Zhongwei Chen1,
Rong Xue2, Danny J.J. Wang3
1State
Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences , Chaoyang
District, Beijing, China; 2State Key Laboratory of Brain and
Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Chaoyang District, Beijing, China; 3Department of Neurology,
University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
In this study, we systematically evaluated the sensitivity of 4 emerging fMRI methods including fast gradient echo (GRE), passband and transition band balanced steady-state free precession (SSFP), and multiband EPI to visual cortex stimulation at 7 Tesla using both block and event-related designs. Our results showed that GRE and passband SSFP provide the highest functional sensitivity (peak and mean t-value) and can reliably detect initial dip in hemodynamic response function curves. We also found that transition band SSFP has the most sensitivity to physiological noise.