A test of time-resolved functional MRI with subsecond event durations

The hemodynamic signal measured with functional neuroimaging (fMRI) is notoriously sluggish, making it challenging to draw inferences about brief mental events. Relative timing differences in the response, however, can distinguish between changes in the duration or intensity of underlying neural activity (Henson et al., 2002). Specifically, increases in stimulus duration are predicted to delay the response peak and increase its amplitude, whereas increases in stimulus intensity should affect only peak magnitude (Friston, 2005). Although these different relationships have been empirically demonstrated using stimulus durations of several seconds, it remains unclear whether similar effects can be reliably detected on the sub-second timescales typical of cognitive events. Here we tested these predictions using brief visual and auditory stimuli that varied in intensity and duration. In Experiment 1 (n=15), stimuli were presented at three durations (100, 300, and 900 ms) and three intensities in a slow event-related design with a rapid TR (625 ms). In Experiment 2 (n=14), the stimulus durations were extended (1000, 1200, and 1800 ms) to enhance signal strength. Fitting the observed fMRI signals to parameterised hemodynamic response functions revealed that changes in stimulus duration affected both peak latency and magnitude, whereas changes in intensity affected only peak magnitude. Reliable effects were observed for duration differences as small as 200 ms, particularly when the evoked responses were strong. These findings support the validity of existing hemodynamic models and identify conditions under which sub-second timing differences can be reliably detected with fMRI. They also support the use of time-resolved fMRI as a principled and practical tool for mental chronometry in cognitive neuroscience.