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Perspective ARTICLE

This article is part of a Research Topic

fMRI in translation: the challenges facing real-world applications

Stephan Schleim^1,2 and Jonathan P. Roiser³*

Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

Division of Medical Psychology, University Clinics Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK

Functional neuroimaging has increased our understanding of human brain function tremendously and has become a standard tool in clinical and cognitive neuroscience research. We briefly review its methodological foundations and describe remaining challenges for translational research. The application of neuroimaging results to individual subjects, for example in predicting treatment response or determining the veracity of a statement, is limited by these challenges, in particular by the anatomical and statistical procedures commonly employed. We thus argue for sincere caution in the translation of functional neuroimaging to real-world applications.

Keywords:

fMRI, translational research, clinical neuroscience, methodological limitations, real-world applications

Citation:

Schleim S and Roiser JP (2009). fMRI in translation: the challenges facing real-world applications. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 3:63. doi: 10.3389/neuro.09.063.2009

Received:

14 July 2009;

Paper pending published:

16 September 2009;

Accepted:

23 November 2009;

Published online:

23 December 2009.

Edited by:

Chiara Saviane, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Italy

Reviewed by:

Marco Iacoboni, University of California Los Angeles, USA
Niels Birbaumer, Istituto Di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifi co Ospedale San Camillo, Italy

© 2009 Schleim and Roiser. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

*Correspondence:

Jonathan P. Roiser, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR, UK. e-mail: j.roiser@ucl.ac.uk