Scanning techniques Flashcards
Which one is FMRI?
Measures changes in blood flow to indicate neural activity in different regions of the brain
Which one is EEG?
Measures electrical activity in the brain by using electrodes
Which one is ERP?
Event (stimulus) triggers sudden electrical activity in brain and is measured
Positive of FMRI?
Noninvasive and doesn’t expose the brain to harmful radiation like some other scanning techniques
Negatives of FMRI?
Research has shown that imagination can cause increased neural activity and therefore blood flow to different regions of the brain meaning the researcher will struggle to truly establish a control state for neural activity
It isn’t a direct measure of neural activity as it measures blood flow meaning it isn’t truly quantitative
Example of FMRI
Participant looks at visual stimulus for 30 mins and shuts eyes for 30 mins as a control
Postive of EEG?
Provides a recording of brain in real time —> can accurately measure activity in the brain from a particular task
Negative of EEG?
Electrodes can’t detect what’s happening in deeper regions of the brain such as hypothalamus or hippocampus meaning findings are limited
Example of EEG
Can help people with epilepsy as patients with epilepsy have spikes in electrical activity
Postive of ERPs?
ERPs make it possible to determine how processing is affected by a specific experimental manipulation (eg. visual stimuli) due to its continuous measure of processing
Negative of ERPs?
ERPs are very small so hard to pick out from other electrical activity meaning it requires a lots of trials to get meaningful data
Example of ERPs
Shown a visual stimulus (a photo) and ERPs are measured
Positive of Post Mortem?
Help gain a detailed (as invasive) understanding of underlying neurobiology of a particular behaviour
Negatives of Post Mortem?
Retrospective so can’t follow up with possible relationships between brain abnormalities and cognitive functioning
Circumstance of death can affect the post-mortem brain eg. disease (also long time between death and post mortem can lead to post-mortem decay)
Example of Post Mortem?
Annese’s post mortem of Henry Molaison
- Inability to store long term memories
- Lesions to hippocampus
