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A still-shot of a wave of brain activity measured by electrical signals in the outside (left view) and inside (right view) surface of the brain. The color scale shows the peak of the wave as hot colors and the trough as dark colors. (Credit: David Alexander/KU Leuven)
Our understanding of brain activity has traditionally been linked to brain areas — when we speak, the speech area of the brain is active.
New research by an international team of psychologistsshows that this view may be wrong. The entire cortex, not just the area responsible for a certain function, is activated when a given task is initiated.
Furthermore, activity occurs in a pattern: waves of activity roll from one side of the brain to the other.
The research was led by David Alexander and Cees van Leeuwen (Laboratory for Perceptual Dynamics).
The brain can be studied on various scales, researcher David Alexander explains: “You have the neurons, the circuits between the neurons, the Brodmann areas — brain areas that correspond to a certain function — and the entire cortex.
Traditionally, scientists looked at local activity when studying brain activity, for example, activity in the Brodmann areas. To do this, you take EEG’s (electroencephalograms) to measure the brain’s electrical activity while a subject performs a task and then you try to trace that activity back to one or more brain areas.”/.../
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