Princeton researchers peek into deepest recesses of human brain

A team of scientists from Princeton University has devised a new experimental technique that produces some of the best functional images ever taken of the human brainstem, the most primitive area of the brain.

The scientists believe they may be opening the door to inquiries into a region that acts as the staging area for the brain chemicals whose overabundance or absence in other parts of the brain are at the root of many neuropsychiatric disorders, like addiction, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.

Reporting in the Feb. 28 edition of Science, the scientists describe using functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brainstem activity in dehydrated humans. The scanning technique allows researchers to watch the brain in action.

source: Princeton University