169k views
3 votes
I really would like some help with this question can someone please help me?

Assume that a PET scan was made of the brain of a person speaking and of the brain of a person smelling a flower. Describe how you would expect the PET scan of each person’s brain to look.

User Middas
by
7.5k points

1 Answer

3 votes

Answer:

A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that shows how our tissues and organs are functioning. In order to show the activity of the organ or tissue studied, a tracer has to be administered to the patient. This tracer collects to the areas of the body that have higher levels of chemical activity, probably our areas of interest.

A PET scan of a person smelling a flower would show higher activity in the brain area responsible for processing and identifying smells. In the human brain, this is the olfactory bulb, a neural structure of the forebrain. Higher activity would also be detected in the thalamus, a region that receives incoming sensory information.

On the other hand, a PET scan of a person speaking would show higher activity in the Broca area and the temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is involved in memory and speech. Broca area is a region in the frontal lobe which is responsible for speech production and language processing.

User Rajbir Singh
by
8.7k points
Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.