Principles of intensive human neuroimaging

The rise of large, publicly shared functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data sets in human neuroscience has focused on acquiring either a few hours of data on many individuals (‘wide’ fMRI) or many hours of data on a few individuals (‘deep’ fMRI). In this opinion article, we highlight an emerging approach within deep fMRI, which we refer to as ‘intensive’ fMRI: one that strives for extensive sampling of cognitive phenomena to support computational modeling and detailed investigation of brain function at the single voxel level. We discuss the fundamental principles, trade-offs, and practical considerations of intensive fMRI. We also emphasize that intensive fMRI does not simply mean collecting more data: it requires careful design of experiments to enable a rich hypothesis space, optimizing data quality, and strategically curating public resources to maximize community impact.