Ways of investigating the brain

Question 1

How does an fMRI work?

Answer 1

By detecting the changes in blood oxygenation that occur as a result of neural activity in specific parts of the brain. When the brain is more active it consumes more oxygen and to meet the increased demand blood flow is directed to the active area (haemodynamic response)

Question 2

What does an fMRI produce?

Answer 2

Three-dimensional images showing which parts of the brain are involved in particular mental processes which has important implications for our understanding of localisation of function

Question 3

What do EEG’s do?

Answer 3

Measure electrical activity within the brain via electrodes that are fixed to an individual’s scalp. the recording represents the brain wave patterns that are generated from the action of billions of neurons giving an overall account of brain activity

Question 4

What is an EEG often used for?

Answer 4

Used by clinicians as a diagnostic tool as unusual patterns can often indicate neurological abnormalities such as epilepsy, tumours or sleep disorders

Question 5

What is a post mortem examination and when is it used?

Answer 5

Examining the brain after death - usually used on people who have had rare disorders or unusual deficit in mental processing during their lifetime - damaged areas examined after death, may include comparison to a neurotypical brain

Question 6

What is an ERP?

Answer 6

Using statistical averaging technique all extraneous brain activity rom the original EEG recording is filtered out leaving only those responses that relate to specific stimulus or performance of a task and what remains is event-related potentials (types of brainwaves triggered by particular events)
Many types of ERP including those linked to cognitive processes like attention and perception