In the past decade or so, mainly due to advances in brain imaging technology such as magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, neuroscientists have started to look inside the living human brain of all ages, and to track changes in brain structure and brain function, so we use structural MRI if you'd like to take a snapshot, a photograph, at really high resolution of the inside of the living human brain, and we can ask questions like, how much gray matter does the brain contain, and how does that change with age?
U prošlom desetljeću, ponajviše zbog napretka tehnologije snimanja mozga poput magnetske rezonance ili MRI-ja, neuroznanstvenici su započeli gledati u živi ljudski mozak svih starosti, i pratiti promjene u strukturi mozga i moždanim funkcijama. Tako koristimo strukturni MRI ako želimo fotografirati, pri jako visokoj rezoluciji, živi ljudski mozak i možemo postaviti pitanja poput: "Koliko sive tvari mozak sadrži i kako se to mijenja s godinama?"