Physiological Psychology Chapter 5

Understanding what biopsychologists do (Research Methods)

Spatial Resolution

being able to know where in the brain something is happening

Temporal Resolution

Being able to know when some neural event is happening

Contrast X-Rays inject __ into structure

Radio-opaque material

Cerebral angiography

Uses contrast x-rays to visualize blood vessels

Computed tomography (CT)

3D view, not high resolution

X-ray based techniques

Contrast x-rays and CTs

Positron emission tomography (PET)

Highlights brain activity through injections of 2-deoxyglucose

Brain maps in PET scans help reveal

Active brain regions

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Measures energy emitted by hydrogen atoms

MRI has __ resolution than CT

Higher

Cons of MRI

Very expensive and people cannot move throughout the process

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)

Images axonal traits by looking at the diffusion of water molecules

DTI is used mostly for

Research

Magnetic Field Based Techniques

MRI, DTI, fMRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Estimates which areas are active in response to stimuli

fMRIs take about _ seconds for each scan that captures neural activity

2-3 seconds

fMRIs are similar, but better than

MRIs

Things in the left visual field are processed in the

Right hemisphere

Things in the right visual field are processed in the

Left hemisphere

Functional Ultrasound Imaging (FUS)

Uses high frequency sound waves to measure changes in blood volume (is cheaper)

Transcranial Stimulation

TMS, tDCS

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Non-invasive stimulation that disrupts brain activity to form causal relationships

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)

Temporarily stimulates an areal of the cortex while observing the effects on cognition/behavior

Electroencephalography (EEG)

Uses scalp electrodes to measure total electrical events in the head

EEG is most often used for

Elipepsy

Downside of EEGs

Hard to locate exact region

Different patterns in an EEG represent

Different states of consciousness

Signal Averaging

Exctracting the signal you want out of all of the busy noise

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is similar to

EEG

Psychophysiological measures of somatic nervous system activity include

Muscle tension (EMG), Electroculogram (EOG), Eye tracking, Skin conductance level (SCL)

SCL is the measure of

physiological arousal

Which is more accurate: EOG or Eye tracking?

Eye tracking because it locks onto puples

EKG measures

Heartrate

Lesion methods are very

Invasive

Aspiration

Suck out parts of brain

Radio frequency

Burn off parts (most common)

Knife cuts

Cutting the neuro pathways

Legions can be reversable if

They are frozen and not irreversible

Electrical stimulation is the opposite of

Legions

Electrical stimulation

Stimulating parts of the brain to see how it affects a person

Invasive Electrophysiological Recording Methods

Intracellular Unit, Extracellular Unit, Multiple Unit, Invasive EEG

Intracellular Unit Recording

Records membrane potential from one neuron as it fires

Extracellular Unit Recording

Records action potential using vertical lines to figure out what it stimulating a neuron

Multiple Unit Recording

Recording a small population of neurons

Invasive EEG Recording

Recording right from the surface of the brain (robot arms)

Cerebral Dialysis

Measures the amount of specific neurotransmitters in behaving animals

Cerebral Dialysis uses a _-shaped tube

U-shaped

Immunocytochemistry

Locating a specific neurotransmitter or neuroprotein in the brain of the deceased

Gene knockout techniques

Creating an organism that lacks a specific gene or deleting a gene and seeing how it affects behavior

Problems with Gene knockout

Most behaviors are controlled by many genes and removing one gene can affect others

Gene Knockin Techniques

Introduce foreign material into gene pool (replaced or added)

Gene Editing techniques

Allows researchers to edit genes (we have the tools, but don’t know exactly how without editing others in the process)

Green Fluorescent protein

Inserted into neurons/genes

Brainbow

Each neuron in the brain can glow a different color

Optogenetics

Opsin Genes are inserted into a type of neuron then light is used to turn them on or off

Some ion channels respond to __ rather than electrical stimulation

Light

Neuropsychological Testing

Single, Standard Battery, Customized battery

Single neuropsychological test

Determines brain damage or abnormalities from the norm

Standard battery tests

Designed to assess neural abnormalities, gives general area of the problem

Customized battery tests

Gives a more precise answer and location

Tests of the common neuropsychological test

Intelligence, Memory, Language and language lateralization

Token test

Picking up specific tokens when asked

WAIS

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

Tests of specific neuropsychological function tests

Nature of memory impairment, nature of language impairment

Anterograde amnesia

Can’t form new memories

Retrograde amnesia

Can’t recall stored memories

Implicit memories

Unconscious

Explicit memories

Conscious memories

Semantic part in long term

Memory for facts and knowledge

Episodic part in long term

Memory for lived events

Phonology

Rules governing the sounds of language

Syntax

Grammar of language

Semantics

Meaning of language

Cognitive neuroscience assumes

Complex cognitive processes arise from simpler constituent processes linked to activity within a specific region of the brain

Cognitive neuroscience aims to map

Constituent processes to their corresponding brain regions

PET or fMRI images are compared between conditions that differ in only one constituent..

Cognitive process

Stimulation activity - control activity =

Difference activity

Functional Connectivity can be used to identify

Brain regions that are part of the same network and are engaged in similar funcitons

High correlation = __ functional connectivity

High functional connectivity

Low correlation = __ functional connectivity

Low functional connectivity

Functional connectivity does not measure

The physical connection

Multiple research methods are necessary to see if all of them

Converge and can be stated as true converging operations

Multiple research methods are necessary to resolve significant

Biopsychological questions