Functional neuroimaging: radiology

Rapid advances, in respect of the visual and auditory systems, have occurred in neuroimaging over the past year in the area of so-called 'functional imaging', and in particular of functional magnetic resonance imaging. This has been accelerated by the introduction of echo-planar imaging, which allows for the very fast acquisition (< 100 ms/image) of multislice images. Radiology is no longer just a question of interpreting anatomy, for, with the ability to combine structure with function, we are now able to extract physiological information. This opens up exciting possibilities for advances in the field of neuroscience, and functional imaging will therefore form the main thrust of this review.