biopsychology

Question 1

What are the 4 ways of studying the brain?

Answer 1

• FMRI
  -EEG
• Post- Mortem
• ERP

Question 2

What is an ERP?

Answer 2

• Stimulus
• uses EEG data to look at specific response to stimuli.
• they look at types of brainwaves that are triggered by particular events. Cognititve processes.
• for example if someone is pinched the ERP will look at the specific response in the brain

Question 3

What is a Post-Mortem?

Answer 3

• the analysis of a persons brain following their death.
• individuals that are studied usually had brain defects or behavioural issues when they were alive. (e.g HM, who lost the ability to form memories).

Question 4

What is an FMRI?

Answer 4

• detects changes in blood oxygenation.
• produces three-dimensional images showing parts of the brain that are involved in a particular mental processes.

Question 5

What is an EEG?

Answer 5

• measures electrical activity within the brain via electrodes. Using a skull cap.
• a scan recording that shows overall account of brain activity and looks at brain waves.

Question 6

What is a strength of FMRI?

Answer 6

• high spatial resolution
• usually risk free

Question 7

What is a weakness of FMRI?

Answer 7

• it is expensive
• poor temporal resolution

Question 8

What is a strength of an EEG?

Answer 8

• high temporal resolution
• aids diagnosis

Question 9

What is a weakness of an EGG?

Answer 9

• difficult to determine the exact source of neural activity
• cannot distinguish between activities originating on different locations of the brain.

Question 10

What is a strength of a post-mortem?

Answer 10

• provided foundation for early understanding of key processes in the brain (Broca and Wernicke)
• helped improve medical knowledge and prompted research

Question 11

What is a weakness of a post-mortem?

Answer 11

• issues surrounding causation(damage may not be linked to defects under review)
• Ethical issues (ppts cannot give consent) e.g HM

Question 12

What is a strength of an ERP?

Answer 12

• high temporal resolution
• precise role of cognitive functioning

Question 13

What is a weakness of an ERP?

Answer 13

• lack of standardisation( makes it difficult to understand findings)
• hard to eliminate background noise and extraneous materials (may not establish pure data)

Question 14

What is a similarity of an ERP and a FMRI?

Answer 14

• they both use tasks to examine and trigger the brain