Are fMRI event-related response constant in time? A model selection answer.

An accurate estimation of the hemodynamic response function (HRF) in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is crucial for a precise spatial and temporal estimate of the underlying neuronal processes. Recent works have proposed non-parametric estimation of the HRF under the hypotheses of linearity and stationarity in time. Biological literature suggests, however, that response magnitude may vary with attention or ongoing activity. We therefore test a more flexible model that allows for the variation of the magnitude of the HRF with time in a maximum likelihood framework. Under this model, the magnitude of the HRF evoked by a single event may vary across occurrences of the same type of event. This model is tested against a simpler model with a fixed magnitude using information theory. We develop a standard EM algorithm to identify the event magnitudes and the HRF. We test this hypothesis on a series of 32 regions (4 ROIS on eight subjects) of interest and find that the more flexible model is better than the usual model in most cases. The important implications for the analysis of fMRI time series for event-related neuroimaging experiments are discussed.