Centre for Brain and Mind: Exploring the Connection Between Brain and Behaviour

Dr. Melvyn Goodale (left) with research students Jessica Witt (centre) and Jonathan Cart (right).

There’s no mistaking the enthusiasm in Dr. Melvyn Goodale’s voice when he talks about the work being done at The University of Western Ontario’s Centre for Brain and Mind.

“We’re trying to help unravel the mysteries of the brain by mapping the relationship between brain and behaviour,” says Dr. Goodale, a professor in both the department of psychology and the department of physiology and pharmacology and a Canada Research Chair in Visual Neuroscience.

“Finding out how the normally functioning brain works is the first step in understanding what happens when things go wrong,“ he explains.  “That’s the main thrust of the work we’re doing at the centre”.

The technology at the core of this goal is neuroimaging, specifically functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. Unlike conventional MRI, which reveals anatomy in detail, fMRI reveals critical information about brain function by registering changes in brain activity based on blood flow.

Using fMRI, researchers at the centre are identifying and mapping the areas of the brain responsible for essential functions like seeing, reading, thinking, speaking, decision-making, memory and movement.

It’s work that has important long-term ramifications for detecting, managing and treating a host of serious diseases and conditions at both ends of the age spectrum, including dyslexia, dementia, depression and Alzheimer’s.

A partnership between The University of Western Ontario and the Robarts Research Centre, the Centre for Brain and Mind is Canada’s leading cognitive neuroscience research centre.  It draws on a variety of disciplines including psychology, psychiatry, linguistics, physics, artificial intelligence and computational theory, areas of expertise across the two institutions.

Now, thanks in part to a $2.3 million grant from the McGuinty government’s Ontario Research Fund, a major program under the Ministry of Research and Innovation, the centre is about to take its neuroimaging abilities to a whole new level.

The centre is taking possession of next-generation fMRI and getting set to recruit and train the technical and scientific people who will help to realize its full potential.

“When we’ve got the machine and people in place we’ll be able to work round-the-clock,” enthuses Goodale. “We’ll also be able to transfer the knowledge we gain to medical people involving in caring for and treating patients with cognitive  and neurological disorders.”

Through collaboration with industry, there will also be important technology transfer, which will lead to new imaging machines and techniques.

“Dr. Goodale and his team at the Centre for Brain and Mind are world leaders in neuroimaging research and they also have a history of successful industrial application which is why we’re excited to be partnering with them on this project,” says Brant McDermott, Account Manager with Siemens Medical, a leader in the production of fMRI machines.

“There’s great potential here for the joint development of the next-generation of imaging products.”

“This new technology and the highly qualified people who will provide leadership in its use in the clinic and in new research areas will keep us in the forefront in the exploding field of neuroimaging,” says Dr. Goodale.