Topic Summaries

Ways of studying the brain

A-Level > Psychology > AQA > A-Level Psychology Topic Summaries > Biopsychology > Ways of studying the brain
Previous Module
Next Module

Addiction

  • Functional magnetic imaging resonance (FMRI): works by identifying changes in levels of oxygen in the blood that occur as a result of brain activity in specific areas. When an area is more active than another, there will be increased blood flow to that area. It produces a 3D image called an activation map that shows which part is active. This has been used to identify which areas play a role in specific mental processes.
    • fMRIs are safer than most brain scans and are non-invasive. They also do not use radiation, which can harm our body cells.
    • It has a high spatial resolution so can clearly see the specific location where brain activity takes place. However, it has low temporal resolution because there is a time delay from the scanner to the image, lowering internal validity.
  • Electroencephalogram (EEG): involves a cap of electrodes being placed on the skull that detects small electrical changes resulting from the activity of brain cells. These charges are graphed over time to see a person’s average brain activity. They’re mainly used to detect sleep patterns and used as a diagnostic tool to help diagnose conditions like epilepsy.
    • High temporal resolution: you see signals within a millisecond so you receive results quickly.
    • Low spatial resolution: you cannot pinpoint where the brain activity is taking place which makes the results overall less valuable.
  • Event-related potentials (ERP): electrodes are placed on the scalp to measure brain activity. ERPs show specific brain activity as all extraneous brain activity is filtered out from the original recording. It leaves only the brain’s responses to the active stimulus that they were presented with. They are usually used to measure attention and perception.
    • High temporal resolution: there is no time delay and is specific to the time that it’s happening.
    • Low spatial resolution: cannot pinpoint where the brain activity is taking place
    • Extraneous noise: cannot always obtain meaningful data due to extraneous variables such as background noise, so may lack internal validity.
  • Post-mortems: the brain of a dead patient is removed and dissected to look for any physical abnormalities. This can be compared to a healthy brain that doesn’t have a particular condition. This is usually used for people with rare conditions or defects.
    • Allow for an in-depth analysis of the brain: researchers may get to explore and develop theories that previously they couldn’t due to the fact some brain areas would be too deep to see otherwise, such as the hypothalamus.
    • There’s no cause and effect: damage to the brain cannot be linked to a specific cause as the patient is dead, so the research is subject to extraneous variables, and obviously cannot be used to treat the patient themselves.

Unlock Ways of studying the brain

Subscribe to SnapRevise+ to get immediate access to the rest of this resource.

Premium accounts get immediate access to this resource.

Previous Module
Next Module