Neuroscience Current Issues Flashcards
Outline PET.
Radioactive isotopes injected into blood screen and radioactivity measured by scanners; decays quickly limiting the task to around 30seconds. Good spatial resolution and poor temporal resolution. Limited practicality.
Outline fMRI.
Based on principles of haemodynamics; measures changes in magnetic properties (BOLD signal) when the brain requires oxygen (metabolising). Indirect measure of neural activity. Good spatial resolution, poor temporal resolution.
Subtraction and MRI.
Principle with which studies are based on; subtracting the resting activation from the activity activating will result in the activation of task alone.
Functionalist View.
The mind can be studied independently of the brain.
Cognitive Neuroscience View.
Knowledge of the brain constrains understanding of the mind > knowledge of the brain informs understanding of cognition.
Fodor (1999).
Understanding that the brain is mapped structure to function does not necessitate the need to investigate precise location.
Henson (2005).
Provided the assumption of systematic mapping is accepted, functional neuro imaging data simply comprises another dependent variable alongside behavioural data.
Deductive Reasoning.
Start with theory or hypothesis and look for confirmatory observation to support the theory.
Inductive Reasoning
Generating a theory or hypothesis based on many subsequent observations.
Function-to-Structure Deduction.
If two conditions produce qualitatively different patterns of activity it is concluded that they differ in at least one function. Assumption that the same psychological function will not give different patterns of brain activity within the specific context.
Structure-to-Function Induction.
Inferring the engagement of a particular cognitive function based on brain activation regions; if the same region implicated in two experiments the same function is engaged. Strong assumption of systematic organisation allowing generalisability across contexts.
