FMRI

• strengths

  • FMRI is noninvasive, nor does it expose the brain to potentially harmful radiation, as is the case with some other scanning techniques used in the study of the brain
  • FMRI offers a more objective and reliable measure of psychological processes than is possible with verbal reports, its useful as a way of investigating psychological phenomena that people would not be capable of providing in verbal reports
• limitations

  • because FMRI measures changes in blood flow in the brain, then its not a direct measure of neural activity in particular brain areas. this means its not a truly quantitative measure of mental activity in these brain areas
  • critics argue that FMRI overlooks the networked nature of brain activity, as it focuses only on localised activity in the brain. they claim its communication among the different regions that is most critical to mental function