Individual differences in fMRI activation patterns
- Understanding individual variation is important for studies of mental health.
- Approaches include correlating activation patterns with abilities (e.g., neuropsychological) or traits (e.g., personality) measured outside of the scanner, using multiple regression to control for other pertinent factors.
- Network analyses that are hypothesis- or data-driven, such as structural equation modeling, may be particularly useful.
- Developing sensitive and valid tasks for use in psychiatry is critical to any potential clinical applications. Researchers need to determine how frequently a task results in a specific activation in normal subjects in order to define abnormalities in a disorder.
- Performance measures are important for verifying compliance.
- Temporal stability of the imaging and performance data provides a platform for potential sensitivity to diagnostic differences and treatment effects.
- Activation data from an fMRI study employing an attentional task designed to activate the dorsal anterior cingulate was presented as an example. Several studies of ADHD have reported abnormalities in this region which have responded to stimulant treatment.
