Research Methods Flashcards
What is scalp electroencephalography (EEG) - somatic nerve
Measured by scalp electrodes
Sum of all electrical events in the head - Acton potentials
Sensory evoked potentials
Signal averging
What are EEG waves?
Event-related potentials - associated with a reward
Background waves - unknown what type of activity is going on
What is muscle tension measure - somatic nerve
Measures level of tension in muscle
Used as an indicator of psychological arousal
Called electromyogram (EMG)
How do we measure eye movement? - somatic nerve
Measures eye movements
Called electrooculogram (EOG)
What is the measure of skin conductance? - automatic nerve
Skin conductance level (SCL) - when emotional, associated with an increase in the skin to conduct electricity
Skin conductance response (SCR) - measures rapid changes in skin conductance (think polygraph)
What is the measure of cardiovascular activity? - automatic nerve
Electrocardiogram (EKG) measures heart rate
Blood pressure: systoles and diastoles
Phethysmography measures blood volume
What is stereotaxic surgery?
Allows an accurate placement of lesions, probes, electrodes or other instruments
Employs stereotaxic atlas and instrument - tells you where things are
Reference point is called bregma
What are the four types of lesions?
- Aspiration
2.Radio-frequency - Knife cuts
- Reversible lesions
Unilateral and bilateral lesions
What is electrical stimulation and how is it used in the stereotaxic surgery?
Effects the opposite of lesions - stimulates that brain region
Usually done prior to lesioning - not always done everytime
What is an intracellular unit recording? - invasive recording methods
Records the membrane potential from one neuron as it fires. Located within the the neuron
What is an extracellular unit recording? - invasive recording methods
Records the electrical disturbance that is created each time an adjacent neuron fires. Located just outside the neuron
What is a multiple-unit recording - invasive recording method
A small electrode records the action potentials of many nearby neurons. These are added up and plotted. Many recordings are taken as a group, and then everything is added up
What is invasive EEG recording - invasive recording method
A large implanted electrode picks up general changes in electrical brain activity. The EEG signal is not related to neural firing in any obvious way
-Electrodes are actually placed directly on the skull
-Picks up activity of the brain in general
What is oral ingestion in routes of drug administration
Ingestion of drug
What is intragastrically in routes of drug administration
Tube placed into the stomach
What is intramuscularly in routes of drug administration
Into the muscle, usually done for liver
What is intravenously in routes of drug administration
Directly into the blood
What is subcutaneously in routes of drug administration
Just under the skin
What is intraperitoneally in routes of drug administration
Goes into the partionally cavity, in the neck area
What is selective chemical lesions
Produces more selective lesions than electrical lesions
Neurotoxin is injected into the brain
What is autoradiography?
Measures areas of the brain active during an event
Develops results in the dark
Active areas of the brain show up as dark spots on image
What is cerebral dialysis?
Measures specific neurotransmitters
A fine tube gathers sample in the brain area of interest
Analyzed by chromatograph
What is immunocutochemistry?
Creates antibodies to bind with desired neurotransmitter or receptors
Label antibody with dye or radioactivity
Look for specific proteins in brain slices
What is in situ hybridization?
Locates mRNA of peptides and proteins in the brain
Labelled hybrid RNA that complements mRNA is administered.
They bind and allow scientists to locate the mRNA of a neuroprotein of interest
What is a gene knockout technique - Melanopsin Knockout Mice
Protein found in retina - visual system
Implicated in circadian rhythms
Reduced but did not eliminate rhythms, so it is not the only factor
Doesn’t eliminate it all together
What is a gene knockout technique
Replacement of one gene with another
Genetic information from a different species is implanted
Used to study human diseases in animals
What is the CRISPR/Cas9 method?
Cas9 protein is linked to guide-RNA
Injected into an organism
Binds to target area and tell Cas9 protein to let it cut, change or edit any DNA - makes changes to the genome
What is the green fluorescent protein - a way to visualize easily
Inserted into target cells
Exposure to blue light exposes bright green fluorescence which lights up the neurons to view
What is a brainbow?
Research technique, with each neuron being labelled with a different colour, facilitating the tracing of neural axons
What are opsin genes - Optogenetics
Inserted into a particular type of neuron
Optic fiber can be implanted in the animal
Researchers can then use light to hyperpolarize or depolarize cells
What are two different tests of the common neuropsychological test battery?
Intelligence
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) - many different tests inside
Memory
- Information subtest
-Digit span test - gives person many numbers and asks them to recall the numbers
Language
-Token test
How is memory a test of specific neuropsychological function
Studies short term and long term memory
Anterograde (things learned after damage) or retrograde (before damage)
Semantic (knowledge of the world) or episodic (personal experiences)
Explicit or implicit
How is animal behaviour assessed of species-common behaviours?
Open field test provides a measure of emotionality
Tests of aggressive and defensive behaviours
How are studys of sexual behaviours conducted through females or male rats? Whats looked at
Females
- Lordosis - very specific posture
Males
- Mounts to intromission
- Intromission to ejaculation
- Time to remount
What do raidal arm maze study?
Studies foraging and spatial behaviours
What does morris water maze study?
Studies rat spatial ability
Big pool of water
Animal needs to find the platform using cues in the wall surroundings
