The thought police: The functional
magnetic resonance imaging neurological and emotional detection
Introduction:
"The
Vanderbilt University neuroscientist is sitting in
front of a bank of monitors inside a dimly lit room. On the other side of a
plate-glass window, an undergraduate lies immobile, his legs protruding from a
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner.
A display unit above the young man's eyes flashes a picture of a pigeon or a
penguin-at this point Frank Tong (the neuroscientist) does not know which. A
low roaring reverberated through the room as the scanner sends powerful waves
of magnetic energy cascading through the subject's cranium.", after
looking at the data processed by some software, Tong claims: it’s a penguin, he
was right!
Over the last decade, researchers have used fMRI in order to get a cut clear idea on how our brain
works. In this paper I’ll try to present a brief definition of fMRI and its applications especially in neurology.
