Unit 1 Reading LO Flashcards
Here are all of the learning objectives for the readings in Unit 1
Explain the two groups being compared in this fMRI study of depression. Also include the importance of matching for age and gender.
The two groups being compared are adolescents suffering with MDD that are unmedicated and healthy people. Matching the age is important because the study is focused on adolescents and gender is important because males and females express depression differently.
Explain the utility of examining a group of adolescents with depression rather than adults with depression.
Since the brain is still maturing in adolescents it might help see how MDD begins to develop in the brain’s process.
Describe the EmoFace task being used in this experiment.
Participants are asked to look at a fearful face versus a happy while they were in an fMRI in order to measure brain activity
Distinguish between a region-of-interest (ROI) study vs. a whole-brain analysis (WBA) and explain the purpose of each type of study.
The ROI showed that patients had higher activation of the amygdala which is in charge of fight or flight mode but the WBA showed the activation of the brain as a whole. The WBA showed less activation in the brain as a whole in patients than in healthy people.
Describe the neuroimaging results of this study. Include each of the brain regions that showed a statistically significant group difference as well as the directions of abnormal activity for each of those brain regions.
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Describe the authors’ interpretation of this study (hint: see the “conclusions” summary). Include the brain network and region that they chose to highlight as well as what they suggest can be done clinically with this finding.
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