Imaging Flashcards
Aspiration
WHAT IS IT? HOW DOES IT WORK?
. The earliest methods of lesioning involved aspirating brain regions using a suction device and applying a strong current at the end of an electrode tip to seal the wound. These methods could potentially damage both gray matter and the underlying white matter that carries information to distant regions.
(LESION METHOD IN NON HUMAN ANIMALS)
- CON - DAMAGES WHITE MATTER TRACTS
How do fMRI/PET compare with ERP?
- Spatial Resolution: higher
- Temporal Resolution: lower
- Direct/Indirect measure of neural activity
▫fMRI/PET: Indirect
▫ERP: Direct
What does TMS do?
•Non-invasive focal stimulation of the brain
- TMS coil creates a magnetic field
- Induces a current in nearby neurons
- Disrupts ongoing activity
- Effects are generally subtle
Everyone pat your head
Now rub your tummy
Are you as good at patting your head when I get you to rub your tummy?
What happens:
Imagine neurons are involved in some task: they have a job to do
So they’re firing action potentials that are important for that task
Now you give them another job to do
Fire action potentials because of the magnetic field
Are they going to be able to do their real job as well?
Important point: stimulating visual cortex doesn’t make people see pictures in their mind’s eye; disrupts ongoing activity
Effects are subtle: changes in reaction times, not blindness
What type of imaging?
Axial CT Scan
CT Scans (Computerized Tomography)
•X-ray absorption is correlated with tissue density (bone > tissue > CSF)
▫High-density regions light colored; low-density dark colored
- Spatial resolution is ~ .5 to 1 cm; difficult to distinguish gray/white matter
- Mostly used in medical contexts
•
pixel and voxel
pixel- smallest distinguishable box-
voxel- volume pixel. 3 dimensional version of a pixel
•Infer the function of a region (or cognitive mechanism) by removing it and measuring the effect on the rest of the system
•
•For example, if damage to a region disrupts reading, but not speaking or seeing, then one might conclude that the region is specialized for some aspect of processing text
•
•Disruption of brain function comes about through natural damage (strokes, etc.), elicited damage (e.g. animal models), or harmless temporary changes induced electro-magnetically (TMS)
•
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what is a Voxel?
•volume elements (think of 3D pixels)
▫Voxels contain hundreds of thousands of neurons
Cognitive subtraction - What is it?
- Brain is always “active”; can’t just look at a single task
- Cognitive subtraction: compare activation during task of interest to control task
▫Control task should have all the same cognitive requirements as the experimental task, minus the one property of interest
What is a Positron Emission Tomography (PET)?
- Measures local blood flow, or regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), associated with a give cognitive task
- Radioactive tracer injected into blood stream (invasive)
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- Tracer takes up to 30 seconds to peak
- Temporal resolution ~30 seconds
- Spatial resolution ~5-10 mm
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What do we use Functional Imaging for?
•Studying Cognition with
What Does it Mean to Say a Brain Region is “Active”?
•What to do?
▫Compare RELATIVE differences in brain activity between two or more conditions
•A region is “active” if it shows a greater response in one condition relative to another: cognitive subtraction.
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Control conditions for TMS - What are the options? How do they work as a control?
•“Sham” TMS: hold coil over head
▫Not so good: does not control for noise, twitching
•TMS stimulation in a non-critical region
•TMS stimulation in a non-critical time period
Non-critical region:
If function is lateralized, same side on opposite side of brain
Non-critical time period
Remember: TMS has excellent temporal resolution: only lasts a few milliseconds
Imagine we want to disrupt visual processing
Primary visual cortex needs 100ms to process a stimulus
So we could give the pulse after 100ms
What is TMS?
•Transcranial magnetic stimulation
▫“reversible lesions”
Structural imaging studies what? With which methods?
Structural: studies brain anatomy. (CT, MRI)
MRI PHYSICS IN A NUTSHELL
Why look at hydrogen?
•Looking at magnetic properties of hydrogen protons
▫Our bodies have lots of water, so lots of hydrogen, so lots of protons
•Under the influence of an external magnetic field and radio waves:
▫Protons behave differently depending on what kind of tissue they’re in (white/grey/CSF)
•MRI = a map of different behavior — Map of different behavior gives you a map of different tissue
Neurochemical lesions
WHAT IS IT? HOW DOES IT WORK?
. Certain toxins are taken up by selective neurotransmitter systems (e.g. for dopamine or serotonin) and, once inside the cell, they create chemical reactions that kill it. A more recent approach involves toxins that bind to receptors on the surface of cells, allowing for even more specific targeting of particular neurons.
•Molecular genetic approaches: Optogenetics
GOALS
•Goal: make neurons express receptors that inhibit/excite the cell at will
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer generated images that distinguish among different types of soft tissue; allows us to see structures within the brain.
TMS - benefits vs drawbacks
•Advantages of TMS
▫Excellent spatial and temporal resolution
▫Participant acts as own control
•Disadvantages of TMS
▫Can only affect surface regions
▫We don’t know how it works!
E.g. spatial extent
MRI vs CT (what do they look like?)
Principles of fMRI
•Oxygen in blood is carried by hemoglobin
▫With oxygen: oxyhemoglobin
▫Without oxygen: deoxyhemoglobin
•Active neurons result in greater influx of oxyhemoglobin
▫Changes local magnetic properties; fMRI detects this change
▫Blood Oxygen Level Dependent signal (BOLD)
▫
Why do we use blood to measure activity in fMRI’s and PET scans? What does blood tell us?
▫Neural activity consumes oxygen
▫Neurons get oxygen from the local blood supply
▫When neurons use more oxygen, more blood is pumped into the active region
•The time taken for this response is slow (several seconds) and so PET & fMRI have poor temporal resolution, but pretty good spatial resolution
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What does fMRI stand for?
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
What does Reverse Engineering do?
•Infer the function of a region (or cognitive mechanism) by removing it and measuring the effect on the rest of the system•
Functional Brain Imaging Techniques and what they do/ what are they good for
(PET, fMRI)
–image the brain activity in a dynamic fashion
–used to study changes in brain function
Compare Single cell / multi-unit recordings
EEG ERP NEUROIMAGING
DIRECT VS INDIRECT
SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL RESOLUTION
??????????
How do we use a PET scan to study cognition?
•Molecular genetic approaches: Optogenetics - PROS AND CONS
- Pros: Excellent temporal and spatial resolution
- Cons:
- Not good if you’re looking at something on a slower time scale
- Expensive, complicated
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Temporal resolution
▫the ability to track the time-course of brain function
▫usually expressed in ms or sec
▫applies only to functional techniques
*** WHAT IS A VOXEL? WHAT CAN IT DO?
So if you can’t measure individual protons, what can you do?
Will bigger or smaller voxels give you higher resolution?
Smaller voxels: higher resolution
(SORT OF LIKE A 3D PIXEL?)
fMRI vs. PET in Temporal resolution
▫fMRI > PET
What is TMS?
Temporary Lesions in Humans
(cognitive neuropsychological approach)
Can a particular function be spared/impaired relative to other cognitive functions?
Addresses questions of what the building blocks of cognition are (irrespective of where they are)
fMRI
used to asses brain activity
Changes in properties of blood. Active nerve tissue (neurons) require more energy, oxygn, atp, blood flow,.
Basis of fMRI- Active neurons demand need more oxygen, blood
What are the Side-effects of TMS?
- Generally safe for people with no history of seizures
- Loud
- Can cause muscle twitches (uncomfortable)
What is an MRI ?
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
•MRI = a map of different behavior
•How/Why can we detect electrical activity of neurons on the scalp?
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▫Synchronously active populations of neurons generate a large enough electrical field
▫
▫Not measuring action potentials; instead postsynaptic potentials in dendrites
▫
•Structural Imaging methods
▫Computerized Tomography Scans (CT)
▫Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
fMRI what is it?
What are the Key concepts in functional imaging
•Measures the moment-to-moment variable characteristics of the brain that may be associated with cognitive processes
PET Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan
a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task
elicited damage (example)
(e.g. animal models), or harmless temporary changes induced electro-magnetically (TMS)
TMS - Interference
- Generally reduces performance (interference)
- Sometimes enhances performance (facilitation)
▫One region inhibits another
▫Several regions are competing
Example: Area V5, involved in
perceiving motion
*** What is an EEG
- Non-invasive: main electrophysiological technique in humans
- Electrodes placed on the scalp
- Measures summed electrical potentials
- from millions of neurons
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- Note: electrical signals from a single neuron are too small to record non-invasively and can’t be distinguished from signals from other neurons.
- How/Why can we detect electrical activity of neurons on the scalp?
•
▫Synchronously active populations of neurons generate a large enough electrical field
▫
▫Not measuring action potentials; instead postsynaptic potentials in dendrites
▫
Lesion methods in nonhuman animals
- Aspiration
- Transection
- Neurochemical lesions
- Reversible “lesions”