Investigating brains

• what are limitations of post mortem?

  - causation can be an issue

  - informed consent may not be possible

  - brain differences discovered could be the result of drug treatment rather than the cause of abnormality
• what are strengths of post mortem?

  - brains can be studied in precise detail at microscopic level

  - details of structure and function of the brain can be pointed very precisely
• what is post mortem?

  - involves the analysis of of a persons brain after death

  - links brain abnormalities of damage to abnormal mental processes or behaviour

  - areas of damage in the brain are examined after death to establish the likely cause of their affiliation

  - often then compared to disease-free brains
• what are limitations of ERP?

  - lack of standardisation in carrying out research

  - background noise and extraneous material can interfere
• what strengths of ERP?


  - more specific measurement possible than EEG alone
• what is ERP?


  - measures brain electrophysiological response to a specific sensory, motor or cognitive event

  - evolves isolating the brainwave pattern by analysing EEG data to a specific event

  - filters out the extraneous brain activity from the original EEG recording

  - uses statistical analysis of EEG data
• what are limitations of EEGs?

  - generalised - does not pinpoint exact source of neural activity
• what are strengths of EEGs?

  - important in diagnosing epilepsy and generalised brain problems

  - helped understand stages involved in sleep
• what is EEG?

  - records electrical activity throughout the brain

  - electrodes fixed to an individuals scalp using skull cap

  - used to detect epilepsy, tumours, sleep disorders
• what are limitations of fMRI?

  - expensive - cant have big sample size

  - poor temporal regulation

  - patient has to remain very still - children
• what are strengths of fMRI?

  - non evasive and risk free

  - high spatial resolution
• what is fMRI?

  - method used to measure brain activity while a person is performing a particular task

  - measures changes in blood oxygen levels as a result of neural activity in the brain

  - higher oxygen levels mean those areas are more active

  - detects radio waves from changing magnetic fields
• what are the four ways. of investigating the brain?

  - fMRI

  - EEG

  - ERP

  - post mortem examinations