Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25152709›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in neuroscience2014

Does functional MRI detect activation in white matter? A review of emerging evidence, issues, and future directions.

Jodie R Gawryluk, Erin L Mazerolle, Ryan C N D'Arcy

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 149 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
149citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

149 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
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  4. Electrophysiological features of signals recorded from white matter.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
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  5. White-Matter BOLD Encoding Beyond Marginal Connectivity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
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  18. Spine-Prints: Transposing Brain Fingerprints to the Spinal Cord.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

89 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jodie R GawrylukDivision of Medical Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria Victoria, BC, Canada.
Erin L MazerolleDepartment of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary Calgary, AB, Canada.
Ryan C N D'ArcyApplied Sciences, Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC, Canada ; Fraser Health Authority, Surrey Memorial Hospital Surrey, BC, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive technique that allows for visualization of activated brain regions. Until recently, fMRI studies have focused on gray matter. There are two main reasons white matter fMRI remains controversial: (1) the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) fMRI signal depends on cerebral blood flow and volume, which are lower in white matter than gray matter and (2) fMRI signal has been associated with post-synaptic potentials (mainly localized in gray matter) as opposed to action potentials (the primary type of neural activity in white matter). Despite these observations, there is no direct evidence against measuring fMRI activation in white matter and reports of fMRI activation in white matter continue to increase. The questions underlying white matter fMRI activation are important. White matter fMRI activation has the potential to greatly expand the breadth of brain connectivity research, as well as improve the assessment and diagnosis of white matter and connectivity disorders. The current review provides an overview of the motivation to investigate white matter fMRI activation, as well as the published evidence of this phenomenon. We speculate on possible neurophysiologic bases of white matter fMRI signals, and discuss potential explanations for why reports of white matter fMRI activation are relatively scarce. We end with a discussion of future basic and clinical research directions in the study of white matter fMRI.

Indexed as

brain connectivitycorpus callosumfunctional magnetic resonance imaginginternal capsulewhite matter

Identifiers

PMID25152709
PMCPMC4125856

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.