Junior Researcher Training in Lesion Symptom Mapping

The concept of localization originated with Paul Broca, who proposed that specific regions of the brain are responsible for particular functions. Lesion-symptom mapping (LSM) advances this idea by depicting brain lesions in a three-dimensional format, enabling researchers to correlate these locations with individuals’ symptoms. Lesions can arise from various causes, including stroke, trauma, or neurodegenerative diseases. This research study aims to train participants to outline these lesions on MRI scans. Participants need a general knowledge of neuroanatomy; however, it does not require extensive education on this topic. The lesions will be outlined using a voxel-based drawing mechanism in a program called ITK-SNAP, which allows for the examination of over one hundred different slices of the brain across three anatomical planes. The researchers seek to qualitatively assess the extent to which participants improve over a twenty-week course, utilizing ten different training scans while noting challenges and successes, and comparing participants' outlines to the gold-standard lesion mask. Improvements will be measured by the accuracy with which the lesions are outlined. Additionally, the author of this abstract will actively participate in the project while also providing a unique perspective by simultaneously learning neuroanatomy in a separate course. The goal of this presentation is to reflect on the experience, allowing the author to apply any knowledge gained to the scan analysis. Overall, the findings of this study may improve training strategies and, in turn, enhance the use of LSM, contributing to a deeper understanding of brain functions.