MRI is a powerful tool for mapping the the human brain. Recent advances in functional MRI allow us to create detailed functional maps that recovers detailed information about the cortical maps mediating complex natural behaviors.
The results from various studies based on this approach show that even simple natural behaviors involve networks of dozens or hundreds of distinct functional areas; that these maps are organized similarly in the brains of different individuals but that individual differences are substantial; and that top-down mechanisms such as attention can modulate these functional maps on a very short time scale. This powerful mapping approach may provide a platform for using functional MRI in the clinical setting, for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. Finally, this approach can also be used to decode brain activity with remarkable fidelity.
Because brain imaging technologies are advancing rapidly it may soon be possible to create powerful non-invasive brain-computer interfaces that can decode subjective mental states such as covert, internal thought.
by Jack Gallant is Chancellor’s Professor of Psychology and Class of 1940 Chair at UC Berkeley. He is also affiliated with bioengineering, biophysics, computer science, neuroscience, and vision science. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University and did post-doctoral work at the California Institute of Technology and Washington University Medical School. His research program focuses on computational modeling of human brain activity. Further information about ongoing work, links to talks and papers and links to an online interactive brain viewer can be found at the lab web page.
