Functional MRI studies of human vision on a clinical imager

During the past decade, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has become the method of choice for imaging the anatomy of the human brain. Recently, Belliveau and colleagues [1,2] have reported the use of echo planar magnetic resonance imaging (EPI) to image patterns of neural activity. Here, we report functional MR imaging in response to visual stimulation without the use of contrast agents, and without the extensive hardware modifications required for EPI. Regions of activity were obesrved near the expected locations of V1I, V2 and possibly V3 and another active region was observed near the parietal-occipital sulcus on the superior surface of the cerebrum. These locations are consistent with sources observed in neuromagnetic studies of the human visual response.