A quiet magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique for detecting changes in cerebral activity functions is presented. This single-shot method, functional Burst imaging (FBI), combines elements of Burst imaging with an offset technique known as asymmetric spin echo (ASE). The FBI sequence has the unique feature of being nearly silent, because of the low number of gradient switching steps involved. Furthermore, this approach has the key advantage that it can be implemented on conventional MR systems. Established auditory and visual paradigms were used to evaluate whether FBI can detect changes in cerebral activity using a 1.5 Tesla MR system. In a second set of experiments, the FBI technique was used to evaluate cerebral activity changes during different sleep stages in humans. The results obtained demonstrate that the FBI sequence provides an alternative approach for functional imaging of brain activity in primary and secondary sensory areas of the human brain. Furthermore, in using this quiet MR technique, it was possible to scan continuously during different stages of human sleep without acoustic noise perturbation.