Ways of investigating the brain

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  • Created by: EloiseMay
  • Created on: 20-03-18 18:23

AO1                                                                                                                                                                                            

Functional magnetic resonance imaging: Detects changes in blood oxygenation and flow that happens due to neural activity in certain parts of the brain. The more active a brain is, the more energy it consumes. To meet this demand blood flow is directed to the active area which is known as haemodynamic response. It provides 3-dimensional images that show the parts of the brain involved in a mental process. This contributes to our understanding of localisation of brain function.

Electroencephalogram: Measures electrial activity in the brain via electrodes connected to a person's scalp by a skull cap. The recording shows the brainwave patterns that are generated from the action of millions of neurons. It can be used as a diagnostic tool as unusual arrythmic patterns of activity can suggest neurological abnormalities like epilepsy.   

Event-related potentials: EEG data is raw data as it is a general measure of brain acitvity that contains all the neural responses assocated with specific sensory, cognitive and motor events. A statistical averaging technique isolates these responses by filtering out extraneous brain activity to leave the responses that the researcher is interested in. Event-related potentials are left which are types of brainwaves triggered by certain events. There are many forms of ERP.

Post-mortem examinations: Analysing a person's brain following their death. Those subject to post-mortem exams usually had a rare condition and experienced abnormal deficits in mental processes and behaviour. Damaged areas are examined to find a cause for the suffering. They may compare

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