How To Study The Brain Flashcards
Methods to study the brain are…
Behavioural studies Manipulation of brain functions Neuro anatomy and histology Electrophysiology Imaging - MRI AND PET Computational models Understanding of the brain requires a combination - multidisciplinary
Patient HM’s behaviour was studied through…
Behavioural and cognitive analysis
Concepts of memory systems… Milner (1998)
Declarative;
Facts and events - medial temporal lobe
Non declarative;
Skills and habits - striatum
Priming - new cortex
Classical conditioning - amygdala, cerebellum
Non associative learning - reflex pathways
Some brain manipulations are…
Selective destruction of specific brain sites which can be mechanical, electrolytic or neurotoxic
Temporary pharmacological manipulations via pre-implanted micro-cannulae to switch certain neurons or receptors ON or OFF
Electrical stimulation
Targeted mutations
Optogenetics
Trans cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Hippocampal lesions in rats lead to …
Learning deficits in place and cue navigation
Neuronal tract tracing is…
A study of brain connectivity
1) PHA-L is injected into a region of the brain and then taken up by dendrites and cell bodies
2) PHA-L is transported by axoplasmic flow
3) axons and terminal buttons can be seen under a microscope now.
This is known as a diffusion MRI - Berg-Johnson and Rushworth 2009
Burwell (2000) looked at poly modal input to the hippocampus …
Cortico-cortical connectivity from the frontal, temporal, cingulate, parietal and occipital lobes to the hippocampus.
Electrophysiology is…
Recording electrical activity of the brain.
It is a single unit recording as it records the electrical activity of single neurons
An electroencephalogram EEG can record electrical potentials generated by many neurons.
John O’Keefe from UCL got the …
Nobel prize in physiology or medicine 2014
Sir Peter Mansfield got the …
Nobel prize in physiology or medicine 2013
Electrophysiology in humans can be…
Invasive single unit and EEG recordings - rare cases for pre surgical evaluation of epileptics.
Surface EEG - spontaneous and event related
Magnetencephalography MEG - measure small magnetic field changes due to brain activity. Better spatial resolution than EEG
Magnetic resonance imaging MRI -
Is an image generated from MR signal from hydrogen nuclei in brain tissue when aligned by strong magnetic field and excited by a magnetic field.
Structural MRI of the brain - non invasive and based on MRI contrast of different tissues due to different hydrogen nuclei densities
Functional MRI of the brain - based on changes in blood oxygen level dependent MR signals
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) …
Injections of radioactive tracers that can be followed in the brain using dedicated detectors which monitors metabolic activation
Modelling the brain can be done using…
Darwin X and its stimulated brain
Spatial memory task
Spatial learning
Place specific firing in simulated hippocampus
Neurological disease examples are…
Stroke Alzheimer's Parkinson's Patient Tan Phineas Gage Patient HM
