The Caltech Brain Imaging Center (CBIC) was founded in 2003 through a generous gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The very ambitious and ultimate mission of the Center is to understand human consciousness. On our way to achieve our mission, the researchers of the CBIC are also pursuing several intermediate goals of importance:

• to explore the neural basis of higher brain function
• to develop new tools for the imaging of brain structure and function
• to train a diverse student and faculty group in structural and functional neuroimaging
• to foster interdisciplinary research in brain science

Researchers at the CBIC use state of the art MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanners to conduct research studies of the brain and its mechanisms. Our 14,000 square foot main campus facility houses four High-Field MR systems:

• Siemens 3 Tesla 32 channel Tim Trio
• Siemens 3 Tesla 18 channel Tim Trio with AC88 gradient insert
• Bruker 7 Tesla 20 cm bore combined PET/MRI system
• Bruker 4.7 Tesla vertical bore system 

Recent Publications & Media Coverage:

Temporal correlations between brain regions in resting-state BOLD signal are thought to reflect intrinsic functional brain connectivity...  Functional networks identified are typically bilaterally distributed across the cerebral hemispheres... Yet it remains unclear how they arise.  We tested two distinct possibilities: ... http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/42/15154.full  (Tyszka, J. M., et al., 2011). 

 You're trying to decide what to eat for dinner.  Making that choice, it turns out, is a complex neurological exercise... that can be influenced by a simple shifting of attention toward the healthy side of life... http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13439 (re: Rangel, A., et al., 2011).

Researchers are reporting that creatures great and small have a special place in our heads.  Researchers have found individual brain cells that respond when a person sees an animal, but not when they see another person...  The cells were found in the amygdala, a part of the brain involved in emotions, including fear. And they responded to any kind of animal, including spiders, dogs and rodents, says Christof Koch, lead author of the study...  http://www.npr.org/2011/09/01/140116969/  (re: Koch, C., et al., 2011). 

Autistics process information in unusual ways and often have difficulties in social interaction... Characterizing this difficulty in detail has been challenging.  Researchers have isolated a specific difference in how high-functioning autistics think about other people, i.e., they don’t tend to think about what others think of them at all...  http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13461  (re: Adolps, R., et. al.,  2011)

When making decisions based on multiple interdependent factors—such as what combination of stocks and bonds to invest in—humans look at how the factors correlate with each other.  The finding suggests our brains are constantly doing calculations that enable us to keep track of correlations between dynamic factors. The new study in the journal Neuron, identifies the regions of the brain involved...  http://mr.caltech.edu/press_releases/13451 (re: Bossaerts, P., et al., 2011)