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Databasing fMRI studies — towards a 'discovery science' of brain function

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 3, pages 314–318 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Enormous progress has been made over the past decade in the development of neuroimaging technology to study in vivo brain function. But as was once the case in genomics, much of the raw functional imaging data that are collected and described in the literature have not been made available to other researchers. The fMRI Data Center aims to archive raw functional imaging data from peer-reviewed publications, making it freely available to researchers from all disciplines to confirm conclusions, test new methods and generate new hypotheses. This bold project hopes to open up new vistas of understanding of complex cognitive processes and usher in the study of 'neuronomics'.

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Figure 1: Response to the fMRI Data Center.
Figure 2: Basic fMRI study information collected for the fMRI Data Center archive.
Figure 3: Descriptive statistical images.

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Acknowledgements

The fMRI Data Center represents the work of several outstanding personnel. We would like to recognize the contributions of D. Rockmore, J. Aslam, P. Kostelec, D. Rus, J. Grethe, J. Woodward, W. Starr and A. Tilden. We would also like to thank D. Smith, B. Donald, and S. Grafton for their helpful comments on this article. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation, the William M. Keck Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College, 6162 Moore Hall, Hanover, 03755, New Hampshire, USA

    John D. Van Horn & Michael S. Gazzaniga

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  1. John D. Van Horn
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  2. Michael S. Gazzaniga
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Correspondence to John D. Van Horn.

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FURTHER INFORMATION

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

bioinformatics

biological data centres

brain imaging: localization of brain functions

brain imaging: observing ongoing neural activity

ethics of research: protection of human subjects

magnetic resonance imaging

mining biological databases

fMRI Data Center

GenBank

MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Sciences

magnetic resonance imaging

US federal regulation 45 CFR 46

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Van Horn, J., Gazzaniga, M. Databasing fMRI studies — towards a 'discovery science' of brain function. Nat Rev Neurosci 3, 314–318 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn788

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