biopsychology-ways of studying the brain

Question 1

what is temporal resolution

Answer 1

precision of out measurements with respect to time

Question 2

what is spatial resolution

Answer 2

Level of detail at which our methods allow us to examine the brain

Question 3

what is a post-mortem examination

Answer 3

also know as an autopsy

Question 4

what is the aim of a post-mortem

Answer 4

to determine the cause of death

Question 5

what is an post-mortem

Answer 5

dissect the brain into thin slices and examine under a microscope

Question 6

what is a strengths of post mortem examination

Answer 6

One strength is that they allow us to look at people’s brains at a high level of detail to identify small brain abnormalities which relate the behaviour the patient displayed whilst they were alive

Question 7

what are 3 weaknesses of post-mortem

Answer 7

-post-mortem examinations require specialist permission to be conducted which often leads to small sample sizes
–One weakness is that we don’t know when the brain abnormality occurred making it difficult to establish a cause and effect relationship.
-It is hard to control confounding, or extraneous variables, like medication, which might also affect the patients’ brains.

Question 8

what does an EEG do

Answer 8

uses electrodes fixed to a participants scalp

Question 9

what do electrodes measure

Answer 9

electrodes measure the activity if the cells immediately under the electrode

Question 10

what does the scan recording represent

Answer 10

brainwave patterns it gives the overall account of brain activity

Question 11

why are EEGs used by clinicians as a diagnostic tool

Answer 11

arrhythmic patterns may indicate neurological abnormalities eg-epilespsy

Question 12

what are the 4 basic EEG patterns

Answer 12

alpha, beta, delta and theta

Question 13

what happens if peaks and troughs are close together

Answer 13

-high frequency which shows a high level of activity

Question 14

what happens if peaks and troughs are more spaced out

Answer 14

low frequency which shows a lower level of activity

Question 15

what is a strength associated with EEGs
(sleep disorders)

Answer 15

useful in diagnois of condtions eg-epilespsy as they are charcateristed by random bursts of activity in the brain
they have also helped use understand stages of sleep/sleep disorders

Question 16

what is a strength associated with EEGs
(resolution)

Answer 16

high temporal resolution-brain activity is measured in real time researcher can measure a particular task with the brain activity associated with it

Question 17

what is a strength associated with EEGs
(cheaper)

Answer 17

cheaper method than scanning so are widely available to researchers

Question 18

what is a strength associated with EEGs
(safe)

Answer 18

safe as there no surgery/ invasive procedures

Question 19

what is a limitation associated with EEGs

Answer 19

not useful for pinpointing the exact source of neural activity as it has poor spacial resolution. It only detects activity in superficial regions of the brain and not deeper regions due to the multitude of tissues the electric current passes through

Question 20

what apparatus do ERPs use

Answer 20

same as EEGs

Question 21

what type of activity to ERPs record

Answer 21

record events in response to a stimulus introduced by the researcher

Question 22

how do ERPs isolate events related to a specific stimulus

Answer 22

using statistical averaging techniques all extraneous activity from the original EEG recording is filtered out leaving only responses that relate to a specific stimulus

Question 23

what are the responses relating to a specific task/ stimulus know as

Answer 23

event related potentials type of brainwave triggered by a particular event

Question 24

what are waves occurring within the first 100 milliseconds knows as

Answer 24

sensory ERPs-reflect an initial response to a stimulus

Question 25

what are waves occurring after the first 100 milliseconds knows as

Answer 25

congnitive ERPs-demonstrate information processing + manner which particpent evaluates the stimulus

Question 26

what is a strength of ERPs
(specific)

Answer 26

ERPs bring a higher specificity to the measure of neural processes

Question 27

what is a strength of ERPs
(resolution)

Answer 27

high temporal resolution which has led to their widespread use in the measurement of cognitive functions

Question 28

what is a weakness of ERPs
(standardisation)

Answer 28

lack of standardisation in ERP methodology makes it difficult to conform findings

Question 29

what is a weakness of ERPs
(large number of trials)

Answer 29

extranreous varibales must be completely eliminated so ERPs are therefore small

Question 30

what is a weakness of ERPs
(deep)

Answer 30

don’t measure electrical activity from deep within the brain

Question 31

difference between EEGs and ERPs

Answer 31

EEGs-general recording of brain activity linked to stats such as sleep and arousal
ERPs-elecited to specific stimuli presented by the particpant

Question 32

what occurs when different areas of the brain are active

Answer 32

when areas of the brain are active they consume more oxygen and to meet this increased demand blood flow increases to the active area

Question 33

what is passed over the brain

Answer 33

a strong magnetic field is passed over the brain. The magnet tracks the oxygenated blood, when this oxygen is transferred to brain tissue a tiny magnetic change occurs. This is picked up by the scanner and turned into an image

Question 34

what type of image does an fMRI give

Answer 34

dynamic (moving) image.
shows activity 1s after it occurs
accurate within 1-2 mm
active sections show up at brightly coloured splotches

Question 35

strength of fMRI
(dynamic)

Answer 35

due to the dynamic nature of the fMRI patterns of activity can measured rather than the physiology of the brain

Question 36

strength of fMRI
(radiation)

Answer 36

Does not rely on radiation, non-invasive and straight forward. This means it can be done on pregnant women and children
High spacial resolution giving a clear picture about how brain activity is localised

Question 37

weakness of fMRI
(time delay)

Answer 37

it has a poor temporal resolution because there’s a 5 second time delay this makes it difficult to interpret the fMRI scans

Question 38

weakness of fMRI
(activity)

Answer 38

fMRI measures chnages in blood flow rather than individual neural actvivity

Question 39

weakness of fMRI
(expensive)

Answer 39

fMRI machines are expensive to buy and maintain so require specialised operators

Question 40

weakness of fMRI
(setting)

Answer 40

takes place in an artificial setting which lowers ecological validity. This means behaviour may differ to everyday life