Some Points to Consider in a Task-Based fMRI Study: A Guideline for Beginners

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a technique widely used to probe brain function, and has shown many research and clinical applications. Despite its popularity and strength, performing an fMRI study needs careful consideration of the design of the experiment, as well as the techniques and methodologies implemented in it, due to the high potential of these factors to alter the outputs of the study. The influences of the demographics of the participants, stimuli design, image acquisition, and data analysis methods on the fMRI results are illustrated previously. Therefore, it is of utmost significance to have an understanding of the critical considerations when designing an fMRI study. In this manuscript, by reviewing the methodology of over one hundred task-based fMRI studies, around 300 substantial tips regarding the different stages of an fMRI experiment are gathered. These could only be found scattered through the literature, and such a collection would act as a guideline for the beginners in the field of fMRI.