Ways of studying the brain

• What are four ways to study the brain?

  • Post mortem examination
  • Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
  • Electroencephalogram (EEG)
  • Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
• What is post mortem examination?

  • Examining the brains of people who have shown particular psychological abnormalities prior to their death
  • This helps establish possible neurobiological causes for the behaviour
• What are the strengths of using post mortem examinations?

  • Vital in early understanding of key processes in the brain
  • Helps identify areas of brain damage easily
  • Looks at the anatomical and neurochemical aspects of behaviour
• What are the weaknesses of using post mortem examinations?

  • Damage to the brain may not be linked to the deficits under review but to other unrelated trauma
  • Ethical issue - patient is unable to give informed consent
• What area of the brain was discovered through post mortem examinations?

  Broca's area (patient -Tan, could understand speech but could only say the word 'Tan', helped identify area for speech production)
• What is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?

  • A technique for measuring brain activity by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow that indicates increased neural activity
• What are the strengths of fMRI?

  • Does not rely on the use of radiation
  • Very high spatial resolution (1-2 mm)
  • Safely provide a clear picture of brain activity -> non-invasive
• What are the weaknesses of fMRI?

  • Expensive
  • Poor temporal resolution (5 second time-lag -> may not truly represent brain activity in real time)
  • Have to remain still the whole process, limited to experiments without body movement
• What is electronencephalogram?

  • Method of recording changes in the electrical activity of the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp
  • Four types of waves: beta, alpha, theta, delta
  • Measure amplitude and frequency
  • Used to diagnose epilepsy
• What are the strengths of EEGs?

  • Easily detect random bursts of activity in the brain
  • High temporal resolution (1 single millisecond)
  • Cheap
• What are the weaknesses of EEGs?

  • Generalisation - research cannot distinguish between activities originating in different locations
  • Poor spatial resolution
• What are event-related potentials?


  • Takes EEG raw data to investigate cognitive processing of a specific event
  • Averages multiple readings and filtering them to find one brain wave (activity) related to the appearance of the stimulus -> statistical averaging
• What are the strengths of ERPs?

  • Excellent temporal resolution (uses raw EEG data)
  • Useful to measure cognitive and deficits
• What are the weaknesses of ERPs?

  Lack of standardisation in methodology -> to establish pure data, background 'noise' and extraneous material must be eliminated, which is difficult
• What is spatial resolution?

  Level of accuracy in identifying the exact location of a brain structure or brain activity in space (where activity happened)
• What is temporal resolution?

  Level of accuracy in identifying the exact location of a brain activity in time (when activity happened)
• What are evaluation points to mention when discussing ways of studying the brain?

  • Spatial resolution (high / low)
  • Temporal resolution (high / low)
  • Invasive / non-invasive
  • Causation