The advancement in technology as well as the growing need to understand the human brain and its functioning has contributed directly to the development of various neuroimaging methods. One such neuroimaging techniques that have not only grown in popularity but also in its adoption to understand the brain functioning is the functional magnetic resonance imaging. The paper will evaluate the application of functional magnetic resonance imaging, which has increased in its application b the neurologists and psychologists, to help in support the understanding of the psychological and neural mechanisms.
The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been identified to be an essential technique to help in conducting an assessment of the brain activity. The approach has been identified as being crucial in understanding the brain activity although its manner of the application has significantly changed from the time it was invented in the 1990s (Huettel et al. 2014). The fMRI was majorly linked with Seiji Ogawa and Ken Kwong, although several innovators were used in its development (Huettel et al. 2014).
One of the main ways the fMRI is used in understanding the various localizing psychological functions of the various parts of the brain. By supporting the understanding of the localization, the neuroimaging technique helps in understanding the correlations between brain behaviors (Berman, 2006). Further, that application support an understanding of the modules of processing organization whereas enabling the prediction of the expected deficits in functionalities that are likely to be encountered following the damaging of specific tissues of the brain (Berman, 2006). The focus on the various components of the brain which are responsible for detecting the different parts of the human body identified differently in the brain regions responsible for the identification of different parts of the brain (Berman, 2006). Such a difference is identified where the right lateral occipitotemporal cortex part of the brain was more responsive to the images of the human bodies compared to other objects. Through the identification of the brain parts responsible for different actions or objects, an individual is better placed to map the architecture of the visual processes and also understanding the neuropsychological pathologies that comprise of selective deficits to help in the classification of different classes of objects.
Another application of the functional magnetic resonance imaging is that it supports the understanding of the different cognitive process which is involved in a specific function. The function, therefore, makes the functional magnetic resonance imaging essential I understanding the commonalities or similarities in the brain activation (Usaman et al. 2015). The reasoning behind the perspective is that in those instances where different activities contribute to the activation of the common areas of the brain, these activities are highly likely to be connected regarding the brain process (Usaman et al. 2015). Such similarities in the processes are where the neurological activities occurring in the anterior cingulated a the ventral prefrontal cortex as identified when one is subjected to social pain, such as the one an individual is socially excluded, resembled the brain activities when an individual was subjected to physical pain (Usaman et al. 2015). The approach can also be used in investigating the effectiveness of different approaches to manage pain through the use of placebo and investigating the impact on brain activities. The hypothesis is based on the identification that placebo analgesia is linked with the lowered activities in those sections of the brain that are sensitive to physical pain (Usaman et al. 2015). These brain regions include the thalamus, anterior cingulate cortex, and the insula. These findings can, therefore, be applied in concluding that placebos tend to be effective through lowering the activation in the various regions of the brain that have been linked with responding to physical pain (Usaman et al. 2015). That process, therefore, allows the placebo to exercise their analgesic impact on the central processing mechanism.
Another application of the functional magnetic resonance imaging which is linked with the brain mapping is by supporting the understanding of the distinctiveness in brain activation (Buxton, 2009). Similar to the study of the common activations, identifying the distinctive activations is essential in supporting the understanding and development of the architecture of psychological processing the identified structure of the brain activity. (Buxton, 2009) Such distinctiveness can be identified whereby the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was identified as being increasingly active among individuals who have been instructed to identify the color, as compared to when they were requested to read the specific word. The difference can be applied in identifying that the left dorsolateral prefrontal region was adopting the cognitive control to assist in the implementation of the challenging activities (Huettel et al. 2014). An assessment of the anterior cingulated cortex points to the activation by the stimuli, which acts as a reflection of high-conflict incongruent after a comparison with the low-conflict congruent stimuli. These results can be applied in concluding that lateral prefrontal cortex is linked with the adoption of cognitive control whereas the anterior cingulate cortex is mainly engaged in the monitoring of the performance (Huettel et al. 2014).
Functional magnetic resonance imaging has been linked with helping to spot the variance between individuals. Such application of the fMRI in identifying variance among individuals relates to the activation of amygdala when encountering different emotions (Strakowski et al. 2011). Among the individuals, there were similarities in the activation of amygdala when the expression of fear was assessed in the face. On the other hand, the findings identified differences in the amygdala activation when the expression of happiness was assessed in the face (Strakowski et al. 2011). The findings from the adoption of fMRI point to its essence in identifying differences among individuals in the activation of the brain, which can, therefore, be used in explaining the similarities and differences in the behavior among individuals when faced with various activities (Strakowski et al. 2011).
Also, fMRI can be applied in testing the model predictions and as a result, helps in differentiating among the various psychological theories on tasks performance. The neuroimaging method has been applied in differentiating between two theories of cognitive control as indicated by Berman (2006). One of the cognitive theories tested with the use of fMRI provides that in instances where there is competition among different responses, the conflict evaluates the demand for increased control to help in avoiding the interfering responses (Berman, 2006). The proponents of the theory linked such behavior to the anterior cingulate cortex where its interaction with lateral prefrontal cortex is consistent with the behavioral adjustments in the instances of high conflict (Berman, 2006). The other cognitive theory assessed points to the anterior cingulated improving the likelihood of the error incurred after a given context.
In conclusion, the functional magnetic resonance imaging has been in wide application to help in understanding the mind and the brain. One such way identified in the study is by supporting the identification of the association of the similarities between the brain and the behavior. Also, the neural imaging method is crucial in understanding the overlapping and the non-overlapping behavior of the activation of the various parts of the brain, which is essential in helping create an understanding of the similarities and differences across the psychological tasks. The adoption of the functional magnetic resonance imaging has further been linked with an improved understanding of the similarities and differences in the human behavior through the understanding of the similarities and differences in the human behavior. The paper further linked the adoption of fMRI to testing the various psychological models of behavior.
References
Berman, M. G., Jonides, J., " Nee, D. E. (2006). Studying mind and brain with fMRI. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 1(2), 158-161 )
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Buxton, R. B. (2009). Introduction to functional magnetic resonance imaging: Principles and techniques. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bottom of Form
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Huettel, S. A., Song, A. W., " McCarthy, G. (2014). Functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Strakowski, S. M., Eliassen, J. C., Lamy, M., Cerullo, M. A., Allendorfer, J. B., Madore, M., ... " Adler, C. M. (2011). Functional magnetic resonance imaging brain activation in bipolar mania: evidence for disruption of the ventrolateral prefrontal-amygdala emotional pathway. Biological psychiatry, 69(4), 381-388. Bottom of Form
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Usmani, M. S., Kashou, N. H., OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center., " Wright State University,. (2015). Measuring brain activation through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during visual task learning.
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