Mapping Brain Function: An fMRI Lab

Catalog description

This course introduces students to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), one of the most powerful tools available for studying human brain function. Students learn to evaluate the strengths and limitations of fMRI relative to other neuroimaging methods, and gain hands-on experience working with real fMRI datasets. Using FSL, a widely used neuroimaging software package, students move through the full scientific process: reviewing existing literature, formulating a testable hypothesis, analyzing data, interpreting results, and writing up findings in standard APA format. No prior experience with neuroimaging is required. This is a .5 unit writing-intensive class that meets half of the writing requirement in the major.