TERMINOLOGY
  • Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is the recording of magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain.
  • Magnetocardiography (MCG) is the recording of magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the heart.
  • Neuromagnetism is a near synonym of MEG, meaning the study of neuronal activity by means of magnetic fields.
  • Cardiomagnetism is a synonym of MCG.
  • Magnetically shileded room (MSR) has a dedicated page.
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is magnetic stimulation of the brain through the skull. There is more TMS terminology on TMS pages.
  • Near Infrared Optical Specroscopy (NIRS) is a new imaging method that uses near infrared light.
  • Magnetic source imaging (MSI) refers to studies where the distribution of sources (or source current distributions) of magnetic fields are determined on the basis of external measurements.
  • Magnetic field tomography (MFT) is a near-synonym of MSI. The intent here is to produce tomographic images displaying neural electrical activity estimated on the basis of measured magnetic fields.
  • The SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device) is the most sensitive detector of magnetic fields. It is a superconducting ring that includes one or two Josephson junctions.
  • A Josephson junction is a barrier for current flow between two superconductors. It is usually made of an insulator, but could also be a thin vacuum gap or a very narrow constriction in the superconductor.
  • LORETA or Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography is a term introduced by Pasqual-Marqui and Michel for their method of solving the bioelectromagnetic inverse problem.