Journey Through the Human Brain
This video was one of the winners of the 2019 “Show us Your Brain!” contest sponsored by the NIH-led Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative.
The video travels through several portions of the brain’s white matter—bundles of fiber that carry nerve signals between the brain and the body, as well as within the brain itself. Fiber colors indicate directionality: left-right fibers (red), front-back fibers (green), and top-bottom fibers (blue).
We start our journey deep within the brain in the limbic system, the area that helps control emotion, learning, and memory. About three seconds in, visual fibers pop into view extending from the eyes to various brain areas into the occipital lobe (one of four major brain lobes) in the back of the brain. About two seconds later, flying over top as the brain starts rotating, we see various fiber bundles spray upward throughout the cerebral cortex, communicating information related to language processing, short-term memory, and other functions.
Dynamic maps like these are created using a 3D imaging technique called diffusion MRI tractography [1]. Postdoctoral researcher Ryan Cabeen and Arthur Toga, director of the University of Southern California Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Los Angeles, used the method to study how white matter changes in developing and aging brains, and in brains affected by neurodegenerative or neurological disorders. Video created by scientific animator Jim Stanis.
See the full video on the NIH Director’s blog: bit.ly/2Z6r2Nx
Credit: Jim Stanis/Ryan Cabeen/Arthur Toga
NIH support from: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke & National Institute of Mental Health
Journey Through the Human Brain
This video was one of the winners of the 2019 “Show us Your Brain!” contest sponsored by the NIH-led Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative.
The video travels through several portions of the brain’s white matter—bundles of fiber that carry nerve signals between the brain and the body, as well as within the brain itself. Fiber colors indicate directionality: left-right fibers (red), front-back fibers (green), and top-bottom fibers (blue).
We start our journey deep within the brain in the limbic system, the area that helps control emotion, learning, and memory. About three seconds in, visual fibers pop into view extending from the eyes to various brain areas into the occipital lobe (one of four major brain lobes) in the back of the brain. About two seconds later, flying over top as the brain starts rotating, we see various fiber bundles spray upward throughout the cerebral cortex, communicating information related to language processing, short-term memory, and other functions.
Dynamic maps like these are created using a 3D imaging technique called diffusion MRI tractography [1]. Postdoctoral researcher Ryan Cabeen and Arthur Toga, director of the University of Southern California Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Los Angeles, used the method to study how white matter changes in developing and aging brains, and in brains affected by neurodegenerative or neurological disorders. Video created by scientific animator Jim Stanis.
See the full video on the NIH Director’s blog: bit.ly/2Z6r2Nx
Credit: Jim Stanis/Ryan Cabeen/Arthur Toga
NIH support from: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke & National Institute of Mental Health