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PSYC2020 > PSYC2020 Practice Questions - Wk1 Research Methods > Flashcards

PSYC2020 Practice Questions - Wk1 Research Methods Flashcards

1
Q

Terminology denoting same and other side?

A

Contralateral is the other side. Ipsilateral is the same side.

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2
Q

Difference between rostral and caudal?

A

Caudal is towards the tail, rostral towards the head (‘nostril’)

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3
Q

Difference between mid and para- sagittal?

A

Directly in mid line vs off centre

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4
Q

3 reference planes?

A

Sagittal, transverse (horizontal), and frontal

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5
Q

What is an oblique plane?

A

Any odd direction or plane

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6
Q

What do structure and function describe?

A

Morphology (how its made) and activity (what its doing), respectively

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7
Q

A CT scan which shows the brain structure and indicates a tumour is showing us what about the brain?

A

Morphology

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8
Q

An EEG showing abnormal brain activity indicative of a serizure is showing brain ___?

A

Activity

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9
Q

Example of structural research method

A

CT scan for brain tumour

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10
Q

Example of functional research method

A

EEG showing seizure brain activity

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11
Q

Example of highly invasive research method

A

Single cell recordings of neurons. Electrodes implanted into brain. Usually done on animals, sometimes on humans when undergoing surgery.

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12
Q

Is a PET scan invasive?

A

Moderately - inject radioactive isotopes.

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13
Q

Is EEG invasive?

A

No.

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14
Q

What does higher SR mean?

A

More precise observation of where something is in the brain. Spatial resolution

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15
Q

Two aspects of spatial resolution

A

Where something is exactly and differentiating 2 locations

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16
Q

Two aspects of temporal resolution

A

When did something occur, and how far apart did two things occur?

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17
Q

What are possible causal relationships between a correlation? 3

A

One thing causes the other, or a common underlying cause, or just coincidence

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18
Q

What is the key to determining causation?

A

If you take x away then y must stop

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19
Q

What is a problem with using fMRI studies to relate behaviours to brain region activity?

A

It’s correlational - does not mean that the activity caused the behaviour

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20
Q

What is the best way to determine causation between brain regions and behaviour?

A

Stimulation which interferes/disrupts a brain region that is necessary to perform the behaviour

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21
Q

How can you take away or disrupt a region of brain activity?

A

TMS - this allows causal inference!

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22
Q

What behavioural responses can be measured? 3

A

Reaction times
Detection thresholds
Stimulus discrimination

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23
Q

How do you measure startle response?

A

Electrodes on eye muscles

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24
Q

Why do we have a startle response?

A

Brain stem reflex for protection

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25
Q

How does the size of startle response tell us something about current psychological state? 1eg

A

Response will be bigger if you are already afraid (fear-potentiated startle). Eg measuring whether aversive stimulus is correctly paired/learned.

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26
Q

What does Electrodermal activity measure? How does it work?

A

Fight or flight response. Autonomic activity/emotional arousal.
Skin becomes a better conductor when sweat is released.

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27
Q

Types of physiological responses we can measure ? 6

A 
Electrodermal activity
 startle response
 Pupilometry
 Heart rate
 Muscle tension
 Polygraph
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28
Q

What is an acquired brain injury?

A

Any brain damage after birth. Could be stroke, alcohol/drugs, TBI (traumatic brain injury)

29
Q

what is one of the earliest examples of neuropsychological investigation into acquired brain injury?

A

Broca’s area (patient tan)

30
Q

What process is Broca’s area implicated in?

A

Speech production. Patient tan, could only say tan.

31
Q

What is a problem with acquired brain injury studies when trying to locate regions which cause behaviour?

A

They’re not very precise because they are injury specific and could take out a whole area.

32
Q

What do lesion studies say about mice running a maze?

A

Their ability to complete maze is correlated with the amount of lesions, not the specific area. This shows the ability is not localised and involves integration of multiple areas.

33
Q

What are some problems of lesioning areas of the brain? 4

A

Not 100% accurate
Neighbouring tissue damaged
Functions which belong to neighbouring tissue mis attributed
Sometimes portions remain (and some function)

34
Q

What are three ways you can lesion the brain?

A

Aspiration lesion
Radio frequency cuts
Life cuts

35
Q

In TDCS difference between anode and cathode?

A

Neurons under anode become depolarised and more likely to fire
Cathode hinders performance by hyperpolarising neurons

36
Q

What type of disruption is TDCS especially good for?

A

Transient disruption, with low invasiveness

37
Q

How can you produce virtual lesion of neurons?

A

Cryogenic block - probe is inserted and temporarily cools neurons so they stop firing

38
Q

What’s the WADA test?

A

Testing where the speech area is lateralised using anaesthetics. Done prior to ablative surgery (for epilepsy)

39
Q

What is a cryogenic block?

A

Neurons are virtually lesioned using cooling/

40
Q

What is rTMS?

A

Repetitively giving magnetic pulses to produce a virtual lesion, prior to a task.

41
Q

What effects does TMS cause? 2

A 
Stimulation effects (motor or visual activation eg seeing a flash)
 Disruption effects (reveal timing information)
42
Q

What does single TMS allow us to measure?

A

Temporal aspect ofwhen a brain area is used. By disrupting that area during a behaviour

43
Q

What are two ways that TMS can be used?

A

Single TMS synchronised to disrupt a behaviour

rTMS to produce virtual lesion

44
Q

What’s a problem with MEG measurements?

A

Great temporal resolution by measuring magnetic fields, but limited to the surface of brain. (No good for subcortical areas)

45
Q

What does EEG measure on the scalp? And how is it messy? 2

A

Gross electrical activity.

  • So it can be confused by muscle activity in the jaw and scalp
  • sums up all events, action potentials, postsynaptic potentials
46
Q

What EEG waveforms correspond to the following states of consciousness: Deep sleep, relaxed, focused

A

Delta (<4Hz)
Alpha (8-12Hz)
Beta (16-31Hz)

47
Q

What is an ERP (event related potential)?

A

Subtracting average background signal to remove noise. This allows us to see small activity associated with a locked event.

48
Q

Types of ERPs and the psychological process they represent? 4

A

N100 & P100 - selective attention
N200 - mismatch negativity (brain recognises stimulus deviates)
P300 attended stimulus registers
P400 unexpected stimulus surprise

49
Q

Advantages (4)and disadvantages (3)of EEG?

A 
Pros:
 - high temporal resolution
 - measure of activity
 - non-invasive: no drugs, tracers
 - relatively low cost
 Cons:
 - low spatial resolution
 - poor activity below superficial layers (cortex - gyri)
 - low SNR ratio means lots of trials and participants (time consuming)
50
Q

What is an example where the research method can invoke a lot of fatigue in the participants?

A

EEG - need to prepare the device and then lots of successive trials to counter noise

51
Q

4 methods of imaging the brain

A

PET - positron emission tomography
MRI - magnetic resonance imaging
DTI - diffusion tensor imaging
fMRI - functional

52
Q

2 methods of recording activity in the brain

A

EEG & MEG (magneto-encephalography)

53
Q

4 methods of disrupting

A

Drug block
Cryogenic block
Trans cranial Direct Current stimulation - TCDS
Transcranial magnetic stimulation - TMS

54
Q

Broadly, what types of measures are correlational vs causative?

A

Imaging and activity recording are correlational. Disrupting activity causal.

55
Q

How does PET work?

A

Radioactive tracer coupled to bio-active molecule

56
Q

What is DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging)?

A

Measures density and motion of water along axon fibres. This shows us connections in the brain.

57
Q

What does fMRI measure?

A

Changes in blood flow which is related to activity in the brain. Measuresoxygen - BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent contrast)

58
Q

What is fMRI subtraction?

A

Removing (averaging out) a control image of the brain to find the target areas

59
Q

4 advantages of fMRI?

A
  • no tracers, better temporal and spatial res than PET
  • no known health risks
  • structural and functional info in one image
  • 3D image of activity over whole brain
60
Q

4 disadvantages of fMRI?

A
  • low temporal resolution
  • indirect measure of neuronal activity (BOLD proxy/correlation)
  • 2-3 seconds to create image
  • not causal
61
Q

What are 4 research methods which are invasive?

A

ABI, Lesion studies, Cryogenic block, & PET (radioactive tracer)

62
Q

What two research methods can provide structural info?

A

MRI and DTI

63
Q

What 3 research methods have high spatial resolution?

A

MRI, DTI, fMRI

64
Q

What 2 research methods have high temporal resolution?

A

MEG & EEG

65
Q

What method measures autonomic nervous system activity?

A

Skin conductance response

66
Q

Respectively, what do TMS, MEG, EEG, PET, MRI, DTI, fMRI measure?

A

Behaviour, magnetic, electric, metabolism, density, flow, oxygenation

67
Q

What does TCDS measure?

A

Behaviour, it uses electricity but measures behavioural effects

68
Q

Which methods would be correlational? And which are causal?

A

Correlational - recording associated activity & structural imaging

Causal - anything that stimulates or disrupts a region/activity

69
Q

How long does fMRI take to register activity brain activity?

A

Peak 10s, through to 20s

PSYC2020 (4 decks)

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