Functional MRI, or fMRI, is a unique MRI technique which allows non-invasive mapping of brain activities (Ogawa,1990). By using fast imaging techniques capable of scanning large brain regions within short durations, continuous snapshots of a subject’s brain are taken while an external stimulation, such as electrical forepaw stimulation in small rodents, is applied. Subsequent correlation of the stimulus with brain signal changes produces brain activity maps. Fast readouts are crucial for capturing the dynamic changes in fMRI studies. The most widely used fast imaging technique in fMRI studies is echo-planar imaging (EPI) (Bandettini,2012), but drawbacks of the sequence have led to the introduction of alternative methods such as zero echo time techniques.
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