Developmental Psychology (Psych 350)Professor McDermottWelcome Scholars!• Today’s class topic:Neuroscience ApproachesAnnouncements/Overview• QUIZ 2: Opens after class today• Discuss several neuroscience techniques to study the brain– EEG– ERP– MRI– fMRI• Contrast these techniques with each other– What are the benefits and/or drawbacks for specific scientific inquiry?• Explore novel technique of TMS in relation to autism• Frontal Lobe: Complex cognition, reasoning, some motor skills, expressive language• Parietal Lobe: Tactile sensory processing, integration of body senses• Occipital Lobe: Visual Processing• Temporal Lobe: Auditory processing, key role in memoryElectroencephalogram (EEG)• Record of electrical activity generated by the brain via externally placed electrodesEEG WaveformsEvent-Related Potentials (ERP)• ERPs are sections of EEG that are time locked to a specific stimulus or responseEEG/ERP• Benefit: Temporally excellent! On the order of milliseconds• Drawback: Spatially poor resolution, can’t directly tell us where in the brain the activation is occurringMagnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)• Visual images of the structure of the brain while a person lies in a very large and powerful magnetFunctional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)• Measures brain activity by tracking changes in blood flow (hemodynamic response -BOLD) while a participant completes an activity (thinking, observing or responding)• Blood-oxygen level depend contrast (BOLD signal)fMRI• Benefit: Spatially excellent! On the order of voxels (mm)• Drawback: – Temporally poor resolution, can’t directly exactly when in the brain the processing is occurringNote: with specialized processing you can get measure of the order of activation of different regions (functional connectivity)* They are currently working on technologyto combine ERP/fMRI methodology*Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)• Activate, or de-activate, certain regions of the brain – Via polarization or depolarization of neurons– Using a pulsing and powerful magnet• Reveals– Function of particular regions– Connections between certain regionsTMS• Benefit: Huge potential for re-programming the brain»Autism»Depression• Drawbacks: – Potential risks still being
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