Methods & Strategies of Research in Behavioural Neuroscience

?
What are the advantages & disadvantages of brain damage studies?
AD: Direct link between brain behaviour. DISAD: Necessary vs. Sufficient, Case studies are rare, lesions are non specific
1 of 51
What are CT Scans?
X-rays travel through patients at all points (CT) Some of the rays travel more readily through different tissues.
2 of 51
What are MRI Scans?
Passing of strong magnetic field through patient's head. Scanner detects radiation from hydrogen atoms, which are present in different frequencies in different tissues.
3 of 51
What two methods are suitable for examining brain structure in living brains?
CT and MRI
4 of 51
Why is MRI useful for research?
can correlate area sizes with differences in performance e.g. does the size of the frontal lobe correlate with task performance?
5 of 51
What is a disadvantage of both MRI & CT?
Correlational, not Causation
6 of 51
What are the two main disadvantages of MRI (not CT)?
MRI can distinguish between grey and white matter but not smaller fibre bundles. Above absolute zero, all molecules move in random directions due to thermal agitation.
7 of 51
How are neural structures located in stereotaxic surgery?
Using the Bregma as a reference point
8 of 51
Stereotaxic Surgery Apparatus includes what?
Head holder, holder for electrode, and calibrated mechanism that guides electrode the neural location.
9 of 51
What are the three axes used by stereotaxic surgery?
Anterior- Position (Rostal-Caudal) Dorsal- Vental (Superior Inferior) and Lateral Medial (Lateral-Medial-Lateral)
10 of 51
Under circumstances other than lesion production, when can stereotaxic surgery be used?
To stimulate neuron production or to inject drugs to stimulate specific neurons (e.g. DA neutron stimulation in parkinsons)
11 of 51
What are the disadvantages of stereotaxic surgery/ablation?
Coarse technique, control subjects required with sham lesions from electrode insertion
12 of 51
What are excitotoxic lesions?
Damage created through the deliverance of and Amino Acid which over excites and destroys neural structures
13 of 51
What substance is used for excitotoxic lesions?
Amino Acid (Kainic Acid)
14 of 51
Reversible lesions can be created using what?
Anaesthesia, using Muscimol
15 of 51
What method is used to trace efferent axons?
Anterograde Labelling, using injected protein PHA-L
16 of 51
How does PHA-L assist in tracing efferent axons?
Acts as a foreign body which swamps injected cells within a few days, can later be identified by applying antibodies to ablated/sliced area.
17 of 51
What method is used to trace afferent axons?
Retrograde Labelling, using flourogold which fluoresces under light
18 of 51
The VMH is preceded by what?
Medial Amygdala
19 of 51
What method can be used to trace multiple neural pathways?
Transneural tracing, using injected weak strain of herpes/rabies virus which infects connected areas
20 of 51
What is immunocytochemistry?
employing the immune response to trace neural pathways and connections
21 of 51
What is the function of a micro electrode?
To record the activity of a single neuron
22 of 51
What are the advantages of micro electrode recordings?
can dissociate the roles of singular neurons, has a very high spatial resolution & extremely precise
23 of 51
What are the disadvantages of micro electrode recordings?
Too focused, invasive & time consuming
24 of 51
EEG summates the responses of how many neurons?
1000 per electrode
25 of 51
How does MEG work?
With every electrical current, there is a subsequent magnetic field. These magnetic fields thus exist in the brain and can be used to record activity
26 of 51
Super conducting quantum interference devices can detect magnetic fields that are what?
One billionth of the earth's magnetic field
27 of 51
MEG has to be conducted in a special kind of room that what?
blocks out the earth's magnetic field
28 of 51
What are the advantages of EEG?
Good temporal resolution, non invasive and precise time wise (quicker than MRI) can be used in neurological conditions and with healthy participants, portable
29 of 51
What are the advantages of MEG?
Good temporal resolution, non invasive, quicker than MRI
30 of 51
What are the Disadvantages of EEG?
Poor spatial resolution, very expensive (£50,000)
31 of 51
What are the Disadvantages of MEG?
Poor spatial resolution, very expensive and specialised
32 of 51
Increases in neural activity leads to what in metabolic activity?
Increase in metabolic activity (can therefore be used as an indirect measure of neural activity)
33 of 51
In PET, what substance is used?
Radioactive 2-DG
34 of 51
2-DG reveals neural activity by...?
being taken up by the most active cells
35 of 51
What are the advantages of PET?
Good spatial resolution
36 of 51
How does fMRI work?
by detecting changes in blood oxygen levels
37 of 51
What are the advantages of fMRI?
Good spatial resolution, non invasive
38 of 51
What are the disadvantages of PET?
Expensive, Invasive, uses chemicals with a short half life that have to be made on site, poor temporal resolution
39 of 51
What are the disadvantages of PET?
Expensive, Certain patient groups excluded, indirect as measures metabolic activity
40 of 51
What are ontogenetic methods?
Genetically modified virus causes light sensitive ion channels in the membrane of particular neurons. Different wavelengths of light can excite or inhibit the cell, stimulating or inhibiting given brain regions
41 of 51
What are the two photosensitive proteins used by ontogenetic methods?
ChR2 (blue light; excitation) and NpHr (yellow light, inhibition)
42 of 51
How does TMS work?
Issues rapidly changing electrical currents to create magnetic fields, altering neural activity (inhibit or increase)
43 of 51
What are the advantages of TMS?
Safe & Non Invasive, can infer causal link between brain and behaviour, better spatial resolution than lesion studies, participants can be used as their own control
44 of 51
What are the disadvantages of TMS?
TMS is noisy- auditory and somatosensory stimulation interferes with neural and task performance, limited to structures a few cm beneath the skull, some groups of participants unable to take part
45 of 51
What is the purpose of neurochemical methods?
To investigate the effect different chemicals have on the brain.
46 of 51
How do neurotransmitters, modulators and hormones convey messages?
By binding with target receptors
47 of 51
What are the two different techniques that can be used to localise receptors?
Autoradiography & Immunocytochemistry
48 of 51
How does Autoradiography work?
by exposing slices of brain tissue to radioactive ligands bound for particular receptors
49 of 51
What technique is used to measure the level of different chemicals in the brain?
Micro Dialysis
50 of 51
How does micro dialysis work?
extracellular fluid is pumped out and examined & analysed
51 of 51

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What are CT Scans?

Back

X-rays travel through patients at all points (CT) Some of the rays travel more readily through different tissues.

Card 3

Front

What are MRI Scans?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What two methods are suitable for examining brain structure in living brains?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Why is MRI useful for research?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Biological Psychology resources »