Assessment: Graduate students (COMD 802): Written essay (<10,000 words; 70%),
presentation (required to pass course: if given, no influence on final grade. If not given, final grade is fail), Data analysis report (30%).
Assessment: Undergraduate students (COMD 525): Written
essay (<7,000 words; 70%), Data analysis report (30%).
Essay description: Students will write an essay that describes the merits, limitations and potential of a current or potential technique used to infer brain function. Essays should extend beyond the information in the course. Examples include: ERP vs fMRI, MEG, functional connectivity, Independent Component Analysis, Adaptation Designs.
Data analysis report: Students will write a report descibing how they analyzed MRI data using two methods. They can use data collected during the course. Findings of the two techniques should be compared and contrasted, and include possible explanations for differential results. Examples include SPM vs SnPM, With vs Without global scaling, with or without physiological correction, different hemodynamic response functions. Each student should conduct unique analyses: this is not a group project!
Textbook: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging by Huettel, Song, and McCarthy
Description: Functional magnetic resonance imaging is a
recent and powerful tool for inferring brain function.
This technique identifies brain regions that are
activated by different tasks - for example we can find
the brain regions that activate when someone sees a
familiar face. This course is designed to give students
an understanding of the potential and limitations of this
technique, and be able to critically evaluate the
inferences that can be drawn from fMRI. The course
describes all stages of an fMRI study - from the design
of the behavioral task (e.g. asking the participant to
view faces), to the image processing (e.g. correcting
images for head movements that occurred during scanning),
through to statistical analysis (identifying brain
regions that are activated by a task).
Nov 13 2007:Advanced methods Includes adaptation, sparse and resting state paradigms; analysis includes ICA, effective and functional connectivity; alternatives include ASL and perhaps msMRI.
