fMRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a recently developed neuroimaging technique that provides high resolution, noninvasive reports of neural activity. fMRI is based on the changes in blood flow and oxygenation (i.e., hemodynamics) in response to neural activity in the brain.

Since fMRI has relatively wide availability, it has become a popular tool for imaging of brain function. For example, researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Haifa provided a biological basis for gender differences in language using this technique.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18262207
The researchers measured brain activity in 31 boys and 31 girls aged 9 to 15 and showed that areas of the brain associated with language work harder in girls than in boys during language tasks.

Using fMRI, an amazing technology has reported in the Dec 11 issue of Neuron.
"Visual Image Reconstruction from Human Brain Activity using a Combination of Multiscale Local Image Decoders "
http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(08)00958-6

Researchers from ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Japan have developed a neuroimaging technology that can reconstruct arbitrary visual images from fMRI signals of human visual cortex. They succeeded in reconstructing what the test subjects were viewing, such as the letters "neuron", from their brain activity and displayed it on the monitor.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/cache/MiamiImageURL/B6WSS-4V4113M-P-8/0?wchp=dGLbVzb-zSkWz

The technology is quite amazing. In the future, it will be able to read one's thoughts or feelings directly from the brain. The researchers say, "More interesting are attempts to reconstruct subjective states that are elicited without sensory stimulation, such as visual imagery, illusions, and dreams."