Brain mapping in thinking and language function.

Regional cerebral blood flow, rCBF, is coupled to regional cerebral metabolism and changes in rCBF reflects changes in neuronal activity. rCBF studies have provided information about the functions of a great number of cortical regions in the normal human brain. Outside the motor areas and sensory association areas there are areas committed to the transformation of information retrieved or generated within the brain itself. Language is processed within these regions. In contrast to the general clinical impression the functional mapping methods reveal that there is a large number of cortical regions activated bilaterally during language processing. Pure intrinsic brain work causes a profound activation of the cerebral cortex. Different types of thinking are seen to activate different sectors of the cortical space.