Figure 6
The figure illustrates the effects of motion correction algorithm SPM 96. The activation maps were obtained for a bilateral hand motion paradigm using a horizontal 3 T MRI system with image voxel resolution of 3 mm × 3 mm × 5 mm. In this setting, acceptable pixel misalignment was determined to be 0.6 mm. Brain motion exceeding 0.6 mm (> 0.6 mm) produced significant pixel misalignment artifact. A motion correction algorithm wiped out these artifacts as well as actual activation. It also wiped out a small cluster of fictitious activation, while 'true' activation remained visible. In contrast, brain motion less than 0.6 mm provided activation maps of bilateral primary motor cortices. Application of motion correction algorithm artificially eliminated true activation areas.