A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging device (10) repeatedly executes a navigator pulse sequence (40) to generate navigator data in image space as a function of time, and a motion signal (44) of an anatomical feature that moves with a physiological cycle (e.g. respiration) as a function of time is extracted from the navigator data. A concurrent physiological signal (16) as a function of time is generated by a physiological monitor (12, 14) concurrently with the repeated execution of the navigator pulse sequence. A gating time offset (50) is determined by comparing the motion signal of the anatomical feature as a function of time and the concurrent physiological signal as a function of time. The MR imaging device performs a prospective or retrospective gated MR imaging sequence (36) using gating times defined as occurrence times of gating events detected by the physiological monitor modified by the gating time offset.
