How to Interpret Resting-State fMRI: Ask Your Participants
- 1Section on Functional Imaging Methods, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
- 2Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 1N4
- 3Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 4N1
- 4Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720
- 5FMRI Core, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
Abstract
Resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) reveals brain dynamics in a task-unconstrained environment as subjects let their minds wander freely. Consequently, resting subjects navigate a rich space of cognitive and perceptual states (i.e., ongoing experience). How this ongoing experience shapes rsfMRI summary metrics (e.g., functional connectivity) is unknown, yet likely to contribute uniquely to within- and between-subject differences. Here we argue that understanding the role of ongoing experience in rsfMRI requires access to standardized, temporally resolved, scientifically validated first-person descriptions of those experiences. We suggest best practices for obtaining those descriptions via introspective methods appropriately adapted for use in fMRI research. We conclude with a set of guidelines for fusing these two data types to answer pressing questions about the etiology of rsfMRI.
- Received July 13, 2020.
- Revision received November 17, 2020.
- Accepted November 21, 2020.
- Copyright © 2021 the authors
