Latest Functional magnetic resonance imaging Stories

In a new fMRI study conducted in the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Clinical Research Laboratory (Montpellier I University, France) and published by Elsevier in the February 2009 issue of Cortex, researchers found differences among male and female groups on activation strength linked to verbal fluency (words generation).Results from previous fMRI studies identifying the neural basis of sex differences in language production are still in debate. Particularly, the question of group differences...

Is it possible to share a pain that you observe in another but have never actually experienced yourself? A new study uses a sophisticated brain-imaging technique to try and answer this question. The research, published by Cell Press in the January 29th issue of the journal Neuron, provides insight into brain mechanisms involved in empathy.Brain-imaging studies have shown similar patterns of brain activity when subjects feel their own emotions or observe the same emotions in others. It has...

MIT study links schizophrenia to key 'default mode' brain systemSchizophrenia may blur the boundary between internal and external realities by overactivating a brain system that is involved in self-reflection, and thus causing an exaggerated focus on self, a new MIT and Harvard brain imaging study has found.The traditional view of schizophrenia is that the disturbed thoughts, perceptions and emotions that characterize the disease are caused by disconnections among the brain regions that...

HOUSTON -- A new Rice University study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that socioemotional meanings, including sexual ones, are conveyed in human sweat.Denise Chen, assistant professor of psychology at Rice, looked at how the brains of female volunteers processed and encoded the smell of sexual sweat from men. The results of the experiment indicated the brain recognizes chemosensory communication, including human sexual sweat.Scientists have long known that animals use scent to...

Dollar signs for eyes "“ cartoonists have been drawing them for years, and the artists, while whimsical, may have been onto something. According to new research from UC San Diego, areas of the brain responsible for vision respond more strongly to objects of value.Led by John Serences, assistant professor of psychology and head of the Perception and Cognition Lab at UC San Diego, the study is published in the Dec. 26 issue of the Cell Press journal Neuron.Past rewards influence how humans...

New research demonstrates that bias toward a potentially more valuable outcome can influence how visual information is processed in the human brain. The study, published by Cell Press in the December 26th issue of the journal Neuron, provides insight into how the visual centers encode more valuable stimuli at the expense of less valuable alternatives.Acquisition and evaluation of incoming sensory information is absolutely critical for guiding interactions with the environment. There is no...

WINNIPEG, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - IMRIS Inc. (TSX: IM) ("IMRIS" or the "Company") today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company's 3 Tesla IMRISneuro for sale in the U.S. IMRISneuro is now available with either a 1.5 Tesla (1.5T) or a 3 Tesla (3T) magnet. Both systems provide IMRIS' patented technology and utilize 70 cm wide bore advanced magnetic resonance imaging systems from Siemens. The 3T IMRISneuro provides higher quality advanced...

Neuroscientists from Duke University Medical Center have discovered that older people use their brains differently than younger people when it comes to storing memories, particularly those associated with negative emotions.The study, appearing online in the January issue of Psychological Science, is a novel look at how brain connections change with age.Older adults, average age 70, and younger adults, average age 24, were shown a series of 30 photographs while their brains were imaged in a...

A new technology may buy stroke patients extra time to recover.Using a new, hand-operated robotic device and functional MRI (fMRI), scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have found chronic stroke patients can function normally again. fMRI maps the brain to track stroke rehabilitation."We have shown that the brain has the ability to regain function through rehabilitative exercises following a stroke," A. Aria Tzika, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, was quoted as saying. "We have...

CHICAGO, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Research scientists using a novel, hand-operated robotic device and functional MRI (fMRI) have found that chronic stroke patients can be rehabilitated, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). This is the first study using fMRI to map the brain in order to track stroke rehabilitation. "We have shown that the brain has the ability to regain function through...