Ways of studying the brain

Question 1

What are the 4 ways of investigating the brain?

Answer 1

• fMRI
• EEG
• ERPs
• Post-mortem

Question 2

What is an fMRI?

Answer 2

• Measures brain activity in specific areas by detecting the changes in blood oxygenation and flow.
• Produces 3D images showing which parts of the brain are involved in a particular mental process.

Question 3

State 3 positives of an fMRI.

Answer 3

• Doesn’t rely on the use of radiation.
• Virtually risk free, non-invasive and straightforward to use.
• Produces images that have high spatial resolution so provides a clear picture of how brain activity is localised.

Question 4

State 4 negatives of an fMRI.

Answer 4

• Expensive
• Poor temporal resolution - 5 second time-lag behind the image on the screen and the initial firing of neuronal activity.
• Can only capture clear image if person is till.
• Can only measure blood flow not individual neurons so hard to tell exactly what kind of brain activity is being presented on the screen.

Question 5

What is an EEG?

Answer 5

• A record of the electrical impulses produced by the brains activity.
• Measures the brains wave patterns, producing characteristic patterns.
• Measures brainwave patterns via electrodes.

Question 6

State 3 positives of EEG.

Answer 6

• Good for diagnosis, e.g. epilepsy (characterised by random bursts of activity in the brain which can be detected on screen).
• High temporal resolution - can accurately detect brain activity at a resolution of a single millisecond.
• Contributed to understanding of stages of sleep.

Question 7

State a negative of EEG.

Answer 7

Generalised nature of information received - the EEG signal is not useful in pinpointing the exact source of neural activity.

Question 8

What is an ERP?

Answer 8

• The brains electrophysiological response to a specific sensory, cognitive or motor event can be isolated through statistical analysis of EEG data.
• Isolating specific response of neurones to specific stimuli or tasks.

Question 9

State 2 positives of ERPs.

Answer 9

• Bring much more specificity to the measurement of neural processes than could ever be achieved using raw EEG data.
• Good temporal resolution.

Question 10

State 2 negatives of ERPs.

Answer 10

• Lack of standardisation in ERP methodology so difficult to confirm findings.
• To establish pure data in ERP studies, background noise and extraneous materials must be completely eliminated and this is not always easy to achieve.

Question 11

What is a post-mortem examination?

Answer 11

• An analysis of a person’s brain following their death.

- Correlating behaviours before death with brain structures after death.

Question 12

State 2 positives of post-mortem examinations.

Answer 12

• Vital foundation of early understanding (Broca and Wernicke).
• Can improve medical knowledge and help generate hypotheses for future research.

Question 13

State 2 negatives of post-mortem examinations.

Answer 13

• Causation.

- Ethical issues - patient may not be able to provide informed consent.