Ways Of Studying The Brain

Question 1

4 ways to tidy the brain

Answer 1

• Pet scans
• fMRI
• EEG
• post mortems

Question 2

ERP

Answer 2

• use electrodes attached to the scalp
• stimulus is presented to a ppt an the researcher looks for activity related to that stimulus
• stimulus is presented many times and an averge response is graphed
• averaging reduces extraneous neural activity

Question 3

Evaluation of ERP scans

Answer 3

Strengths:
- non invasive, does not use radiation/insertions
- good temporal resolution, shows activity every millisecond lost in real time
- cheap
- involve specific experimental manipulation (presentation of a stimulus) and due to averaging its possible to determine causation of brain activity

Weaknesses
- poor still resolution, can only show superficial general area of brain where there is activity

Question 4

fMRI

Answer 4

• active areas of the brain need a lot of o2
• o2 removed from blood in the active areas
• deoxygenated haemoglobin has different magnetic quality from oxygenated haemoglobin
• cans detects those different magnetic qualities to create a dynamic 3D map of the brain

Question 5

Evaluation of fMRI

Answer 5

Strengths:
- high spatial resolution - 1-2mm
- does not use ionising radiation, safer
- can be used whilst patient carry’s out task, help us make inferences about the brain function and localisation

Weaknesses
- expensive
- poor temporal resolution - 1-4secs
- don’t provide a direct measure of neural activity jus measure changes in blood flow

Question 6

EEG

Answer 6

• Measures electrical activity through electrodes attached to the scalp
• any electrical activity i the brain are detected by the electrodes and graphed overtime
• 4 types eeg patterns theta delta beta and alpha

Question 7

Evaluation of EEG

Answer 7

Strengths;
- non invasive, does not involve radiation/insertion
- good temporal resolution, show drivel y every millisecond in almost real time
-cheap

Weakness
- Poor spatial resolution, can only show superficial general brai activity where activity is
- electrical active frown in several region a same time, difficult to draw conclusions about what behaviour is lined to what brain region

Question 8

Post-mortem

Answer 8

• Study brain of deceased by looking for abnormalities
• aims to link behaviour displayed when the person was alive with damage in a particular area
• anatomical and neurochemical aspects of the brain
• allows a look at deeper regions as the brain such as the hippocampus and hypothalamus

Question 9

Evaluation of post mortems

Answer 9

Weaknesses
- invasive, cuts open the brain
- Poor temporal resolution, there’s no activity s brain is dead, allows for more detailed examination or neurochemical and automical regions of the brain
- expensive
- cannot b certain in What way behaviour observe living life are linked to damaged found in brain

Strengths:
- good spatial resolution, detailed examination of exact areas in the brain however u can only stud a dead brain not a active one

Question 10

Temporal resolution

Answer 10

• Refers to how quickly the scanner detects changes in the brain activity
• higher the resolution the more accurately we can link brain activity with a stimulus

Question 11

Spatial resolution

Answer 11

• refers t the small rest measurement that can be detected
  -the higher the evolution the more accurately the scan ca pinpoint teh area of study