<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><!DOCTYPE article  PUBLIC '-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN'  'http://www.docbook.org/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd'><article><articleinfo><title>TechnicalNoteReferenceSlice</title><revhistory><revision><revnumber>2</revnumber><date>2013-03-07 21:24:04</date><authorinitials>localhost</authorinitials><revremark>converted to 1.6 markup</revremark></revision><revision><revnumber>1</revnumber><date>2007-06-28 10:09:58</date><authorinitials>RhodriCusack</authorinitials></revision></revhistory></articleinfo><para>Lauri has discovered a potential pitfall for those of you using slice-timing correction on data from the Trio (using standard sequences). </para><para>1. Our standard sequences acquire the slices from top to bottom (ie descending). Thus the correct slice order for slice-timing correction is [N:-1:1], where N is your number of slices (eg 32) and the slice number refers to the position of the slice within the image file and in our case 1=last slice acquired (eg bottom slice). This is normally the done correctly. </para><para>2. However, if you have specified the reference slice to be slice 1 (as is default in AA, for example), you WILL need to change the default reference timebin used in your subsequent 1st-level statistical analysis (to be the last timebin, eg 16, to match the fact that the data are synchronised to the last slice acquired). Otherwise your model will be 1 TR shifted with respect to your data, which can cause problems the longer the TR and the shorter your SOA (generally speaking). </para><para>In other words, if you done Step 1 above and not explicitly changed the reference slice, you will need to change the reference timebin for your stats. This is called the &quot;microtime onset&quot; when you use the GUI, which should be equated to the &quot;microtime resolution&quot; (which is 16 by default). Or if you use batch scripts, you need to set: </para><itemizedlist><listitem override="none"><para>SPM.xBF.T0 = SPM.xBF.T (assuming SPM.xBF.T already set to, eg, 16). </para></listitem></itemizedlist><para>Alternatively, you can change the reference slice during slice-time correction to the first slice acquired (eg &quot;top&quot; slice, ie N here), either via the GUI when you run slice-timing, or if you use AA, by: </para><itemizedlist><listitem override="none"><para>aap.spmanalysis.sliceorder = [32:-1:1]; aap.spmanalysis.refslice = 32; </para></listitem></itemizedlist><para>Do one or t'other, not both!* </para><para>Rik </para><para>* Except for those of you who have asked me directly about this issue, when I usually recommend changing BOTH the reference slice to the mid-slice-acquired and the reference timebin to the mid-timebin. </para><!--rule (<hr>) is not applicable to DocBook--><para> Dr Richard Henson MRC Cognition &amp; Brain Sciences Unit 15 Chaucer Road Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK </para><para>Tel: +44 (0)1223 355 294 x522 Fax: +44 (0)1223 359 062 </para><para><ulink url="http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/~rik.henson"/> </para><!--rule (<hr>) is not applicable to DocBook--></article>