Using tools like fMRI and MEG, it is now possible to track patterns of magnetic activity at the scalp or blood oxygen levels within the brain to localize and contrast neural activity in response to different tasks. Major advancements in these neuroimaging technologies have transpired over the past decade; and, as accessibility to and understanding of these neuroimaging methods has rapidly increased, researchers now have an unprecedented ability to investigate brain function in healthy humans.
These developments are particularly exciting for any who work or have worked in the cognitive sciences (ahem), and especially those subfields that concern themselves with uniquely human cognitive abilities, such as the capacity for language (ahem), since such fields have traditionally relied almost entirely on methods with very poor spatial resolution (EEG) or on research concerning the functioning of diseased brains. Access to neuroimaging methods makes it possible to investigate the brain basis of language in a way that was never before possible.
But these developments are not only exciting to researchers. Results from the neuroscience community are clearly of broader public interest, as evidenced by the popularity of podcasts such as Radiolab and the household recognition of famed researchers like Oliver Sacks. In spite of its obvious complexity, there is no shortage of interest in the enigma of the human brain; and as important as recent scientific progress has been for the research community, knowledge about this progress is equally important for the taxpayers who are funding this research program.
The goal of this project is to empower laypeople to interact with and understand neuroimaging findings, by synthesizing this extensive and growing body of work in an intuitive way. This is my first blog post documenting the journey of creating this project, and learning the technologies that will underlie it. My time in academia was made possible through the support of the National Science Foundation -- whose mission it is to broaden public awareness of and participation in the sciences -- and my hope is that this project can give something modest back to the public that has funded my education.
