Chapter 3 - part 3: Looking Inside the Brain: Research Method

If brain damage is suspected, which of the following methods is most likely to be used to assess the damage?

To confirm a diagnosis of epilepsy, a neurologist needs to record the overall electrical activity in Hillary’s brain.
What would be the best way for the neurologist to obtain this information?

Standing outside a football stadium and judging the excitement of the game by the crowd’s screams is analogous
to “eavesdropping” on the brain using which of the following?

Paul is wide awake and studying for an upcoming exam. While he is studying, his brain activity is being recorded
using an electroencephalograph (EEG). Which type of waves is likely to dominate Paul’s EEG readings?

Imagine that you are looking at a printout from an electroencephalograph and you see a change from fairly short
waves that are close together to waves that are tall and farther apart. What could you infer has happened to the
person whose waves have been recorded?

Dr. Smith destroys a small piece of tissue in the forebrain of a rat in order to determine whether that area is
important for maze-learning. What is this technique called?

Which of the following research techniques is least likely to be used to study the human brain?

Electrical stimulation of its lateral hypothalamus causes an animal to overeat and become obese. Therefore, what
could we expect to be produced by lesioning the lateral hypothalamus?

Taylor has to have brain surgery to remove a tumour from her temporal lobe. During the surgery, the surgeon
plans to map out specific brain function in the areas adjacent to the tumour. What method is the surgeon is most
likely to use to map the brain?

Which technique results in effects that are similar to that of lesioning?

Sigourney’s doctors think she might have a tumour, and they would like to use a technique that will provide them
with an accurate image of her brain structure. What technique are they most likely to use?

For which of the following techniques would the patient be required to consume radioactive chemicals?

Which of the following techniques is likely to be most useful for identifying the activity of a specific
neurotransmitter in the brain?

Ricardo just came back from seeing a neurologist. Ricardo tells you that he will be having a test in which images
of his brain will be recorded after he drinks a radioactive sugar solution. What test will his neurologist be using?

Milo’s doctors believe he might have some specific brain damage, but before they make their final diagnosis, they
want to study very highresolution, threedimensional images of Milo’s brain structures. Which technique are the
doctors most likely to use in this case?

What is the key advantage to using fMRI rather than an MRI?

In the Featured Study that examined brain regions associated with memory, why would the researchers have
used fMRI technology for their study?

Based on evidence from the Featured Study on the neuroscience of time travel, which of the following brain
areas would you expect to be active when you are imagining what you will do tomorrow, but not particularly
active when you are remembering what you did yesterday?

Which brain area would you stimulate if you wanted to alter alertness or wakefulness?