With the advancement of imaging technology, our picture of the brain becomes more detailed and complex. Static 2D Images are limited in the extend to which they can visualize the highly branched spatial anatomy of the brain’s nerve fiber networks.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences have now developed BrainGL, a virtual fully rotational interactive brain that can be incorporated into online publications, talks or academic teaching.

The online version of a publication by Professor Angela D. Friederici is the first to implement this new visualization. In it, the Director of the Department of Neuropsychology gives an overview of the complex network enabling language processing, that imaging methods like functional and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging have unveiled.

You can find the publication here: http://onpub.cbs.mpg.de/ WebGL requires Chrome or Firefox 8. Internetexplorer can not be supported.

The developers are making BrainGL available for the wider scientific community.

Using WebGL, a technology that directly displays 3D content within the browser, the virtual brain can be integrated into online publications and websites.

Checkboxes let you choose which elements are shown.

Using the sliders a user can move through different slices of the brain.

Contct:

Prof. Dr Angela D. Friederici

Department of Neuropsychology

Phone: +49 341 9940-112

Ralph Schurade

Methods and Developement Group Cortical Networks and Cognitive Functions