Download Promises and Challenges of Resting State fMRI for Cognitive

Promises and Challenges of Resting State fMRI
for Cognitive, Clinical, and Systems
Neuroscience
Stephen J. Gotts, PhD
Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH/NIH, Bethesda MD
Abstract:
The past ten years have produced an explosion of fMRI studies of the
brain at rest, with many new findings related to the systems-level
organization of human brain circuitry, as well as new findings related to the
brain bases of clinical and psychiatric disorders such as autism and
schizophrenia. Despite a number of attractive advantages, resting-state
fMRI also brings with it unique pitfalls related to movement, physiological
and MR hardware artifacts, as well as potential variability due to
uncontrolled cognitive state. I will discuss recent studies from our lab that
illustrate both the potential promise of the approach as well as the
challenges in confronting the major sources of artifact. With appropriate
pre-processing and analysis steps and the inclusion of independent
physiological and behavioral measures, I will argue that the family of
artifacts affecting resting-state fMRI can be ameliorated to within tolerable
bounds.