Ways Of Investigating The Brain

Question 1

What are the 4 ways of investigating the brain

Answer 1

FMRI, EEG, ERPs, post mortal examination

Question 2

What does FMRI measure

Answer 2

Measures changes in blood oxygenation that results from brain activity

Question 3

What is haemodynamic response

Answer 3

Is when blood flow is directed to the active areas

Question 4

Why is FMRI useful

Answer 4

Useful in identifying localisation of function

Question 5

Strengths of FMRI

Answer 5

• no radiation meaning if used properly it’s risk free and non invasive
• fine detail and soft tissue shown because good spacious resolution

Question 6

Weakness of FMRI

Answer 6

• needs person to keep still
• 5 second time lag
• poor temporal resolution
• doesn’t tell us what neutrons are doing, just boood food

Question 7

How do EEGs work

Answer 7

Uses electrodes attached to calm to measure brain wave patterns made by millions of neurons giving overall account of brain activity

Question 8

What’s are EEGS useful for

Answer 8

Looking at abnormal patterns eg epilepsy, stages or sleep and tumour

Question 9

Strengths of EEG

Answer 9

• important in diagnosis of epilepsy, insight into stages of sleep and disorders
• very fast, milliseconds meaning there is minimal time lag - good temporal resolution
• inexpensive

Question 10

Weakness of EEG

Answer 10

• information isn’t very specific
• researchers cannot know exact,t where neural activity comes from
• cannot separate activity coming from adjacent areas of the brain

Question 11

How are EEGs and ERPs different

Answer 11

EEGs measure activity of many neutrons but ERPs isolate specific responses from EEGs they are interested in

Question 12

What do ERPs look at

Answer 12

This allows them to look at event related potentials - the brain wave triggered by a particular event or cognitive task

Question 13

Strength of ERPs

Answer 13

• more specific than raw EEG fats
• good temporal resolution
• good for measuring general cognitive functions and has helped identify many important aspects in working memory

Question 14

Weakness of ERPs

Answer 14

• different researchers use different methodology so may be lack of standardisation
• may not yet pure data because cannot eliminate all background noise and extraneous variables

Question 15

What are post Mortem examination

Answer 15

Useful for examining brains after death eg if there is a specific disorder this allows for comparison to typical brains

Question 16

Strength of post mortem examinations

Answer 16

• in present time, helps to generate further hypothesis for research
• excellent special resolution

Question 17

Weakness of post mortem examinations

Answer 17

• ethical issues comedy - HM brain used post mortem but his memory loss he could consent
• causality - can not identify cause of any aspects seen
• poor temporal resolution because they’re dead so you can’t do anything at real time and can’t see cause and effect