Hemoglobin carries the oxygen to our cells, which use it as energy. Our neurons use incredible amounts of energy when they fire electrical currents, which create our thoughts, actions, memories and senses. When a neuron fires, it takes up large amounts of oxygen from nearby hemoglobin molecules. As oxygen leaves it causes a change in the iron-rich structure of hemoglobin, which can be detected by Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Blood-oxygen-level dependent fMRI allows us to see where in the brain oxygen is being consumed, correlating it with nearby neurons firing. This allows us now to literally map the brain based on activity. Which part of the brain is active during certain thoughts? Memories? Motor actions? BOLD fMRI can and has answered many of these questions. Contemporary studies with this technology has touched the edge of what we once thought possible, from algorithms that can scan our brains to guess what our eyes are seeing; to showing how meditation decreases the number of neurons firing in random areas of the mind. As we begin to settle into a comfortable pace of understanding and uncovering the functions of the brain in-terms of neurotransmitters and receptors, functional imaging of the mind provides a new horizon of understanding the mind as a complete neural network.
Citation:
Aguirre, G. (2002). Experimental Design and the Relative Sensitivity of BOLD and Perfusion fMRI NeuroImage, 15 (3), 488-500 DOI: 10.1006/nimg.2001.0990
Kay KN, Naselaris T, Prenger RJ, & Gallant JL (2008). Identifying natural images from human brain activity. Nature, 452 (7185), 352-5 PMID: 18322462
Petri Dish Talk 
I appreciate your articles on brain changes with meditation.
There is a study by Berridge et al that shows how an amygdala-locus coeruleus interaction increases noradrenalin that inhibits the hippocampus and cingular gyrus, thus inhibiting the normal contextualization of the emotional amygdala. So meditation increases hippocampus size and thus increases such emotional control.
I am a newcomer to blogs. Can you suggest something?
My articles on neurophysiology and emotions: http://www.biosistemica.org, look for English articles.
I’m a psychiatrist.
Jerome Liss, M.D.