Towards a new mapping of brain cortex function

The aim of imaging neuroscience is to describe the functional organization of human brain at the level of large neuronal groupings, networks and systems. The systems level of description addresses how integrated brain functions are embodied in the physical structure of the brain. Magnetic resonance imaging is currently the technique of choice for the study of cerebral structure-function relationships and the analysis of structural and functional brain images can now be carried out automatically using statistical parametric mapping. The resultant ability to perform clinical-functional-anatomical correlative studies with complete objectivity and unparalleled sensitivity is providing powerful new opportunities for studying the relationship between structure and function, and how these parameters interact with pathology. One of the most exciting and dramatic observations to come from human brain mapping has been the dynamic plasticity of function in both normal brains and the brains of patients with neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Recent activation studies have provided interesting information about the brain's capacity to reorganize after injury and in association with practice and learning. The emerging studies of brain plasticity and its modulation by drugs and other therapies indicate potentially useful approaches to the rehabilitation of adults with brain damage, including damage resulting from cerebral ischaemia. Brain maps must therefore be viewed as dynamic, changing with development, disease progression, normal learning and in parallel with the recovery of function after acute injury. The dynamic plasticity of functional brain maps provides an exciting opportunity to study these processes.