how to study the brain Flashcards
neurological diseases and cases, methods to study the brain and its role in behaviour/cognition, patient HM, experimentally induced lesions and other brain manipulations, selective place deficits after hippocampal lesions in rats, neuroanatomical study of brain connectivity, polymodal sensory input to the hippocampus, electrophysiology, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), modelling the brain (spatial learning and navigation) (34 cards)
what is a stroke?
blood clot somewhere in the brain leading to damage
specific brain area affects specific function
what is Parkinson’s disease?
motor deficits
dopamine in basal ganglia
what is Alzheimer’s disease?
damage in medial temporal lobe in beginning
memory deficits
what happened to Phineas Gage?
personality and behavioural changes
what happened to Patient Leborgne (“Tan”)?
damage to left frontal cortex
deficits in speech production
what happened to Patient HM?
suffered epilepsy
memory impairments for specific aspects
what are the different methods of studying the brain?
behavioural studies, manipulations of brain function, neuroanatomy and histology, electrophysiology, imaging (MRI and PET), computational models/brain-based devices
understanding of brain-behaviour relations requires combination of many different methodological approaches (multidisciplinary)
what are behavioural studies?
patients with specific brain damage
case studies
what are manipulations of brain function studies?
animal studies
rat brain is good approximation of human brains - then use non-human primates
what are neuroanatomy and histology studies?
connections to other brain sites
what are electrophysiology studies?
listening to electrical activity of neurons while doing a task
recording the electrical activity of the brain
implant electrodes into brain region of interest to record specific electrical regions
what are imaging (MRI and PET) studies?
looking at brain activity, structure and function without damaging patients
what are computational models/brain-based devices?
test whether theories work
who was patient HM?
case study - role of hippocampus on specific memory functions
surgical resection of medial temporal lobe, mainly hippocampus, to stop epileptic seizures
seizures did stop but there were specific memory impairments
through behavioural and cognitive analysis
striking impairments in specific types of memory, including aspects of declarative and spatial memory
other cognitive and memory functions largely unaffected
what is declarative memory?
memory that we can consciously recollect
semantic (facts) and episodic (unique experiences)
what are experimentally induced lesions and other brain manipulations?
selective destruction of specific brain sites (mechanical electrolytic, neurotoxic)
temporary pharmacological manipulations via pre-implanted micro-cannulae to switch neurons of specific receptors on and off
electrical stimulation of specific brain sites
targeted mutations of brain-specific genes
optogenetics
trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
what are optogenetics?
manipulate genetically specific neurons in the brain so they become light sensitive so by shining light can activate/inhibit neurons
what is trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)?
humans
disrupt activity of neurons using magnetic field
what is the spatial memory in hippocampus in rats study?
rats have spatial memory but not declarative
water maze - rats have to use spatial cues to find platform
repeat more times to get faster - spatial memory improves
hippocampus lesions impair spatial memory
hippocampus is necessary for spatial and declarative memory
what is neuronal tract tracing?
trace tract tracer (compound) which in injected into the brain region then travels along either in direction of or away from direction of action potential
look where tracer deposited
only done in animal models
what is diffusion magnetic resonance imaging?
in humans
confirm findings of rat studies
lower spatial resolution
what is polymodal sensory input to the hippocampus?
show connection to other brain regions
connected to all central cortexes
all information funnelled to hippocampus to help form memories
what are single-unit recordings?
recording the electrical activity of single neurons
what are local field potential (LFP) recordings?
recording electrical potentials generated by many neurons (“field potentials”)
certain behavioural status characterised by specific movements in brainwaves in hippocampus
