studying the brain exam questions

Question 1

briefly evaluate the use of EEG as a way of identifying cortical specialisation in the brain (3 MARKS)

Answer 1

EEG have high temporal resolution and can accurately detect brain activity with a resolution measured in milliseconds and is a safe way of measuring brain activity. however, it can only detect activity in the superficial regions of the brain and therefore it is very limited

Question 2

outline one difference between EEG & ERP

Answer 2

EEG is a recording of general brain activity usually linked to states such as sleep and arousal, whilst ERPs are elicited by specific stimuli presented to the participant.

Question 3

outline and evaluate one or more ways of studying the brain (8 MARKS)

Answer 3

FMRI – uses magnetic field and radio waves to monitor blood flow; it measures the
change in the energy released by hemoglobin, reflecting activity of the brain to give a moving picture of the brain; activity in regions of interest can be compared during a base line task and during a specific activity. fMRI captures dynamic brain activity as opposed to MRI/post-mortem examinations which purely show physiology. But, interpretation of fMRI is complex and is affected by temporal resolution, biased
interpretation and by the baseline task used