title: Kord machine gun

text: The catalyst for the development of the weapon was a complete lack of any heavy machine guns in construction at that time in the Russian Federation. Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the weapon that had functioned as the heavy machine gun was the NSV, or "Utes" or "Utjos" ("утёс", meaning "one lonely cliff" in Russian, this name was its designation during development) machine gun. The main production centre for the NSV was located in what is now Kazakhstan.


title: Kord machine gun

text: The Russian Degtyarev bureau was given the job of producing an updated version of the weapon chambered in the 12.7×108mm cartridge, which could be used for support, mounted on vehicles or in an anti-aircraft capacity. All variants of the weapon are also available chambered in the .50 BMG (12.7×99mm NATO) cartridge for export sales.


title: Kord machine gun

text: The weapon employs new construction, and consequently is significantly lighter than its predecessor. The firing mechanism is very rugged, and is capable of a greater rate of fire and significantly less recoil. Because a new barrel made of a high-tech alloy minimizes distortion and drop, accuracy has increased tremendously over previous Soviet machine guns. Unlike its predecessor, it may be fired from a bipod; a rather unusual feature for 12.7 mm/.50 caliber heavy machine guns. Its relatively light weight and lesser recoil allows stronger soldiers to move the gun around without assistance.


title: Kord machine gun

text: The Kord machine gun was used by the Russian forces in 1999–2000 during the Second Chechen war and in 2008 during the Russo-Georgian War. It later saw action in the Russo-Ukrainian War and in the Syrian Civil War. 6P67, 6P68, 6P69 versions entered service in 2019.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that region also increases.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The primary form of fMRI uses the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) contrast, discovered by Seiji Ogawa in 1990. This is a type of specialized brain and body scan used to map neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals by imaging the change in blood flow (hemodynamic response) related to energy use by brain cells. Since the early 1990s, fMRI has come to dominate brain mapping research because it does not involve the use of injections, surgery, the ingestion of substances, or exposure to ionizing radiation. This measure is frequently corrupted by noise from various sources; hence, statistical procedures are used to extract the underlying signal. The resulting brain activation can be graphically represented by color-coding the strength of activation across the brain or the specific region studied. The technique can localize activity to within millimeters but, using standard techniques, no better than within a window of a few seconds. Other methods of obtaining contrast are arterial spin labeling and diffusion MRI. Diffusion MRI is similar to BOLD fMRI but provides contrast based on the magnitude of diffusion of water molecules in the brain.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: In addition to detecting BOLD responses from activity due to tasks or stimuli, fMRI can measure resting state, or negative-task state, which shows the subjects' baseline BOLD variance. Since about 1998 studies have shown the existence and properties of the default mode network, a functionally connected neural network of apparent "resting brain states".


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: fMRI is used in research, and to a lesser extent, in clinical work. It can complement other measures of brain physiology such as electroencephalography (EEG), and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Newer methods which improve both spatial and time resolution are being researched, and these largely use biomarkers other than the BOLD signal. Some companies have developed commercial products such as lie detectors based on fMRI techniques, but the research is not believed to be developed enough for widespread commercial use.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The fMRI concept builds on the earlier MRI scanning technology and the discovery of properties of oxygen-rich blood. MRI brain scans use a strong, permanent, static magnetic field to align nuclei in the brain region being studied. Another magnetic field, the gradient field, is then applied to spatially locate different nuclei. Finally, a radiofrequency (RF) pulse is played to kick the nuclei to higher magnetization levels, with the effect now depending on where they are located. When the RF field is removed, the nuclei go back to their original states, and the energy they emit is measured with a coil to recreate the positions of the nuclei. MRI thus provides a static structural view of brain matter. The central thrust behind fMRI was to extend MRI to capture functional changes in the brain caused by neuronal activity. Differences in magnetic properties between arterial (oxygen-rich) and venous (oxygen-poor) blood provided this link.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Since the 1890s it has been known that changes in blood flow and blood oxygenation in the brain (collectively known as hemodynamics) are closely linked to neural activity. When neurons become active, local blood flow to those brain regions increases, and oxygen-rich (oxygenated) blood displaces oxygen-depleted (deoxygenated) blood around 2 seconds later. This rises to a peak over 4–6 seconds, before falling back to the original level (and typically undershooting slightly). Oxygen is carried by the hemoglobin molecule in red blood cells. Deoxygenated hemoglobin (dHb) is more magnetic (paramagnetic) than oxygenated hemoglobin (Hb), which is virtually resistant to magnetism (diamagnetic). This difference leads to an improved MR signal since the diamagnetic blood interferes with the magnetic MR signal less. This improvement can be mapped to show which neurons are active at a time.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: During the late 19th century, Angelo Mosso invented the 'human circulation balance', which could non-invasively measure the redistribution of blood during emotional and intellectual activity. However, although briefly mentioned by William James in 1890, the details and precise workings of this balance and the experiments Mosso performed with it remained largely unknown until the recent discovery of the original instrument as well as Mosso's reports by Stefano Sandrone and colleagues. Angelo Mosso investigated several critical variables that are still relevant in modern neuroimaging such as the 'signal-to-noise ratio', the appropriate choice of the experimental paradigm and the need for the simultaneous recording of differing physiological parameters. Mosso's manuscripts do not provide direct evidence that the balance was really able to measure changes in cerebral blood flow due to cognition, however a modern replication performed by David T Field has now demonstrated using modern signal processing techniques unavailable to Mosso that a balance apparatus of this type is able to detect changes in cerebral blood volume related to cognition.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: In 1890, Charles Roy and Charles Sherrington first experimentally linked brain function to its blood flow, at Cambridge University. The next step to resolving how to measure blood flow to the brain was Linus Pauling's and Charles Coryell's discovery in 1936 that oxygen-rich blood with Hb was weakly repelled by magnetic fields, while oxygen-depleted blood with dHb was attracted to a magnetic field, though less so than ferromagnetic elements such as iron. Seiji Ogawa at AT&T Bell labs recognized that this could be used to augment MRI, which could study just the static structure of the brain, since the differing magnetic properties of dHb and Hb caused by blood flow to activated brain regions would cause measurable changes in the MRI signal. BOLD is the MRI contrast of dHb, discovered in 1990 by Ogawa. In a seminal 1990 study based on earlier work by Thulborn et al., Ogawa and colleagues scanned rodents in a strong magnetic field (7.0 T) MRI. To manipulate blood oxygen level, they changed the proportion of oxygen the animals breathed. As this proportion fell, a map of blood flow in the brain was seen in the MRI. They verified this by placing test tubes with oxygenated or deoxygenated blood and creating separate images. They also showed that gradient-echo images, which depend on a form of loss of magnetization called T decay, produced the best images. To show these blood flow changes were related to functional brain activity, they changed the composition of the air breathed by rats, and scanned them while monitoring brain activity with EEG. The first attempt to detect the regional brain activity using MRI was performed by Belliveau and colleagues at Harvard University using the contrast agent Magnevist, a paramagnetic substance remaining in the bloodstream after intravenous injection. However, this method is not popular in human fMRI, because of the inconvenience of the contrast agent injection, and because the agent stays in the blood only for a short time.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Three studies in 1992 were the first to explore using the BOLD contrast in humans. Kenneth Kwong and colleagues, using both gradient-echo and inversion recovery echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequence at a magnetic field strength of 1.5 T published studies showing clear activation of the human visual cortex. The Harvard team thereby showed that both blood flow and blood volume increased locally in activity neural tissue. Ogawa and others conducted a similar study using a higher field (4.0 T) and showed that the BOLD signal depended on T2* loss of magnetization. T2* decay is caused by magnetized nuclei in a volume of space losing magnetic coherence (transverse magnetization) from both bumping into one another and from intentional differences in applied magnetic field strength across locations (field inhomogeneity from a spatial gradient). Bandettini and colleagues used EPI at 1.5 T to show activation in the primary motor cortex, a brain area at the last stage of the circuitry controlling voluntary movements. The magnetic fields, pulse sequences and procedures and techniques used by these early studies are still used in current-day fMRI studies. But today researchers typically collect data from more slices (using stronger magnetic gradients), and preprocess and analyze data using statistical techniques.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The brain does not store a lot of glucose, its primary source of energy. When neurons become active, getting them back to their original state of polarization requires actively pumping ions across the neuronal cell membranes, in both directions. The energy for those ion pumps is mainly produced from glucose. More blood flows in to transport more glucose, also bringing in more oxygen in the form of oxygenated hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells. This is from both a higher rate of blood flow and an expansion of blood vessels. The blood-flow change is localized to within 2 or 3 mm of where the neural activity is. Usually the brought-in oxygen is more than the oxygen consumed in burning glucose (it is not yet settled whether most glucose consumption is oxidative), and this causes a net decrease in deoxygenated hemoglobin (dHb) in that brain area's blood vessels. This changes the magnetic property of the blood, making it interfere less with the magnetization and its eventual decay induced by the MRI process.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The cerebral blood flow (CBF) corresponds to the consumed glucose differently in different brain regions. Initial results show there is more inflow than consumption of glucose in regions such as the amygdala, basal ganglia, thalamus and cingulate cortex, all of which are recruited for fast responses. In regions that are more deliberative, such as the lateral frontal and lateral parietal lobes, it seems that incoming flow is less than consumption. This affects BOLD sensitivity.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Hemoglobin differs in how it responds to magnetic fields, depending on whether it has a bound oxygen molecule. The dHb molecule is more attracted to magnetic fields. Hence, it distorts the surrounding magnetic field induced by an MRI scanner, causing the nuclei there to lose magnetization faster via the T decay. Thus MR pulse sequences sensitive to T show more MR signal where blood is highly oxygenated and less where it is not. This effect increases with the square of the strength of the magnetic field. The fMRI signal hence needs both a strong magnetic field (1.5 T or higher) and a pulse sequence such as EPI, which is sensitive to T contrast.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The physiological blood-flow response largely decides the temporal sensitivity, that is how accurately we can measure when neurons are active, in BOLD fMRI. The basic time resolution parameter (sampling time) is designated TR; the TR dictates how often a particular brain slice is excited and allowed to lose its magnetization. TRs could vary from the very short (500 ms) to the very long (3 s). For fMRI specifically, the hemodynamic response lasts over 10 seconds, rising multiplicatively (that is, as a proportion of current value), peaking at 4 to 6 seconds, and then falling multiplicatively. Changes in the blood-flow system, the vascular system, integrate responses to neuronal activity over time. Because this response is a smooth continuous function, sampling with ever-faster TRs does not help; it just gives more points on the response curve obtainable by simple linear interpolation anyway. Experimental paradigms such as staggering when a stimulus is presented at various trials can improve temporal resolution, but reduces the number of effective data points obtained.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The change in the MR signal from neuronal activity is called the hemodynamic response (HR). It lags the neuronal events triggering it by a couple of seconds, since it takes a while for the vascular system to respond to the brain's need for glucose. From this point it typically rises to a peak at about 5 seconds after the stimulus. If the neurons keep firing, say from a continuous stimulus, the peak spreads to a flat plateau while the neurons stay active. After activity stops, the BOLD signal falls below the original level, the baseline, a phenomenon called the undershoot. Over time the signal recovers to the baseline. There is some evidence that continuous metabolic requirements in a brain region contribute to the undershoot.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The mechanism by which the neural system provides feedback to the vascular system of its need for more glucose is partly the release of glutamate as part of neuron firing. This glutamate affects nearby supporting cells, astrocytes, causing a change in calcium ion concentration. This, in turn, releases nitric oxide at the contact point of astrocytes and intermediate-sized blood vessels, the arterioles. Nitric oxide is a vasodilator causing arterioles to expand and draw in more blood.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: A single voxel's response signal over time is called its timecourse. Typically, the unwanted signal, called the noise, from the scanner, random brain activity and similar elements is as big as the signal itself. To eliminate these, fMRI studies repeat a stimulus presentation multiple times.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Spatial resolution of an fMRI study refers to how well it discriminates between nearby locations. It is measured by the size of voxels, as in MRI. A voxel is a three-dimensional rectangular cuboid, whose dimensions are set by the slice thickness, the area of a slice, and the grid imposed on the slice by the scanning process. Full-brain studies use larger voxels, while those that focus on specific regions of interest typically use smaller sizes. Sizes range from 4 to 5 mm, or with laminar resolution fMRI (lfMRI), to submillimeter. Smaller voxels contain fewer neurons on average, incorporate less blood flow, and hence have less signal than larger voxels. Smaller voxels imply longer scanning times, since scanning time directly rises with the number of voxels per slice and the number of slices. This can lead both to discomfort for the subject inside the scanner and to loss of the magnetization signal. A voxel typically contains a few million neurons and tens of billions of synapses, with the actual number depending on voxel size and the area of the brain being imaged.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The vascular arterial system supplying fresh blood branches into smaller and smaller vessels as it enters the brain surface and within-brain regions, culminating in a connected capillary bed within the brain. The drainage system, similarly, merges into larger and larger veins as it carries away oxygen-depleted blood. The dHb contribution to the fMRI signal is from both the capillaries near the area of activity and larger draining veins that may be farther away. For good spatial resolution, the signal from the large veins needs to be suppressed, since it does not correspond to the area where the neural activity is. This can be achieved either by using strong static magnetic fields or by using spin-echo pulse sequences. With these, fMRI can examine a spatial range from millimeters to centimeters, and can hence identify Brodmann areas (centimers), subcortical nuclei such as the caudate, putamen and thalamus, and hippocampal subfields such as the combined dentate gyrus/CA3, CA1, and subiculum.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Temporal resolution is the smallest time period of neural activity reliably separated out by fMRI. One element deciding this is the sampling time, the TR. Below a TR of 1 or 2 seconds, however, scanning just generates sharper hemodynamic response (HR) curves, without adding much additional information (e.g. beyond what is alternatively achieved by mathematically interpolating the curve gaps at a lower TR). Temporal resolution can be improved by staggering stimulus presentation across trials. If one-third of data trials are sampled normally, one-third at 1 s, 4 s, 7 s and so on, and the last third at 2 s, 5 s and 8 s, the combined data provide a resolution of 1 s, though with only one-third as many total events.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The time resolution needed depends on brain processing time for various events. An example of the broad range here is given by the visual processing system. What the eye sees is registered on the photoreceptors of the retina within a millisecond or so. These signals get to the primary visual cortex via the thalamus in tens of milliseconds. Neuronal activity related to the act of seeing lasts for more than 100 ms. A fast reaction, such as swerving to avoid a car crash, takes around 200 ms. By about half a second, awareness and reflection of the incident sets in. Remembering a similar event may take a few seconds, and emotional or physiological changes such as fear arousal may last minutes or hours. Learned changes, such as recognizing faces or scenes, may last days, months, or years. Most fMRI experiments study brain processes lasting a few seconds, with the study conducted over some tens of minutes. Subjects may move their heads during that time, and this head motion needs to be corrected for. So does drift in the baseline signal over time. Boredom and learning may modify both subject behavior and cognitive processes.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: When a person performs two tasks simultaneously or in overlapping fashion, the BOLD response is expected to add linearly. This is a fundamental assumption of many fMRI studies that is based on the principle that continuously differentiable systems can be expected to behave linearly when perturbations are small; they are linear to first order. Linear addition means the only operation allowed on the individual responses before they are combined (added together) is a separate scaling of each. Since scaling is just multiplication by a constant number, this means an event that evokes, say, twice the neural response as another, can be modeled as the first event presented twice simultaneously. The HR for the doubled-event is then just double that of the single event.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: To the extent that the behavior is linear, the time course of the BOLD response to an arbitrary stimulus can be modeled by convolution of that stimulus with the impulse BOLD response. Accurate time course modeling is important in estimating the BOLD response magnitude.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: This strong assumption was first studied in 1996 by Boynton and colleagues, who checked the effects on the primary visual cortex of patterns flickering 8 times a second and presented for 3 to 24 seconds. Their result showed that when visual contrast of the image was increased, the HR shape stayed the same but its amplitude increased proportionally. With some exceptions, responses to longer stimuli could also be inferred by adding together the responses for multiple shorter stimuli summing to the same longer duration. In 1997, Dale and Buckner tested whether individual events, rather than blocks of some duration, also summed the same way, and found they did. But they also found deviations from the linear model at time intervals less than 2 seconds.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: A source of nonlinearity in the fMRI response is from the refractory period, where brain activity from a presented stimulus suppresses further activity on a subsequent, similar, stimulus. As stimuli become shorter, the refractory period becomes more noticeable. The refractory period does not change with age, nor do the amplitudes of HRs. The period differs across brain regions. In both the primary motor cortex and the visual cortex, the HR amplitude scales linearly with duration of a stimulus or response. In the corresponding secondary regions, the supplementary motor cortex, which is involved in planning motor behavior, and the motion-sensitive V5 region, a strong refractory period is seen and the HR amplitude stays steady across a range of stimulus or response durations. The refractory effect can be used in a way similar to habituation to see what features of a stimulus a person discriminates as new. Further limits to linearity exist because of saturation: with large stimulation levels a maximum BOLD response is reached.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Researchers have checked the BOLD signal against both signals from implanted electrodes (mostly in monkeys) and signals of field potentials (that is the electric or magnetic field from the brain's activity, measured outside the skull) from EEG and MEG. The local field potential, which includes both post-neuron-synaptic activity and internal neuron processing, better predicts the BOLD signal. So the BOLD contrast reflects mainly the inputs to a neuron and the neuron's integrative processing within its body, and less the output firing of neurons. In humans, electrodes can be implanted only in patients who need surgery as treatment, but evidence suggests a similar relationship at least for the auditory cortex and the primary visual cortex. Activation locations detected by BOLD fMRI in cortical areas (brain surface regions) are known to tally with CBF-based functional maps from PET scans. Some regions just a few millimeters in size, such as the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus, which relays visual inputs from the retina to the visual cortex, have been shown to generate the BOLD signal correctly when presented with visual input. Nearby regions such as the pulvinar nucleus were not stimulated for this task, indicating millimeter resolution for the spatial extent of the BOLD response, at least in thalamic nuclei. In the rat brain, single-whisker touch has been shown to elicit BOLD signals from the somatosensory cortex.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: However, the BOLD signal cannot separate feedback and feedforward active networks in a region; the slowness of the vascular response means the final signal is the summed version of the whole region's network; blood flow is not discontinuous as the processing proceeds. Also, both inhibitory and excitatory input to a neuron from other neurons sum and contribute to the BOLD signal. Within a neuron these two inputs might cancel out. The BOLD response can also be affected by a variety of factors, including disease, sedation, anxiety, medications that dilate blood vessels, and attention (neuromodulation).


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The amplitude of the BOLD signal does not necessarily affect its shape. A higher-amplitude signal may be seen for stronger neural activity, but peaking at the same place as a weaker signal. Also, the amplitude does not necessarily reflect behavioral performance. A complex cognitive task may initially trigger high-amplitude signals associated with good performance, but as the subject gets better at it, the amplitude may decrease with performance staying the same. This is expected to be due to increased efficiency in performing the task. The BOLD response across brain regions cannot be compared directly even for the same task, since the density of neurons and the blood-supply characteristics are not constant across the brain. However, the BOLD response can often be compared across subjects for the same brain region and the same task.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: More recent characterization of the BOLD signal has used optogenetic techniques in rodents to precisely control neuronal firing while simultaneously monitoring the BOLD response using high field magnets (a technique sometimes referred to as "optofMRI"). These techniques suggest that neuronal firing is well correlated with the measured BOLD signal including approximately linear summation of the BOLD signal over closely spaced bursts of neuronal firing. Linear summation is an assumption of commonly used event-related fMRI designs.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Physicians use fMRI to assess how risky brain surgery or similar invasive treatment is for a patient and to learn how a normal, diseased or injured brain is functioning. They map the brain with fMRI to identify regions linked to critical functions such as speaking, moving, sensing, or planning. This is useful to plan for surgery and radiation therapy of the brain.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Clinical use of fMRI still lags behind research use. Patients with brain pathologies are more difficult to scan with fMRI than are young healthy volunteers, the typical research-subject population. Tumors and lesions can change the blood flow in ways not related to neural activity, masking the neural HR. Drugs such as antihistamines and even caffeine can affect HR. Some patients may have disorders such as compulsive lying, which makes certain studies impossible. It is harder for those with clinical problems to stay still for long. Using head restraints or bite bars may injure epileptics who have a seizure inside the scanner; bite bars may also discomfort those with dental prostheses.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Despite these difficulties, fMRI has been used clinically to map functional areas, check left-right hemispherical asymmetry in language and memory regions, check the neural correlates of a seizure, study how the brain recovers partially from a stroke, and test how well a drug or behavioral therapy works. Mapping of functional areas and understanding lateralization of language and memory help surgeons avoid removing critical brain regions when they have to operate and remove brain tissue. This is of particular importance in removing tumors and in patients who have intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. Lesioning tumors requires pre-surgical planning to ensure no functionally useful tissue is removed needlessly. Recovered depressed patients have shown altered fMRI activity in the cerebellum, and this may indicate a tendency to relapse. Pharmacological fMRI, assaying brain activity after drugs are administered, can be used to check how much a drug penetrates the blood–brain barrier and dose vs effect information of the medication.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Research is primarily performed in non-human primates such as the rhesus macaque. These studies can be used both to check or predict human results and to validate the fMRI technique itself. But the studies are difficult because it is hard to motivate an animal to stay still and typical inducements such as juice trigger head movement while the animal swallows it. It is also expensive to maintain a colony of larger animals such as the macaque.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The goal of fMRI data analysis is to detect correlations between brain activation and a task the subject performs during the scan. It also aims to discover correlations with the specific cognitive states, such as memory and recognition, induced in the subject. The BOLD signature of activation is relatively weak, however, so other sources of noise in the acquired data must be carefully controlled. This means that a series of processing steps must be performed on the acquired images before the actual statistical search for task-related activation can begin. Nevertheless, it is possible to predict, for example, the emotions a person is experiencing solely from their fMRI, with a high degree of accuracy.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Noise is unwanted changes to the MR signal from elements not of interest to the study. The five main sources of noise in fMRI are thermal noise, system noise, physiological noise, random neural activity and differences in both mental strategies and behavior across people and across tasks within a person. Thermal noise multiplies in line with the static field strength, but physiological noise multiplies as the square of the field strength. Since the signal also multiplies as the square of the field strength, and since physiological noise is a large proportion of total noise, higher field strengths above 3 T do not always produce proportionately better images.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Heat causes electrons to move around and distort the current in the fMRI detector, producing thermal noise. Thermal noise rises with the temperature. It also depends on the range of frequencies detected by the receiver coil and its electrical resistance. It affects all voxels similarly, independent of anatomy.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: System noise is from the imaging hardware. One form is scanner drift, caused by the superconducting magnet's field drifting over time. Another form is changes in the current or voltage distribution of the brain itself inducing changes in the receiver coil and reducing its sensitivity. A procedure called impedance matching is used to bypass this inductance effect. There could also be noise from the magnetic field not being uniform. This is often adjusted for by using shimming coils, small magnets physically inserted, say into the subject's mouth, to patch the magnetic field. The nonuniformities are often near brain sinuses such as the ear and plugging the cavity for long periods can be discomfiting. The scanning process acquires the MR signal in k-space, in which overlapping spatial frequencies (that is repeated edges in the sample's volume) are each represented with lines. Transforming this into voxels introduces some loss and distortions.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Physiological noise is from head and brain movement in the scanner from breathing, heart beats, or the subject fidgeting, tensing, or making physical responses such as button presses. Head movements cause the voxel-to-neurons mapping to change while scanning is in progress. Noise due to head movement is a particular issue when working with children, although there are measures that can be taken to reduce head motion when scanning children, such as changes in experimental design and training prior to the scanning session. Since fMRI is acquired in slices, after movement, a voxel continues to refer to the same absolute location in space while the neurons underneath it would have changed. Another source of physiological noise is the change in the rate of blood flow, blood volume, and use of oxygen over time. This last component contributes to two-thirds of physiological noise, which, in turn, is the main contributor to total noise.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Even with the best experimental design, it is not possible to control and constrain all other background stimuli impinging on a subject—scanner noise, random thoughts, physical sensations, and the like. These produce neural activity independent of the experimental manipulation. These are not amenable to mathematical modeling and have to be controlled by the study design.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: A person's strategies to respond or react to a stimulus, and to solve problems, often change over time and over tasks. This generates variations in neural activity from trial to trial within a subject. Across people too neural activity differs for similar reasons. Researchers often conduct pilot studies to see how participants typically perform for the task under consideration. They also often train subjects how to respond or react in a trial training session prior to the scanning one.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The scanner platform generates a 3 D volume of the subject's head every TR. This consists of an array of voxel intensity values, one value per voxel in the scan. The voxels are arranged one after the other, unfolding the three-dimensional structure into a single line. Several such volumes from a session are joined to form a 4 D volume corresponding to a run, for the time period the subject stayed in the scanner without adjusting head position. This 4 D volume is the starting point for analysis. The first part of that analysis is preprocessing.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The first step in preprocessing is conventionally slice timing correction. The MR scanner acquires different slices within a single brain volume at different times, and hence the slices represent brain activity at different timepoints. Since this complicates later analysis, a timing correction is applied to bring all slices to the same timepoint reference. This is done by assuming the timecourse of a voxel is smooth when plotted as a dotted line. Hence the voxel's intensity value at other times not in the sampled frames can be calculated by filling in the dots to create a continuous curve.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Head motion correction is another common preprocessing step. When the head moves, the neurons under a voxel move and hence its timecourse now represents largely that of some other voxel in the past. Hence the timecourse curve is effectively cut and pasted from one voxel to another. Motion correction tries different ways of undoing this to see which undoing of the cut-and-paste produces the smoothest timecourse for all voxels. The undoing is by applying a rigid-body transform to the volume, by shifting and rotating the whole volume data to account for motion. The transformed volume is compared statistically to the volume at the first timepoint to see how well they match, using a cost function such as correlation or mutual information. The transformation that gives the minimal cost function is chosen as the model for head motion. Since the head can move in a vastly varied number of ways, it is not possible to search for all possible candidates; nor is there right now an algorithm that provides a globally optimal solution independent of the first transformations we try in a chain.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Distortion corrections account for field nonuniformities of the scanner. One method, as described before, is to use shimming coils. Another is to recreate a field map of the main field by acquiring two images with differing echo times. If the field were uniform, the differences between the two images also would be uniform. Note these are not true preprocessing techniques since they are independent of the study itself. Bias field estimation is a real preprocessing technique using mathematical models of the noise from distortion, such as Markov random fields and expectation maximization algorithms, to correct for distortion.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: In general, fMRI studies acquire both many functional images with fMRI and a structural image with MRI. The structural image is usually of a higher resolution and depends on a different signal, the T1 magnetic field decay after excitation. To demarcate regions of interest in the functional image, one needs to align it with the structural one. Even when whole-brain analysis is done, to interpret the final results, that is to figure out which regions the active voxels fall in, one has to align the functional image to the structural one. This is done with a coregistration algorithm that works similar to the motion-correction one, except that here the resolutions are different, and the intensity values cannot be directly compared since the generating signal is different.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Typical MRI studies scan a few different subjects. To integrate the results across subjects, one possibility is to use a common brain atlas, and adjust all the brains to align to the atlas, and then analyze them as a single group. The atlases commonly used are the Talairach one, a single brain of an elderly woman created by Jean Talairach, and the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) one. The second is a probabilistic map created by combining scans from over a hundred individuals. This normalization to a standard template is done by mathematically checking which combination of stretching, squeezing, and warping reduces the differences between the target and the reference. While this is conceptually similar to motion correction, the changes required are more complex than just translation and rotation, and hence optimization even more likely to depend on the first transformations in the chain that is checked.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Temporal filtering is the removal of frequencies of no interest from the signal. A voxel's intensity change over time can be represented as the sum of a number of different repeating waves with differing periods and heights. A plot with these periods on the x-axis and the heights on the y-axis is called a power spectrum, and this plot is created with the Fourier transform technique. Temporal filtering amounts to removing the periodic waves not of interest to us from the power spectrum, and then summing the waves back again, using the inverse Fourier transform to create a new timecourse for the voxel. A high-pass filter removes the lower frequencies, and the lowest frequency that can be identified with this technique is the reciprocal of twice the TR. A low-pass filter removes the higher frequencies, while a band-pass filter removes all frequencies except the particular range of interest.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Smoothing, or spatial filtering, is the idea of averaging the intensities of nearby voxels to produce a smooth spatial map of intensity change across the brain or region of interest. The averaging is often done by convolution with a Gaussian filter, which, at every spatial point, weights neighboring voxels by their distance, with the weights falling exponentially following the bell curve. If the true spatial extent of activation, that is the spread of the cluster of voxels simultaneously active, matches the width of the filter used, this process improves the signal-to-noise ratio. It also makes the total noise for each voxel follow a bell-curve distribution, since adding together a large number of independent, identical distributions of any kind produces the bell curve as the limit case. But if the presumed spatial extent of activation does not match the filter, signal is reduced.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: One common approach to analysing fMRI data is to consider each voxel separately within the framework of the general linear model. The model assumes, at every time point, that the hemodynamic response (HR) is equal to the scaled and summed version of the events active at that point. A researcher creates a design matrix specifying which events are active at any timepoint. One common way is to create a matrix with one column per overlapping event, and one row per time point, and to mark it if a particular event, say a stimulus, is active at that time point. One then assumes a specific shape for the HR, leaving only its amplitude changeable in active voxels. The design matrix and this shape are used to generate a prediction of the exact HR of the voxel at every timepoint, using the mathematical procedure of convolution. This prediction does not include the scaling required for every event before summing them.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The basic model assumes the observed HR is the predicted HR scaled by the weights for each event and then added, with noise mixed in. This generates a set of linear equations with more equations than unknowns. A linear equation has an exact solution, under most conditions, when equations and unknowns match. Hence one could choose any subset of the equations, with the number equal to the number of variables, and solve them. But, when these solutions are plugged into the left-out equations, there will be a mismatch between the right and left sides, the error. The GLM model attempts to find the scaling weights that minimize the sum of the squares of the error. This method is provably optimal if the error were distributed as a bell curve, and if the scaling-and-summing model were accurate. For a more mathematical description of the GLM model, see generalized linear models.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The GLM model does not take into account the contribution of relationships between multiple voxels. Whereas GLM analysis methods assess whether a voxel or region's signal amplitude is higher or lower for one condition than another, newer statistical models such as multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), utilize the unique contributions of multiple voxels within a voxel-population. In a typical implementation, a classifier or more basic algorithm is trained to distinguish trials for different conditions within a subset of the data. The trained model is then tested by predicting the conditions of the remaining (independent) data. This approach is most typically achieved by training and testing on different scanner sessions or runs. If the classifier is linear, then the training model is a set of weights used to scale the value in each voxel before summing them to generate a single number that determines the condition for each testing set trial. More information on training and testing classifiers is at statistical classification. Another method used the same fMRI dataset for visual object recognition in the human brain is depending on multi-voxel pattern analysis (fMRI voxels) and multi-view learning which is described in, this method used meta-heuristic search and mutual information to eliminate noisy voxels and select the significant BOLD signals.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: It is common to combine fMRI signal acquisition with tracking of participants' responses and reaction times. Physiological measures such as heart rate, breathing, skin conductance (rate of sweating), and eye movements are sometimes captured simultaneously with fMRI. The method can also be combined with other brain-imaging techniques such as transcranial stimulation, direct cortical stimulation and, especially, EEG. The fMRI procedure can also be combined with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to have supplementary information about both oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The fMRI technique can complement or supplement other techniques because of its unique strengths and gaps. It can noninvasively record brain signals without risks of ionising radiation inherent in other scanning methods, such as CT or PET scans. It can also record signal from all regions of the brain, unlike EEG/MEG, which are biased toward the cortical surface. But fMRI temporal resolution is poorer than that of EEG since the HR takes tens of seconds to climb to its peak. Combining EEG with fMRI is hence potentially powerful because the two have complementary strengths—EEG has high temporal resolution, and fMRI high spatial resolution. But simultaneous acquisition needs to account for the EEG signal from varying blood flow triggered by the fMRI gradient field, and the EEG signal from the static field. For details, see EEG vs fMRI.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: While fMRI stands out due to its potential to capture neural processes associated with health and disease, brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) have the power to alter these neural processes. Therefore, a combination of both is needed to investigate the mechanisms of action of TMS treatment and on the other hand introduce causality into otherwise pure correlational observations. The current state-of-the-art setup for these concurrent TMS/fMRI experiments comprises a large-volume head coil, usually a birdcage coil, with the MR-compatible TMS coil being mounted inside that birdcage coil. It was applied in a multitude of experiments studying local and network interactions. However, classic setups with the TMS coil placed inside MR birdcage-type head coil are characterised by poor signal to noise ratios compared to multi-channel receive arrays used in clinical neuroimaging today. Moreover, the presence of the TMS coil inside the MR birdcage coil causes artefacts beneath the TMS coil, i.e. at the stimulation target. For these reasons new MR coil arrays were currently developed dedicated to concurrent TMS/fMRI experiments.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: If the baseline condition is too close to maximum activation, certain processes may not be represented appropriately. Another limitation on experimental design is head motion, which can lead to artificial intensity changes of the fMRI signal.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: In a block design, two or more conditions are alternated by blocks. Each block will have a duration of a certain number of fMRI scans and within each block only one condition is presented. By making the conditions differ in only the cognitive process of interest, the fMRI signal that differentiates the conditions should represent this cognitive process of interest. This is known as the subtraction paradigm.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The increase in fMRI signal in response to a stimulus is additive. This means that the amplitude of the hemodynamic response (HR) increases when multiple stimuli are presented in rapid succession. When each block is alternated with a rest condition in which the HR has enough time to return to baseline, a maximum amount of variability is introduced in the signal. As such, we conclude that block designs offer considerable statistical power. There are however severe drawbacks to this method, as the signal is very sensitive to signal drift, such as head motion, especially when only a few blocks are used. Another limiting factor is a poor choice of baseline, as it may prevent meaningful conclusions from being drawn. There are also problems with many tasks lacking the ability to be repeated. Since within each block only one condition is presented, randomization of stimulus types is not possible within a block. This makes the type of stimulus within each block very predictable. As a consequence, participants may become aware of the order of the events.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Event-related designs allow more real world testing, however, the statistical power of event related designs is inherently low, because the signal change in the BOLD fMRI signal following a single stimulus presentation is small.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Both block and event-related designs are based on the subtraction paradigm, which assumes that specific cognitive processes can be added selectively in different conditions. Any difference in blood flow (the BOLD signal) between these two conditions is then assumed to reflect the differing cognitive process. In addition, this model assumes that a cognitive process can be selectively added to a set of active cognitive processes without affecting them.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The brain is never completely at rest. It never stops functioning and firing neuronal signals, as well as using oxygen as long as the person in question is alive. In fact, in Stark and Squire's, 2001 study "When zero is not zero: The problem of ambiguous baseline conditions in fMRI", activity in the medial temporal lobe (as well as in other brain regions) was substantially higher during rest than during several alternative baseline conditions. The effect of this elevated activity during rest was to reduce, eliminate, or even reverse the sign of the activity during task conditions relevant to memory functions. These results demonstrate that periods of rest are associated with significant cognitive activity and are therefore not an optimal baseline for cognition tasks. In order to discern baseline and activation conditions it is necessary to interpret a lot of information. This includes situations as simple as breathing. Periodic blocks may result in identical data of other variance in the data if the person breathes at a regular rate of 1 breath/5sec, and the blocks occur every 10s, thus impairing the data.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Neuroimaging methods such as fMRI and MRI offer a measure of the activation of certain brain areas in response to cognitive tasks engaged in during the scanning process. Data obtained during this time allow cognitive neuroscientists to gain information regarding the role of particular brain regions in cognitive function. However, an issue arises when certain brain regions are alleged by researchers to identify the activation of previously labeled cognitive processes. Poldrack clearly describes this issue:


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Reverse inference demonstrates the logical fallacy of affirming what you just found, although this logic could be supported by instances where a certain outcome is generated solely by a specific occurrence. With regard to the brain and brain function it is seldom that a particular brain region is activated solely by one cognitive process. Some suggestions to improve the legitimacy of reverse inference have included both increasing the selectivity of response in the brain region of interest and increasing the prior probability of the cognitive process in question. However, Poldrack suggests that reverse inference should be used merely as a guide to direct further inquiry rather than a direct means to interpret results.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Forward inference is a data driven method that uses patterns of brain activation to distinguish between competing cognitive theories. It shares characteristics with cognitive psychology's dissociation logic and philosophy's forward chaining. For example, Henson discusses forward inference's contribution to the "single process theory vs. dual process theory" debate with regard to recognition memory. Forward inference supports the dual process theory by demonstrating that there are two qualitatively different brain activation patterns when distinguishing between "remember vs. know judgments". The main issue with forward inference is that it is a correlational method. Therefore, one cannot be completely confident that brain regions activated during cognitive process are completely necessary for that execution of those processes. In fact, there are many known cases that demonstrate just that. For example, the hippocampus has been shown to be activated during classical conditioning, however lesion studies have demonstrated that classical conditioning can occur without the hippocampus.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The most common risk to participants in an fMRI study is claustrophobia and there are reported risks for pregnant women to go through the scanning process. Scanning sessions also subject participants to loud high-pitched noises from Lorentz forces induced in the gradient coils by the rapidly switching current in the powerful static field. The gradient switching can also induce currents in the body causing nerve tingling. Implanted medical devices such as pacemakers could malfunction because of these currents. The radio-frequency field of the excitation coil may heat up the body, and this has to be monitored more carefully in those running a fever, the diabetic, and those with circulatory problems. Local burning from metal necklaces and other jewellery is also a risk.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The strong static magnetic field can cause damage by pulling in nearby heavy metal objects converting them to projectiles.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: There is no proven risk of biological harm from even very powerful static magnetic fields. However, genotoxic (i.e., potentially carcinogenic) effects of MRI scanning have been demonstrated in vivo and in vitro, leading a recent review to recommend "a need for further studies and prudent use in order to avoid unnecessary examinations, according to the precautionary principle". In a comparison of genotoxic effects of MRI compared with those of CT scans, Knuuti et al. reported that even though the DNA damage detected after MRI was at a level comparable to that produced by scans using ionizing radiation (low-dose coronary CT angiography, nuclear imaging, and X-ray angiography), differences in the mechanism by which this damage takes place suggests that the cancer risk of MRI, if any, is unknown.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: The first fMRI studies validated the technique against brain activity known, from other techniques, to be correlated to tasks. By the early 2000s, fMRI studies began to discover novel correlations. Still their technical disadvantages have spurred researchers to try more advanced ways to increase the power of both clinical and research studies.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: MRI, in general, has better spatial resolution than EEG and MEG, but not as good a resolution as invasive procedures such as single-unit electrodes. While typical resolutions are in the millimeter range, ultra-high-resolution MRI or MR spectroscopy works at a resolution of tens of micrometers. It uses 7 T fields, small-bore scanners that can fit small animals such as rats, and external contrast agents such as fine iron oxide. Fitting a human requires larger-bore scanners, which make higher fields strengths harder to achieve, especially if the field has to be uniform; it also requires either internal contrast such as BOLD or a non-toxic external contrast agent unlike iron oxide.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Parallel imaging is another technique to improve spatial resolution. This uses multiple coils for excitation and reception. Spatial resolution improves as the square root of the number of coils used. This can be done either with a phased array where the coils are combined in parallel and often sample overlapping areas with gaps in the sampling or with massive coil arrays, which are a much denser set of receivers separate from the excitation coils. These, however, pick up signals better from the brain surface, and less well from deeper structures such as the hippocampus.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Temporal resolution of fMRI is limited by: (1) the feedback mechanism that raises the blood flow operating slowly; (2) having to wait until net magnetization recovers before sampling a slice again; and (3) having to acquire multiple slices to cover the whole brain or region of interest. Advanced techniques to improve temporal resolution address these issues. Using multiple coils speeds up acquisition time in exact proportion to the coils used. Another technique is to decide which parts of the signal matter less and drop those. This could be either those sections of the image that repeat often in a spatial map (that is small clusters dotting the image periodically) or those sections repeating infrequently (larger clusters). The first, a high-pass filter in k-space, has been proposed by Gary H. Glover and colleagues at Stanford. These mechanisms assume the researcher has an idea of the expected shape of the activation image.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Typical gradient-echo EPI uses two gradient coils within a slice, and turns on first one coil and then the other, tracing a set of lines in k-space. Turning on both gradient coils can generate angled lines, which cover the same grid space faster. Both gradient coils can also be turned on in a specific sequence to trace a spiral shape in k-space. This spiral imaging sequence acquires images faster than gradient-echo sequences, but needs more math transformations (and consequent assumptions) since converting back to voxel space requires the data be in grid form (a set of equally spaced points in both horizontal and vertical directions).


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: BOLD contrast depends on blood flow, which is both sluggish in response to stimulus and subject to noisy influences. Other biomarkers now looked at to provide better contrast include temperature, acidity/alkalinity (pH), calcium-sensitive agents, neuronal magnetic field, and the Lorentz effect. Temperature contrast depends on changes in brain temperature from its activity. The initial burning of glucose raises the temperature, and the subsequent inflow of fresh, cold blood lowers it. These changes alter the magnetic properties of tissue. Since the internal contrast is too difficult to measure, external agents such as thulium compounds are used to enhance the effect. Contrast based on pH depends on changes in the acid/alkaline balance of brain cells when they go active. This too often uses an external agent. Calcium-sensitive agents make MRI more sensitive to calcium concentrations, with calcium ions often being the messengers for cellular signalling pathways in active neurons. Neuronal magnetic field contrast measures the magnetic and electric changes from neuronal firing directly. Lorentz-effect imaging tries to measure the physical displacement of active neurons carrying an electric current within the strong static field.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Some experiments have shown the neural correlates of peoples' brand preferences. Samuel M. McClure used fMRI to show the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and midbrain were more active when people knowingly drank Coca-Cola as opposed to when they drank unlabeled Coke. Other studies have shown the brain activity that characterizes men's preference for sports cars, and even differences between Democrats and Republicans in their reaction to campaign commercials with images of the 9/11 attacks. Neuromarketing companies have seized on these studies as a better tool to poll user preferences than the conventional survey technique. One such company was BrightHouse, now shut down. Another is Oxford, UK-based Neurosense, which advises clients how they could potentially use fMRI as part of their marketing business activity. A third is Sales Brain in California.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: At least two companies have been set up to use fMRI in lie detection: No Lie MRI and the Cephos Corporation . No Lie MRI charges close to $5000 for its services. These companies depend on evidence such as that from a study by Joshua Greene at Harvard University suggesting the prefrontal cortex is more active in those contemplating lying.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: However, there is still a fair amount of controversy over whether these techniques are reliable enough to be used in a legal setting . Some studies indicate that while there is an overall positive correlation, there is a great deal of variation between findings and in some cases considerable difficulty in replicating the findings. A federal magistrate judge in Tennessee prohibited fMRI evidence to back up a defendant's claim of telling the truth, on the grounds that such scans do not measure up to the legal standard of scientific evidence.. Most researchers agree that the ability of fMRI to detect deception in a real life setting has not been established.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Use of the fMRI has been left out of legal debates throughout its history. Use of this technology has not been allowed due to holes in the evidence supporting fMRI. First, most evidence supporting fMRIs accuracy was done in a lab under controlled circumstances with solid facts. This type of testing does not pertain to real life. Real-life scenarios can be much more complicated with many other affecting factors. It has been shown that many other factors affect BOLD other than a typical lie. There have been tests done showing that drug use alters blood flow in the brain, which drastically affects the outcome of BOLD testing. Furthermore, individuals with diseases or disorders such as schizophrenia or compulsive lying can lead to abnormal results as well. Lastly, there is an ethical question relating to fMRI scanning. This testing of BOLD has led to controversy over if fMRIs are an invasion of privacy. Being able to scan and interpret what people are thinking may be thought of as immoral and the controversy still continues.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Because of these factors and more, fMRI evidence has been excluded from any form of legal system. The testing is too uncontrolled and unpredictable. Therefore, it has been stated that fMRI has much more testing to do before it can be considered viable in the eyes of the legal system.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: Some scholars have criticized fMRI studies for problematic statistical analyses, often based on low-power, small-sample studies. Other fMRI researchers have defended their work as valid. In 2018, Turner and colleagues have suggested that the small sizes affect the replicability of task-based fMRI studies and claimed that even datasets with at least 100 participants the results may not be well replicated, although there are debates on it.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: In one real but satirical fMRI study, a dead salmon was shown pictures of humans in different emotional states. The authors provided evidence, according to two different commonly used statistical tests, of areas in the salmon's brain suggesting meaningful activity. The study was used to highlight the need for more careful statistical analyses in fMRI research, given the large number of voxels in a typical fMRI scan and the multiple comparisons problem. Before the controversies were publicized in 2010, between 25 and 40% of studies on fMRI being published were not using the corrected comparisons. But by 2012, that number had dropped to 10%. Dr. Sally Satel, writing in Time, cautioned that while brain scans have scientific value, individual brain areas often serve multiple purposes and "reverse inferences" as commonly used in press reports carry a significant chance of drawing invalid conclusions.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: In 2015, it was discovered that a statistical bug was found in the fMRI computations which likely invalidated at least 40,000 fMRI studies preceding 2015, and researchers suggest that results prior to the bug fix cannot be relied upon. Furthermore, it was later shown that how one sets the parameters in the software determines the false positive rate. In other words, study outcome can be determined by changing software parameters.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: In 2020 professor Ahmad Hariri, (Duke University) one of the first researchers to use fMRI, performed a largescale experiment that sought to test the reliability of fMRI on individual people.


title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging

text: In the study, he copied protocols from 56 published papers in psychology that used fMRI. The results suggest that fMRI has poor reliability when it comes to individual cases, but good reliability when it comes to general human thought patterns


title: Epsom

text: Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as "Ebesham" in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the mid-Bronze Age, but the modern settlement probably grew up in the area surrounding St Martin's Church in the 6th or 7th centuries and the street pattern is thought to have become established in the Middle Ages. Today the High Street is dominated by the clock tower, which was erected in 1847–8.


title: Epsom

text: Like other nearby settlements, Epsom is located on the spring line where the permeable chalk of the North Downs meets the impermeable London Clay. Several tributaries of the Hogsmill River rise in the town and in the 17th and early 18th centuries, the spring on Epsom Common was believed to have healing qualities. The mineral waters were found to be rich in "Epsom salts", which were later identified as magnesium sulphate. Charles II was among those who regularly took the waters and several prominent writers, including John Aubrey, Samuel Pepys and Celia Fiennes recorded their visits. The popularity of the spa declined rapidly in the 1720s as a result of competition from other towns, including Bath and Tunbridge Wells.


title: Epsom

text: Organised horse racing on Epsom Downs is believed to have taken place since the early 17th century. The popularity of Epsom grew as The Oaks and The Derby were established in 1779 and 1780 respectively. The first grandstand at the racecourse was constructed in 1829 and more than 127,000 people attended Derby Day in 1843. During the 1913 Derby, the suffragette, Emily Davison, sustained fatal injuries after being hit by King George V's horse.


title: Epsom

text: The opening of the first railway station in Epsom in 1847, coupled with the breakup of the Epsom Court estate, stimulated the development of the town. Today Epsom station is an important railway junction, where lines to London Victoria and London Waterloo diverge. Since 1946, the town has been surrounded on three sides by the Metropolitan Green Belt, which severely limits the potential for expansion. Two local nature reserves, Epsom Common and Horton Country Park, are to the west of the centre and Epsom Downs, to the south, is a Site of Nature Conservation Importance.


title: Epsom

text: The first written record of a settlement at Epsom dates from the 10th century, when its name is given as "Ebesham". It appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as "Evesham" and in subsequent surviving documents as "Ebbesham" and "Ebesam" (12th century), "Epsam" (15th century), "Ebbisham" and "Epsham" (16th century) and "Epsome" (17th century). The first known use of the modern spelling "Epsom" is from 1718.


title: Epsom

text: The name "Epsom" is thought to derive from that of a Saxon landowner, either as "Ebba's ham" or "Ebbi's ham" (where "ham" means home or settlement). Alternatively the name may come from "ebbe", the Old English word for "flow", which may reference an intermittent stream or spring in the area.


title: Epsom

text: The first surviving record of land at Horton is from a charter of 1178, in which the modern spelling is used. It is also recorded as "Hortune" (1263) and "Hortone" (1325). The name is thought to derive from the Old English words "horh" and "tun" and is generally agreed to mean a "muddy farm".


title: Epsom

text: Epsom is a town in north Surrey, approximately south of central London. It lies on the southern edge of the London Basin and the highest point in the parish at Epsom Downs is above ordnance datum. The High Street defines the main west-east axis of the town and runs roughly parallel to the -Sutton railway line.


title: Epsom

text: To the west of the town centre are two local nature reserves, Epsom Common and Horton Country Park, both of which are owned and managed by the borough council. Epsom Downs Racecourse is on Epsom Downs, an area of chalk downland to the south of the town.


title: Epsom

text: Within the ancient parish boundaries are two settlements which were once part of Epsom. Horton, to the west of the centre, is the former location of five psychiatric hospitals, which were redeveloped to provide housing in the early 2000s. Langley Vale, a small village to the south of the racecourse, was predominantly developed in the first half of the 20th century.


title: Epsom

text: Like many of the towns between Croydon and Guildford, Epsom is a strip parish and spring line settlement. The areas to the south and east of the town lie on the chalk of the North Downs and the centre, north and west are on the London Clay. Separating the two, and running in parallel bands along a north-south axis, are narrow outcrops of Thanet Sands and the Lambeth Group. The chalk is a natural aquifer and tributaries of the Hogsmill River rise at several points along the boundary between the permeable and impermeable rock types. During the late 17th and early 18th century, the spring on Epsom Common was thought to have healing properties and the waters were later found to be rich in magnesium sulphate, which became known as "Epsom salts".


title: Epsom

text: The earliest evidence of human activity in Epsom is from the mid-Bronze Age. Remains of pits, ditches and post holes in Long Grove Road indicate that the area north of the town centre was used for agriculture in prehistoric times, which may suggest the presence of an established settlement nearby. Pottery sherds and worked flints, found on the site of the former Manor Hospital site in Horton, show that human activity continued into the early Iron Age and two staters (coins) from this period have been found in the area.


title: Epsom

text: Although the route of Stane Street, the road between "Londinium" and Chichester, passes immediately to the east of St Martin's Church, there is not thought to have been a Roman settlement there. Archaeological evidence of Roman activity has been found to the north of the present town centre: A tile kiln, which may have been connected to the 1st- and 2nd-century brickworks on Ashtead Common, was discovered during the construction of the West Park Hospital in the 1920s. There may also have been a villa at Epsom Court.


title: Epsom

text: The Anglo-Saxon settlement at Epsom was most likely established in the late 6th or early 7th century. It would have been administered as part of Copthorne Hundred and was probably located close to the site of the present St Martin's Church, which is built on a knoll of chalk at the base of the North Downs. Saxon burials have been excavated at two sites to the east of the modern town centre, close to the church. A garnet pendant, depicting a bearded male wearing a Phrygian cap, was discovered in the same area in the 1960s. The pendant is thought to have originated from the Mediterranean in the 7th century and its discovery suggests that high-status individuals were living in or travelling though Epsom in the Anglo-Saxon period.


title: Epsom

text: The origins of the modern town centre are obscure, but the principal road pattern may have developed during the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, a nucleated village is thought to have been founded at the west end of the present High Street. The 1840 tithe map shows a series of narrow, regular plots along the north side of the High Street, which would be consistent with a planned, medieval settlement.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom was held by Chertsey Abbey from Anglo-Saxon times until the first half of the 16th century. The earliest surviving charter confirming the ownership of the town is from 967, during the reign of King Edgar, although the settlement is thought to have been granted to the abbey in 727. In Domesday Book, Epsom appears as "Evesham" and is listed as including two mills (valued at 10s), two churches, of meadow and sufficient woodland for 20 hogs. It rendered £17 per year in 1086. The residents included 34 villagers, 4 smallholders and 6 villeins.


title: Epsom

text: The manor of Horton was also held by Chertsey Abbey during the medieval period. Although there are few surviving early documents relating to the settlement, an early 15th century charter indicates that it included of land, of which was pasture. The Durdans estate may also have belonged to Horton. There are references in historical documents to a manor of Brettgrave, also held by the abbey, which appears to have been considered part of Horton by the early 16th century.


title: Epsom

text: Following the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII granted Epsom to Nicholas Carew in 1537, but two years later his property was forfeit when he was executed for his alleged involvement in the Exeter Conspiracy. The manor was part of the Honour of Hampton Court from 1597 until 1554, when it was granted to Francis Carew by Mary I. After 1611, Epsom was briefly held by the Darcy family and was then sold to Anne Mynne, the widow of George Mynne, who had bought the manor of Horton. Both manors were inherited by her daughter, Elizabeth, who in 1648 married Richard Evelyn, the brother of the diarist, John Evelyn. Richard Evelyn died in 1670, but Elizabeth ran the estate until her death in 1692, when the land was split up. For much of the 18th century, Epsom was held by the Parkhurst family and thereafter the lordship passed through a succession of owners before it was purchased by the borough council in 1955.


title: Epsom

text: Reforms during the Tudor period reduced the importance of manorial courts and the day-to-day administration of towns became the responsibility of the vestry of the parish church. The Epsom Vestry appears to have operated as a select vestry, to which members of the gentry were appointed or co-opted. There was little change in local government structure over the subsequent three centuries, until the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 transferred responsibility for poor relief to the Poor Law Commission, whose local powers were delegated to the newly formed poor law union in 1836. The Epsom Union was made responsible for workhouses in around a dozen parishes in the area, all of which were consolidated into a workhouse on the Dorking Road, now the site of Epsom Hospital. A Local Board of Health, with responsibility for sanitation, sewerage and drinking water supply, was formed in 1850.


title: Epsom

text: The Local Government Act 1888 transferred many administrative responsibilities to the newly formed Surrey County Council and was followed by an 1894 Act that created the Epsom Urban District Council (UDC). The UDC area was expanded to include Ewell in 1933 and the enlarged authority was awarded borough status in 1937.


title: Epsom

text: By tradition, the discovery of spa water is attributed to Henry Wicker, a farmer who, in 1618, noticed that his cows refused to drink from a slow spring on Epsom Common. However, the distinct chemical properties of the local water had already been recognised in the preceding decades: In 1603, local physicians had noted that the local water contained "bitter purging salt" and, in late-Elizabethan times, it was thought that bathing in a pond to the west of the town centre could cure ulcers and other disorders.


title: Epsom

text: The first facilities for visitors were provided in 1621, when a wall was built around the spring and a shed erected for invalids. The first authentic account of the spa dates from 1629, when Abram Booth, of the Dutch East India Company, visited Epsom and described how "[p]eople coming there took a few glasses of the mentioned water – which has a taste different from ordinary water – after which walking up and down, these had in our opinion very good effect". During the mid-17th century, several prominent individuals travelled to the spring, including John Aubrey, who after his visit in 1654, boiled some of the water and noted that a "flakey" sediment, "the colour of bay-salt", was left behind. Samuel Pepys visited in both 1663 and 1667 and the theologian, John Owen, took the waters in 1668.


title: Epsom

text: Following the Restoration of the monarchy, Charles II was a regular visitor and it was at Epsom that he met the actress, Nell Gwyn, who became his mistress. Other royal patrons included Prince George, the prince consort of Queen Anne.


title: Epsom

text: Despite the popularity of the spring on the Common, several early visitors were critical of their experience at Epsom. The writer, Dorothy Osborne, who visited in 1653, complained that the water had to stand overnight to allow the sediment to settle before drinking. Similarly, Celia Fiennes noted that Epsom was "not a quick spring", that it was often "drank drye" and to make up the deficiency, "the people do often carry water from the Common wells to fill this in a morning; this they have found out in which makes the water weake and of little operation - unless you can have it first from the well before they can have put in any other".


title: Epsom

text: The popularity of Epsom continued to increase in the final decades of the 17th century and a regular coach service from London was established in 1684. In the 1690s, John Parkhurst, Lord of the Manor of Epsom, began to develop the town into a spa resort. The Assembly Rooms in the High Street were constructed in 1692 and a new well was sunk to the west of South Street. By 1707, a local businessman and apothecary, John Livingstone, had opened a bowling green, gaming rooms and a ballroom.


title: Epsom

text: In the mid-1720s, the popularity of Epsom experienced a rapid decline, driven partly by the economic consequences of the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. There was also competition from other spa towns, including Bath and Tunbridge Wells, and, by the 1750s, synthetic Epsom salts were being manufactured commercially. Attempts were made in the 1760s to revive the spa, but these efforts were unsuccessful.


title: Epsom

text: The earliest horse races on Epsom Downs are thought to have been held in the early 17th century, during the reign of James I. By the time of the Civil War, the sport was sufficiently popular and well known that, in May 1648, royalist forces were able to assemble on the Downs under the pretence of organising a race, before marching together to Reigate. Following the Restoration of the monarchy, there was a further increase in the popularity of racing as Epsom became established as a spa town.


title: Epsom

text: The Irish philosopher, John Toland, noted the suitability of the Downs for sport, writing in 1711 that the land was "covered with grass finer than Persian carpets… for sheep-walks, riding, hunting, racing, shooting, with games of most sorts for exercise of the body or recreation of the mind… they are no where else to be paralleled". The earliest formal races were run on an uphill course from Carshalton to Epsom and were primarily a test of stamina rather than speed. By the mid-18th century a 4-mile straight course had been established, starting at Banstead and finishing at the top of the Downs at Epsom. Heats were run in the mornings, before a break for lunch, which was followed by the final run offs in the late afternoon.


title: Epsom

text: The Oaks was established in 1779 and was named after the residence of the 12th Earl of Derby at Banstead. The race, for three-year-old fillies, was shorter than those that had taken place in previous years and was run over a course. The Derby was first run the following year, as a shorter race of for three-year-old colts, but was increased to in 1784. As early as 1793, the crowds associated with Derby Day were causing congestion on local roads and, in 1843, more than 127,000 people attended the race. Formal royal patronage began in 1840 with the visit of Queen Victoria and horses owned by her son, Edward VII, won the event in 1896, 1900 and 1909. The world's first live outside broadcast was filmed at the 1931 Derby by the Baird Television Company.


title: Epsom

text: During the 1913 Derby, the suffragette, Emily Davison, sustained fatal injuries after being hit by King George V's horse, Anmer. The incident occurred at Tattenham Corner, the final curve before the finishing straight, after she ducked under the guard rail and ran onto the course. Davison was knocked unconscious and was taken to Epsom Cottage Hospital, where she died four days later on 8 June 1913. The inquest into her death took place at Epsom on 10 June. A road close to Tattenham Corner is named "Emily Davison Drive" in her honour and a statue of the suffragette was installed in Epsom High Street in June 2021.


title: Epsom

text: The first permanent building on Epsom Downs is thought to have been a rubbing house, where horses could be brushed down and washed after racing. Parts of the Rubbing House pub, which now occupies the site, date from 1801. Until the early 19th century, facilities for race attendees were limited to temporary wood and canvas structures and construction of the first grandstand did not begin until 1829. The Queen's Stand, which incorporates a conference centre, was completed in 1992 and the current grandstand was opened in 2009.


title: Epsom

text: Following the end of Roman rule in Britain, there appears to have been no systematic planning of transport infrastructure in the local area for over a millennium. The section of Stane Street to the west of the modern town centre remained in use through the Anglo-Saxon period and is referred to as the Portway in the reign of Henry VII. The section of the Roman road to the south of Epsom is thought to have been blocked by the enclosure of Woodcote Park in the mid-12th century. Visitors to the spa were able to reach Epsom by carriage during the 17th century, although the turnpikes to London and Horsham were not constructed until 1755.


title: Epsom

text: The first railway line to reach Epsom was the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR), which opened a railway station in the Upper High Street in 1847. Services initially ran to Croydon, where there was a junction with the Brighton Main Line. The line between and was opened by the independent Epsom and Leatherhead Railway Company on 1 February 1859. It was initially constructed as a single-track line and services were run by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). The LSWR's own line via towards was completed two months later, allowing trains from Epsom to reach . The LBSCR extended its line westwards to meet that of the LSWR in August of the same year, allowing it to run services to Leatherhead. Two branch lines serving the race course opened to and in 1865 and 1901 respectively.


title: Epsom

text: Although both the LSWR and LBSCR ran services along the line to Leatherhead, the two companies maintained separate stations in Epsom for 70 years. Following the formation of the Southern Railway in 1923, a decision was taken to combine the two on a single site. The LBSCR station was closed in 1929 and the LSWR station was reconstructed to increase the number of platforms to four, so that all trains passing though the town could serve it. The changes coincided with the electrification of the lines to London Waterloo and London Victoria in 1925 and 1929 respectively. These improvements resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of season tickets sold and stimulated the growth of the town from a population of 18,804 in 1921 to 27,089 in 1931.


title: Epsom

text: A regular postal service between Epsom and London was established in 1678. Initially the service ran three times per week, but ran daily from 1683. The current Post Office in the High Street opened in 1897 and a sorting office in East Street opened in 1956. The first automatic telephone exchange in the UK was opened in the town in May 1912, replacing a manual exchange dating from 1905. The system used switching equipment designed by the American inventor, Almon Brown Strowger, and had provision for a maximum of 500 lines.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom is unusual among Surrey towns, in that it underwent considerable expansion during the early modern period. As the spa developed in the 1670s, merchants from London started to construct their own mansions on the outskirts of the town. These baroque buildings were generally made from bricks produced at the brickfield on the Common. The demand for labourers brought incomers with new skills, who began to boost the local economy. The construction of a small row of shops at the junction of the High Street and South Street led to the establishment of a market in 1680 and, in 1692, two London goldsmiths developed the site further by building their own houses.


title: Epsom

text: By 1800, Epsom had over 400 houses and this number increased to 600 by the middle of the century. In the 1860s, plans were put forward to improve the drainage on the Common and to build houses on it, but were dropped due to local objections. Following the enclosure of the common fields to the south of the town centre in 1869, housebuilding commenced along Burgh Heath, College and Worple Roads. At around the same time, houses for the working classes were constructed in the area between the two railway lines to Sutton and Wimbledon.


title: Epsom

text: In the final decade of the 19th century, Epsom Court, to the north of the town centre, was divided and sold for development and, over the next twenty years, terraced houses were built on the land. Shops on Waterloo Road and houses in Chase Road were built from 1928 and the Copse Edge Avenue estate was begun in the same year. The award of borough status to the council in 1937, allowed it to take over running of 1500 council houses that had been built between 1920 and 1939.


title: Epsom

text: The 1944 Greater London Plan designated land on three sides of the town centre as part of the protected Metropolitan Green Belt, which severely limited the scope for urban expansion to the east, west and south. Since limited development of Langley Vale and the Epsom Wells estate had taken place in the early 1930s, these areas were not placed into the Green Belt and housebuilding continued into the 1950s. In the early 2000s, the Epsom Cluster of psychiatric hospitals in Horton was redeveloped to provide around 1850 new homes.


title: Epsom

text: From much of its early history, Epsom was primarily an agricultural settlement. The two common fields attached to the medieval manor, Woodcote () and Smith Hatch (), were divided into strips, which were assigned to residents of the town. In the 15th century, sheep farming became increasingly important and a wool fair was held in June each year until the 1870s. There was also an annual pleasure fair which took place in July. The right to hold a market at Epsom was granted to Elizabeth Evelyn by Charles II and the charter was renewed by James II in 1685. Enclosure of the common fields was completed in 1869, bringing to an end the open-field system in the town.


title: Epsom

text: Brick and tile manufacturing took place on Epsom Common until the end of the 18th century and between 1830 and 1938 at a site on Kiln Lane. In the 19th century, chalk was quarried and converted to lime at a site in College Road. Mineral water and fruit juices were bottled in the town by the Randalls company from 1884, which traded from premises in South Street until the 1980s. In the 19th century, there were two breweries in Epsom - WG Bradley and Son in South Street and Pagden's in Church Street. Dorling's Printworks was established in the town in the 1820s and for many years printed racecards and brochures for the Derby, before its closure in 1979. Today, one of the largest private employers in the town is the engineering consultancy firm Atkins, which moved to Epsom in 1962.


title: Epsom

text: In September 1914, Epsom became a garrison town. Two battalions of the University and Public Schools Brigade of the Royal Fusiliers were billeted in the town and underwent training in Rosebery Park and on Epsom Downs. Some of the racecourse buildings were converted to become a war hospital and, in January 1915, 20,000 soldiers were assembled on the Downs for an inspection by Lord Kitchener.


title: Epsom

text: Woodcote Park Camp was built to house the soldiers of the Royal Fusiliers in late 1914 and early 1915. The site was considered suitable as it was close to London. The first soldiers took up residence in February 1915, but the camp was vacated by the Brigade when it was dispatched to the Western Front three months later. Between May 1915 and August 1916 the camp became a convalescent hospital for Commonwealth soldiers. It was handed over to Canadian Forces in July 1916 and remained under their control until the end of the war.


title: Epsom

text: Following the end of the First World War, the Canadian soldiers were slow to be repatriated. On 17 June 1919, a group of 400 attacked Epsom Police station, injuring Station Sergeant Thomas Green, who died the following day. At a trial in July 1919, five men were found guilty of riotous assembly and were imprisoned until November of the same year.


title: Epsom

text: By the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, public air raid shelters had been constructed at Rosebery Park and Clay Hill Green. Later in the war, large shelters were provided at Ashley Road, to the south of the town centre, and at Epsom Downs. Over the course of the war around 440 high-explosive bombs were dropped on the borough, 33 people were killed and nearly 200 houses were destroyed. Towards the end of the conflict, 30 V-1 flying bombs landed in the area, including one, in July 1944, which destroyed the Ashley Road Police Station.


title: Epsom

text: During the Second World War, the defence of the town was largely in the hands of the 56th Surrey battalion of the Home Guard, who were trained by a company of Welsh Guards at Epsom Racecourse. Throughout the borough there were 55 Air Raid Precautions (ARP) posts, staffed by up to 140 paid air raid wardens and 560 volunteers. In mid-1940, the Outer London Defence Line A was constructed through Epsom, running along Christchurch Road, the High Street and Alexandra Road.


title: Epsom

text: The town is in the parliamentary constituency of Epsom and Ewell and has been represented at Westminster since May 2010 by Conservative Chris Grayling.


title: Epsom

text: Councillors are elected to Surrey County Council every four years. The town is divided between two wards: "Epsom Town & Downs" and "Epsom West".


title: Epsom

text: Epsom is divided between five wards, each of which elects three councillors to Epsom and Ewell Borough Council. The five wards are: "Stamford", "Court", "Town", "College" and "Woodcote".


title: Epsom

text: In the 2011 Census, the combined population of the College, Court, Stamford, Town and Woodcote wards was 31,489.


title: Epsom

text: The public gas supply to Epsom began in 1839, when the Epsom and Ewell Gas Company purchased land on East Street for the town gasworks. Initially coal was transported by road from Battersea, but was delivered by train following the opening of the railway in 1847. Gas-powered street lighting was installed in the town centre by 1840. The Epsom and Ewell Gas Company was amalgamated with the Wandsworth and Putney Gas Light & Coke Company and the Mitcham and Wimbledon District Gas Light Company in 1912.


title: Epsom

text: The Epsom waterworks were established on East Road in 1853. By 1870, there were at least two wells on the site, which supplied water to the town. Until the mid-19th century, sewage was disposed of in cesspits, however the high water table in the town often lead to drinking water becoming contaminated. The pond in the centre of High Street, which had become polluted with waste, was filled in 1854 under the direction of the newly formed local board of health. The first sewerage system was created the same year, which included the construction of a sewage farm on Hook Road (then known as Kingston Lane). A comprehensive drainage plan was produced in 1895, after the formation of Epsom UDC, and arrangements were made to share the Leatherhead sewage outfall. The site of the sewage farm was redeveloped and is now the Longmead Industrial Estate. Under the Water Act 1973, control of the water supply passed to the Thames Valley Water Authority, which was privatised to become Thames Water in 1973.


title: Epsom

text: An electricity generating station was opened in 1902 in Depot Road. Initially it was capable of generating 220 kW of power, but by the time of its closure in 1939, its installed capacity was 2 MW. Under the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926, Epsom was connected to the National Grid, initially to a 33 kV supply ring, which linked the town to Croydon, Leatherhead, Dorking and Reigate. In 1939, the ring was connected to the Wimbledon-Woking main via a 132 kV substation at Leatherhead.


title: Epsom

text: Following the County Courts Act 1848, a courthouse was built in Epsom. The County and Magistrates' Courts closed in 2010. Epsom Police Station was opened in Church Street in July 1963. The Epsom force had been part of the Metropolitan Police since 1829, but was transferred to Surrey Police in April 2000.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom is thought to have acquired a "manual" fire engine in around the 1760s. It was operated by volunteers and was kept at the clock tower in the High Street. The first full-time brigade was established in 1870 and, by the end of the century, was based on Waterloo Road. The current fire station in Church Street was opened in 1937. In 2021, the fire authority for Epsom is Surrey County Council and the statutory fire service is Surrey Fire and Rescue Service. Epsom Ambulance Station is run by the South East Coast Ambulance Service.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom Cottage Hospital, the first hospital in Epsom, was opened in Pikes Hill in 1873. It moved to Hawthorne Place in 1877 and, in 1889, a new building was constructed in Alexandra Road to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The suffragette, Emily Davison, died at the hospital after being hit by King George V's horse at the 1913 Derby. Epsom Cottage Hospital officially closed in 1988, however the premises are used today as a community hospital offering physiotherapy and rehabilitation services.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom Hospital was built by the Poor Law Guardians adjacent to the workhouse on Dorking Road in 1890. It was made the responsibility of Surrey County Council in 1930 and became part of the NHS in 1948. Since April 1999, it has been run by Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, following a merger between the Epsom Health Care and St Helier NHS Trusts. Epsom Hospital has an A&E department.


title: Epsom

text: The Epsom Cluster was a group of five psychiatric hospitals, built to the west of Epsom on land purchased by London County Council in 1896. The Manor Asylum was the first to be opened in 1899 and the fifth, West Park Asylum, was fully completed in June 1924, having been used by the Canadian Military during WWI. A light railway was constructed to deliver building materials and coal to the construction sites. Clean water was supplied from a borehole and a power station was constructed to provide electricity to the five institutions. All of the hospitals closed during the 1990s and 2000s and their sites have since been redeveloped for housing.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom is linked by a number of bus routes to surrounding towns and villages in north Surrey and south London. Operators serving the town include Falcon Buses, London United and Metrobus.


title: Epsom

text: Epsom railway station is a short distance to the north of the town centre and is managed by Southern. The current station building was opened in 2013, following a three-year, £20M redevelopment. It is served by trains to and via , to via , to via and to via .


title: Epsom

text: The Thames Down Link long distance footpath between Kingston upon Thames and Box Hill runs through Horton Country Park and across Epsom Common.


title: Epsom

text: The Epsom campus of the University for the Creative Arts was founded as the Epsom Technical Institute & School of Art in 1896. The original building in Church Street was designed by John Hatchard-Smith in the English Renaissance style and was financed by public subscription. It moved to new premises in Ashley Road in 1973 and merged with the West Surrey College of Art and Design to form the Surrey Institute of Art and Design in 1994. The combined institution was granted university college status in 1999. In 2005, it merged with the Kent Institute of Art and Design to become the University for the Creative Arts.


title: Epsom

text: Laine Theatre Arts is an independent performing arts college, founded by Betty Laine in 1974. It prepares students for careers in professional musical theatre and teaches the core skills of dance, singing and acting. Alumni include Victoria Beckham, Kerry Ellis, Ben Richards and Sarah Hadland.


title: Epsom

text: Glyn School was founded as the Epsom County School in 1927 and became a grammar school in 1944. It was renamed Glyn Grammar School in 1954, after Sir Arthur Glyn, the first chairman of the school Governing Body. It became a comprehensive school in 1976 and its name changed again to Glyn/ADT School of Technology in 1994. The school gained academy status in 2011.