Functional imaging

The 1990s were designated as the "Decade of the Brain." In recent years, there has been rapid development of neuroimaging technologies that continually provide greater insight into the structural and functional organization of the brain, such as how it works and what goes wrong when it is injured or diseased. For example, high-resolution, three-dimensional anatomical information of the brain can now be obtained in a routine manner with MRI. Three-dimensional functional maps of blood flow and metabolic information can be obtained using positron emission tomography (PET) and functional MRI(fMRI). Real-time monitoring of behavior-dependent physiological activities of the brain can be done using EEG, particularly event related potentials (ERP), and near-IR optical imaging devices. These technical advances have uncovered a new and exciting era for brain research. The proposed symposium will provide a unique forum for a systematic discussion of the latest developments in neuroimaging technologies and applications to complement the scheduled keynote lecture by Prof. Kamil Ugurbil, a pioneer in functional brain imaging. Four invited talks are included in this symposium, which will be delivered by world-renowned neuroimaging experts. These talks and the ensuing discussion session will provide an excellent educational opportunity to the conference attendants. 1. Principles of fMRI, G. Glover/Stanford University 2. Issues with fMRI for Cognitive studies of human brain, Richard Frackowiak/Functional Imaging Lab London 3. Cognitive studies on human brain, Apostolos Georgopolous (VA,U of Minnesota, Minneapolis) 4. fMRI work on primates, Nikos Logothetis/Max Plank Institute.