Medical What is this brain scan called?

[Electron17]

When I was younger, I had a test taken where I had to lie down on my back and have this thing placed on my head (there were tubes or wires or something on it) and told to stay still for about 20 minutes. I would close my eyes and I would be racing through (at seemingly high speeds) a bunch of bright shapes. Does anyone know what this scan is called? It was pretty cool.

 

[Math Is Hard]

If the apparatus itself seemed to be changing your thought patterns, it sounds like it might have involved transcranial magnetic stimulation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulation

What was the test for?

 

[Tsu]

Or it may have been an EEG:
http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/electroencephalogram-eeg-21508

What year did you have this done?

 

[Electron17]

Or it may have been an EEG:
http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/electroencephalogram-eeg-21508

What year did you have this done?

It was in 2000 or 2001.

 

[Tsu]

Since it was that long ago, I'm thinking it was (more than likely) an EEG, since according to the Wiki article "most legitimate use of TMS in the USA and elsewhere is currently being done under research protocols approved by hospital ethics boards and, in the US, often under Investigational Device Exemption from the FDA."

Did you read the article I linked to see if the procedure sounded like what you described?