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Abstract #2832

Calibration of fMRI by Simulating BOLD Contrast in the Living Human Brain

White K, Zhao Q
University of Florida

FMRI has been widely used for studying human brain activities through blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) contrast. However, calibration of fMRI is challenging because repeatability is imperfect even using the same paradigm with the same subject. We here describe SmartCoils, a device which reliably simulates BOLD contrast signals electronically. These simulated signals are proposed as a means for calibrating the sensitivity to detect BOLD contrast in the presence of physiological noise produced by a living human brain.