ShmoopTube

00:04

And here's your shmoop du jour brought to you by 3d x-ray imaging [Person wearing 3d glasses in an x-ray machine]

00:07

complete and total transparency now in funky red and blue okay here's a

00:13

question a 3d x-ray of the brain that shows structure but not function is

00:18

called what and here are the potential answers..

00:22

...Okay so the key here is structure over function we're [A key and a brain appears]

00:27

talking the structure of the brain not the activity within it think of it like

00:30

fashion over function this x-ray only cares about outer appearances which [Person photographing a woman on a catwalk]

00:35

sounds like a good reason to break up if you ask us all right now starting with A

00:39

we've got a PET scan or positron emission tomography scan which is a

00:45

nuclear imaging test that creates images of the functional processes of the body [Pet scan definition]

00:50

on a brain it'll look something like this...this scan is all about function

00:55

it's not in it for the fashion and remember fashion over function is what [Woman with a brain for a head being photographed on a catwalk]

01:00

we're looking for here so we can cross out A. What about B; fMRI or functional

01:05

magnetic resonance imaging bit of a spoiler in the title there huh? This

01:09

imaging procedure is definitely functional it measures brain activity by

01:13

way of detecting associated changes in blood flow how? Because blood flow to the [Brain and a blood drop on either side of a weighing scale]

01:18

brain and neuronal activation are linked where there's blood there's action and

01:23

no we're not talking about the latest transformers movie okay C doesn't work

01:27

either because an EEG or electroencephalogram is a test that

01:33

detects electrical activity in the brain via electrodes seeing is it's all about [A little girl with electrodes attached to her head]

01:38

all electrical activity it doesn't fit coincidentally that's the exact reason

01:42

it wasn't the title for the transformers new movie.. Well D isn't right

01:47

either because an EKG or electrocardiogram is focused on

01:52

electrical activity too but that's not the main reason it's wrong cardio means [Electrical pulses appear]

01:57

heart so you can guess that an electrocardiogram is performed on your

02:02

heart not your brain and wouldn't want to mix those two up leaving us with E..A

02:06

CT or computerized tomography scan compiles x-ray images of the brain into

02:12

a complete and structured image.. however the image doesn't change it's a [Man falls off a CT scan table]

02:16

passive 3d image of the brain that doesn't show it performing a function

02:18

and is often used to assess injury from trauma so it looks like E is our answer

02:23

and unfortunately it doesn't quite pick up emotional trauma caused by really bad [A woman giving her ex boyfriend items in a box]

02:27

breakup experiences, though scientists have hoped that one day a CT will pick up

02:32

the signs of empty ice cream cartons and quietly hummed Adele songs....[Doctors looking at a man in a CT scanner]

Full Transcript