Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Imaging the brain in action

Description

This lecture covers the imaging of brain activity using techniques such as voltage-sensitive fluorescent dyes, two-photon excitation, and fluorescence imaging. It explores the spatiotemporal dynamics of cortical function, mapping sensorimotor cortex, high-resolution optical imaging, and real-time imaging of brain activity.

In MOOC

Cellular Mechanisms of Brain Function

Official source

Quiz

Related concepts (23)

Human brain

The human brain is the central organ of the human nervous system, and with the spinal cord makes up the central nervous system. The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls most of the activities of the body, processing, integrating, and coordinating the information it receives from the sense organs, and making decisions as to the instructions sent to the rest of the body. The brain is contained in, and protected by, the skull bones of the head.

Neuroimaging

Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Increasingly it is also being used for quantitative research studies of brain disease and psychiatric illness. Neuroimaging is highly multidisciplinary involving neuroscience, computer science, psychology and statistics, and is not a medical specialty.

Neural oscillation

Neural oscillations, or brainwaves, are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in the central nervous system. Neural tissue can generate oscillatory activity in many ways, driven either by mechanisms within individual neurons or by interactions between neurons. In individual neurons, oscillations can appear either as oscillations in membrane potential or as rhythmic patterns of action potentials, which then produce oscillatory activation of post-synaptic neurons.

Neuronal ensemble

A neuronal ensemble is a population of nervous system cells (or cultured neurons) involved in a particular neural computation. The concept of neuronal ensemble dates back to the work of Charles Sherrington who described the functioning of the CNS as the system of reflex arcs, each composed of interconnected excitatory and inhibitory neurons. In Sherrington's scheme, α-motoneurons are the final common path of a number of neural circuits of different complexity: motoneurons integrate a large number of inputs and send their final output to muscles.

Neurotransmission

Neurotransmission (Latin: transmissio "passage, crossing" from transmittere "send, let through") is the process by which signaling molecules called neurotransmitters are released by the axon terminal of a neuron (the presynaptic neuron), and bind to and react with the receptors on the dendrites of another neuron (the postsynaptic neuron) a short distance away. A similar process occurs in retrograde neurotransmission, where the dendrites of the postsynaptic neuron release retrograde neurotransmitters (e.g.

Related lectures (32)

Neural Signals and Signal Processing

Explores neuronal signals, brain organization, measurement techniques, and MRI principles.

Brain Function: Experiments and Mechanisms

Covers key brain function experiments, hypothesis falsification, brain imaging, calcium measurement, and optogenetic tools.

Functional Brain Imaging: Signal Processing

Covers neuroimaging techniques, brain structure, MRI basics, and big data in brain research.

In vivo electrophysiology MOOC: Cellular Mechanisms of Brain Function

Explores in vivo electrophysiology techniques for studying brain function through extracellular potentials and whole-cell recordings.