discuss the use of technology in investigating cognitive processes
TRANSCRIPT
Discuss the use of technology in investigating cognitive processes
This could be a short or long answer question.
You could be asked to write an essay on cognitive processes or you could be asked to discuss how technology is used to investigate just one cognitive process.
You already know a great deal about brain scanning technology
How does it work?
What is it used for?
What are its strengths?
What are its limitattions?
MRI
fMRI
PET
Use the following website, compare PET, MRI and fMRI scans.
In particular, look at the hippocampus, amygdala and the temporal lobes.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/assets/swf/1/mapping-the-brain/mapping-the-brain.html
What we’ll be doing
Mainly focusing on how technology can be used to investigate memory.
What did Corkin discover once it became possible to scan HM’s brain in an MRI scanner?
What did Maguire et al (2000) find out about spatial navigational memory with the aid of MRI scans?
How did Mosconi et al (2005) use PET scans to detect Alzheimer’s didease?
PET scans
Cast your mind back to the Biological Level of Analysis
What is a PET scan?
What is it used for ?
How does it work?
Visit this website for an overview of how brain imaging is used in dementia research.
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=200299&documentID=311&pageNumber=3
ALzheimers
Dr Lisa Mosconi (read p86)
PET scans can detect brain tumours or memory disorders like Alzheimer’s.
It identifies cellular level metabolic changes in an organ or tissue.
Alzheimer’s
New technology has enabled PET scanning to pick up abnormalities related to Alzheimer’s even before the patient has realized that there is something wrong.
New York University School of Medicine
Developed a brain-scan-based computer programme that quickly and accurately measures metabolic activity in the hippocampus.
Alzheimer’s
In the early stages of Alzheimer’s, PET scans (in collaboration with the computer programme) show that there is a reduction in brain metabolism in the hippocampus.
Alzheimer’s longitudinal study
Mosconi and colleagues (2005)
In a longitudinal study at NYU school of medicine
53 normal, healthy participants (9-24 years)
People with reduced metabolism in the hippocampus were more likely to go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
The history of HM
Read the extract from Suzanne Corkin’s book Permanent Present Tense
And http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2009/12/13/project-hm-phase-i/
Create a timeline of HM’s life and death (for it is ongoing) in terms of how technology has been used to study his brain - and in doing so, understand how memory works.
Maguire et al (200)
http://www.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl=http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/65/38/6da532f3fa68bba2e35ea7a0d106.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/C0019622.html&h=547&w=800&tbnid=MPwDu7k_5chusM:&zoom=1&docid=0yaaU5bqTd6TQM&ei=U2zHVPGgFtD88QWMgoLoAg&tbm=isch&ved=0CB8QMygDMAM