How the brain works has been a topic that has interested me for many years. I have been intrigued by how thought patterns and behavior can be changed through retraining the brain. Even with the knowledge of how to retrain the brain, little has been known about what the brain looks like as it is working, but that is changing. Neuroscientists are performing research to discover exactly what the inner workings of the brain look like.
One of the advances currently being made is the creation of three-dimensional images. Scientists are currently looking at the brain of a mouse in tiny segments. The segments are so tiny that the images they are putting together only equal the size of a grain of salt, but in that grain of salt the information they have learned is immense. Scientists are also scanning the brains of deceased people. This has allowed scientists to create a three-dimensional map of the brain. Once they have done this, they then take the brain and slice it into thin slices in order to highlight …show more content…
In 2012, using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the discovery was made that the brain is set up on a grid pattern (Zimmer, 2014). Understanding this is helping scientists to notice small differences in those who have brain disorders. There is also imaging being done that can show what areas of the brain are being used to complete a task. In 2005 the first surgery to implant a device that would connect to the motor cortex in the brain was performed on people who were paralyzed (Zimmer, 2014). This device is proving beneficial to those who have been unable to communicate due to paralysis. Other research is being done on understanding vision and trying to see what the eye is seeing. All of these researches and advances are being to help