A Short Guide to Brain Imaging: The neuroscience of human cognition

Brain imaging has revolutionised the field of Psychology - once more concerned with IQ tests, reaction times and questionnaires. Most Psychology departments now have access to an MRI scanner - some have even renamed themselves as departments of cognitive neuroscience. Yet brain imaging can be a minefield, whichever discipline you approach it from. If you are a psychologist, you will have been taught how to do behavioural experiments, but may know little neuroanatomy or neurophysiology. If you are a neurologist or psychiatrist, then you may know the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, but not know how to carry out experiments on mental phenomena.

This is a practical guide to brain imaging, showing how it can advance a true neuroscience of human cognition. It is accessible to those starting out in imaging, whilst also informative for those who have already acquired some expertise. At the heart of the book are 6 main chapters, focusing on - the signal, experimental methods, anatomy, functional specialisation, functional systems, and other methods.

For students and researchers in psychology and neuroscience, this is the essential companion when embarking on brain imaging studies.

Richard E. Passingham, Emeritus Fellow, Wadham College, University of Oxford, UK,James B. Rowe, Professor of Cognitive Neurology at Cambridge University, Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, and MRC Program Leader, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK

Richard E. Passingham received a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Oxford, UK, and a Ph.D from the University of London, UK. He returned to Oxford in 1971 and was made a University Lecturer and Fellow of Wadham College in 1976. He was made an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the MRC Cyclotron Unit in 1988 and then an Honorary Principal at the Wellcome Centre for Imaging Neuroscience in 1996. He was made a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Oxford in 1997. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2009 and of the Association for Psychological Science in 2010.

After reading medical sciences and experimental psychology at Cambridge University (1991) Dr Rowe completed clinical training at Oxford (1994), and went on to complete his neurology specialist training in London (2005). His PhD at the Functional Imaging Laboratory (2001) used functional brain imaging to study how we choose our behaviours, in health and disease. His Wellcome Trust senior research fellowship examines the cognitive physiology of neurodegenerative disease, including frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson's disease and primary tauopathies. He combines advances in magnetoencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging with computational modelling in order to measure the impact of disease and drugs on synaptic physiology in humans. The integration of brain imaging with psychopharmacology, guided be preclinical research provides a powerful platform to understand cognition and behaviour, and evaluate the efficacy and mechanisms of novel therapeutics.