Characterization of Functional MR Elastography Responses to Variations in Visual Stimulus Frequency and Contrast

The response of BOLD fMRI to changes in both visual contrast frequency and contrast intensity have been well documented. Recently, an increase in the stiffness of activated regions of the visual cortex due to a controlled variation of block duration has been demonstrated with fMRE elastograms. The current study aims to investigate the relationship between BOLD fMRI and fMRE due to a controlled variation of both contrast intensity and contrast frequency of a visual stimulation. This study demonstrates that the fMRE-measured stiffness change varies linearly with the underlying neural activity, which can be modulated by stimulus parameterization.