Reproducibility of human 3D fMRI brain maps acquired during a motor task

This study is an investigation into the reproducibility of brain activation in the sensorimotor cortex obtained with 3D "PRESTO" fMRI on eleven normal subjects. During one session, two series of functional scans were acquired while the subjects performed a finger opposition task (2 Hz). Nine subjects were tested once more on a different day. Each individual motor trial was analyzed separately, with a conservative zt-based method. Using these results, the agreement between repeated series was examined in a number of ways, comparing the two series within one session, and the two series across sessions. In 28 of the 31 series (90%) significant signal change was found in the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex (PSM). Overall, 0.20% of all voxels (total about 11,000) in the scanned volume reached significance, and approximately 60% of the significant positive signal changes were located in the PSM (P<5x10(-7) for a chance occurrence). Comparisons within and across sessions yielded similar results: there was a 20-30% overlap of the clusters of activated voxels in the PSM (chance overlap within the PSM: P<0.01). The mean distance between zt-weighted centers of mass was 4.0-4.4 mm (chance distance within the PSM: P=0.033 and 0.058, respectively). No significant difference was found between series in the magnitude of significant signal change. Whereas the number of activated voxels in the PSM was not consistently correlated between series, the ratio of this number over the total number of activated voxels in the scanned volume was significantly correlated (rho=0.75-0.79, P<0.05). These results indicate that activation in sensorimotor cortex associated with oppositional finger movement is reliably mapped with 3D PRESTO fMRI.