Biopsych: Evaluation of brain studying techniques

Question 1

Strengths of fMRI

Answer 1

High spatial resolution, does not rely on the use of radiation and so is virtually risk-free

Question 2

Weaknesses of fMRI

Answer 2

Expensive, poor temporal resolution, cannot hone in on individual neurons and so it can be difficult to know exactly what brain activity is being shown

Question 3

Strengths of EEG

Answer 3

Extremely high temporal resolution, has helped to diagnose epilepsy and helped up understand the stages involved in sleep

Question 4

Weaknesses of EEG

Answer 4

Generalised information, does not allow researchers to differentiate between activity happening in different, but adjacent, locations

Question 5

Strengths of ERP

Answer 5

Excellent temporal resolution, more specific measurements of neural processes, widespread use in measurement of cognitive functions and deficits

Question 6

Weaknesses of ERP

Answer 6

Lack of standardisation in methodology between different studies makes it hard to confirm findings, it is difficult to remove extraneous data

Question 7

Strengths of post-mortem examinations

Answer 7

Provided a foundation for early understanding of key processes in the brain, improved medical knowledge and helped generate hypotheses for further study

Question 8

Weaknesses of post-mortem examinations

Answer 8

Observed damages in the brain may be unrelated to deficit, raises ethical issues of consent from the patient before death, it cannot be certain whether structural differences found caused the deficits