How to study the brain Flashcards
What are the (7) main methods of psychological study?
- Experimental ablation using kainic acid or RF current (combined with behavioural studies to determine brain function), followed by histological methods (slice and examine brain!)
- Study of humans with brain damage (e.g. HM)
- Electrophysiology - microelectrodes can be used to record single-unit APs and macroelectrodes for areas, also EEGs and magnetoencephalography.
- Imaging (MRI and PET)
- Mild electrical stimulation
- Computational models/brain-based devices
- Neurochemical methods
What happened to HM?
His medial temporal lobe was surgically resected (to improve epileptic seizures) and he became unable to form new declarative memories, as shown by behavioural and cognitive analysis.
How are lesions experimentally induced and how else is the brain manipulated?
- Selective destruction of specific brain sites (mechanic, electrolytic, neurotoxic)
- Stereotaxic surgery
- Electric stimulation of brain sites
- Targeted mutations of brain-specific genes
- Optogenetics
- Trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
What is stereotaxic surgery?
Temporary pharmacological manipulations via pre-implanted micro-cannnulae to swith specific neurons/receptors on and off.
What does optogenetics involve?
Makes certain cells light-sensitive, which enables control of the activity of these individual neurons in living tissue—even within freely-moving animals—and to precisely measure the effects of those manipulations in real-time.
What brain region is thought to be important for declarative memories?
The medial temporal lobe.
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/brainscape-prod/system/cm/036/465/086/a_image_thumb.png?1659406521)
What brain region is thought to be important for procedural memories?
The striatum
What brain region is thought to be important for emotional responses?
The amygdala
What did Morris et al (1982) find?
That place navigation (i.e. spatial memory) was impaired in rats with hippocampal lesions.
The hippocampus is necessary for…?
Spatial and declarative memory
What did Milner et al (1998) do?
The taxonomy of memory systems diagram - the brain systems and connections thought to be the most important for each type of memory.
In what two ways is brain connectivity studied neuroanatomically?
- Neuronal tract tracing
- Diffusion MRI
What happens in neuronal tract tracing?
PHA-L injected into a region and taken up by dendrites and cell bodies, then transported by axoplasmic flow until axons and terminal buttons can be seen under the microscope
Who is associated with diffusion MRI?
Berg-Johansen & Rushworth 2009.
What did O’Keefe et al (1998) do?
Single-unit recordings of ‘place cells’ in the hippocampus.