Rosa Maria Sanchez Panchuelo1, Sue Francis1, Denis Schluppeck2, Richard Bowtell1
1Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK; 2School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
The increased BOLD contrast-to-noise ratio available at 7T has been exploited in measuring the topographic representation of the digits of the hand in human somatosensory cortex using a travelling wave paradigm and in characterising the spatial variation of the haemodynamic response to vibrotactile digit stimulation with an event related design at 1 mm isotropic resolution. Results were displayed on flattened representations of the somatosensory cortex. Activation clearly showed the expected digit ordering along the postcentral gyrus. The haemodynamic delay estimated from the travelling wave paradigm is in good agreement with the delay measured using the event-related paradigm.