Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans has helped improve our understanding of the neuroanatomical organization of behavior. Unfortunately, fMRI in animal studies has not kept pace with human work. Experiments are limited because animals must be anesthetized to prevent motion artifacts, precluding most studies involving neuroimaging of brain activity during behavior. Since the level of arousal is inextricably linked to behavior, the use of awake animals will produce a clearer understanding of the neural circuitries underlying behavioral responses to different sensory modalities like olfactory and visual stimulation. This proposal will develop and test a new head and body holder for performing fMRI in fully conscious animals. Using this non-invasive method of imaging brain activity, it will be possible to perform developmental fMRI studies in animal models.
