MRI: Acquisition for High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging of the primate brain

这笔为期三年的赠款将在加州理工学院购买两台用于脑部磁共振成像的设备。其中一个设备在水平方向上提供最佳分辨率；第二个设备在垂直位置提供猴子行为的图像。这将为用非侵入性方法研究猴子的大脑结构和功能提供最先进的工具，也为死后的人类大脑成像提供了机会。这项技术将使一系列关于大脑如何处理信息的研究成为可能，包括它如何看到面孔，它如何权衡不同的选择，以及它如何做出决定和指导行动。这些都是神经科学中的重要问题，新设备将极大地提高加州理工大学脑成像中心的科学水平。赠款还将为学生和博士后提供有关新设备的培训机会。这将包括在加州理工学院教授的课程以及参与个人研究项目。这些新的科学工具的发展将使人们更好地了解大脑是如何工作的，以及它是如何“连接起来的”。这些知识反过来将有助于建立人工智能系统的努力。总而言之，新设备带来的尖端科学，以及对下一代年轻科学家的培训，将对美国和世界各地的认知神经科学做出重大贡献。

This three-year grant will purchase two pieces of equipment for magnetic resonance imaging of the brain at the California Institute of Technology. One equipment piece provides the best resolution in a horizontal orientation; the second provides imaging of behaving monkeys in vertical position. This will provide state-of-the-art tools for investigating brain structure and function in monkeys with noninvasive methods, and also provide opportunities for imaging post-mortem human brains. The technology will make possible a set of research studies on how the brain processes information, including how it sees faces, how it weighs different choices, and how it makes decisions and guides action. These are important questions in neuroscience, and the new equipment will greatly enhance science at the Caltech Brain Imaging Center. The grant will also provide opportunities for training of students and post-docs on the new equipment. This will include classes taught at Caltech as well as participation in individual research projects. The development of these new scientific tools will lead to a better understanding of how the brain works, and how it is "wired up." That knowledge, in turn, will contribute to efforts to build artificially intelligent systems. Taken together, the cutting-edge science enabled by the new equipment, and the training of the next generation of young scientists on it, will contribute substantially to cognitive neuroscience in America and worldwide.