If a picture is worth a thousand words, then dynamic images of brain activity certainly
warrant many, many more. This book will help users learn to decipher the dynamic
imaging data that will be critical to our future understanding of complex brain
functions.
In recent years, there have been unprecedented methodological advancements in
the imaging of brain activity. These techniques allow the measurement of everything
from neural activity (e.g., membrane potential, ion flux, neurotransmitter flux) to
energy metabolism (e.g., glucose consumption, oxygen consumption, creatine kinase
flux) and functional hyperemia (e.g., blood flow, volume, oxygenation). This book
deals with a variety of magnetic resonance, electrophysiology, and optical methods
that are often used to measure some of these dynamic processes.