Skip to main content

MEG as an Enabling Tool in Neuroscience: Transcending Boundaries with New Analysis Methods and Devices

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Magnetoencephalography

Abstract

Neuroscience studies have provided highly detailed information about the anatomical and structural composition and organization of the brain, but insights into its functional principles are still lacking. To advance this understanding, scientists need to match their new research questions with instruments that provide information about the brain’s functionality at a sufficient level of detail with a potential to resolve the very rapidly evolving patterns of brain activity while also providing the necessary spatial detail and accuracy. Until 50 years ago, electroencephalography (EEG) was the only noninvasive technique capable of directly measuring neuronal activity with a millisecond time resolution. However, with the birth of magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional brain activity can now be resolved with this time resolution at a new level of spatial detail.

The use of MEG in practical studies began with the first real-time measurements in the beginning of the 1970s. During the following decade, multichannel MEG systems were developed in parallel with both investigations of normal brain activity and clinical studies, especially in epileptic patients. The first whole-head MEG system with more than 100 channels was introduced in 1992. By the end of the century, hundreds of such instruments had been delivered to researchers and clinicians worldwide. With vibrant interaction between neuroscientists, clinicians, physicists, mathematicians, and engineers, the experimental approaches and analysis methods were developed to establish MEG as an important method to study healthy and diseased brains. With the advent of low-noise room-temperature magnetic field sensors and novel analysis approaches, we are now at the verge of a revolution that will critically improve both the sensitivity and the spatial resolution of MEG and will especially advance its use in studies of early brain development and neurodegenerative disorders, as well as investigations of brain function in naturalistic situations and during interpersonal interactions. This chapter focuses on instrumentation and analysis tool developments, which have enabled and continue to enable MEG to flourish as a noninvasive tool to study brain function. The final section of this chapter offers lessons learned from seasoned investigators on conducting successful MEG studies, necessarily emphasizing additional issues such as the formulation of the research question and creation of experimental protocols.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. S. Hämäläinen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Hämäläinen, M.S., Lundqvist, D. (2019). MEG as an Enabling Tool in Neuroscience: Transcending Boundaries with New Analysis Methods and Devices. In: Supek, S., Aine, C. (eds) Magnetoencephalography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62657-4_81-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62657-4_81-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62657-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62657-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

Publish with us

Policies and ethics