Behavioural Approaches To Neuroscience 2

Question 0

Neural imaging- structural measures

Answer 0

Skull XR
Cerebral angiography 
Computed tomography
Magnetic resonance imaging
Pneumoencephalography

Question 1

MRI

Answer 1

Takes sections through brain
Magnetic field aligns H atoms, radio waves cause them to spin producing a signal
Voxel based morphemetry-> used to calculate the size of an area
Diffusion MRI-> diffusion of water molecules-> movement restricted once in a nerve-> map white matter tracts
Measure cortisol thickness -> thinner in Tourette’s

Question 2

Neuroimaging functional measures

Answer 2

Positron emission tomography
Functional MRI
Single proton emission tomography

Question 3

fMRI

Answer 3

Measures brain activity in the living brain
Measures change in cerebral blood flow during cognitive tasks-> increased doxyhaemaglobin in active areas
BOLD-> blood oxygenation level dependent effect-> haemodynamic response is slow so remains for 12-15 secs after activity stops
-> only an indirect measure, many areas involved in one task! effected by noise
-> reduced response in Tourette’s

Question 4

Neural recording methods

Answer 4

Single cell recording
Electroencephalogram
Event related potentials
Magnetoencephalograpy

Question 5

Electroencephalogram

Answer 5

Measures brain activity in living brain
Provides continuous recording of overall brain activity from scalp electrodes
Populations of post synaptic neurones measured
-> sleep, depth of anaesthesia, epilepsy and brain damage, normal brain
EEG profiles change depending on brain state

Question 6

Event related potentials

Answer 6

Evoked electrical activity specifically related to sensory, motor or cognitive events
Average of each one second phase on EEG is ERP
Coarse resolution
Relies on modelling of source dipoles