A fairly recent Scientific American article [Raichle, Marcus E. 1994.
Visualizing the Mind. Scientific American 270(4): 36] described the
different techniques being used to investigate language organization
in the brain. The trend of research was said to be towards the
the possibility of measuring the time it takes for different brain areas
to exchange information. The main difficulty was the speed of neuronal
activity with signals from one part of the brain able to travel to another
in 0.01 second or less. Raichle said that the only methods that responded
quickly enough were electrical recording techniques including
magnetoencephalography (MEG), which measures the magnetic fields generated
by electrical activity within the brain. MEG could capture neural activity
too brief to be detected by PET or MRI.
Is this line of research being discussed or reported on any Internet
group? What are the most recent developments, particularly in
relation to language? Any information gratefully received.
Robin Allott email: rmallott at percep.demon.co.uk
