The scientists chose an all-female sample because so few brain-imaging studies have looked at only women.

According to some neuroscientists, that rule makes no sense in light of recent brain-imaging studies.

But Dr. Galaburda's autopsies and numerous brain-imaging studies present a more complicated picture.

Moreover, brain-imaging studies show that the neocerebellum is activated only when semantic reasoning is required.

Last April, Canadian and American researchers reported in a brain-imaging study that psychopaths processed certain abstract words - grace, future, power, for example - differently from nonpsychopaths.

A 2008 brain-imaging study found a specific pattern of signals in the cingulate cortex which differs in individuals with ASD.

But recent brain-imaging studies strongly support their ideas and have turned many skeptics, "including myself," said Dr. Strick, into believers.

During her postdoctoral research at Yale, and Harvard (1992-1994), she was involved in some of the first brain-imaging studies of cognitive functions in the human brain.

Human brain-imaging studies demonstrate that when consuming flavanol-rich cocoa, there is an increase in cortical blood flow, important to the hippocampus for facilitation of neurogenesis.

Currently, brain-imaging studies have revealed that the sensory cortices in the brain are reorganized after visual deprivation.