Brain Control | MIT Technology Review
This neuronal trick has placed Boyden at the center of optogenetics, one of the newest fields in biology research one he helped to invent, and one that could influence much of what happens in neuroscience in the coming decades. He seeks to answer a very basic question: how does the electrical activity of specific groups of neurons affect thoughts, feelings, and behavior? Obvious as that question may sound, it is one that has gone unanswered since brain cells were first observed over a century ago, for the simple reason that there has never been a precise way to know which neurons are doing what during a particular thought or behavior. Relatively new technologies like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can show average activity levels among regions encompassing millions of neurons, and not-so-new technologies such as implanted electrodes can detect activity in a more specific area, but neither can trace the simultaneous or sequential firing of a particular set of neurons that may be strung through different regions of the brain. Yet these patterns of neural activity are the very essence of brain function, controlling cognition and behavior.