3.0 tesla ge mr 750 scanner

FMRI scanning was performed on a 3T GE 3.0 Tesla GE MR 750 scanner (General Electric Healthcare; Waukesha, WI) using a standard radiofrequency coil. Whole-brain functional images (i.e., blood oxygen level–dependent [BOLD]) were collected using the following parameters: TR = 2s, TE = 25 ms, flip angle = 90°, field of view = 22 × 22 cm2, acquisition matrix 64 × 64; 44 axial, 3-mm-thick slices with no gap. The first 4 volumes from each run were discarded to allow magnetization to reach equilibrium.
Conventional preprocessing steps were completed in Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM8) software package (Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, London www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm). Images were temporally corrected to account for slice time acquisition differences and spatially realigned to the mean image to correct for head movement while motion realignment parameters were entered as regressors of no-interest to control for minimal head movement during scanning. Functional images from all participants included in analysis met criteria for quality with minimal motion correction (movements were < 3 mm and < 3 degrees rotation in any one direction). Images were then normalized to a Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) template using the echo-planar imaging template, resampled to 2 × 2 × 2 voxels and smoothed with an 8 mm isotropic Gaussian kernel.

Functional MRI based on BOLD contrast was performed on a 3.0 Tesla GE MR 750 scanner (General Electric Healthcare; Waukesha, WI) using an 8-channel phased-array radio frequency head coil. A gradient-echo echo planar imaging (EPI) sequence was used (2s TR; 22.2ms TE; 90° flip angle; 64 × 64 matrix; 22cm FOV; 44 axial slices; 3.4 × 3.4 × 3.0 mm voxels; 488 volumes across 2 runs). The first 4 volumes from each run were discarded to allow the magnetization to reach equilibrium. Data from all participants met our inclusion criteria for image quality with minimal motion correction (all movements ≤ 2 mm in any direction across functional runs).