Introduction to Functional MRI Analysis in Human Neuroimaging

Catalog description

Functional magnetic resonance imaging is a relatively new method of observing relationships between in-vivo neural activity and behavior. This method is a truly interdisciplinary feat combining engineering, physics, and biology, but is at times reduced in popular media as pretty brain pictures. In this course, students will learn the promises and limitations of fMRI methods and become educated consumers and skeptics of both popular and scientific literature. In addition, students will have hands-on experience in analyzing fMRI data from preprocessing to higher-level techniques using univariate and multivariate analyses. Beyond this, graduate students will learn how to use scripting to create neuroimaging paradigms, automate analyses, and create analyses pipelines using BASH. The final project will be an oral presentation and a written study proposal to include a literature review, an fMRI paradigm, and an analysis pipeline for a future study.