Understanding Scanning Technology: When and Where in the Brain

The good folks over at TedEd have produced another helpful brain video — this one exploring different brain-scanning techniques.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B10pc0Kizsc

This video does a particularly good job exploring both the strengths and the weaknesses of each technology.

Location, Location…oh, and Timing

In particular, EEG is very good at measuring timing precisely. Sadly, it can’t pinpoint location very accurately.

On the other hand, fMRI can zoom in on location within a few millimeters. However, its timing measurements are only rough-n-ready: within a few seconds or so.

Surprisingly, the video doesn’t discuss magnetoencephalography (MEG) — which does with magnetic waves what EEG does with electrical waves.

For fun: this video shows the MEG image when the brain reads the single word “dog.”