Ways Of Studying The Brain Flashcards
Post-mortem dissection
What is a post-mortem dissection?
This is studying brains of the dead with those with atypical brains against neurotypical brains
Broca’s area responsible for language production was discovered using post-mortem on a patient called Tan who could only say tan and damage to the frontal lobe was found after death
High spatial resolution, however the brain is inactive as person is dead so behaviour and damage found on brain is only a correlation
FMRI- how does it work?
It looks at the magnetic differences in areas of the brain as areas with high activity need more oxygen
Adv- high spatial resolution- able to precisely identify active regions in the brain
Non invasive and and a safe technique
Poor temporal resolution-one taken every second and delay in blood flow activity sp many Brian processes are too fast
Very expensive
What is an EEG
22-34 electrode that are attached to a cap fitted to the scalp with a conductive gel
Can see the activation of the brain and shows lines which show waves of activity
Adv- cheaper and portal
Very good temporal resolution
However lack of spatial resolution
And only detects activity in the cortex
What is an ERP?
Event related potential shows the brain response to just one stimulus. So can show when a certain cognitive activation occcurs in the brain to certain stimuli.
The waveforms peak and dip to show when cognitive processes happen as lots of activity in that area
ERP- allow researchers to isolate and study individual cognitive processes while eeg record general brain activity
Have good temporal resolution however poor spatial resolution
