Chapter 5 - Research methods of biopsychology Flashcards

1
Q

How do X-ray based techniques work?

A
  • when an x-ray is taken, an x-ray beam is passed through an object onto a photographic plate.
  • each of the molecule through which the beam passes absorbs some of the radiation
  • only the unabsorbed portions of the beam reach the photographic plate
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2
Q

What are contrast x-rays used for and how do they work?

A
  • can be used to visualize the brain
  • they involve injecting a subtstance that absorbs x-rays either less or more than the surrounding tissue

hence, something is contrasted :)

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3
Q

Cerebral angiography

A
  • one contrast x-ray technique
  • uses the infusion of the radiopaque dye into a cerebral artery to visualize the cerebral circulatory system
  • for locating vascular damage.
  • displacement of blood vessels
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4
Q

What is computed tomography?

A
  • computer assisted x-ray procedure
  • used to visualize the brain
  • and other internal structures of the body
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5
Q

Positron Emission tomograpgy (PET)

A
  • provides images of the brain activity rather than the structures
  • FDG (radioactive) is injected and taken up by active cells - most active areas indicated
  • PET scan is an active image of the levels of radioactivity
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6
Q

Radioactive fluorodexyglucose (FDG) is injected … (PET technique)

A
  • FDG is taken up by active cells (can’t be metabolized) - accumulates in neurons
  • the PET scan indicates the area most active
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7
Q

Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI)

A
  • structural brain-imaging procedure
  • high resolution images are constructed from measurement of radiofrequency
  • high spatial solution, 3D images
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8
Q

functional MRI (fMRI)

A
  • produces images representing the increase in oxygen flow in the blood to active areas in the brain
  • BOLD signals (blood oxyygenated level dependent signal)
  • oxygenated blood accumulates in active areas
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9
Q

fMRI is possible because of two attributes of oxygenated blood

A
  1. active areas take up more oxygenated blood than they need for their energy requirements
  2. oxygenated blood has magnetic properties that influence the radio-frequency waves
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10
Q

What are four advantages of MRI over PET?

A
  • nothing has to be injected
  • provides structural and functional info in the same image
  • spatial resultion is higher
  • produces 3D images
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11
Q

Diffusion tensor imaging

A
  • variation of MRI
  • method of identifying pathways along which water molecules rapdily diffuse
  • provide an image of major tracts (bundles of axons)
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12
Q

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

A
  • technique that can be used to turn off an area of the human cortex by creating a magnetic field under a coil positioned next to the skull (also turn on)
  • play a role in establishing the causal effects of human cortical activity on cognition and behavior.
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13
Q

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

A

can be used to stimulate (turn on) an are of the cortex by applying an electrical current through two electrodes placed on the scalp.

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14
Q

Electroencephalogram (EEG) - what does this measure?

A

is a measure of gross electrical acitvity of the brain - by encephalogram machine

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15
Q

Electroencephalogram (EEG) - How does this work?

A
  • each channel of EEG activity is usually recorded from disk-shaped electrodes
  • reflects the sum of electrical events throughout the head.
  • events include action potentials, postsynaptic potentials and electrical signals from skin etc.
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16
Q

Event-related potential (ERPs)

A

the accompaying EEG waves

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17
Q

Sensory evoked potentials
(and and EEG that follows a sensory stimulus has which two components?)

A
  • one commonly studied type of ERP (event-related potetnial)
  • the change in the cortical EEG signal elicited by the momentary presentation of a sensory stimulus.

Two components:
1. The signal (the response to the stimulus)
2. The noise (the ongoing background EEG activity)

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18
Q

Signal avering

A

reducing the noise of the background EEG, which is canceled out by averaging.

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19
Q

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

A

measures changes in the magnetic field on the surface of the scalp that are produced by underlying patterns of neural acitvity.

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20
Q

What are different psychphysiological measures of SNS (somatic nervous system) activity?

A
  • Electromyography (EMG)
  • Electrooculography (EOG)
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21
Q

What are different psychophysiological measures of ANS (autonomic nervous system) activity?

A

Skin conductance:
- skin conductance level (SCL)
- skin conductance response (SKR)
Cardiovascular activity:
- heart rate
- blood pressure
- blood volume

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22
Q

Electromyography (EMG)

A

used to measure muscle tension
- usually recorded between two electrodes taped to the surface of the skin over the muscle of interest

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23
Q

Electrooculagraphy (EOG)

A
  • when the eye moves, a change in the electrical potential between electrodes placed around the eye can be recorded
  • based on the fact that a steady potential difference exists between the front (positive) and the back (negative) of the eyeball
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24
Q

skin conductance level (SCL)

A

a measure of the background level of skin conductance that is associated with a particular situation

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25
Q

skin conductance response (SCR)

A

measures the transient changes in skin conductance that are associated with discrete experiences.

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26
Q

What are three different measures of the cardiovascular acitvity?

A
  1. Heart rate
  2. Blood pressure
  3. Blood volume
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27
Q

Systoles (blood pressure)

A

peak pressure during periods of heart contraction

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28
Q

Diastoles (blood pressure)

A

measurment of the minimim pressure during the periods of relaxation.

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29
Q

Plethysmography

A

various techniques for measuring changes in the blood volume.

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30
Q

What is the stereotaxic surgery?

A

means by which experimental devices are precisely positioned in the depths of the brain

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31
Q

stereotaxis atlas

A

used to locate brain structures, series of individual maps
(stereotaxic surgery)

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32
Q

bregma

A

point on top of the skull where two major sutures intersect
(stereotaxic surgery)

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33
Q

Stereotaxic isntrument has two different parts

A
  1. Head holder
  2. Electrode holder
34
Q

How do leasion methods work?

A

Part of the brain is damaged, destroyed or inactive - then the behaviors of the subject is carefully assessed.

35
Q

Four types of lesions:

A
  1. Aspiration lesion
  2. Radio-frequency lesion
  3. Knife cut
  4. Reversible lesions
36
Q

Aspiration lesion

A

lesion is to be made in an area of the cortical tissue
- that is accesible to the eyes and instruments of the surgeon

37
Q

Radio-frequency lesion

A

small subcortical lesion is made by passing radio-frequency current through target tissue from a stereotoxically electrode.

38
Q

Knife cuts

A

sectioning (cutting) is used to eliminate conduction in a nerve or tract

39
Q

Reversible lesions

A

method for temporarily eliminiating the activity in a particular area.

40
Q

Difference between bilateral and unilateral lesions

A
  • unilateral lesions: only resticted to one side of the brain (much milder)
  • symmetrical bilateral lesions: involve both sides of the brain
41
Q

Four invasive electrophysiological recording methods

A
  1. Intracellular unit recording
  2. Extracellular unit recording
  3. Multiple-unit recording
  4. Invasive EGG recording
42
Q

Intracellular unit recording

A

provides moment-by-moment record of graded fluctuation in one’s neuron’s membrane potential

43
Q

Extrecellular unit recording

A

provides a record of the firing of a neuron but no information about the neuron’s membrane potential

44
Q

Multiple-unit recording

A

Picks up signals from many neurons

45
Q

Invasive EGG recording

A

EGG signals are recorded through large, implanted electrodes (rather than through scalp electrodes)

46
Q

What is a cunnala for?

A

to overcome the blood-brain barrier - fine, hallow tube

47
Q

In what way can drugs be aministered?

A
  1. fed to the subject
  2. injected through a tube into the stomach
  3. injected hypodermincally directly into … the peritoneal cavity of the abdomen (exmaple)
48
Q

How can you make selective chemical lesions?

A

by injecting neurotoxins (neural poisons) - they have an affinity for certain components of the NS

49
Q

What is the 2-Deoxyglucose technique (2D-technique)

A
  • 2DG has a similar structure to glucose, neurons obsorb it but don’t metabolize it
  • subtect then is killed, and brain is sliced
  • slices are subjected to autoradiography
  • developed like a film!
50
Q

Immunocytochemistry

A
  • procedure for locating particular neuropoteins in the brain by labeling their anti-bodies with a dye or radioactive element
  • and then exposing slices of brain tissue to labeled antibodies
51
Q

Cerebral dialysis

A
  • measuring the extracellular concenterations of specific neurochemical on animals
  • implantation in the brain of a fine tube with a short semipermeable section.
52
Q

In Situ hybridization

A
  • Hybrid RNA strands are labels with dye/sadioactive element
  • brain slices are exposed to the labeles hybrif RNA strands.
53
Q

Gene knockout technique

A
  • procedure for creating organisms that lack a particular gene under investigation
  • deleting things to study their role
54
Q

Gene replacement techniques

A

replacing one gene with another

55
Q

What are transgenic mice?

A

Mice that contain the genetic material of another species.

56
Q

What is the Green fluorescent Protein (GFP)?

A
  • proteins that exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to blue light
  • can be used as a resaerch tool
57
Q

What is the strategy regarding the Greens fluorescent Protein (GFP)?

A
  • to activate the GFP only in particular cells/all cells
  • first used to visualize neurons
58
Q

What are opsins?

A

light sensitive ion that is found in the cell membranes of certain bacteris or algae

59
Q

Behavioral paradigm

A

a single set of preocedures developed of the investigation of a particular behavioral phenomenon.

60
Q

Neurologist

A

assess simply sensory and motor functions

61
Q

Neuropsychologist

A

more subtle changes in perceptual, emotional, motivational and cognitive functions.

62
Q

What are different modern approaches regarding neuropsychological testing?

A
  1. Single test approach
  2. Standardized-test approach
  3. Customized-test approach
63
Q

What does the standardized-test-battery approach do …?

A
  • discrimniates effectively between neurological patients and health individuals
  • but NOT between neuroogical patients and psychiatric individuals.
64
Q

How does the cutomized test-battery approach work? (two phases)

A
  1. A battery of general test given to all patients
  2. Followed by a specific test cutomized to each patient.
65
Q

Sodium amytal test

A
  • involves injesting the anasthetic sodium amytal into either the left or right carotid aretery
  • temporarily anesthetizes the ipsilateral hemisphere while leaving the contralateral gemisphere largery undetected.
66
Q

Dichotic listening task

A
  • sequence of spoken digits are presented to volunteers through stereo headphones
  • patients correctly report more of the digit heard by the ear contralateral to their dominant hemisphere for language
67
Q

Repetition priming test

A
  • test of implicit memory
  • list of words is presented
  • then fragemnts of the orginal words are presented and the subject is asked to complete them.
68
Q

Wisconsin card sorting test

A

evaluated a patients’s behavior to remeber that previously learned rules of behavior are no longer effective and to learn to respond to new rules.

69
Q

Paired-image subtraction technique

A

The use of PET or fMRI to locate constituent cognitve processes in the brain by producing an image of the difference in the brain activity associated with two cognitive tasks.

70
Q

Default mode

A

letting the mind wander

71
Q

Default mode network

A
  • brain structures typically active in default mode
  • less active during the cognitive or behavioral tasks are collectively referred to as deafult mode network.
72
Q

Mean difference image

A

the average of the difference obtained from mutiple participants.

73
Q

What is the open field test?

A
  • an animal is placed in a large, barren chamber and is actively recorded
74
Q

Colony intruder paradigm

A
  • paradigm for the study of aggresive and defensive behaviors in male rats
  • a small male intruder rat is places in an established colony
  • in order to study the aggresive responses of the colony’s alpha male and the defensive responses of the intruder
75
Q

Elevated plus maze

A

an apparatus for recoring defensiveness or anxitey in rats by assessing their tendency to avoid the two open arms of a plus sign-shaped maze mounted by some distance obove the floor.

76
Q

Pavlovian conditioning paradigm

A
  • the experimenter pairs an initally neutral stimulus with a stimular that elicits a reflexive response
  • after several pairing, the neutral stimulus elicits a conditional response.
77
Q

Operant conditioning paradigm

A

the rate if a particular voluntary response is increased by reinforcement or decrease dby punishment

78
Q

Self-stimulating paradigm

A

paradig in which animals press a level to administer reinforcing electrical stimulation to particular sited in their own brains.

79
Q

Conditioned taste aversion

A

an avoidance response that develops to the taste of food whose condumtpion has been followed by ilness.

80
Q

Morris Water maze

A
  • pool of milky water that had a goal platform insivisible under water
  • is used to study the ability of rats to learn spatial location
81
Q

Radial arm maze

A
  • maze in which several arms radiate out of a centreal starting chamber
  • used to study spatial learning