Ways Of Studying The Brain Flashcards
What are FMRIs?
A technique for measuring brain activity which works by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow that indicate increased neural activity.
How are researchers able to discover what areas of the brain are involved in a particular mental activities?
If a particular area of the brain becomes more active, there is a higher demand for oxygen in that area. The brain responds to this demand by increasing blood flow, delivering oxygen in the red blood cells. As a result of these changes in blood flow, researchers are able to produce maps showing which areas of the brain are involved in a particular mental activity.
What are EEGs?
A method of recording changes in the electrical activity of the brain by using electrodes attached to the scalp.
What can EEG data be used for?
E.g. data can be used to detect various types of brain disorder, such as epilepsy, or to diagnose other disorders that influence brain activity such as Alzheimer’s disease.
What are the four basic EEG patterns?
Alpha waves, beta waves, Delta waves and theta waves.
In EEG’s, what happens when the person is awake, but relaxed?
Alpha waves are recorded
In EEG, what happens when the person is physiologically aroused?
The EEG pattern shows low amplitude and fast frequency, beta waves.
In EEGs when did Delta and Theta waves occur?
During REM sleep
What does EEGs stand for?
Electroencephalogram
What is ERP?
A technique that takes rule EEG data and uses it to investigate cognitive processing of a specific event. It achieves this by taking multiple readings and averaging them in order to filter out all brain activity that is not related to the appearance of the stimulus.
What are ERPs?
Very small voltage changes in the brain that are triggered by specific events or stimuli, such as cognitive processing of a specific stimulus.
What is the problem with ERPs?
They are difficult to pick out from all the other electrical activity being generated within the brain at a given time.
What are post-mortem examinations?
Ways of examining the brains of people who have shown particular psychological abnormalities prior to their death in an attempt to establish the possible neuro biological cause for this behaviour.
What is an early example of using post mortem examinations as a way of studying the brain?
Brocas work with his patient Tan, who displayed speech problems when alive, and was subsequently found to have a lesion in the area of the brain known as Brocas area.
What are the things have post-mortem examinations helped to identify?
Some of the brain structures involved in memory and links between psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and depression and underlying brain abnormalities.
