This technique uses BOLD (Blood Oxygen Level Dependant) effect in order to show the pattern and intensity of activation in human’s brain. It has some advantages including low invasiveness, lack of radiation exposure, and relatively wide availability.

Our studies using fMRI focus on discovering the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underling motor and cognitive functioning and cognitive impairment. We conduct task-based fMRI, widely adopted to identify brain regions that are functionally involved in a specific task performance, and resting state fMRI, which is used to explore the intrinsically functionally segregation or specialization of brain regions/networks.

Facilities: Our Lab utilizes MRI scanners within the Department of Radiology within the Puerta del Mar University Hospital (HUPM), which currently operates two whole-body human 1.5 T MRI scanners that can be fully dedicated for research protocols. One of the research scanners at HUPM is equipped with stimulus delivery and monitoring systems for fMRI research. These include VisuaStim Digital system for visual and auditory stimulus presentation using E-Prime software, including 3D-goggles stereoscopic display, eye-tracking, auditory presentation, and recording of verbal response.