Motion Demo
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive method of brain scanning that measures hemodynamic responses related to brain activity.
In this fMRI experiment, the brain response was measured while the participant viewed the moving dots shown in the left panel. The center panel shows the response to this stimulus on a cross-sectional view of the brain (anatomical MRI image). The right panel shows the same brain response on a surface representation (left hemispheric view, inflated the so that the convoluted surface appears smooth).
Notice that brain respsones are primarily focused on the posterior part of the brain - the visual cortex. There is a distinct bilateral response within the visual cortex labeled MT+.
Also, notice the delay in the fMRI hemodynamic response relative to when the dots start moving (blood flow responses are slow). There is also a delay for the response to go back to baseline after the dots stop moving. The fMRI response is sped up here - the timer on the bottom left corner shows the actual time course of the response in seconds.