Cho Zang-hee, the director of Gachon University of Medicine and Science’s Neuroscience Research Institute in Incheon, said Wednesday his team photographed the state of the brain when people moved their fingers with a high-resolution positron emission tomography (PET) scan and found that the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) devices’ scanning of brain activities has been wrong.

fMRI devices have been the favorite for cognitive science research since they can scan spots where blood gathers when the brain is active. PET shows the actual spot where nutrients from the blood are consumed, but due to its lower resolution, it has not been used for research.

Cho said many researchers have suspected that fMRI shows up inactive parts of the brain as well as active sections. His team used a special high-resolution PET (HRRT) to prove that the suspicion was true. There are only six HRRTs in the world.

Cho added fMRI shows all parts of the brain blood is supplied to, while PET shows the exact section where nutrients are consumed. By using HRRT, the institute also plans to identify what parts of the brain are related to human senses, intelligence and emotions.

(englishnews@chosun.com )