Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to visualize brain function, by visualizing changes in chemical composition of brain areas or changes in the flow of fluids that occur over timespans of seconds to minutes.

BOLD (Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent) fMRI operates on the principle that hemoglobin is diamagnetic when oxygenated but paramagnetic when deoxygenated. The contrast between oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin can be used as an indicator of cerebral blood flow to areas with increased neural activity.

Learn More About fMRI Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging User's Guide Yassa, M., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (2005). Localization of Brain Function with Magnetic Resonance Imaging Cohen, M., Bookheimer, S. Trends in Neurosciences 17(7), 1994. The Basics of MRI Hornak, J., University of Rochester (2002).
FMRI Training Courses Fundamentals of FMRI: An Introductory Course PNI at JHU, Baltimore, MD Statistical Parametric Mapping Course FIL at UCL, London, UK FSL & Freesurfer Course FMRIB, Oxford and HST/MGH, Boston, MA Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Course FIRC at MCW, Milwaukee, WI
FMRI Processing and Analysis Packages Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) FIL-UCL, London Statistical Nonparametric Mapping (SnPM), Holmes, Nichols FMRIStat Matlab Toolbox, Worsley Analysis of Functional Neuroimages (AFNI) NIH FMRIB Software Library (FSL), FMRIB, Oxford, UK BrainVoyager, Brain Innovation B.V., Denmark FIASCO, Carnegie-Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA VoxBo, University of Pennsylvania BrainVISA, Institut Fédératif de Recherche n°49 (IFR), France MELODIC, FMRIB, Oxford, UK Group ICA of fMRI Toolbox (GIFT), Calhoun Multivariate Methods for fMRI Toolbox (MM), SHFJ-CEA, France