Measuring Neuron Activity Flashcards
(6 cards)
What are EEG and ERP used for?
Electro Encephalogram and Event-Related-Potential are used to measure the potential on the scalp. They’re an older non-invasive technique that provides good temporal resolution (between 1ms and 10ms) with poor spatial resolution (sum of extracell. pot.)
Technique: | Intracell. electr. | Extracell. electr. | Field potential | EEG | fMRI | Optical Signal |
What is fMRI used for?
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a non-invasive technique that measures blood oxygenation levels. Good spatial resolution but poor temporal resolution.
What are Extracellular electrodes used for?
These tungsten electrodes are held close to cells s.t. they can detect spikes. It can be provided chronically on an awake animal. Allow for voltage to be measured.
How are Intracellular electrodes useful?
By using a technique like the patch-clamp technique, where I glass pipette is connected to the intracellular medium we can precisely measure the voltage and current of a single neuron. While also controlling the chemicals in the cell. However, this is difficult to do in-vivo and there is a limited recording time.
What is Optical Signal used for?
We use dyes that are sensitive to Ca to measure activity via a fluorescent indicator.
