3 Functional Near - Infrared Spectroscopy ( fNIRS ) : Principles and Neuroscientific Applications

fNIRS is a device designed to detect changes in the concentration of oxygenated (oxyHb) and deoxygenated (deoxyHb) haemoglobin molecules in the blood, a method commonly used to assess cerebral activity. Over the last decade, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has widely extended its applications due to its capacity to quantify oxygenation in blood and organic tissue in a continuous and non invasive manner (Chance & Leigh, 1977; Villringer & Chance, 1997). This technique is an effective, albeit ‘indirect’, optical neuroimaging method that monitors hemodynamic response to brain activation, on the basis that neural activation and vascular response are tightly coupled, so termed ‘neurovascular coupling’. Different studies show that neural activity and hemodynamic response maintain a lineal relationship (Arthurs & Boniface, 2003; Logothetis et al., 2001), suggesting that these changes in hemodynamic response could provide a good marker for assessing neural activity. In neuroscience, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is used to measure cerebral functions through different chromophore mobilization (oxygenated haemoglobin, deoxygenated haemoglobin and cytochrome c-oxidase) and their timing with concrete events. Due to methodological and theoretical problems associated with cytochrome c-oxidase functioning (Cyt-Ox) (see section 3.2.), current neuroscience studies on cerebral functions only assesses and analyzes oxyHb and deoxyHb mobilizations. These chromophore mobilizations are directly related to the cerebral blood flow (CBF) associated with an event and the physiological reactions provoked by the brain’s functional state (fNIRS measures these reaction in the cerebral cortex). The assessment of these taskrelated mobilizations performed in light of a base line established by the researcher him/herself. The difference in oxyHb and deoxyHb concentrations at baseline and at task performance determines the location in the cortex of an increase or decrease in CBF. An increase in CBF is associated with cerebral activity, making the temporal and spatial correlation between CBF and task a determinant of cerebral function. This capacity to study cerebral functions, both spatial and temporal, is what gives name to the technique described in this chapter: functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). fNIRS has become a valuable neuroimaging technique, novel in its easy application and characterized by its small size, portability, and reliability. Although relatively new to the