Harvard unveils new technique 60 times faster than traditional fMRI
The speed of the human brain is remarkable. Almost immediately upon being exposed to stimuli, neurons are activated, prompting subconscious reactions and, a fraction of a second later, thought. But the speed at which we can noninvasively follow brain function using an MRI is not as impressive. Functional MRI (fMRI), which measures changes in blood-oxygen levels, has revolutionized neuroscience by revealing functional aspects of the brain, but the vascular changes fMRI measures can take up to six seconds in humans — a veritable eon in brain time. In a paper published in Science Advances, investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in collaboration with colleagues at King’s College London, the French human-health research organization Inserm, and elsewhere, have discovered a fundamentally new way to measure neuronal function using a technology that can pick up changes in the brain as much as 60 times faster. The team presents data from preclinical studies indicating...