AO3 - Post Mortem Examinations

• This is the only invasive way to study the brain which means that it is possible to get a more detailed examination of the brain than would be possible through solely using brain scanning techniques such as EEG and ERPs. For example, it has meant researchers have been able to study deeper areas of the brain such as the hypothalamus which has helped understand brain functioning in many different behaviours.
• It is hard to establish cause and effect with post-mortem studies as there are many confounding variables which cannot be easily controlled such as how long a person has had a particular disorder, age at time of death or whether they have received drug treatment for their disorder. Therefore, it limits the internal validity of the findings of these studies and therefore the appropriateness of using post-mortems to study the brain.