Researchers at the University of Minnesota report that measuring fluctuations in the brain’s magnetic activity as neurons fire in synchrony, a method known as synchronous neural interactions (SNI), may provide an effective approach for diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Their work is reported in the Journal of Neural Engineering. According to BBC News:
The brain’s signals are effectively a symphony of electrical impulses, which in turn drive tiny magnetic fields.
Researchers have measured and mapped these fields, in a pursuit known as magnetoencephalography, since the late 1960s. It has already been used to diagnose tinnitus, and can even predict when people will make mistakes.
Apostolos Georgopoulos, at the University of Minnesota in the US, developed the synchronous neural interactions (SNI) approach as a means to mathematically untangle the myriad signals that magnetoencephalography produces. Read more.
