Abstract #0021

Investigating the Whole Brain with 1.5mm Isotropic Resolution and 1.5s TRs Using Highly Accelerated High-Field FMRI

Cheryl A. Olman^1,2, Steen Moeller², Jennifer F. Schumacher³, Serena K. Thompson³, Edward J. Auerbach², Kamil Ugurbil², Essa Yacoub²

¹Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; ²Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; ³Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Neuroscientists who want to take advantage of the higher spatial resolutions afforded by the increased SNR and CNR at 7 Tesla do not want to sacrifice temporal resolution in exchange for whole-brain coverage with high spatial resolution. A multi-band acquisition at 7T (simultaneous excitation of 4 coronal slices) permits whole-brain coverage with higher spatial and temporal resolutions than previously feasible. In this study we measure whole-brain activation patterns during a visual object recognition task with 1.5 mm spatial resolution and 1.5 s temporal resolution. Whole-brain, high-resolution fMRI is therefore possible with temporal resolutions sufficient for event-related designs.