Peter Jan Koopmans1, Markus Barth1,2, David Gordon Norris1,2
1Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands; 2Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Essen, Germany
This study shows cortical layer specific activation measured in human visual cortex using gradient echo acquisition at 3 Tesla. The BOLD point-spread function reported in literature is too broad for such measurements. Based upon the known laminar blood-vessel distribution we conclude that the PSF is much smaller in the through-cortex direction and that the intrinsic spatial resolution of the GE-BOLD-fMRI signal is in the sub-millimeter range.