Mapping language areas with movie-watching during MRI before brain surgery
Naturalistic Neuroimaging for Presurgical Language Mapping
Researchers will use short movie clips during MRI to help locate language centers in people preparing for brain tumor surgery.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11291793 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you have a brain tumor near areas that control speech or language, this work scans you while you watch short movie clips instead of asking you to perform timed speech tasks. The team will compare language maps from movie-watching fMRI with standard task-based and resting-state fMRI, focusing on patients who have trouble doing conventional tasks. Patients scheduled for presurgical mapping will come to Brigham and Women's Hospital for MRI while watching clips, doing tasks, or resting, and the researchers will track image quality and head motion. The goal is a mapping method that works for more patients and helps surgeons plan operations that reduce the risk of lasting language problems.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults with brain tumors near suspected language cortex who are scheduled for presurgical MRI mapping, including those with existing language or cognitive difficulties.
Not a fit: People who are not having neurosurgery, whose tumors are far from language areas, or who cannot undergo MRI (for example due to incompatible implants or severe claustrophobia) are unlikely to benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could let surgeons find language areas more reliably and lower the chance of permanent speech or language deficits after tumor surgery.
How similar studies have performed: Early pilot data and preliminary results suggest movie-watching fMRI improves patient compliance and can reveal language networks better than some standard tasks, but larger clinical trials are still limited.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Tie, Yanmei — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Tie, Yanmei
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.