Lecture 4

Question 1

4 Brain Imaging Techniques

Answer 1

1) EEG 2) CT 3) PET 4) fMRI

Question 2

How does an EEG ^{(electroencephalogram)} work?

Answer 2

Small wires detect brain waves. (Looks at activity)

Question 3

How does a CT ^{(computerized tomography)} scan work?

Answer 3

Rotating x-ray beams create visual ‘slices’ of the brain (Looks at structure)

Question 4

How does a PET ^{(positron emission tomography)} scan work?

Answer 4

Radioactive ‘tracers’ are released into the brain and tracked (Looks at activity)

Question 5

How does a fMRI ^{(Functional magnetic resonance imaging)} work?

Answer 5

Brain activity is tracked through changing oxygen levels (Looks at activity)

Question 6

How do you decide which brain imaging technique to use?

Answer 6

Consider what you’re looking for : structure (CT) vs activity (EEG, PET, fMRI). Also cost : EEG is cheap, fMRI super expensive

Question 7

Social Neuroscience

Answer 7

Neurological explanations for social pain

Question 8

Sensation vs Perception

Answer 8

Sensation: How our sensory system receives information from the environment.

Perception: How we organize and interpret sensory information.

Question 9

Absolute Threshold

Answer 9

Minimum stimulation required to detect a light, sound, pressure, taste, or odour at 50% of the time. (Anything under that would be ‘subliminal’)

Question 10

Difference Threshold & Weber’s Law

Answer 10

Minimum difference between 2 stimuli required to detect the difference 50% of the time.

Weber’s Law : required difference is not absolute, but a proportion of the strength of the stimulus (ie. detecting a loonie in envelopes vs in textbooks)

Question 11

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 11

With constant exposure to stimulus, nerve cells fire less frequently.

Question 12

Answer 12

Question 13

Answer 13

Question 14

Answer 14