Measurement of ultra-fast signal progression related to face processing by 7T fMRI

Given that the brain is a dynamic system, the temporal characteristics of brain function are important. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have attempted to overcome the limitations of temporal resolution to investigate dynamic states of brain activity. However, finding an fMRI method with sufficient temporal resolution to keep up with the progress of neuronal signals in the brain is challenging. This study aimed to detect between-hemisphere signal progression, occurring on a timescale of tens of milliseconds, in the ventral brain regions involved in face processing. To this end, we devised an inter-stimulus interval (ISI) stimulation scheme and used a 7T MRI system to obtain fMRI signals with a high signal-to-noise ratio. We conducted two experiments: one to measure signal suppression depending on the ISI and another to measure the relationship between the amount of suppression and the ISI. These two experiments enabled us to measure the signal transfer time from a brain region in the ventral visual stream to its counterpart in the opposite hemisphere through the corpus callosum. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using fMRI to measure ultra-fast signals (tens of milliseconds) and could facilitate the elucidation of further aspects of dynamic brain function.