Emilie Valle1, Live Eikenes2, Anders Kristoffersen3, Asta K. Hberg2, 3
1MI Lab, Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 2Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 3MI Lab, Department of Medical Imaging, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
Diffusion functional MRI has been proposed as a method that detects true neuronal activity as changes in the grey matter diffusion properties. Due to the high level of noise present in the data, the origin of the diffusion signal remains uncertain. Data was analyzed using a response function modeling the diffusion process (DRF) and the vascular process (HRF). Though the average time-course from DRF analysis showed a 3s earlier and steeper rise than the one from HRF analysis (= BOLD signal), noise measurements suggested that the observed shift was caused by correlated noise (physiological and artefactual) present in the data.