Brain Imaging: Overview

Synonyms

Functional neuroimaging

Definition

Brain imaging constitutes a set of techniques used to measure functional activity in networks of interacting brain cells as well as to reveal the major underlying structural properties of these networks. Functional data obtained with these techniques reflect local changes in brain perfusion, metabolism, and extracellular electric/magnetic potentials originated from the activity of these brain cell networks. Brain imaging has been traditionally used to explore both normal and pathological brains in a large variety of species ranging from rodents to primates. In principles, brain imaging could be applied for both in vitro and in vivo situations.

Detailed Description

Techniques for brain imaging have been developed for two major physical brain scales, i.e., the mesoscale and the macroscale. Theoretical models useful to interpret how these two physical scales interact have been developed in the past (see “Multiscale Brain Connectivity”). Brain...