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Dear SPMers and fMRI enthusiasts, One of the problems that clinicians (and fMRI non-experts) have to deal with, when developing a new cognitive activation paradigm to test an effect of interest, is that in most cases, a simple out-of-scanner psychological paradigm cannot be transferred to the fMRI environment without much modification in terms of design. Is there a single coherent source of information on how to design an "optimal" cognitive activation paradigm that people can use to guide their design process? For example, recommendations as far as optimum length of blocks, number of stimuli presentations, order (randomization), balanced designs, jittered timing, etc... Granted, that these parameters will vary from task to task and from scanner to scanner, but there are some common considerations that one needs to keep in mind when designing an fmri task. Also, as the science of imaging moves forward, more and more ways to optimize fmri tasks are being developed, so it would be good to keep on top of these changes. Would anyone care to comment on whether or not this is needed or if it already exists? Best, Mike -- Michael A. Yassa Division of Psychiatric Neuro-imaging Department of Psychiarty and Behavioral Sciences Johns Hopkins School of Medicine 600 N. Wolfe St., Phipps 322 Baltimore, MD 21287 Tel: 410-955-7861 / Fax: 410-614-3676 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Web: http://pni.med.jhu.edu/people/yassa/yassa.htm