Brain in sight : probing the neural dynamics underlying conscious vision

TL;DRAbstract

FMRI is a technique that in its current form was invented some twenty years ago.A steady rise in fMRI publications has brought the total to over 1500 fMRI research reports in 2011 alone (Smith, 2012).FMRI allows us to look with millimeter precision into the brain of everyday behaving, cognizant, conscious human beings, painlessly and with no adverse effects.Standard fMRI experiments evaluate the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal.The most important limitation of fMRI is that this BOLD signal does not reflect neuronal activity directly (Logothetis, Pauls, Augath, Trinath, & Oeltermann, 2001).Rather, it can measure throughout the brain how much oxygen is in the blood, which is informative since neuronal activity requires oxygen.Blood contains haemoglobin molecules, and haemoglobin loaded with oxygen has different magnetic properties from haemoglobin without oxygen: the latter distorts a magnetic field much more than the former.FMRI essentially sends radio pulses into each no

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