National Antivisection Society
Brain research without the monkey business
We are funding the research of Dr Kristin Pammer and Dr Piers Cornelissen at the University of Newcastle-upon Tyne using magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain imaging in human volunteers as an alternative to primate research to study visual attention.
The research is important for our understanding of how the brain locates, selects and synthesises visual information. It will help to evaluate deficiency in directed visual attention and lead the way to discovering possible causes for dyslexia.
Our attentional apparatus allows us to rapidly scan a scene, identify and collate the key features into an intelligible whole. How the different areas of the brain cortex communicate with each other is unknown. Particular areas of the cortex have been implicated in visuo-attentional mechanisms. This LDF study will challenge the belief that only recordings from primate nerve cells can give the timing specifics of the nerve connections inside the cortex.
MEG measures the magnetic signals emitted by active areas of the brain cortex. Unlike other imaging techniques MEG can measure brain activity as it occurs, telling us not only where in the brain information is processed but how and when the different parts of the brain communicate. In addition, a new analysis technique called Dynamic Imaging of Coherent Sources (DICS), will be used to evaluate connections in the cortex.
The combination of MEG and DICS provides an excellent method for the non-invasive investigation of human brain activity during natural cognitive tasks. The techniques can assess synchronous nerve networks and their dynamics over time across the whole human brain cortex, whereas in monkey experiments, the brain nerve recording techniques can only measure a small number of cortical sites at a time.
A series of three experiments will use human volunteers. The involvement of different areas of the brain will be investigated before, during and after fixing on a single scene or location without moving their eyes.
According to Dr Pammer: “This research will provide a valuable contribution to almost any brain research that involves measuring the temporal dynamics of neural populations. Such areas include motion, vision, hearing, pain, touch, sensory integration – virtually any research that otherwise uses monkey models to predict behaviour in the human brain."
This innovative research is an important step towards understanding of visual perception and the techniques will provide data far more relevant to humans, than monkey experiments.
