Authors:

OWEN, A. M.

Reference:

Year of publication:

1999

CBU number:

3834

Abstract:

In the last ten years extraordinarily rapid improvements in imaging technology and associated methodology have had an enormous impact on the way we assess human brain function, in vivo. Detailed anatomical images, acquired through computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), can now be combined with positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), quantitative electroencephalography (EEG), and magnetoencephalography (MEG), to produce a cohesive picture of normal and abnormal brain function. In this chapter, several different areas where functional neuroimaging techniques have had the most dramatic impact will be highlighted, from ‘brain mapping’ of highly complex cognitive models to a possible role in the diagnosis and management of severe head injury. Within this context, the extent to which these new methodologies have contributed to our understanding of the relationship between brain and behaviour and how this relationship might be disrupted by the effects of drugs and disease will be discussed.