Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2026
Chapter 6 explores magnetoencephalography (MEG), a neuroimaging technique that measures magnetic fields generated by neural activity with millisecond temporal precision. Starting with MEG’s development by David Cohen in 1967 and the crucial introduction of SQUID sensors, the chapter examines how MEG differs from EEG while measuring activity from the same neural sources. While EEG predominantly detects signals from gyri parallel to the skull, MEG captures perpendicular signals from sulci with superior spatial resolution as magnetic fields pass unimpeded through tissue. The practical aspects of MEG acquisition are covered, including participant preparation, artifact removal, and the importance of structural MRI for anatomical coregistration. The chapter addresses source localization challenges, such as the inverse problem of determining which neuronal sources created the detected signals, and explores solutions ranging from single dipole models to distributed approaches using anatomical constraints. Clinical applications in epilepsy and presurgical mapping are discussed, as is the complementary nature of combining MEG with other imaging modalities, particularly fMRI, to leverage their respective spatial and temporal strengths for comprehensive brain activity visualization.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.