Ways of Studying the Brain

Created by

Libby Kendrick

Cards (15)

4 ways of studying the brain
fMRI, EEG, ERP, post mortem examination
fMRI scans
a brain scanning technique that measures blood flow in the brain when someone performs a task
EEG scans  
Measures the brain’s electrical activity through electrodes attached to the scalp
ERP scans  
measures electrical activity related to a stimulus using electrodes attached to the scalp
post-mortem examinations
studying the physical brain of a deceased person who displayed a particular behaviour, to see if there was any brain damage
difference between invasive and non-invasive
invasive - equipment or chemicals are inserted into the brain
non-invasive - no instruments are inserted into the patient
spatial resolution  
the smallest feature that can be detected by a scanner and is important in bran scanning techniques
temporal resolution
how accurate the scanner is in relation to time
causation
when something on a brain scan can tell us things about someone’s behaviour but we can‘t say that what we see in the scan is the cause of the behaviour
advantages of fMRI scans
more people will be willing to take part as they are non-invasive to less dangerous
good spatial resolution so more accurate
disadvantages of fMRI scans
poor temporal resolution so can’t accurately predict the onset of brain activity
can’t provide a direct measure of brain activity as they only measure changes in blood flow
advantages of EEG/ERP scans
good temporal resolution so brain activity can be recorded as it’s happening
fairly cheap so more accessible
disadvantages of EEG/ERP scans
poor spatial resolution so can’t tell us what is going on in deeper parts of the brain
electrical activity can be detected in the same places so difficult to draw conclusions
advantages of post-mortem examinations
they provide a detailed image of anatomical structure and aspects of the brain
disadvantages of post-mortem examinations
cannot determine causation as deficits in the brain could be caused by other factors