Studying the brain

• Researchers look at the brain to find abnormalities • Jacpop’s post mortem exam of Hm showed he had a problem with his hippocampus • Cotter found a link between depression and a reduced amount of glial cells in the frontal lobe

Measures a change in brain activity when performing tasks. Measures changes in blood flow. If an area of the brain becomes more active, there is an increased demand for oxygen. The brain responds to this by increasing blood flow

Measures electrical activity in the brain. Electrodes placed on the scalp detect small electrical changes. Graphed over a period of time. Can be used to detect brain disorders. Alpha waves, BETA waves, delta waves and theta waves

Small voltage changes in the brain that are triggered by stimuli. Any extraneous neural activity that is not related to stimulus will not occur consistently. Waves occurring before 100ms are “sensory” Waves occurring after 100ms are “cognitive”

Pro: Does not involve insertion of needles and no radiation Pro: Offers reliable and objective measure of physiological processes Con: Isn’t a direct measure of neural activity as the blood flow changes Con: Overlooks communication as a factor to mental function

PRO: Real-time recording not a still image PRO: Useful in clinical diagnosis e.g epilepsy CON: Cannot reveal hippocampus and hyperthalamus activity CON: Can’t pinpoint the exact location of activity

PRO: Determine how processing is affected by a specific experimental manipulation PRO: Measure the processing of stimuli in the absence of behaviour CON: Large number of trials to get accurate data CON: Only strong changes are recorded

PRO: Allow a detailed exam PRO: Enables exams of the hippocampus and hypothalamus PRO: Harrison - PME helped understand schizophrenia CON: The way people die can influence the exam CON: Retrospective as the person is already dead. Researcher is unable to follow up on any relationships between brain abnormalities and cognitive functioning