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understanding of CFS. Sixteen healthy women were asked to describe a significant event associated with fatigue in a brief essay. During scanning, participants actively recalled their event. ASL fMRI measures cerebral blood flow (CBF), reflecting neuronal activity. Remembered happiness and neutral runs were used as control conditions. Participants continuously rated sensation intensity on an electronic visual analog scale (VAS) from 0 ('none at all') to 100 ('most imaginable') during inductions. Paired t-tests (p<.002, k>4) identified brain regions differentially associated with each condition. Regions surviving familywise error correction (pFWE<.05) are also reported. Fatigue induction (M fatigue =44, SD=22.63) was associated with higher CBF than the neutral condition in right superior temporal gyrus and lower CBF in left superior frontal gyrus, cerebellum, left temporal gyrus, and left inferior occipital gyrus. Only left inferior occipital gyrus survived FWE correction. Compared to happiness induction, fatigue induction was associated with lower CBF in bilateral temporal structures, right fusiform gyrus, and left basal ganglia. None were significant after FWE correction. Preliminary results of this ongoing study suggest the experience of fatigue may be associated with lower CBF in several regions associated with memory, cognitive, control, motor function, and visual processing than neutral mood or happiness. Inclusion of additional subjects will increase power to identify the most robust neural correlates of fatigue. Future work should examine changes in functional connectivity during fatigue induction and include a patient sample in order to identify perturbations associated with CFS relative to healthy controls.

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