An efficient multifunction fMRI localizer for high-level visual, auditory, and cognitive regions in humans

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging
• Human Brain Function

Background:

• Individual variability in cortical region location necessitates participant-specific functional localizers.
• Standard functional localizers are time-consuming and identify only a limited number of brain regions.
• Studying complex cognitive processes requires simultaneous measurement of multiple cortical regions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel, time-efficient fMRI localizer capable of identifying numerous functional brain regions simultaneously.
• To validate the efficacy of the new localizer against standard methods.
• To provide open-access stimuli and code for broader research application.

Main Methods:

• Development of an Efficient Multifunction fMRI localizer (EMFL) integrating visual and auditory stimuli.
• Simultaneous presentation of diverse stimuli to elicit responses in multiple cortical areas.
• Validation of EMFL by comparing its identified regions with those from standard localizers.

Main Results:

• The EMFL successfully identifies 14 widely studied cortical regions, including those for face, place, body, word, object, and speech perception, language understanding, theory of mind, and the multiple demand system.
• EMFL achieves this in only 14 minutes of fMRI scan time, a quarter of the time required by standard localizers.
• The identified regions using EMFL are comparable in accuracy to those identified by standard localizers.

Conclusions:

• The Efficient Multifunction fMRI localizer (EMFL) offers a significantly faster and more comprehensive method for mapping functional brain regions.
• EMFL enables efficient, multi-region analysis crucial for answering complex questions in cognitive neuroscience.
• Public availability of EMFL resources promotes standardization and efficiency in neuroimaging research across laboratories.