Reliability Maps in Event Related Functional MRI Experiments

In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal change, in contrast to noise, is typically small (< 5%; e.g., Chen & Small, 2007). Although the quality of acquired image data may be improved by pre-processing images with lowor high-pass filters, classification of voxels into the active/inactive status could vary from one study to the next even when the same experimental paradigm is implemented (Maitra, 2009). Reliability assessment would contribute significantly to the knowledge on noise structures in image data, as a function of stimulus sequences, ethnic groups, imaging techniques and scanner differences (Biswal et al., 1996; Genovese et al., 1997; Maitra et al., 2002).