FUNDAMENTALS OF FUNCTIONAL BRAIN IMAGING

ACN 6V81001
Spring, 2007

Instructor: Dr. Michael D. Devous, Sr. Dr. Emily A. Tobey

Course Credits: 3
Dates: Mondays, 10AM – 12:45PM
Location: Callier Advanced Hearing Research Center
Office Hours: by appointment
Telephone: (214) 648-3315
Email address: Michael.Devous@UTSouthwestern.edu etobey@utdallas.edu

Course Description: This course covers topics such as principles of tracer techniques, neuroimaging
instrumentation, safety issues, brain physiology (perfusion, metabolism, and receptor function), image processing
and analysis, fundamentals of SPECT, PET and fMRI, and critical evaluation of the functional neuroimaging
literature.

Text: There is no assigned text. However, students are encouraged to obtain Functional Magnetic Resonance
Imaging by Huettel, Song, and McCarthy; Sinauer Associates Publishers, 2004 as a resource since it is required for
the Advanced Functional Brain Imaging course. Chapters 1-5 are particularly useful as infrastructure for the
methods to be discussed in class. In addition, the following books are recommended: 1) Brain Mapping: The
Methods. Arthur W. Toga and John C. Mazziotta. Academic Press; 2) Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: An
Introduction to Methods. Eds. P. Jezzard, P.M. Matthews and S.M. Smith. Oxford University Press.

Course Objectives: Five components of Bloom’s Taxonomy are herein employed. These include:
Understanding:
1. Students will be able to discuss the underlying principles of fMRI, PET and SPECT.
Applying:
2. Students will gain an initial understanding of the relationships between functional brain imaging
measures and the corresponding CNS (patho) physiology.
Analyzing:
3. Students will be able to analyze simpler forms of functional brain imaging data using commonly
available software programs.
Evaluating:
4. Students will be able to assess the appropriateness of functional brain imaging techniques applied to
research as represented by peer-reviewed publications.
Creating:
5. Students will be able to formulate straight forward hypotheses regarding the role of CNS function in
normal and disease processes and design lower-level experiments to test these hypotheses using modern
functional brain imaging techniques.

Grading: There will be ~4 tests during the semester, including a mid-term and final exam. 50% of your grade in
the course will depend on your performance on these exams. The remaining component of your grade will depend
on your analysis and presentation of relevant peer-reviewed publications. Literature reviews conducted by each
student will be presented during class time during the months of March and April (approximately two students
presenting per class). Each person will be responsible for providing a brief (15 min) critical oral review of an
article, as well as providing their reviews in writing - due before April 26. These presentations will consume the
last half of each class on March 15, 22, 29 and April 5, and all of the class on April 12 and 19. Reviews should
contain the following features:
1) purpose: describe the fundamental purpose of the study, and how it relates to the discipline.
2) method: describe the experiment and determine its appropriateness to the purpose.
3) results: present major findings and an assessment of whether the analysis is valid.
4) conclusions: summarize the conclusions and discuss whether they are justified based on the results.

Background Reading: There is abundant additional reading material, as detailed below. Some of the review
articles may be required reading for class.
Additional Books:
(In addition to these readings, there are many web based sources such as:
http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/physics/reading_list.html, http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/image.html,
http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/dox.html and http://www.nuc.ucla.edu/).

Quantitative Functional Brain Imaging with Positron Emission Tomography. Richard Carson, Peter Herscovitch,
Margaret Daube-Witherspoon. Academic Press

Functional MRI. Chrit T.W. Moonen and Peter A. Bandettini (Eds). Springer-Verlag

Fundamentals of Functional Brain Imaging: A Guide to the Methods and their Applications to Psychology and
Behavioral Neuroscience. Andrew C. Papanicolaou. Swets & Zeitlinger Publications.

Functional Brain Imaging. W.W.Orrison, J.D.Lewine, J.A.Sanders and M.F.Hartshorne. Mosby

An Introduction to Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Principles and Techniques. Richard B. Buxton.
Cambridge University Press

Relevant Review Articles:

1. Aine CJ (1995). A Conceptual Overview and Critique of Functional Neuroimaging Techniques in Humans: I
MRI/fMRI and PET. Critical Reviews in Neurobiology 9(2&3): 229-309

2. Berns GS (1999). Minireview: Functional Neuroimaging. Life Sciences 65(24): 2531-2540

3. Calautti C, Baron JC (2003). Functional Neuroimaging Studies of Motor Recovery After Stroke in Adults: A
Review. Stroke 34:1553-1566

4. Jacobs AH, Li1 H, Winkeler A, Hilker R, Knoess C, Rüger A, Galldiks N, Schaller B, Sobesky J, Kracht L,
Monfared P, Klein M, Vollmar S, Bauer B, WagnerR, Graf R, Wienhard K, Herholz K, Heiss WD (2003). PET-
based molecular imaging in neuroscience. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 30:1051–1065

5. Blasberg R (2002). Imaging Gene Expression and Endogenous Molecular Processes: Molecular Imaging.
Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism 22:1157–1164
6. Burns HD, Hamill TG, Eng W, Francis B, Fioravanti C, Gibson RE (1999). Positron emission tomography
neuroreceptor imaging as a tool in drug discovery, research and development. Current Opinion in Chemical
Biology 3: 388-394

7. Coull JT (1998). Neural Correlates of Attention and Arousal: Insights from Electrophysiology, Functional
Neuroimaging and Psychopharmacology. Progress in Neurobiology 55: 343-361

8. D'Esposito M, Zarahn E, Aguirre GK (1999). Event-Related Functional MRI: Implications for Cognitive
Psychology. Psychological Bulletin 125(1): 155-164

9. Davidson RJ, Irwin W (1999). The functional neuroanatomy of emotion and affective style. Trends in
Cognitive Sciences 3(1): 11-21

10. Desmond JE, Fiez JA (1998). Neuroimaging studies of the cerebellum: language, learning and memory. Trends
in Cognitive Sciences 2(9): 355-361

11. Devous MD Sr: SPECT brain imaging in cerebrovascular disease. In: IPC Murray and PJ Ell, Eds: Nuclear
Medicine in Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment (Second Edition). Churchill-Livingstone, London, pp 631-649,
1998

12. Devous MD Sr: SPECT functional brain imaging. Instrumentation, Radiopharmaceuticals and Technical
Factors. In: RL Van Heertum and RS Tikofsky, Eds: Cerebral SPECT Imaging. (Third Edition). Lippincott,
Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, pp 1-22, 2000

13. Devous MD Sr: SPECT Functional Brain Imaging. In: Mazziotta JC and Toga AW, Eds: Brain Mapping: The
Methods (Second Edition). Academic Press, San Diego, pp 513-533, 2002.

14. Horwitz B, Tagamets M.-A, McIntosh AR (1999). Neural modeling, functional brain imaging and cognition.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3(3): 91-95

15. Jueptner M, Weiller C (1995). Review: Does Measurment of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Related to
Synaptic Activity? Implications for PET and fMRI. Neuroimage 2: 148-156

16. Lacoboni M, Baron JC, Frackowiak RSJ, Mazziotta JC, Lenzi GL (1999). Emission tomography contribution to
clinical neurology. Clinical Neurophysiology 110: 2-23

17. Phelps ME (2000). Positron emission tomography provides molecular imaging of biological processes. PNAS
97: 9226–9233

18. Raichle ME (1998). Behind the scenes of functional brain imaging: A historical and physiological perspective.
Procedures of the National Academy of Sciences 95: 765-772

19. Raichle M. The neural correlates of consciousness: an analysis of cognitive skill learning. Phil Trans R Soc
Lond B 353: 1889-1901, 1998
20. Rowe JB, Frackowiak RSJ (1999). The impact of brain imaging technology on our understanding of motor
function and dysfunction. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 9: 728-734

21. Schloesser R, Simkowitz P, Bartlett EJ, Wolkin A, Smith GS, Dewey S, Brodie JD (1996). The Study of
Neurotransmitter Interactions Using Positron Emission Tomography and Functional Coupling. Clinical
Neurophysiology 19(5): 371-389

22. Silverman DHS, Devous MD Sr: PET and SPECT Imaging in Evaluating Alzheimer's Disease and Related
Dementias. In: PJ Ell and SS Gambhir, Eds: Nuclear Medicine in Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment (Third
Edition). Churchill-Livingstone, London, 2004

23. Society of Nuclear Medicine Brain Imaging Council. (1996). Ethical Clinical Practice of Functional Brain
Imaging. The Journal of Nuclear Medicine 37(7): 1256-1259

24. Talbot PS, Laruelle M (2002). The role of in vivo molecular imaging with PET and SPECT in the elucidation of
psychiatric drug action and new drug development. European Neuropsychopharmacology 12: 503–511

25. Taylor JG, Krause B, Shah NJ, Horowitz B, Mueller-Gaertner HW (2000). On the Relation Between Brain
Images and Brain Neural Networks. Human Brain Mapping 9: 165-182

26.Verhoeff NPLG. Radiotracer imaging of dopaminergic transmission in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Psychopharmacology 147: 217-249, 1999

27. Volkow ND, Fowler JS, Gatley SJ, Logan J, Wang GJ, Ding YS, Dewey S (1996). PET Evaluation of the
Dopamine System of the Human Brain. The Journal of Nuclear Medicine 37 (7), 1242-1256

28. Zimmerman RA, Haselgrove JC, Wang Z, Hunter JV, Morris MC, Hoydu A, Bilaniuk LT (1998). Advances in
pediatric neuroimaging. Brain & Development 20: 275-289
 Class Schedule

Date Topic Instructor lit reviews

Jan 8 Overview of Functional Brain Imaging and Principles of Devous handouts
Tracer Techniques
Jan 15 Basics of the Tracer Principle as Applied to Functional Devous none
Brain Imaging
Jan 22 Fundamentals of Brain Physiology (Part I: Perfusion and Devous none
Metabolism)
Jan 29 Fundamentals of Brain Physiology (Part II: Receptors and Devous none
Neurotransmitters)
Feb 5 Clinical Applications of Functional Brain Imaging Devous none
Feb 12 Fundamentals of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Devous none
Feb 19 Functional Brain Imaging Techniques – fMRI Krawczyk none
Feb 26 Functional Brain Imaging Techniques – SPECT and PET Devous none
Mar 5 Take home Mid-term Exam - No class - Spring Break ------------- --------
Mar 12 Voxel-Based Image Analysis Techniques Abdi none

Mar 19 Functional Brain Imaging in Executive Function Rypma group 1

Mar 26 Functional Brain Imaging in Speech, Language and Tobey group 2

Hearing
Apr 2 Functional Brain Imaging in Memory and Cognition Bartlett group 2

Apr 9 Remaining Literature Reviews group 4 group 5

Apr 16 Remaining Literature Reviews group 6 group 7

Apr 23 Take home Final Exam and Remaining Literature Reviews Devous group 8