Mapping the primary motor cortex in healthy subjects and patients with peri-rolandic brain lesions before neurosurgery.

Objective: The aim of this study was to establish a robust set of motor tasks that could be used to functionally delineate the motor cortex with blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) at 3 T and produce precise functional maps for pre-operative planning and functional neuronavigation.

Method: Twelve male and four female control subjects were recruited for this study which examined six different motor tasks. Finger-, tongue-, lip- and toe-movements, as well as isometric upper arm- and thigh-contraction tasks were conducted during separate scans on a 3 T MRI scanner.

Putting the brain in Jeopardy: a novel comprehensive and expressive language task?

Objective: To develop and test a novel fMRI compatible comprehensive and expressive language task that reliably and predictably activates both Wernicke's and Broca's cortical brain regions, respectively, and has utility for the determination of hemispheric language dominance.

Methods: Ten healthy men (seven) and women (three) were administered a task based on the television game Jeopardy that was adapted for fMRI presentation. The task was programmed using E-PRIME software and designed to run as an event-related experiment.