INVESTIGATION OF HUMAN CORTICAL ORGANIZATION WITH P.E.T.

这项工作的总体目标是加深我们对 正常成人大脑的功能组织。这样的一种 承诺是可行的，原因有两个：(1)PET可以衡量 正常人脑的小区域的血液流动 精确度是任何其他技术无法超越的；(2)局部变化 血流准确地反映了局部整体活动的变化 神经细胞的。血管系统提供了了解血管功能的独特窗口。 使用PET测量局部脑血流量，我们将(1) 识别人类大脑皮层中的多个感觉区域 个体受试者与其MRI定义的解剖结构的关系；(2) 至少粗略地界定这些地区的地形组织； (3)用于识别功能地标的测试刺激 在大脑皮层内；(4)确定更复杂的功能 相似的语言被映射到这些主要区域；(5)测试 初级感觉功能标志与解剖标志的关系 如果解剖学和解剖学之间没有紧密的关系 功能地标，(6)测试功能地标的使用 三维翘曲算法中的约束以增强 信号平均和跨受试者功能图的比较。

The overall objective of this work is to further our understanding of the functional organization of the normal adult human brain. Such an undertaking is feasible for two reasons, (1) PET can measure changes in blood flow in small regions of the normal human brain with a degree of accuracy unsurpassed by any other technique and (2) Changes in local blood flow accurately reflect changes in the activity of local ensembles of neurons. The vasculature provides a unique "window to the workings of the brain". Using PET measurements of local brain blood flow we will (1) identify multiple sensory areas in the human cerebral cortex of individual subjects in relation to their MRI-defined anatomy; (2) define, at least coarsely, the topographic organization of these areas; (3) Test stimuli which will serve to identify functional landmarks within the cerebral cortex; (4) determine how more complex functions like language are mapped on to these principal areas; (5) test the relationship of functional vs anatomical landmarks in primary sensory areas; and, if there is not a tight relationship between anatomical and functional landmarks, (6) test the use of functional landmarks as constraints in 3-dimensional warping algorithms in order to enhance signal averaging and comparisons of functional maps across subjects.