Real-time fMRI

Overview
In neuroimaging neuroscience, real-time fMRI, broadly speaking, is a type of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in which reconstruction of the raw data obtained by the brain scanner is done while the scan is happening. In brain scanning, this allows individuals who are undergoing the scan to see the patterns of brain activation which they are generating in one or more regions of interest. The theory behind this practice is that since areas of the brain are active when a person does, thinks, or experiences particular activities, and relatively inactive when they are doing, thinking or experiencing unrelated activities, the signals from those areas can be used like the global signals of biofeedback to target specific symptoms. The awareness of localized brain activation patterns made possible by this technology have been used in clinical populations by researchers including Christopher deCharms and others at Omneuron, Inc. and at Stanford University to investigate whether patients can use these signals to decrease the symptoms of social anxiety disorder and chronic pain, with some success reported at neuroscience meetings. Other research groups, notably the creators of TurboBrainVoyager, a commercial software package which allows this real-time reconstruction of data, have used it in proof of concept applications to play pong using only their brains.

To date, only blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) fMRI imaging has been used in real-time applications, which adds a delay of approximately 2-5 seconds to the signal due to the physiological delay of the hemodynamic response. In the future, other methods of fMRI which do not rely on a secondary messenger like blood flow may reduce the delay and allow truly instantaneous signal generation.

Others

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