ways of studying the brain

Question 1

what does FMRI do?

Answer 1

-detects changes in blood flow to specfic parts of brain
-when brain area more active it consumes more O2
-blood flow directed to active area (haemodynamic response)
-3D images of what part of the brain is involved in mental processes

Question 2

a strength of FMRI?

Answer 2

-doesnt rely on radiaiton / risk free/ non invasive and straightfoward
-high spatial resolution
-clear pictures

Question 3

weaknesses of FMRI?

Answer 3

-expensive comapred to other neuro imaging
-poor temporal resolution(5 second time lag)
-not represent moment to moment brain activity

Question 4

what is a EEG?

Answer 4

-measures electric activity
-use skull cap
-reprsent brainwave patterns
-diagnostic tool for aeethymtic patterns of activity may indicate neurological abnormalties e.g tumours

Question 5

strenghts of EEG?

Answer 5

-use to study stages of sleep
-and also epilpesy and random bursts of activity in brain
-high temporal (resolution of millisecond)

Question 6

weakness of EEG?

Answer 6

-cant pinpoint exact source of neural activity
-cant distinguish between activites orginating in different but adjacent locations

Question 7

what are event related potentials ?

Answer 7

-neural processes inclduing sensory, cogntive, motor events
-statisical averging used
-all extreneous brain activity filtetred out only activity rleated to specfic performance task
-type of brainwave seen only related to specfic tasks
-linked to cognitive processes e.g attention and perception

Question 8

strenghts of ERP?

Answer 8

-more specfiicty to neural processses
-excellent temporal resolution
-measure cognitive functions and deficits such as allocation of attentional resources and maintence of working memory

Question 9

weakness of ERP?

Answer 9

-lack of standardistauon is hard to confirm findings
-background noise must be elimnated which isnt always easy

Question 10

what is post mortem?

Answer 10

-analysis of brain after death
-may have rare disorder or experinced cognitive or behaviour deficits
-establish causes of afflciation to persons experience
-compared w neurotypical brain

Question 11

strenghts of post mortem?

Answer 11

-broca and wernicke relied on post mortem to establish links between lang, brain and behaviour before neuroimaging
-PM helped identify HM’s brain damage to associate w his memory deficits

Question 12

weakness of post mortem?

Answer 12

-observed damage may not be linked to deficits but unrelated trauma
-no consent from PS
-challenges ethics