Ways of investigating the brain

Question 1

FMRIs

Answer 1

Measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow that occur in response to neural activity.

Used for: Producing 3D activation maps of the brain during tasks

Question 2

EEG

Answer 2

What it does: Records electrical activity in the brain using electrodes placed on the scalp.
Used for: Diagnosing epilepsy, sleep disorders, and studying overall brain wave patterns

Question 3

ERP

Answer 3

What it does: A type of EEG that isolates specific brain responses to particular stimuli or events through repeated trials.

Used for: Studying attention, perception, and cognitive processing

Question 4

Post mortem examinations

Answer 4

What it does: The brain is examined after death to identify structural abnormalities or damage.

Used for: Studying brains of people with rare disorders or brain damage (e.g., Broca’s area in speech loss)

Question 5

FMRI’s - AO3

Answer 5

Strength - non-invasive: does not expose patient to any harmful radiation

Strength- High spatial resolution allowing us to see in detail to the millimetre.

Weakness- Poor temporal resolution there is a time lag of 5 seconds between the activity in the brain and when it is shown.

Weakness- It doesn’t necessarily represent the neural activity as the neurones are not focused on, only the areas of the brain that the blood is delivered to.

Question 6

EEG - AO3

Answer 6

Strength- Has been required for the diagnosis of epilepsy in people, and has therefore aided treatment

Strength- Extremely high temporal resolution to the millisecond.

Weakness- Poor spatial resolution as the exact area of the neural activity can’t be pinpointed.

Weakness- We can only get signals from the outer areas of the brain as the electrodes are attached to the scalp. therefore important areas like the hippocampus do not have detected electrical activity.

Question 7

ERP - AO3

Answer 7

Strength- Extremely high temporal resolution and spatial resolution.

Strength- non-invasive

Weakness- As specific changes are the purpose of these, it can be hard to detect them and may require more than one trial, not practical.

Weakness- The electrodes are placed superficially so they will only detect the voltage changes in the outer areas of the brain.

Question 8

Post Mortem examinations - AO3

Answer 8

Strength - vital in our early understanding of how the brain operates

Weakness - Length of time between death/post mortem, drug treatments and age of death are confounding variables