Current Research Projects

Informational brochure about the lab.

Are you interested in becoming a research participant?

We are actively recruiting subjects for studies on:

Dyslexia and reading related processes

• Studies with children and adolescents: The purpose of this research is to better understand reading and language development in all children (including children with learning disabilities). We are looking for children 4-18 years old. Interested? Please contact us at kidsbrains@gmail.com.
• Studies with adults: This research is designed to investigate the brain basis of language and reading in native speakers of English, with and without learning difficulties. Interested? Please contact us at gablabstudy@gmail.com.
  

Asperger's Syndrome

• The goal of this study is to understand how people with Asperger's Syndrome think about themselves and others. If you are interested in finding out more about the study, please see our study brochure.

Memory

• This research is designed to investigate memory and the brain. We are especially looking for children ages 8-17. Please see the study brochure or email Noa Ofen for additional information.

Language processing

• This study is designed to assess what brain regions are involved in processes related to reading. Please email Asaf Bachrach.

Emotional and Cognitive Regulation (Psychopathology, Behavior, and Cognition study)

• The purpose of this research is to better understand emotional and cognitive regulatory development. We are especially looking for typically developing children age 8-18, as well as adults up to 30 years of age.  Please see the Gabrieli Lab Kids Corner and/or email Zeynep Saygin for more information.

Neuroeconomics and Healthy Aging

• We are currently looking for healthy seniors ages 65-90 to participate in brain imaging study on aging and decision making. If you are interested in participating and would like to find out more, please contact Nina Wickens at nwickens@mit.edu or call 617-324-5304. Or if you know individuals in this age range who might be interested, we would appreciate it if you let them know about the study.

What is functional MR imaging (fMRI) of the brain?

MRI is a technique for viewing the brain's structure and functions. Two main forms exist: structural MRI provide detailed pictures of the brain's shape and size. Functional MRI allows researchers to visualize and map the parts of the brain used to perform everyday tasks, such as reading and calculation. Both structural and functional MRI are used for our studies.

The MRI machine is, in essence, a big magnet. As you lie in its magnetic field, invisible radio waves are released around you. This will result in harmless radio waves bouncing off the different substances that make up your brain. These radio waves are then detected by a computer, which transforms the data into images of the brain's structure and activity.

How does it work?

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) generates cross-sectional images of the human body by using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The process begins with positioning the imaged body (a) in a strong, uniform magnetic field, which polarizes the nuclear magnetic moments of water protons by forcing their spins into one of two possible orientations (b). Then an appropriately polarized radio-frequency field, applied at resonant frequency, forces spin transitions between orientations (c). Those transitions create a signal (d) (which is an NMR phenomenon) that can be detected by a receiving coil.

The MRI scanner applies the radio-frequency field as finely crafted pulses, which excite only protons whose resonant frequencies fall within a fairly narrow range. Applying magnetic-field gradients during the radio-frequency pulse creates resonant conditions for only the protons that are located in a thin, predetermined slice of the body. Orientation and thickness of this slice can be selected arbitrarily in the imaged body. The NMR signal encodes positional information across the slice by using a method known as the "spin warp,'' and a two-dimensional Fourier Transform extracts that positional information. The process creates a data matrix in which each element represents an NMR signal from a single, localized volume element, or voxel, within the imaged slice. A two-dimensional display of this matrix's contents creates a human-readable image of the selected slice. Each image element, or pixel, represents the NMR signal strength that was recorded for its corresponding voxel.

The MRI image provides unmatched soft-tissue contrast. When compared with other medical-imaging techniques, MRI provides several significant advantages: noninvasiveness, safety (because it uses non-ionizing radiation), and superb soft-tissue contrast, generated by an NMR signal's sensitivity to tissue morphology and pathology.

Interested in getting your brain scanned? Email us!