Ways of studying the brain

• strengths of fMRI

  • non-invasive
  • more objective and reliable to measure psychological processes.
• weaknesses of fMRI

  • Overlooks the networked nature of brain activity.
• strengths of post-mortem

  • allows for a more detailed examination of anatomical and neurochemical aspects of the brain.
• weaknesses of post-Mortem

  • Retrospective as the person is already dead.
  • Researcher is unable to follow up on anything that arises from the post mortem concerning a possible relationship between brain abnormalities and cognitive functioning.
• strengths of EEG

  • provides a recording of brains activity in real time - more accurate.
  • useful in clinical diagnosis
• weaknesses of EEG

  • cannot really know what is going on deeper regions like the hypothalamus.
  • not useful for pinpointing the exact source of an activity.
• strengths of ERP

  • provides a continuous measure of processing in response to a particular stimulus.
  • can measure the processing of stimuli even in the absence of a behavioural response.
• weaknesses of ERP

  • So small and difficult to pick out, from other electrical activity in the brain, it requires a large number of trials to gain meaningful data.
  • Only sufficiently strong voltage changes generated across the scalp are recordable.
• how does fMRI work?

  It works by detecting the changes in blood oxygenation and flow that occur as a result of neural brain activity in specifc parts of the brain.
• what does fMRI stand for?

  functional magnetic resonance imaging
• What happens when a brain area is more active? (fMRI)

  It consumes more oxygen and to meet this increases demand blood flow its directed to the active area (known as the haemodynamic response.
• what does fMRI produce

  it produces 3-dimensional images (activation maps) showing which parts of the brain are involved in particular mental processes.
• what does EEG stand for?

  Electroencephalogram
• What do EEGs do?

  Measure brain activity within the brain via electrodes that are attached to an individuals scalp.
• what does the scan recording represent? (EEG)

  represents the brainwave patterns that are generated from the action of millions of neurons, providing an overall account of brain activity.
• what does ERP stand for?

  event-related potentials
• how does ERP work?

  Electrodes are pit on the scalp and detect neuronal activity in response to a stimulus.
• ERPs are types of brainwave that are triggered by a particular event.
• what is the statistical averaging technique (ERP)?

  it filters out unnecessary/extraneous information. therefore researchers can see responses that relate to the presentation of a specific stimulus.
• what is Post-mortem examinations?

  this is where the brain is examined after death to try and correlate structural abnormalities/damage to behaviour.
• what type of individual is most likely to have a post mortem?

  individuals who have a rare disorder and have experienced usual deficits in mental processes. Their brain will be compared to a ‘normal brain‘ to identify differences.