Ways of studying the brain

• What does the FMRI measure?

  -Measures blood flow whilst completing a task 

  -if an area of the brain requires more active,those neurons in the brain use the most energy and require more oxygen
• What’s temporal resolution?

  How quickly the brain scan can detect changes in brain activity 
• What’s the FMRI temporal resolution ?

  Approximately 1-4 seconds
• What’s spacial resolution ?

  How accurately it can show exactly which area of the brain is active 
• What’s fMRI spacial resolution ?

  High resolution of approximately 1-2mm
• What do EEGs measure ?

  Electrical activity in the brain cells and neurons through electrodes attached to the scalp.Information is processed in the brain as electrical activity in the form of action potentials 
• What do the EEG detect ?

  Detects the size or intensity of electrical activity aswell as the frequency or rate of electrical activity 
• What do the electrical signal?

  Signals from the different electrodes are plotted on a graph in the form of waves e.g alpha,delta,beta,theta 
• What’s eegs temporal resolution?

  Approximately 1-10 milliseconds 
• What do ERPs use ?

  Use electrodes to measure very small voltage changes within the brain when patients are presented with a stimulus such as a picture or sound which requires cognitive processing 
• What’s sensory ERP ?

  Waves that occur within the first 100 milliseconds after presentation of the stimulus 
• What’s cognitive ERP ?

  Waves that occur after the first 100 milliseconds.They demonstrate some level of thinking and evaluation  
• What happened to the stimulus and responses ?

  The stimulus is presented many times in order to establish a response and these are averages together.Then extraneous neural activity won’t occur consistently and will be cancelled out.An electrical,response to a specific stimulus.
• What’s a post mortem?

  Examination of the brain  after death 
• What’s the first step in post mortem ?

  Study the individuals behaviour whilst they are alive.Their strange behaviour could suggest their might be damage in the brain that is behind these problems 
• What’s the second step in post mortem?

  Study brain after death 

  When the person dies the researchers can examine the brain to look for abnormalities and lesions in the brain.The brain is compared to a normal brain in order to identify differences.
• What’s the third step in post mortem?

  Analysis of the brain allows the researcher to form a connection between the abnormal behaviour of the patient and a particular area of the brain
• Evaluations of fMRI ?

  :) good spacial resolution - clearer picture 

  :( difficult to show what activity is being shown
• Evaluations of eegs ?

  :) useful in clinical diagnoses - seizures 

  :( poor spacial awareness - generalised information
• Evaluations of ERPS ?

  :) good temporal resolution - use in measurement of cog functions and deficit 

  :( very small and often difficult to pick out from other electrical activity in the brain 
• Evaluations of  post mortem ?

  :) levels of details 

  :( cause and effect  e.g other factors behind damage to brain