ABSTRACT

This chapter describes an emerging neuroimaging technology, Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIR), which has several attributes that make it possible to conduct neuroimaging studies of the cortex in clinical offices and under more realistic, ecologically valid parameters. It describes general working principles of fNIR and different fNIR instrumentations based on these working principles. The chapter reviews algorithms developed for fNIR data processing for artifact removal and used in the extraction of hemodynamic signals from the fNIR intensity measurements. It discusses some clinical applications and further give some specific examples of some of the basic research and clinical application studies that have been mainly carried out by the Optical Brain Imaging group at Drexel University within the Cognitive Neuroengineering and Quantitative Experimental Research Collaborative. Analysis of fNIR measurements involves two main steps: first, artifact and/or noise removal, and second, conversion of optical measurements into physiologically relevant signals and/or features.