Introduction to Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

fMRI sits at the intersection of physics, neuroscience, and statistics, and this course treats it as exactly that: you learn why a spinning proton in a magnetic field eventually becomes a colored blob on a brain map, and what that blob actually licenses you to claim. Work runs from the physics of signal generation and the BOLD hemodynamic response through preprocessing, GLM analysis, and connectivity, with Python simulations, weekly quizzes, a midterm, and hands-on time at the campus scanner. It's a methods backbone for anyone planning cognitive neuroscience research at Bilkent, and a prerequisite-in-spirit for reading the fMRI literature without taking its figures on faith.