What has vision science taught us about functional MRI?

In the domain of human neuroimaging, much attention has been paid to the question of whether and how the development of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has advanced our scientific knowledge of the human brain. However, the opposite question is also important; how has our knowledge of the brain advanced our understanding of fMRI? Here, we discuss how and why scientific knowledge about the human and animal visual system has been used to answer fundamental questions about fMRI as a brain measurement tool and how these answers have contributed to scientific discoveries beyond vision science.

Automated summary

This article discusses how our knowledge of the brain has advanced our understanding of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and contributed to scientific discoveries beyond vision science. By utilizing scientific knowledge about the human and animal visual systems, we are able to answer fundamental questions about fMRI as a brain measurement tool and apply these answers to other fields of scientific research.