EEG’s Flashcards
What is placed on the scalp?
Electrodes which record brain activity
What do the electrodes measure?
The activity of the cells directly below them
How is brain activity shown via?
Brain waves- presents as a series of lines which have distinct patterns
What does the amplitude show?
The brain intensity
What does the frequency show?
The speed of activation
What are EEG’s used to investigate?
Sleep disorders, seizures, memory problems
Strengths of EEG’s: sleep patterns?
Dement and Kleitman (1957) used EEG to determine the 5 different stages oof sleep
Eye movements were linked to phases of dreaming (REM sleep)
These findings were only possible due to EEG being used
Strengths- David and Kleitman study?
Overall reliability of the technique
Used a systematic timetable for waking participants and for collecting dream outs
Standardised procedure and use of an objective measure such as an EEG makes the study replicable
Strengths- temporal resolution?
Unlike fMRI’s, EEG’s have high temporal resolution
Strengths of EEG’s- detecting brain activity?
Can detect brain activity at a resolution of one millisecond
Limitations- detecting surface activity?
Can only detect surface activity within accessible regions of the brain
EEG’s cant provide insight as to what is happening in deeper regions of the brain e.g. the amygdala
Therefore EEG is limited as to what it can achieve in terms of measuring brain activity.
