EEG

• strengths

  • provides a recording of the brain's activity in real time rather than a still image of the passive brain. this means that the researcher can accurately measure a particular task or activity with the brain activity associated with it
  • useful in clinical diagnosis. epileptic seizures are caused by disturbed brain activity, which means that the normal EEG reading suddenly changes. this helps diagnose whether someone experiencing seizures has epilepsy
• limitations

  • because an EEG can only detect the activity in superficial regions of the brain, it cannot reveal what is going on in deeper regions such as the hypothalamus or hippocampus. electrodes can be implanted in non humans to achieve this - this is unethical in humans as it would be too invasive
  • electrical activity can be picked up by several neighbouring electrodes, therefore the EEG signal is not useful for pinpointing the exact source of activity. it does not allow researchers to distinguish between activities originating in different but closely adjacent locations in the brain