for statistical parametric mapping.
fMRI and its interpretations: an illustration on directional selectivity in area V5/MT
Images Are Not the Evidence in
TLDR
It is argued that pictures of ‘brain activity’ associated with fMRI experiments are poor evidence for functional claims, and justified skepticism about neuroimages does not provide reason for skepticism about fMRI more generally.
Over-Interpreting Functional Neuroimages
TLDR
It is argued that, for a broad class of experiments, neuroimaging experts have a tendency to over‐interpret the functional significance of their data.
Scanning the horizon: towards transparent and reproducible neuroimaging research
TLDR
How the field of functional MRI should evolve is described to produce the most meaningful and reliable answers to neuroscientific questions.
Chapter 1 – Whole-Brain Imaging
The fMRI signal, slow cortical potential and consciousness
...
1
2
3
4
5
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 207 REFERENCES
Interpreting the BOLD signal.
TLDR
The current understanding of the causal relationships between neural activity and the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal is described, and how these analyses have challenged some basic assumptions that have guided neuroscience are reviewed.
fMRI and its interpretations: an illustration on directional selectivity in area V5/MT
Adaptation: from single cells to BOLD signals
On the characteristics of functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain.
In this review we discuss various recent topics that characterize functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). These topics include a brief description of MRI image acquisition, how to cope with…
High-resolution fMRI of macaque V1.
Detection of cortical activation during averaged single trials of a cognitive task using functional magnetic resonance imaging.
TLDR
These findings suggest that single-trial paradigms will be able to exploit the high temporal resolution of fMRI and provide experimental flexibility and time-resolved data for individual brain regions on a trial-by-trial basis.
Neurophysiological investigation of the basis of the fMRI signal
TLDR
These findings suggest that the BOLD contrast mechanism reflects the input and intracortical processing of a given area rather than its spiking output, and that LFPs yield a better estimate of BOLD responses than the multi-unit responses.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging: An introduction to methods
TLDR
The authors used functional MRI to image brain activity while subjects viewed random sequences composed of two stimuli and found that prefrontal cortex was activated when a particular stimulus violated an apparent pattern.
The ‘wet mind’: water and functional neuroimaging
TLDR
The biophysical mechanisms of brain activation are reassessed to reveal their intimacy with the physical properties of water, which may come to be regarded as the 'molecule of the mind'.
The neural basis of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging signal.
  • N. Logothetis
  • Biology
    Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
  • 2002
TLDR
These findings, together with an analysis of the neural signals, indicate that the BOLD signal primarily measures the input and processing of neuronal information within a region and not the output signal transmitted to other brain regions.
...
1
2
3
4
5
...