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Research Methods Psychology 2617 Or, so how do we know this stuff We can look at the whole brain  We can look at parts thereof  We can look at neurons  We can look at synapses  neurons Even before electron microscopes, we could look at neurons thanks to Golgi  He discovered that when stained with Silver chromate, neurons went black  Today we call this golgi stain  Led to the classification of neurons, as we could finally see their physical properties  Stains are not always bad Golgi stain does not show number of neurons in a region that well though  It stains just a few  Nissl Used dyes!  Methelyne blue  Myelin staining  HRP and axonal transport allow us to see circuits!  Radiation, run for your lives!     X Rays are cool, but, they don’t work well on brains AEG, kinda dangerous CAT scans are cool though Gives us a good idea about form Some of this stuff is a little, oh yucky Angiography  Wada technique  Both involve injections into the blood supply of the brain while the patient is awake  Wada technique proved once and for all the idea of hemispheric specialization  EEG  Electroeds placed on the head Brain waves Gamma activity is fast and big, peak activity  Beta low amplitude but fast, being alert  Alpha quiet  Theta quiet, sleep  Delta super slow, deep sleep  Diagnostic uses of EEG    Epilepsy is associated with crazy EEGs Basically uncontrollable firing Spreads can lead to a seizure Evoked potentials Stimulus given  Basically computer subtracts out the background EEG  Used lots in research and in diagnostic areas  Some disorders show characteristic ERPs  Electrical Brain stimulation Basically put an electrode in the brain with the patient awake  The classic Dr. Penfield approach  Not nearly as effective as Penfield made it out to be…  Looking at metabolism Blood flow techniques  Use radioactive isotopes  Look for anomalies  SPECT sort of a poor mans….  PET scan  Positron emission tomography MRI  Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI Basically a combo of RF signals and a REALLY strong magnetic field  Has no ill effects, unless you have a metal plate in your head  Shows form and function  Behavioural techniques These are really the kind of thing that involve say, touching your nose  Or presenting a stimulus to one visual field and not the other  Really quite telling, but nowadays you then end up in an MRI often  Advances Basically the imaging techniques remain the same  It is the computing power and software that is allowing for real time analysis that is having the biggest effect  When MRI first came out the fastest desktop computer was MAYBE running a 75 MHz  This little powerbook runs at 1.25 Ghz 

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