ways of investigating the brain ao3

Question 1

Strength of fmris - good spatial resolution

Answer 1

• Unlike other scanning techniques such as PET scans, it does not rely on the use of radiation.
• It has very good spatial resolution. This means that it produces images that depict detail by the millimetre, making it possible to get a clear picture of how activity is localised in the brain.

Question 2

Weakness of fmris - can only measure blood flow

Answer 2

MRis can only measure blood flow, it cannot hone in on the activity of individual neurons and so it can be difficult to tell exactly what kind of activity is being shown on the screen. This means it is not a truly quantitative measure of mental activity in these areas of the brain.

Question 3

EEGS - Invaluable in clinical diagnosis (strength)

Answer 3

EEGs are useful in clinical diagnoses.
Record the abnormal neural activity associated with epileptic seizures. This can help to determine whether someone experiencing a seizure has epilepsy.

Question 4

EEGS weakness - poor spatial resolution

Answer 4

Poor spatial resolution. EEGs only provide very generalised information. Electrical activity can be picked up by several neighbouring electrodes, which makes the source of any activity difficult to pinpoint.
Researchers can’t distinguish between activities originating in different but neighbouring locations in the brain.

Question 5

Strength - ERPS - specificity

Answer 5

Provides increased specificity of neural processes compared to EEGS
excellent temporal resolution
as ERPs are derived from EEGs
Led to their widespread of cognitive functions and deficits

Question 6

ERPS - weakness - small

Answer 6

very small and often difficult to pick out from other electrical activity in the brain
this means a large number of trials often have to be conducted in order to gain meaningful data = time consuming
limits the type of questions that erp readings can realistically answer

Question 7

strength - post mortem - increased detail

Answer 7

Post-mortems allow for a more detailed examination of anatomical and neurochemical elements of the brain, which would not be possible with less invasive methods such as MRis and EEGs.
Have deepened our understanding of certain disorders such as schizophrenia.
o Structural anomalies and evidence of changes to neurotransmitter systems, which are both associated with the disorder (Harrison, 2000).

Question 8

Weakness - other factors thag can influence a post mortem

Answer 8

People die in a variety of circumstances and at varying stages of disease, both of which can influence the post-mortem brain.
• Drugs treatments, age at death and time between death and PM are possible confounding variables. This means that the observed damage to the brain may not be linked or may paint an incorrect picture of the behaviour under review.