Please help me find the fMRI baseline!

Hi there,

I am currently doing an assignment for my undergrad degree and I am really struggling to figure out what the control conditions are in the following two studies:

1) http://www.hfac.gmu.edu/people/mpeters2/Courses/Psy768-s10/Readings/Blotvinick1999.pdf

2) http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/01/20/scan.nss010.abstract

I know it's a big ask, but if anybody is good at interpreting fMRI, then your help would be massively appreciated.

Many thanks,

John

Just to clarify, I understand the methodology used and what they did. I'm just struggling to figure out if it is one of the conditions (i.e. compatible trial in the Botvinick paper and same race/unrelated stereotype in racial paralysis paper) that is the control condition, or whether the researchers are using anatomical data.

Many thanks