Brain Imaging

One of the fundamental challenges in understanding the human central nervous system is characterizing how its various functions are localized and how they interact with one another. Imaging technologies enable neuroscientists to visualize the structure of the human brain and to measure biological activity through the skull, revealing the living brain at work. Functional localization of human perception and cognition are conventionally achieved either by recording the activity during behavior or by measuring the deficit in performance after lesioning specific regions.

At least six different families of techniques are used to investigate different aspects of human brain function: positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), magneto-encephalography (MEG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and lesion analysis. Each technique provides different information about brain function ...