Prof. Ping Li from Pennsylvania State University gave a lecture on the modern technology used in brain research in the seminar room of National Key Research Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on June 27, following his last talk on the anatomy of the brain.

The sophisticated architecture of the human brain and how its billions of nerve communicate with each other have fascinated researchers for centuries. But now, in replace of postmortem examinations or observations of patients, new technology allows neuroscientiests to map the brain structure and its functions in ever-greater detail. For example, Electroencephalogram (EEG) traces the electricity courses rapidly through the brain and therefore increased activity in the brain in response to a stimulus may indicate that that part of the brain has something to do with the stimulus. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses magnets to take clear pictures of the entire brain. If researchers want to study brain changes of a child or an adult learning a second language, they can use MRI. EEG and MRI are very important and complementary research approaches since fMRI offers high spatial resolution, while EEG directly measures neural activity with high temporal resolution.

This talk introduced modern technology used in brain research. Teachers and students who are interested with neurolinguistics got the opportunity to know the commonly used technology and their working principles.