TECHNOLOGY TAKES A LOOK AT THE BRAIN.(LIFE & LEISURE)

Three technological developments are enabling scientists to puzzle out the connection between the brain and the mind:

First, positron emission tomography (PET) scans and magnetic resonance images (MRIs) -- tools that have recently become common in medical diagnosis -- allow researchers to inspect the inner workings of the brain in action.

They can watch different areas light up as a person sees a color or recalls a word. Some regions handle letters, others numbers, still others tastes and smells. In a bilingual person, one area may deal with English, another Greek.

Richard Axel, a Columbia University neuroscientist, called neural imaging the …