WHAT IS BRAIN MAPPING?

Used since the 1920s, the technology of brain mapping has advanced and evolved significantly over the past 90 years. Originally, brain mapping was utilized to capture moving pictures of brain activity in seizure patients. In the 1960s NASA advanced brain mapping technology as a means to view how astronauts’ brains were affected by weightlessness and space travel.

In comparison to an MRI or CT scan, which captures snapshots of brain activity, the advantages of brain mapping as a neuroimaging technique is that it provides a high definition movie of how the brain reacts, processes, and stabilizes under cognitive circumstances. These cognitive circumstances may include the mimicking of games or tasks that a brain mapping subject is asked to complete during a screening session. By analyzing this data we can synchronize what each brain region is doing simultaneously, as well observe the relationship between brain activity and other physiological functions like heart rhythm or pulse rate.

BRAIN EFFICIENCY OBSERVATION

There are millions of brain activity task combinations that can be administered for the purpose of brain mapping. In many screenings, and for the intent of the Former Player Study and Quality of Life screenings, participants’ perform specific tasks that prompt the mimicking of brain states that include relaxation, stress, and focus or high concentration. These tasks are conducted in the form of questionnaires and auditory question and answer sessions.

Based on individual screening performance, this method of screening provides visual evidence of how a participant’s brain reacts in real-time to screening session tasks. Observed and calculated data can then be compared to how a person feels following a screening—providing value and validity in brain science.

Providing a base performance standard, the data collected following the screening is then compared demographically to people in the same age and gender categories. Data collected can also be compared to participant heart rate data, providing observation models of the autonomic nervous system’s communication with the brain.