Reading 2

Unit 1- Reading 2

Page 9

BRAIN MAPPING TODAY

In the early 20th century, scientists studied the brain. They studied parts of the brain. They studied how the brain controls human behavior. They wondered if there was a link between the parts of the brain and human behavior. They wondered if all brains were the same. Scientists had many questions about the brain.

An average human brain has 100 billion cells. The brain is very complex. It has many parts. These parts have many different functions. Before computers, people did not know how to describe these parts and functions. But computers made it possible. Computers and electronic scanningl machines helped people see how a living brain functions. Scanning machines take pictures of the inside of the brain. The pictures appear on a computer screen. Scientists can then see the pictures. They can analyze the pictures.

MRI SCANNING One kind of scanning is MRI. These letters stand for Magnetic Resonance imaging. MRI uses magnetic forces and radio waves. MRI creates computer images, or pictures, of the brain. The process is simple. A person lies on a table. An MRI machine scans his or her head. A computer that is linked to the scanner creates images. These images show the parts of the brain

FMRI SCANNING

A functional MRI, called an MRI, works the same way. However, it creates images of brain functions. For example, an fMRl scan is made while a person is doing an activity.

The person can be listening to music or smelling different foods. when the person is doing these things. some areas of the brain are active. The computer images show which areas are active. When an area of the brain is active, more blood flows there. The scan shows this. Then scientists can see which parts of the brain control the different functions. For instance, scientists can see which parts control hearing or smell.

Scientists wanted to know what the average human brain looked like. They tried to use MRI and fMRI images to create a map of the average brain. However, brains are very different. Scientists decided to collect many examples of brains. They thought this was the best way to show the parts of an average brain. First they scanned the brains of hundreds of people.

They scanned brains of people from all over the world. Then computers analyzed the images from the scans. The computers collected measurements of the brain parts. Finally, computers averaged the measurements and created brain maps.

One map shows the parts of an average brain. Other maps show the locations of brain functions. Memory and speech are two of these functions. Special maps show brain images from different kinds of people. For example. there are images from sick and healthy people, male and female people, young and old people.

Doctors around the world can examine these maps online. They can compare these images with brain scans from their own patients. These online maps also help doctors who operate on brains. The doctors can see the exact location of important brain parts before they operate.

Brain mapping is a wonder of modern technology. It allows scientists to examine living human brains and answer questions about human behavior.