Question

Please discuss the importance of imaging referring to Brain and Behavior

Answer 1

• Neuroimaging, which is a term used by scientists who are interested in seeing aspects of the way the brain works and the way the brain is structured, is extremely important for humans' understanding of the nervous system and it seems almost obvious that if you wanted to understand something you would want to see it, but it is important to realize that the reason humans are so interested in imaging the brain has much less do with the brain than it has to do with the way humans understand things.
• If we were mice we would probably want maps that we could map into the sound or the odor space. If we were bats we would want an odor map or a sound map, certainly, of the nervous system.
• We wouldn’t want a visual map because the visual system in most other animals is not nearly as good as the human visual system. Humans have a very good visual system, in fact it is our strongest analytic organ, our most powerful way of understanding the world and so if human beings can see something, we believe we can understand it, and that’s why neuroimaging is so important more related to us than to the brain.
• There are probably many other ways one could map out the function of the brain, but for humans it would make most sense if it were a visual map in one way or another.
• Brain scans have been used to make basic discoveries about human behavior for decades.Brain scan could cut out a lot of the guesswork on what might make the most effective treatment for a person's depression.
• Some people may respond better to behavioral modification. Some may respond better to treating their depression with drugs. Some people might even have an adverse reaction to certain medication.If the doctor were to scan that person's brain first, the scans could give the doctor an objective way to decide what treatment would work best for the patient.
• Being able to anticipate where someone could fail might also give a doctor an opportunity to intervene before they do. For instance, a brain scan can show the greater likelihood of a teen getting hooked on drugs. If doctors could know that a teen was particularly vulnerable to addiction, they could attempt steer them away from that behavior.