Chapter 5 - Biopsychology Research Methods

Question 1

Stereotaxic Surgery

Answer 1

Requires use of stereotaxic atlas (map of brain, less variability from rat to rat, so accurate enough for a larger structure) & instrument.everything found in relation to bragma point, where skull melds.rats in stereotaxic setup, head cannot move

Question 2

lesion methods

Answer 2

aspiration lesions.using air suction to remove cortical regionsradio-freq lesions.generates heat to damage cortical tissueknife cuts.used more when looking at a pathway or bundle of fibres/tract, trying to block itcryogenic blockade.reversible, lower temp enough to render tissue inactive, then look at impairments

Question 3

electrical stimulation

Answer 3

.plant electrode, create voltage changes in particular region can increase/decrease activation

Question 4

invasive physiological research methods

Answer 4

intracellular unit recording.can’t do in humans, embed tiny micro electron in neuron, record every action potential.looks like normal cell AP cycleextracellular unit recording.outside of cell in extra cellular fluid ECF but still close enough to monitor movement of ions.looks like blipsmultiple unit recording.not a tiny micro electrode, gathers and compiles APs from a collection of adjacent neurons.just a curvy graph of general activityinvasive EEG.use electrodes that record voltage changes, directly onto brain, can be done on humans if in neurosurgery.gets an aggregate of APs, gives general idea but difficult to pinpoint exact regions of activity

Question 5

EMG

Answer 5

electromyography, .measures muscle tension (electrical activity of muscles).this tension sometimes indicator of arousal, anxiety.psychophysiological measure

Question 6

EOG

Answer 6

electrooculography, .measures eye movement,.indicates changes in electrical potential (between front & back of eyeball) at points of measurement as eyes moves.psychophysiological measure

Question 7

SCL, SCR, GSR (measures of electrodermal activity)

Answer 7

measures of electrodermal activitySkin conductance level (SCL).baseline, if stressed, SCL goes up, perspire a bit so more ionsSkin conductance response (SCR).in response to a stimulus, watchGalvanic Skin Response (GSR).used in lie tests, and more???

Question 8

cardiovascular activity

Answer 8

Often used to link physiological changes with emotional stateMeasures include HR, BP, & blood volumeEx., fear = cold feet, blood drains from feetdiff emotions have different patterns of physiological response

Question 9

Traditional Conditioning Paradigms:

Answer 9

Pavlovian conditioningUCS with CS.reflexive type of learning.cerebellum (metencephalon) involved in behavior+response learninge.g., Pavlov’s dogsOperant conditioningReinforcement & punishment of behavior.favorable consequences promotes behavior and vice versaSelf-stimulation paradigm.rat presses lever, activates pleasure centre in brain, nucleus acumbens (basal ganglia, tons of dopamine and involved in drug addiction), rat pressed 7000 times in an hour!

Question 10

Seminatural Animal Learning Paradigms

Answer 10

Examples:Radial Arm Maze.place slightly food deprived rats inside in middle, every arm looks exact same.place in a larger context, room with lamp in one position, etc., provides spatial cuesMorris Water Maze.pedestal underwater, not visible and water is milky, but put in larger room so pedestal near door, will create spatial memory to learn where it is.if remove hippocampus, they swim at random and never find it better than at chance.hippocampus involved in both explicit memory consolidation and spatial memory

Question 11

neuropsychological testing

Answer 11

.Assessment of changes in perceptual, emotional, motivational, or cognitive (memory, language, etc.) functions.Time-consuming.Only prescribed on small portion of those with brain damage.Assists in diagnosing neural disorders, imaging can tell you where brain damaged, testing can tell you specific impaired behaviors.Serves as a basis for counseling/caring.Provides information on effectiveness & side effects of treatment

Question 12

standardized test battery

Answer 12

Goal to identify brain-damaged patients, baseline issuesEx., Halstead-Reitan testTrail making.tap on ascending numbers or letters in bubbles, compare to baseline of normal function10s finger tapping.how fast can you type tap this device in 10s, compare handedness, should be better in stronger hand.cerebellum activation with timed movements.compare to baseline in normal functioning

Question 13

customized-test-battery

Answer 13

-Not just identify brain-damaged patients but to characterize nature of specific psychological deficits.Interpretation of results not based solely on how well patient does (strategies?), how do they do it?.smarter/younger people tend to be better at making up compensatory strategies

Question 14

Intelligence in Neuropsychology Test Battery

Answer 14

tested w/ WAISSix Verbal SubtestsEx., vocabulary – definitionsFive Performance SubtestsEx., block design, picture completion

Question 15

Memory in Neuropsychology Test Battery

Answer 15

Digit span subtest of WAIS.unrelated numbers, repeat back to me, increase number of digits until failure)Two trials at each level until failureSTM vs LTM?.HM, anterograde amnesia, major memory impairment, but he can do this task b/c still has short term memory, but not long term

Question 16

Language in Neuropsychology Test Battery

Answer 16

-Can be assessed from WAIS verbal scores-Token test.Simple to more difficult instructions.two shapes (squares/circles) of 2 sizes, 5 diff colors.set 1, instruct participant, point to large white circle.set 2, large white circle, then small blue square.can also have people read their own instructions, see if they can read

Question 17

Language Lateralization

Answer 17

.see which hemisphere language is in, mostly the left.speech, reading, comprehension, any form in terms of high level functioning is left hemisphere dominant

Question 18

Wada technique

Answer 18

sodium amytal, for patients undergoing neurosurgery.see which hemisphere language functioning is in.inject sodium amytal into carotid artery, in left side, will stay there a few minutes before reaching right side.so basically anesthetize a hemisphere of the brain.put both arms above you, on back on table, told count backwards from 100.after injection, motor functioning contra lateral, so inject left side, right arm will fall immediately (indication the cerebral cortex has been anesthetized).most of tie, as SOON as arm falls, stop being able to count (language affected).then you have a few minutes to run quick tests on language function.if keep talking, means left hemisphere isn’t involved in language primarily, probably other hemisphere.women have more of a split when comes to language, leads to less problems with strokes than for men

Question 19

dichotic listening

Answer 19

.very non-invasive way to find hemisphere dominance for language.headphones on, present diff bits of info to both ears at same time, left hear /TA/, right ear /BA/.ask to report what heard as quickly as possible, which one do they report?.each ear sends info to both hemispheres, but contralateral pathway more dominant.so generally, people will report what they hear in their right ear first (contralateral to left hemisphere which is dominant for language)

Question 20

what characteristics of memory do look at when looking at memory impairments?

Answer 20

STM, LTM, or both?Anterograde (can’t form new memories) or retrograde (lost previous memories)?Semantic (factual) or episodic (life, chronological memories)?Explicit or implicit?Priming tests & stem completion (implicit test, don’t ask if explicitly remembers seeing this word, but just to put down first word that comes to mind) CYCLONE: CYC____

Question 21

what characteristics of language do look at when looking at memory impairments?

Answer 21

Problems of phonology (nonsense words), syntax, or semantics.can produce words that sound like they make sense to them but are nonsense.syntax, basic rules for putting words together.semantics, meaning“The leopard killed the lion. Who died?”-sentence that’s easy to understand, but if you put if passive voice, (lion was killed by leopard), some people can’t determine

Question 22

what characteristics of frontal-lobe damage do look at when looking at memory impairments?

Answer 22

Perseveration.can’t change tasks or topics, indication of frontal lobe damage)Response inhibition.ability to change tasks, change mindWisconsin Card Sorting Task.rule for sorting these cards, experimenter simply says yes or no if they sort cards correctly.once ten correct sorts, tester changes rules, says what you did is now incorrect.people with deficits, not able to change sorting rules, very difficult time with stopping current sorting process and changing and figuring out new rule, called PERSEVERATINGStroop Task,.originall designed to demonstrate something about reading, but found that damaged frontal love CANNOT tell you the color of the words, only can read the words

Question 23

MRI

Answer 23

Magnetic Resonance ImagingHigh resolution imagesConstructed from measurement of waves that H atoms emit when activated within a magnetic field.anatomical scan, NOT FUNCTIONAL (that is fMRI)

Question 24

PET

Answer 24

Positron Emission Tomography (PET).Brain activity.can be both anatomical and functional.Scan is an image of levels of radioactivity in various parts of one horizontal level of brain.2-deoxyglucose (2-DG)

Question 25

fMRI

Answer 25

Functional MRI (fMRI) .Brain structure & activity.Function is imaged using signal created from interaction between oxygen & iron in blood.BOLD signal (blood oxygen level dependent).takes few seconds for blood to get to brain area, so temporal resolution not super high, but best spatial resolution.takes a few seconds to take a picture

Question 26

MEG

Answer 26

Magnetoencephalography (MEG).Measure of neural activity.Measures changes in magnetic fields on surface of scalp.Created by underlying patterns of neural activity.Fast temporal resolution.dude sitting in chair with GIANT thing over is head

Question 27

TMS

Answer 27

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).NOT a measure of neural activity.Applies a brief, strong magnetic field that alters neural activity.Can either activate or “deactivate” brain structures.Observe changes in behaviour.single pulse (deactivate) or repetitive (activates, stimulates).people aren’t quite sure why single deactivates and vice versa.great for brain mapping

Question 28

Two assumptions of cognitive neuroscience

Answer 28

1. Each complex cognitive process results from combined activity of simple cognitive processes.Constituent cognitive processes2. Each complex cognitive process is mediated by neural activity in particular area of brain

Question 29

Paired-image subtraction technique

Answer 29

Compare PET or fMRI images during several different cognitive tasks (use of control condition).pair image of control brain activity and stimulation activity condition, subtract areas of difference to find areas of activity.do it to many diff people, average across all of them, b/c everyone’s brains operates a bit differently.this average gives us a beautiful elegant picture