Illuminating the Bustling Brain: Methods of Functional Brain Imaging

Marina Shah, under the supervision of Prof. Monica Fabiani, in collaboration with Prof. Gabriele Gratton, Kathy Low, Nils Schneider-Garces, & Timothy Weng
University Laboratory High School and the Department of Psychology, College of LAS, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Introduction/Aim
During this month, I have been helping with a research project at the Beckman Institute under the supervision of Professor Monica Fabiani. The project I have been helping with is a large longitudinal project that was well under way by the time I began working in the lab, and it is not close to being finished yet. The project focuses on ways in which the human brain changes as people age. I worked in the Cognitive Neuroimaging lab, where we used EROS (the EventRelated Optical Signal) to obtain information about brain activity while people perform tasks. My personal goal during this month was to gain a better understanding of methods of brain imaging. I hoped to learn how these methods worked, what kind of information they can give, and the advantages and disadvantages for different methods. The goal of the large-scale project I was helping with is to gain a better understanding of the ways in which the human brain changes with age.

Method
Before working in the lab, I read chapters from several textbooks about brain function and methods of brain imaging. Working in the lab really solidified what I read by giving me a hands-on experience. The main method of brain imaging that I helped with is called EROS. The method I used in the lab to obtain data for the project has a few steps: 1. After the subject has practiced the task, we put the electrodes and helmet on them, then insert more electrodes and lasers into the helmet according to a chart. The end result looks like this:

Results
Even though I do not have data from this project yet, I do have some examples of data from a previous, very similar study. The data from the older project highlights some of the interesting findings that the current research team hopes to learn more about with this project. The previous study involved 32 subjects. 16 were aged 18-30, and the other 16 were aged 65-82. In each group of 16, half were women. All subjects performed the same task. Below is an image of the general information that was collected.

Works Cited
For data and images from previous project: Gratton, G., Rykhlevskaia, E., Wee, E., Leaver, E., & Fabiani, M. (2009). Does white matter matter? Spatiotemporal dynamics of task switching in aging. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(7), 1380-1395. For background information on technologies: Banich, M. T., & Compton, R. J. (2011). Techniques for assessing. In Cognitive Neuroscience (3rd ed., pp. 62-77). Cengage Learning. (Original work published 2003)

Conclusions
Since I was helping with a larger project that is not yet finished, I dont have any project-related conclusions to report. I dont think this is a problem; I feel that I had a more meaningful experience because I got the opportunity to be a part of an important, large-scale project. My personal aim, which was to learn more about brain imaging methods, was absolutely achieved during this month. I plan to continue working in the lab all summer, next year whenever time permits, and hopefully the summer after that as well. The I-STEM Research experience has given me a great opportunity to help with meaningful research that I find extremely interesting and fun. I am so excited that Im able to extend this opportunity to a more long-term experience.

Technologies
My personal goal being to learn about brain imaging, I learned a lot about EROS and a bit about fMRI as well, both of which are being used in this research project. fMRI: fMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging, is a variation of MRI. fMRI allows us to examine specific brain functions. One particular application for this involves measuring the relative changes in the amount of oxygenated blood in the brain. Advantages to fMRI include being able to obtain images that provide precise indications of the brain areas involved. The disadvantage for this method is that it does not provide precise temporal information. EROS: This is an optical method of brain imaging that uses light. The way optical imaging works is fairly simple: while a laser source is placed on the scalp, detectors are positioned a couple centimeters away from the laser. The detectors are able to detect what happens to the light (whether it is absorbed or scattered). This method measures the scattering of light, which is related to neuronal activity. This information is called the fast signal, and is used in EROS. EROS uses the fast signal to record brain activity that is linked with an event. EROS can give a fairly exact measurement of where and when brain activity occurs. The only disadvantage to EROS is that it cannot measure information that is too deep within the brain, because too much light is absorbed. 2. The task each person is asked to perform can be best explained with the following diagram: Precue M: attend meaning P: attend position

M+M

P+P
When there was no switch or a switch to meaning, both the younger and older subjects used the left side of their brains. However, when there was a switch to position, younger subjects used the right side, but older subjects lacked activity where it should have been. The older subjects also had more difficulty answering correctly when they were asked to switch to position-related information. The research team believes that this was a result of the corpus callosum, which controls communication between the two halves of the brain and was found to be smaller in the older subjects. Below is some graphical data depicting this information.
Spatial Task

+
Reaction Stimulus No conflict Conflict

above +

+ above

3. While the subject performs the task, we keep an eye on monitors to make sure we are getting the signals we need to have accurate data. We keep a record of anything that goes wrong during a session, and have about twenty threeminute sessions of this activity. 4. Last is a breathing exercise. The subject holds his/her breath for an allotted time and we collect data about his/her brain activity during the exercise. After this, we relieve the subject of the heavy helmet and sanitize all of the equipment.

Acknowledgments

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Younger Older

My Project Title
Marina Shah, under the supervision of Prof. Mary Smith, in collaboration with Michael Jones
University Laboratory High School and the Department of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, College of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Introduction
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Acknowledgments

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