The most widespread measures of human brain activity are the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal and surface field potential. Prior studies report a variety of relationships between these signals. To develop an understanding of how to interpret these signals and the relationship between them, we developed a model of (a) neuronal population responses and (b) transformations from neuronal responses into the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) BOLD signal and electrocorticographic (ECoG) field potential. Rather than seeking a transformation between the two measures directly, this approach interprets each measure with respect to the underlying neuronal population responses. This model accounts for the relationship between BOLD and ECoG data from human visual cortex in V1, V2, and V3, with the model predictions and data matching in three ways: across stimuli, the BOLD amplitude and ECoG broadband power were positively correlated, the BOLD amplitude and alpha power (8–13 Hz) were negatively correlated, and the BOLD amplitude and narrowband gamma power (30–80 Hz) were uncorrelated. The two measures provide complementary information about human brain activity, and we infer that features of the field potential that are uncorrelated with BOLD arise largely from changes in synchrony, rather than level, of neuronal activity.

人类大脑活动最广泛的度量是血氧水平依赖性（BOLD）信号和表面场电势。先前的研究报告了这些信号之间的各种关系。为了加深对如何解释这些信号及其之间关系的理解，我们开发了以下模型：（a）神经元群体反应和（b）从神经元反应到功能磁共振成像（fMRI）BOLD信号和电皮质图）场势。该方法不是直接在这两种方法之间寻求转换，而是相对于潜在的神经元群体反应来解释每种方法。该模型说明了V1，V2和V3中来自人类视觉皮层的BOLD和ECoG数据之间的关系，通过三种方式进行模型预测和数据匹配：在整个刺激过程中，BOLD振幅和ECoG宽带功率呈正相关，BOLD振幅和α功率（8–13 Hz）呈负相关，BOLD振幅和窄带伽马功率（ 30–80 Hz）不相关。两种方法提供了有关人脑活动的补充信息，我们推断与BOLD不相关的场势特征很大程度上是由神经元活动的同步性而不是水平的变化引起的。