The brain is the organ of perception and cognition and so it is understandable that it is studied by thousands of scientists around the world. But the brain is encased in solid bone, making it difficult to study. We can’t see, probe, or touch it without major surgery, so we often rely on indirect methods such as personal interviews or autonomic measures such as heart rate or blood pressure. Other techniques to study the brain require expensive specialized equipment such as electroencephalograms, fMRI, PET scans, or magnetoencephalograms.