Topics and Speakers Joy Hirsch, Ph.D.
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Synopsis
The fundamental goal of neuroscience, Professor Joy Hirsch argues, is to explain the relationship between the neurocircuitry of the brain and human behavior. In this lecture, Hirsch examines one of modern neuroscience's most powerful tools for studying this brain-behavior principle: functional neuroimaging. Focusing specifically on functional magnetic resonance, one of the newest technologies, Hirsch first describes the physics behind fMRI. She then discusses recent studies that illustrate the experimental value of fMRI.
Conceptually, functional neuroimaging emerges from the hypothesis of functional specificity, which holds that specific brain areas are dedicated to specific functions. Given this topographic relationship, studying the patterns of brain activation in functional neuroimaging allows scientists to localize certain functions in specific brain regions. For example, Hirsch describes a recent study with bilingual subjects demonstrating different patterns of brain activation for their primary and secondary languages.
In addition to rich research opportunities, neuroimaging offers a number of clinical advantages. Neuroimaging can help diagnose and understand disorders related to language, such as dyslexia. In addition, neuroimaging can help clinicians diagnose and offer more accurate prognoses for disorders of consciousness as well as improve strategies for rehabilitation and better identify patients who would respond well to aggressive therapeutics. Functional neuroimaging also offers hope for improved understanding of the neurocircuitry of fear and anxiety disorders.
