The use of ultrahigh field functional MRI in neuroscience applications

In the last 24 years, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has catapulted into the most widely used methodology for mapping human brain function noninvasively. Its ability to monitor physiological processes associated with brain function, while maintaining high degrees of spatial and temporal precision, has proven to be instrumental for basic neuroscience. Routine clinical scanning has advanced from 1.5 and 3.0 T to magnets capable of operating routinely at 7 T. In addition to increased field strength, significant efforts have been devoted to developing pulse sequences aimed at further challenging the fMRI spatial-temporal acquisition limits. Ultimately, further development of high-field high-resolution imaging techniques for human applications will eventually open doors to noninvasive neuroscience investigations which were never thought previously to be possible. This chapter discusses several strategies, possibilities, and considerations with fMRI, which make the selection of the most optimal approach unclear.