Abstract

Although non-invasive methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalograms and magnetoencephalograms provide most of the current data about the human brain, their resolution is insufficient to show physiological processes at the cellular level. Clinical approaches sometimes allow invasive recordings to be taken from the human brain, mainly in patients with epilepsy or with movement disorders, and such recordings can sample neural activity at spatial scales ranging from single cells to distributed cell assemblies. In addition to their clinical relevance, these recordings can provide unique insights into brain functions such as movement control, perception, memory, language and even consciousness.

Author affiliations

1. Institute of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, Center of Experimental Medicine, University Hospital Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
2. Division of Neurosurgery, UCLA Medical Center, PO Box 957039, Los Angeles, California 90095-7039, USA.
3. Tel-Aviv Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
4. Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, PO Box 356470, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.

Correspondence to: Andreas K. Engel¹ Email: ak.engel@uke.uni-hamburg.de

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