Technologies that Reveal Brain Functions

Abstract This chapter examines imaging technologies that reveal human brain functions: electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). As with the structural technologies, the chapter describes the science on which the functional technologies depend and their relative advantages and disadvantages, including both spatial and temporal resolution. The chapter identifies some of the prominent ways that these technologies are used in clinical care and neuroscience research. The chapter also describes the numerous assumptions on which inferences about brain function depend, the methods by which the colorful brain images of PET and fMRI are created, and how to interpret such images.