Tools for examining the adaptable brain

Question 1

Neuroscience

Answer 1

Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary brain science that works closely with other disciplines

Question 2

Brain Autopsy

Answer 2

Examination of brain tissue after death is currently the only definitive way to diagnose the specific neurodegenerative disorder of an individual.

Question 3

Lesioning Studies

Answer 3

Humans with brain lesions are often the subjects of research with the goal of establishing the function of the area where their lesion occurred.

Question 4

Prefrontal lobotomy

Answer 4

Operation that removes parts of the brain to control behavior, disconnects the prefrontal cortex from the rest of the brain.

Question 5

Hemispherectomy

Answer 5

Brain surgery used to treat behavioral disorders or illnesses, removal of one of the halves of the brain.

Question 6

Deep Brain Stimulation

Answer 6

Newer, less invasive method of altering the brain to eliminate behavioral symptoms.

Question 7

Transcranial Magnetic stimulation

Answer 7

Noninvasive technique that alters brain activity.

Question 8

Brain Scanning

Answer 8

Not used to treat disorders rather they provide information about the structure of the brain or about the activity of the brain.

Question 9

X-rays

Answer 9

Primarily show bones and other solid structures, especially useful when a person has broken bones.

Question 10

EEG

Answer 10

Measurement of the electrical activity of the brain by recording from electrodes placed on the scalp

Question 11

CT or CAT Scan

Answer 11

Two-dimensional x-ray photographs from different angles and using to create three-dimensional representation of organ.

Question 12

MRI Scan

Answer 12

Brain-imaging method using radio waves and magnetic fields of the body to produce three dimensional detailed images of the brain.

Question 13

MEG

Answer 13

Imaging technique used to measure the magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain by extremely sensitive devices

Question 14

fMRI

Answer 14

Measuring brain activity, detects the changes in blood oxygenation and flow that occur in response to neural activity.

Question 15

PET scan

Answer 15

Uses trace amounts of short-lived radioactive material to help map functional processes in the brain.

Question 16

Neuroplasticity

Answer 16

The ability to constantly change both the structure and function of many cells in the brain in response to experience and even trauma.

Question 17

Functional plasticity

Answer 17

The Brain’s ability to move functions from a damaged area of the brain to other undamaged areas.

Question 18

Structural plasticity

Answer 18

The Brain’s ability to change its physical structure as a result of learning.

Question 19

“Split Brain”

Answer 19

Two hemispheres of the brain communicate extensively through corpus callosum, when the hemispheres can’t communicate each side of the brain seems to act independently “split”, without awarness of the other