Approaches to understanding the brain (1)

ablation

the removal of brain tissue in surgery, usually in response to a tumour, inflammation or treating epilepsy

what language areas are on the left hemisphere of the brain?

broca’s and wenicke’s area

left hemisphere of the brain

is mostly verbal and analystical, and is responsible for controlling the right side of the body

right hemisphere of the brain

is mostly non-verbal/creative, and is responsible for controlling the left side of the body

left brain functions

logic, sequencing, mathematics, language

right brain functions

creativity, imagination, holistic thinking, visualisation, feelings

neuro-imaging

is a process of collecting a picture of the brain

what is neuro-imaging useful for?

for health professionals to diagnose problems with the structure and function of the brain in living people

what are the two types of neuro-imaging?

structural imaging that produce pictures (scans) of the brain anatomy & functional imaging that produce pictures of brain activity, noting which parts of the brain are most active during a task

structural neuro-imaging techniques (CT SCAN)

uses x-rays to scan the brain at different angles, a computer program that recreates an image ‘slice’ of the brain from analysis of different x-ray scans

ADVANTAGE CT SCAN

first way to identify the location of leisons and tumours in the brain

DISADVANTAGE OF CT SCAN

x-rays emit radiation, which can be a health hazard & the images are only black and white, do not well-defined

structural neuro-imaging techniques (MRI)

uses magnetic fields to vibrate atoms in the brain, producing a slice cut image of the brain matter

ADVANTAGES of MRI

more sensitive and clear than a CT scan, can clearly distinguish between cancerous and non-canerous tissues, and can be produced in full colour imaging

what is position emission tomography (PET SCAN)?

it records brain activity in areas of the brain during specific tasks

advantages of a PET SCAN

creates image of activity, rather than the shape of the brain

disadvantages of a PET SCAN

brain images are not as detailed as MRI images, and can only show general brain activity over the course of several minutes slowly