Functional brain mapping

Functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI is a means by which dynamic processes in the body can be imaged. The ability to measure real time processes exists thanks to technological advances in the system hardware and the imaging techniques inherent in MRI itself. The massive amounts of data that can be collected today to study such processes presents a challenge not only in terms of data handling and display but also in the fact that there is often 3D and, including temporal variations, 4D data available. Extracting the full information from such data sets is the challenge currently presented to the signal or image processing communities. Here, current methods and open questions are reviewed.