High-resolution imaging and large-scale dataset
Laminar fMRI
Recent developments of ultra-high- field fMRI provided an unprecedented opportunity to investigate mesoscale neuroanatomical and functional information across cortical layers and columns in the human brain. In particular, layer-specific imaging enables addressing questions on the directionality of information flow through comparing the relative contributions of each layer. Using ultra-high-field laminar fMRI, we aim to resolve neural responses with laminar specificity and investigate how distinct laminar responses to feedforward and feedback inputs arise as the integration of information progresses. Specifically, we target the primary visual cortex to compare the layer-specific representation of physical stimulus and that of illusory representation.
7T NatPAC (Naturalistic Perception, Action, and Cognition) dataset
Large-scale human neuroimaging data sets have played a pivotal role in mapping brain and cognitive functions at a macroscopic level across large populations. Such data sets provide unprecedented opportunities to examine the healthy and diseased human brain. In this project, we aim to go beyond these big data projects and utilize the state-of-the-art high-resolution functional imaging technique at 7T in order to comprehensively characterize the cognitive landscape of individuals by acquiring large human brain anatomy and functional 7T data sets. The unique strengths of our data sets can be found 1) in its extensive coverage of a breadth of sensory, cognitive, and affective processes within individual subjects using a wide range of tasks, from sophisticated functional localizers to naturalistic cognitive tasks, 2) large scale, high-spatial resolution (1.5 mm3 isotropic voxels) whole-brain images obtained at 7T that can provide new insights into human cognitive processes when combined with computational neuroscience and machine learning, and 3) newly developed naturalistic tasks designed to probe diverse higher-order cognitive functions, including audio-video narratives, free speech, and interactive video games on a Minecraft platform. We will make use of the data for examining low-level sensory to high-level cognitive processes in an all-encompassing fashion, developing novel data analysis methods and computational models, benchmarking cutting-edge artificial intelligence methods, and providing high-quality anatomical and functional data as normative databases combined with behavioral and epidemiological measures.