Adaptation of Cerebral Blood Flow and Oxygen Metabolsim and Modulation of Neurovascular Coupling with Prolonged Stimulation in Human Visual Cortex

Farshad Moradi¹, Richard B. Buxton¹

After prolonged stimulation, the flow and metabolic activity in the visual cortex undergo significantly reduction. However, the BOLD signal did not show a significant adaptation due to the changes in neurovascular coupling opposing the effect of flow adaptation. Our results demonstrate that the coupling between flow and neural activity not only depends on attention and contrast, but also on structure of the stimulus (continuous versus intermittent presentation) and sensory adaptation.