Our daily lives consist of a web
of cognitive tasks including the functions of sensing
and behavior depending on the circumstances. There are
fundamental parts of cognitive function such as recognition,
attention, and memory; High-level cognitive functions
such as language, thought, feeling, and judgment, however,
help give human beings an intelligent edge over other
animals. While there have been breakthroughs unlocking
the secrets of brain function for the past years, we still
have a long way to go in terms of the understanding of
human brain on the bases of anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry.
A major impediment to the challenge might be that it is
quite daunting to overcome some technological limits because
the subject of research is not a guinea pig, but the very
human being.
Thanks to recent technological advances, however, ground-breaking
imaging tools for brain mapping have been developed and
put into practical use. That means that brain mapping
can be obtained both through EEG or MEG measuring the
electrical or magnetic signals from the brain and through
SPECT, PET, fMRI measuring the metabolic or hemodynamic
activities of the brain. In addition, physio- and biochemical-mapping
can be realized owing to such new imaging tools as MRS,
DTI, OCT, and TMS. Now it is expected that more research
will be needed to enhance the understanding of normal
brain functions building on the above cutting-edge technologies,
and promote the availability in the diagnosis and treatment
of numerous brain diseases. Besides, engineering research
will also be needed to better analyze the brain mapping
data and to develop a tool with more accuracy and precision.
Today brain mapping and its associated technologies are
being actively sought in America and Europe. In the Organization
for Human Brain Mapping, an international brain mapping
society, for example, there are many researchers from
across the globe devoting themselves in publication and
information sharing with one another. In case of South
Korea, however, it is unfortunate that there is no appropriate
rallying stage to do the same functions although there
are many local researchers with keen interests in brain
mapping across diverse schools and institutions. In fact,
only micro-scale research is being conducted and macro-scale
research such as brain mapping is being left out in the
cold.
Against this backdrop, we are intended to found the Korean
Society for Human Brain Mapping (KHBM) by brining together
local researchers studying brain mapping. In a sense,
the foundation of the KHBM should mean more than just
providing an academic arena for researchers in brain mapping.
Its mission may well include building up Korean¡¯s characteristic
brain mapping data on our own, considering the fact that
racial or cultural factors may make some difference in
brain mapping. We sincerely hope that the KHBM would take
hold to become a solid foundation for those who leading
cutting-edge medical technologies across the nation in
a new millennium.
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