Brain mapping
Brain mapping ( Engl. Brain mapping ) is an expression of the Brain Research and referred the investigation of the structural and functional organization of the brain to create with the goal of "brain maps" specific functional areas.
Functional properties (components of motor function , perception , cognition , perception , memory ) can be exclusively in vivo mapping, while structural properties, such as cellular, Axon - or dendrites distributions only post mortem are mappable at proper spatial resolutions.
Neuroimaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, MRI; structural mapping in vivo or post mortem ), positron emission tomography (PET), electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), intra-operative microelectrode stimulation (functional Mapping, see also awake craniotomy ) are supplemented by methods of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology .
For meaningful mapping, complex methods have to be used synergisms (mapping techniques) to compensate for disadvantages with regard to the spatial and temporal resolution of individual neuroimaging processes (co-registration) and finally to carry out inter-individual comparisons (statistical parametric mapping, SPM).
Mapping also depends on experimental strategies and psychological paradigms that examine increasingly specific sub-functions that can be captured with appropriate neuroimaging technology.
history
In particular, the cerebral cortex ( cerebral cortex ) was examined as early as the late 19th century and mapped. From today's perspective, pseudoscientific phrenology often offered seemingly bizarre localization models . The first scientific studies were carried out by Gustav Theodor Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig on dogs or were based on the empirical observations of brain injured or stroke patients (e.g. by Paul Broca ). The classic atlas of the cerebral regions according to histological criteria was published by Korbinian Brodmann in 1909. The numbering he introduced has remained valid to this day, also because the fabric structure and function can often be derived from one another. The experimental localization of brain functions in humans began with the work of Wilder Penfield in the 1950s.
Current situation
Histological methods ( cytoarchitectonics , immunohistology , receptor autoradiography ) and imaging - magnetic resonance imaging (MRT), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetoencephalography (MEG) - are currently making great advances in brain mapping. On the other hand, it has also been recognized that many functions (e.g. memory content) cannot be clearly localized, but only arise through the interaction of different brain regions.