Studying The Brain

what does studying the brain allow?

allows psychologists to gain insights unto underlying foundations of our behaviour/ mental processes.

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what 4 methods are included/

fMRIs- functional magnetic resonance imaging
EEGs- electroencephalogram
ERPs- event related potentials
PME- post mortem examination

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what fMRIs, how do they work?

a brain scanning technique that measures blood flow in brain when a person preforms a task, works on the premise that neurons in the brain which are most active (during a task) use the most energy. creates a dynamic moving 3D map of the-

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-brain, highlighting which areas are involved in diff neural activities. energy requires glucose and oxygen, O is carried in bloodstream attached to haemoglobin (found in red blood cells) and is released for use by these active neurons at which-

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-point the haemoglobin becomes deoxygenated. deoxygenated haemoglobin has a diff magnetic quality, increase in blood flow is a response to the need for more oxygen in that area of the brain when it becomes active, suggesting an increase in neural activity

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name the evalautions

+non-invasive, fMRI doesn't involve inserting instruments directly into brain, is risk-free, allowing more patients to do fMRI scans which can help psychologists gather more data on the human brain + develop understanding of LOF.

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+good spatial resolution, meaning the smallest features/measurements that a scanner. can detect, increase allows psychologists to discriminate between diff. brain regions w. greater accuracy, fMRI 1-2mm which is better than other techniques

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-poor temporal resolution, TR is how long the activity takes to detects changes in brain, 1-4 seconds which is worse than other techniques with 1-10 ms
-fMRIs don't provide a direct measure of neural activity,-

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-only measures changes in blood flow therefore it's impossible to infer causation at a neural level, change to blood flow may indicate activity within a brain area but psychologists are unable to conclude if brain region is associated to a function -

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-(-some argue fMRI can only show LOF within an area of the brain but is limited in showing the communication that takes place among the diff areas of the brain which may be critical to neural functioning.)

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what are EEGs, how do they work, talk about other info?

works on the premise that info is processed in the brain as electrical activity I. the from of action potentials or nerve impulses, transmitted along neurons. EEGs measures this electrical activity through electrodes attached to the scalp-

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-, small electrical charges that are graphed over a period of time, indicating activity in the brain. 4 types of EEG patterns; alpha, beta, theta or delta waves. 2 properties needed to be examined is; 1. Amplitude- intensity/ size of activity and 2. Frequ

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-speed/ quantity of activity. 2 stages are also looked for; synchronised (where waves are recognisable/detected) or desynchronised (waves aren't recognisable). associated w diff types of sleep ie desynchronised- found when awake, alpha-

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-synchronised- REM sleep or deep sleep w theta/delta waves.
can also be used to detect illnesses ie epilepsy/sleep disorders and other brain diseases ie Alzheimers.

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what are ERPs, how do they rob, give other info?

similar method as EEG w electrodes to scalp, bu diff is that a stimulus is presented to PP ie image/sound and researcher looks for activity related to the stimulus, it is also presented many times (100s) and the responses is graphed averagely-

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-'averaging', which reduces extraneous neural activities and associated the stimulus and response directly. time or interval between the presentation of stimulus and response is called latency, ERPs have a short latency+can be divided into-

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-2 categories, waves that occur within 100 milliseconds, following presentation of stimulus is referred to as sensory ERPs and anything after 100 milliseconds is referred to as cognitive ERPs as they demonstrate some info processing.

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name the evaluations

+non-invasive so they are risk-free (look before) [+cheaper and more readily available then fMRIs so it can be done quickly]
-poor spatial resolutions, detect activity in superficial regions of brains not deeper regions

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+EEG had TR, takes readings every milliseconds, meaning it records brain activity in real time as opposed to passive brain, accurate measurement of electrical activity when undertaking a task [-EED/ERP can be uncomfortable for the PP as electrodes-

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-are attached to the scalp, unrepresentative reading as patients discomfort could affect cognitive responses to situations
-electrical activity is often detected in several regions of the brain; it can be difficult to pinpoint-

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-exact region of activity/draw conclusions (EEG)
+ERP enables determination of how processing is affected bye a specific experimental manipulation, is more experimentally robust as it eliminates extraneous neural activity.

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what are PMEs, how don they work it, what psychologists studied a case, give other info?

researchers study the physical brain of a person who displayed a particular behaviour/had a unique brain damage. method has contributed to understanding of many disorders. Iverson examined the brains of deceased schizophrenic pp -

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-and found high levels of dopamine, esp in the limbic system compared w. brains if ppl w/o it, showing importance of such investigations. gives a more detail exam of anatomical + neruochemical aspects that wouldn't be researched elsewhere-

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-also enables researchers to examine deeper regions of the brain such as hypothalamus/hippocampus

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name the evaluations

-causation issue- the deficit a patent displays in a lifetime may not only like to a specific brain region but maybe another illness, unable to conclude deficit is caused by damage in brain [+extraneous factors can affect results ie medication, stages of

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+detailed examination of anatomical structure + neurochemical aspects of the brain which is not possible with other techniques. PME can access areas like hippocampus and provide deeper insight on brain regions for researchers ie Iverson's research

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-ethical issues, pp have to give fully informed consent and given the fact. they have unique behaviours or brain damage, their consent is questioned [+many PMEs are carried on pp w severe physiological defects ie patient HM suffered-

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-severe amnesia and was unable to provide fully informed consent]
-person has already passed away, time between death and exam may not only effect results but not possible follow up is there are raised qs

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Studying The Brain

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