Biospychology- ways of studying the brain

Question 1

What are the four ways of studying the brain?

Answer 1

fMRI
EEG
ERP
Post-mortem

Question 2

What is spatial resolution?

Answer 2

The smallest feature that a scanner can detect greatest spatial resolution allows psychologist to discriminate between different brain regions with greater accuracy.

Question 3

What is temporal resolution?

Answer 3

The accuracy of the scanner in Malaysian of time or how quickly the scanner can detect changes in brain activity.

Question 4

How does fMRI work?

Answer 4

• Measure changes in blood oxygenation in the brain when a person performs a task.
• It works on the assumption that an active brain area consumes more oxygen as energy requires glucose and oxygen.

Question 5

What are the advantages of fMRI?

Answer 5

– High spatial resolution.
– Non-invasive.

Question 6

What are the advantages of fMRI?

Answer 6

– Low temporal resolution -there was a second time lag between the image and neuron firing.
– Expensive
– Indirect measure: difficult to establish causation as it only measures blood flow not neural activity.
– Accessibility
– Movement Artifacts – the person must stay still otherwise it can be problematic.

Question 7

How do EEG‘s work?

Answer 7

– EEGs measure electrical activity within the brain via electrodes that are fixed on the scalp usually easily a skull cap.
– It works on the assumption that information is processed in the brain as electrical activity in the form of action potentials.

Question 8

How can electrical activity in EEG scans be converted into information?

Answer 8

• Small electrical charges are detected by the electrodes and graph over a period of time indicating the level of activity.
  – There are four types of waves alpha, beta, theta and Delta.
  – They are measured in amplitude and frequency.
• EEGs are often used by clinicians as a diagnostic tool because unusual arithmetic patterns of activity may indicate neurological abnormality such as epilepsy tumours and disorders.

Question 9

What are the advantages of EEG scans?

Answer 9

– High temporal resolution
– Non-invasive.
–Low-Cost.
– Portable.
– Wide range of population sleep and epilepsy.
– Direct neural measure.

Question 10

What are the disadvantages of EEG scans?

Answer 10

– Low spatial resolution.
– Susceptible to artefacts.
– Limited to surface activity.
– Interpretation.
– Skilled technicians required.

Question 11

How do ERPs work?

Answer 11

– They are quite and general form of looking at brain activity.
– They are way too isolating specific neural responses associated with sensory cognitive and motor events.

Question 12

What are the advantages of ERPs?

Answer 12

– High temporal resolution.
–Non-Invasive.
– Relatively low-cost.
– Sensitive to cognition.

Question 13

What are the disadvantages of ERPs?

Answer 13

– Low spatial resolution.
– Low signal to noise ratio.
– Limited to surface activity.

Question 14

What is a post-mortem examination?

Answer 14

– This is a technique that involves the analysis of a persons brain following their death.
– Those who are subject to this tend to have a rare disorder and having experienced unusual processes or behaviour in their lifetime.
– Areas of damage within the brain are examined after death as a means of establishing the likely cause of the affliction the person suffered.
– This may also involve comparison with a Neurotypical brain in order to see the extent of the difference.

Question 15

What are the advantages of post-mortem studies?

Answer 15

• Detailed analysis.
• Access to human tissue.
• Validate imaging data.
• Identify disease mechanisms.

Question 16

What are the disadvantages of post-mortem?

Answer 16

– Limited availability.
– Selection bias.
– Time dependent changes.
– Ethical considerations.