Summary ways of studying the brain - biopsych

Ways of studying the brain

fMRI – highlights active areas of the brain.
 functional magnetic resonance imaging
 scan absorbed by deoxygenated blood in the brain.
 areas with high activity will require more oxygenated blood so in turn have more
deoxygenated blood.
 this is called a haemodynamic response.

Strengths:
- No radiation and is safe, non-invasive
- Produces images with high spatial resolution (shows clear pictures of how brain activity
is localised)
- Can be used whilst a patient is carrying out a task.
- Capture dynamic brain activity

Weaknesses:
- Expensive leading to reduced sample size in research
- Poor temporal resolution, with gaps in-between images (5 second time lag)
- only works if the person stays perfectly still.
- Time consuming

EEG – shows overall electrical activity.
 Electroencephalogram
 measures electrical activity within the brain via electrodes using a skull cap.
 often used to diagnose unusual arrhythmic patterns of brain activity.

Strengths:
- Contributed to the understanding of sleep.
- It has temporal resolution (brain activity in 1 second)
- Useful in diagnosis of epilepsy

Weaknesses:
- Difficult to know the exact source of neural activity.
- Can't distinguish the activity of different but adjacent neurons.

ERPS – brainwaves related to events.
 event related potentials
 EEG but with a stimulus presented to an individual, researcher looks for activity relating to
stimulus.
 research revealed how ERPS are linked to cognitive processes.

Strengths:
- More specific to what is being measured.