ways of studying the brain

Question 1

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

Answer 1

Measure brain activity while person is performing task
- Detects radio waves from changing magnetic fields
- Detect regions of brain that are active

Question 2

Electroencephalogram

Answer 2

Record of tiny electrical impulses produced
- EGG can help diagnose certain conditions of the brain

Question 3

Event-related potentials

Answer 3

Electrophysiological response of the brain to specific sensory, cognitive or motor event - isolated through statistical analysis of EEG data

Question 4

Post-mortem examinations

Answer 4

Brain analysed after death
- Determines whether certain observed behaviour were linked to structural abnormalities in the brain

Question 5

What is scanning often used for

Answer 5

Medical purposes in diagnosis of illness
Investigate localisation

Question 6

What does fMRI produce

Answer 6

Three-dimensional images showing which parts of the brain are involved in a particular mental process - important for localisation of function

Question 7

Who usually uses EEG

Answer 7

Often used by clinicians - diagnostic tool - unusual arrhythmic patterns indicate neurological abnormalities

Question 8

EEG recording

Answer 8

Statistical averaging technique - filters out extraneous brain activity
- What remains are event-related potentials

Question 9

Eval - fMRI - strength

Answer 9

• Does not rely on radiation
• Produces images that have very high spatial resolution
• Virtually risk-free, non-invasive and straightforward
• Non-invasive - doesn’t involve radiation or inserting anything - allows more people to take scans

Question 10

Eval - fMRI - limitation

Answer 10

• Expensive compared to other techniques
• Poor temporal resolution - 5-second time-lag
• Not truly represent moment-to-moment brain activity

Question 11

Eval - EEG - strength

Answer 11

• Useful in studying stages of sleep and in diagnosis of conditions such as epilepsy
• Extremely high temporal resolution
• Real-world usefulness

Question 12

Eval - EEG - limitation

Answer 12

• Generalised nature of information received
• May not be useful for pinpointing the exact source of neural activity
• Does not allow researcher to distinguish between activities originating in different but adjacent locations

Question 13

Eval - ERPs - strength

Answer 13

• Bring more specificity to measurement of neural processes than raw EEG data
• Excellent temporal resolution - EEG data
• Used to measure cognitive functions and deficits such as allocation of attentional resources and the maintenance of working memory

Question 14

Eval - ERPs - limitation

Answer 14

• Lack of standardisation in ERP methodology between different research studies
• Difficult to confirm findings
• Pure data in ERP studies - background noise and extraneous material must be completely eliminated - not always easy

Question 15

Eval - post-mortem - strength

Answer 15

• Vital in providing foundation for early understanding of key processes in the brain
• Broca and Wernicke - relied - establishing links between language, brain and behaviour
• Used to study HM’s brain

Question 16

Eval - post mortem - limitation

Answer 16

• Observed damage to brain may not be linked to the deficits under review but to some other unrelated trauma or decay
• Ethical issues - may not be able to provide informed consent eg HM lost ability to form memories