Evolution of brain imaging in neuropsychiatry: past present and future

摘要

In the 19th and early 20th centuries the brain was very much shrouded in mystery and as such was considered a 'black-box'. The greatest advance to emerge during this period was the discovery of regional specialisation, namely, that different brain areas serve different functions. One of the earliest examples of this is documented in the work of German physiologists Fritsch and Hitzig who when electrically stimulating a patch of cortex in the brain of a dog observed movement in its right front paw. When the same patch of cortex was surgically removed from two other dogs, they noticed that the dogs not only could not use the paw, but also seemed unaware of it. These early rudimentary studies questioned the 'black-box' concept and precipitated a surge in the study of the brain over the ensuing half-century in which scientists poked, prodded, stimulated and removed portions of animal (and human) brain in an attempt to uncover its mysteries. Even with so much 'brain-power' being directed towards demystifying te workings of the brain, progress was slow and it is only more recently that significant advances have been made. In particular, over the past several decades technological advances in physics and computing have contributed to the development of sophisticated technology, which permits an unprecedented ability to dissect the 'working brain' and better understand its neurobiology.