Teaching the Virtual Brain

Abstract

As a complex three-dimensional organ, the inside of a human brain is difficult to properly visualize. Magnetic Resonance Imaging provides an accurate model of the brain of a patient, but its medical or educational analysis as a set of flat slices is not enough to fully grasp its internal structure. A virtual reality application has been developed to generate a complete three-dimensional model based on MRI data, which users can explore internally through random planar cuts and color cluster isolation. An indexed vertex triangulation algorithm has been designed to efficiently display large amounts of complex three-dimensional vertex clusters in simple mobile devices. Feedback from students suggests that the resulting application satisfactorily complements theoretical lectures, as virtual reality allows them to better observe different structures within the human brain.

Keywords: Brain; Brain exploration; Education; Virtual reality.

Fig. 1

Main menu of the Virtual Brain application

Fig. 2

Flowchart of the brain slicing functionality

Fig. 3

Cortex (C) and inner mesh (M) of the virtual brain

Fig. 4

Plane point (P) and normal vector (N), as defined by the user camera (C)

Fig. 5

Examples of arbitrary plane cuts

Fig. 6

Examples of triangulation neighborhoods, where white vertices are invisible and dark vertices are visible

Fig. 7

Example of a cluster of same-colored voxels

Fig. 8

Selected area of the brain shown in green inside a semitransparent brain

Fig. 9

Flowchart of the Section tool

Fig. 10

Selection tool interface: area where information is displayed (A), zone selection menu (B) and area selection menu (C)

Fig. 11

Interface of the Paint areas functionality

Fig. 12

Flowchart of the Paint areas functionality