Welcome to the Brain Development Imaging Lab! Here we use several processes to examine the human brain to learn more about how the brain develops and functions. The primary technique we use in our research is called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. This process uses magnets to take images of the brain while the research participant is working on a specific task in order to see which parts of the brain are functioning during that task. We combine this fMRI process with structural MRI, which examines the size and shape of brain structures, to get an overall picture of what the brain looks like and how it works. Often, we will also use non-imaging techniques such as neuropsychological and clinical diagnostic tests to compare our findings in the scanner with the participants' performance in cognitive areas such as memory, thinking, or language abilities, and clinical areas such as symptom improvement.
Current research projects at the Brain Development Imaging Lab focus on:
- the organization and functioning of the brain in children and adults with an Autism Spectrum Disorder
- the neurofunctional representations of language in the brains of typical children and adults.
To learn more about our specific research projects, click on the "Research" and "Current Projects" links on the left. |
