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How fMRI Works
Functional magnetic resonance imaging, better known as fMRI, works by looking at the physiological change of oxygenated blood in the brain (Baars and Gage 2010). This works because oxygenated blood and deoxygenated blood are magnetically different (Kanwisher 2018). This is a procedure that is not invasive, which is why it is used more frequently than other techniques and this is also why it is good for research on the human brain.

What Kind of Information fMRI Delivers
fMRI can show us the function of brain activity in very specific areas. This works because blood flow in the brain is very localized (Kanwisher 2018). This technique tracks the activity of very small clusters of neurons. We are able to see what areas of the brain show activity during specific tasks. fMRI also has great spatial resolution, meaning we can see very specific locations in the brain with this type of imaging.

Strengths and Limitations in Studying Human Cognition
fMRI has very good spatial resolution, which means we can clearly see a very specific area or location of brain activity. However, it has very poor temporal resolution, which means it is slow in comparison to other brain imaging techniques (Baars and Gage 2010). The response time of fMRI is about six seconds. This explains why fMRI is often used in combination with other techniques so that there is both good spatial resolution and good temporal resolution. fMRI is not invasive, which means that it is safe to use on human subjects. Animal subjects are often used if there is a technique that is invasive, however that does not give the exact information that we want. Using fMRI means we can study humans, making it easier to understand the human brain and further study human cognition.

Studies that use fMRI
Wang et al. (2014) produced a study mapping the entropy of the brain in normal human brains. This could have physical indications for problems with function in the brain. They mapped the brain entropy into seven different regions. These findings allow for further research to be done on the physiology and function of the brain using this method. In the study Visual Field Reconstruction Using fMRI-based Techniques (2020) they used fMRI to detect defects in the visual field of people with glaucoma. They were able to identify details about the visual field from the data from this study. They reconstructed the visual field to help identify the details of the defects in individuals.

Common Misconceptions
It can be easy to assume that MRI and fMRI are the same thing, or to confuse the functions of the two. MRI shows the anatomy of tissues in the body. fMRI shows the neural activity or physiology in the body. A great way to remember this is the f in fMRI stands for functional because it shows the function in the body.