Dynamic models in fMRI

Most statistical methods for assessing activated voxels in fMRI
experiments are based on correlation or regression analysis. In
this context the main assumptions are that the baseline can be
described by a few known basis-functions or variables and that the
effect of the stimulus, i.e. the activation, stays constant over
time. As these assumptions are in many cases neither necessary nor
correct, a new dynamic approach that does not depend on those
suppositions will be presented. This allows for simultaneous
nonparametric estimation of the baseline as well as the
time-varying effect of stimulation. This method of estimating the
stimulus related areas of the brain furthermore provides the
possibility of an analysis of the temporal and spatial development
of the activation within an fMRI-experiment.