fMRI Flashcards
What is a psycho-physiological method?
Non-invasive Investigative methods
What are the IV and DV in psycho-physiological methods?
IV - behavior
DV - brain reactions
What exactly does fMRI measure?
The BOLD signal = Blood Oxygen Level Dependent signal
Who much time is required for the changes to be observed in BOLD?
10s of seconds and this is captured by the Haemodynamic Response Function (HRF).
Is fMRI a direct measure of neural activity?
No. Neural activity is inferred by changes to blood flow.
What are the temporal and spatial characteristics of fMRI?
Poor temporal resolution (10s of seconds)
High spatial resolution (millimeters)
What are the limitations of fMRI?
1) Expensive
2) studies underpowered as resources (the machine) have to be shared
3) loud (vibrations of the gradient coil)
4) acoustic experiments are confounded
5) small space
6) ecological validity
7) beware of phrenology pt2
What are the contributions of fMRI studies?
1) Role of hippocampus in recollection
2) Role of perirhinal cortex in recognition (familiarity)
What is the most common limitation amongst all neuroimaging techniques?
Correlation is not equals causation.