Specificity and Sensitivity of Layer Specific FMRI Responses Using GE and 3D GRASE at High Fields.

Federico De Martino¹, ², Jan Zimmermann², Lars Muckli³, Kamil Ugurbil¹, Pierre-Francois van de Moortele¹, Rainer Goebel², Essa Yacoub¹

Laminar specific fMRI in humans has potential for clinical applications. It has not yet been demonstrated whether gains in high field T2 weighted BOLD would be advantageous in layer specific fMRI investigations and/or in regions outside of V1. We examine layer specific response profiles in two different visual areas (V1 and MT) within the same subjects and compare Gradient Echo and GRASE. We show that GRASE might be preferred to GE when layer specific responses throughout the entire cortical depth are of interest.