Brain imaging center to improve psychology department research
by Becky Legel, posted Sept. 13, 2007
The psychology department’s new Brain Imaging Center will feature a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner solely for research purposes, giving researchers an opportunity to create images of the brain that are functional and structural.
A brain problem such as schizophrenia or autism cannot be diagnosed by looking at an X-ray because the structure of the damaged brain appears the same as a healthy one. MR scanners give researchers the ability see where oxygen is used in the brain. The scanner measures function, not structure, so the researcher can see the malfunctioning part of the brain.
Jeffrey Rouder, MU associate professor of psychology, said there was a push in the late 1990s to increase imaging at the university. Current MR scanners at MU are primarily used for clinical purposes, but the new scanner will only be used for research.
“We intend that any researcher who wants to do imaging on humans will use the scanner,” Rouder said.
This includes researchers from speech and communications disorders and radiology departments, The Thompson Center for Autism and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders and the MU School of Medicine. Researchers from the psychology department studying schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the neural basis of attention, awareness and action will also use the scanner in their research.
Rouder, who was in charge of buying the MR magnet, designed the building and surveyed other psychology departments to see how they provided for this type of research. He found that published psychology articles all relied on imaging.
“In 15 years there may be two types of psychology departments,” Rouder said. Those with scanners will be doing cutting edge research. Those without will be doing solid behavioral research, but it may not be cutting edge anymore.”.
The Brain Imaging Center will keep MU at the level of other universities in the research department.
The center, housed in an addition on the east side of the Melvin H. Marx Building, is scheduled for completion in February 2008. The MR scanner will be ready for research in mid-March or early April.
