Preview

Three Brain Imaging Techniques

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1520 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Three Brain Imaging Techniques
PS1030 Essay – Psychology – Rachelle Petho
Describe three brain-imaging techniques and explain what the literature tells us about the function and structure of the brain.
This essay is going to describe three different types of brain-imaging techniques. It will also explain what the literature tells us about the function and the structure of the brain. The three types of brain-imaging techniques that will be clearly described are; CT (computed tomography), PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).
Brain-imaging techniques allow medically trained healthcare professionals such as doctors and researchers to examine potential activity or possible issues that could be occurring within the human brain, without any
…show more content…
The different types of scans that have been mentioned and described within this essay have been proved to show that the human brain has three main parts, the Cerebrum, the Cerebellum, and the Brain Stem [http://enchantedlearning.com – The Brain 2001]. By using brain-imaging techniques it has been able to help specialists find out that the Cerebrum is a major part of the human brain which mainly controls, emotions, hearing, vision, personality and much more. It also controls all of the human body’s voluntary actions. They have also been able to gather plenty of evidence and help professionals to find out that the Cerebellum receives information from the body’s sensory systems, the spinal cord, and other parts of the brain and help to regulate a person’s motor movements. With the use of brain-imaging techniques, it has also been able to show that the brain stem mainly controls the direct flow of certain messages that effectively occur between the human brain and the rest of the human body. It also controls basic bodily functions such as breathing, swallowing, blood pressure, consciousness, heart rate and if the person is wide awake or feeling really fatigued. Overall, it has been very successfully proven that brain-imaging techniques such as, MRI scans, PET scans and CT scans help the healthcare professionals (radiographers) come to an evaluation of any problems that are occurring within a patient’s brain. Without brain-imaging techniques healthcare professionals would be unable to detect any issues that are happening in the brain, which could lead to very serious

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    6. How do scientists determine which areas of the brain are associated with specific actions, emotions, or functions?…

    • 3746 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Miss

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There are many different methods of cortical specialisation and these are: MRI scan, PET scan, Electroencephalogram, Post Mortem and Neurosurgery. These are developed methods of studying cortical specialisation in the brain in order to be able to predict, control and explain non –human and human behaviour. Neurosurgery is considered to be an invasive way of investigating cortical specialisation as it involves manipulating structures within the brain. There are two ways in which neurosurgery can be performed and these are lesions which is a surgical procedure used to cut neural connections in the brain, and ablation which is a surgical procedure used to remove areas of the brain. Post mortem studies are a research method of the brain of a patient, who has had something wrong with them such as struggling to speak, so this is examined after death. There are also used in police force and crime investigations to see how the person has died. EEG is a non – invasive measurement which is electrical activity of the brain which is produced by recording from electrodes which are placed on the individuals scalp. A PET scan is a procedure where the brain is assessed in various locations depending on different level of neural activity whilst the brain is active; likewise the MRI scan is taken whilst the brain is active and is where scanners use strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce an image of the brain of an individual.…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the invasive methods of cortical specialisation is neurosurgery. It involves manipulating with the structures within the brain. There are two main ways of performing neurosurgery: ablation, which is a surgical procedure used to remove certain areas of the brain, and lesioning, which is cutting neural connections within the brain. An advantage of using neurosurgery, is that it allows for a lot of control and detail in the location of faults within the brain. On the other hand, cutting neural connections, or removing certain parts of the brain, may damage other ones, which may lead to a more severe consequence.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The main idea of this article is primarily focused on how the brain works and function, understand memory and how your brain reacts to different situations. Also, other aspects of how researchers are finding new ways and various methods to find solutions to understand the brain better. The brain is a difficult organ to understand, researchers are doing experiments on animals to try to find ways to repair brain functions that have died. This article also talks about different testing they are doing on different parts of the brain.…

    • 515 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    1) a) With the aid of diagrams describe the location and functionality of the lobes of the brain include in your discussion the effects of damage and anatomical malfunctioning.…

    • 2069 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The human brain is one of the most unique structures in the human body cannot only controls the way we think speak for communicate with others it also takes care of her automatic functions such as breathing hearing vision. It is one of the most fascinating parts of the human body and yet it is still one of the most misunderstood parts of the human body psychologists and doctors alike are constantly finding out new things on how the human brain works each and everyday. However there is a disease that affects the human brain that even today…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Compare and contrast the neuroimaging techniques of ERP and fMRI in terms of their relative advantages and disadvantages. Then, choosing just one technique, discuss how this has been used to address one aspect of cognitive psychology that interests you. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) are two techniques commonly used to noninvasively examine functions within the human brain. When independent of one another these methods fail to provide sufficient information to understand the spatio-temporal aspects of information processing in the human brain. Electroencephalography (EEG) refers to the measurement of electrical activity within the brain, specific neural responses can be calculated by the changes…

    • 1994 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    I was amazed by the existence of such field, and I found myself continually reading books and researches about brain disorders’ effects. Therefore,…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A famous example of brain localization is the case of Phineas Gage; a railway worker in 1848, who one day, while trying to blow out a hole in the side of a mountain, had a metal rod shoot through his cheek, into his brain, and out the top of his head, landing over 100 meters away. The pole took with it a substantial amount of Gage’s brain, but surprisingly enough he was awake and mobile throughout the experience, even able to sit up and ride to the nearest hospital and wait for a doctor to examine him. After his examination, Dr Harlow came to the conclusion that Gage was fine. This shocked many people, as brain localization had not yet been studied, and at the time the idea of a man loosing part of his brain and still being able to function was outrageous. It was only a few weeks later that Phineas’s friends and family began to notice significant changes in his personality and his moods; he had become inappropriate, rude, impulsive and irritable. The longitudinal study of his brain showed damage to his frontal lobe, an area of the brain that is now known to affect personality and social behavior. This case study opened up the floor for other psychologists to further study the idea of brain localization. This change in personality and mood never reversed to its normal state, which shows that another area of the brain did not take over the role of the damaged frontal lobe in balancing Gage’s personality and mood…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another method is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). It produces a strong magnetic field in which the person's head is positioned. The radio waves directed at the brain cause the hydrogen atoms to emit signals, which are analyzed by a computer. The details of the MRI are superior to CAT scan, because it can distinguish between closely related brain structures.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Working Memory

    • 9539 Words
    • 39 Pages

    ^ M. Coltheart. (2006). What has functional neuroimaging told us about the mind (so far)? Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 42, [1]…

    • 9539 Words
    • 39 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Brain Imaging Issues

    • 4111 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Brain imaging technology has revolutionized the way doctors, scientists, and researchers are able to see the workings of this highly complex organ. The use of brain imaging techniques allows for discovery without the use of invasive surgical procedures. Now used throughout the globe, these techniques have matured dramatically in the last century.…

    • 4111 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    This essay will be looking into the aims and uses of cognitive neuropsychology. Cognitive psychology first emerged in the 1970’s, Cognitive psychology can be defined as the branch of psychology that studies mental processes. These processes include functions such as how people think,speak, perceive, remember and learn. As part of the larger field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics. Neuropsychology is the branch of psychology which investigates the relationship between basic neurophysiological (the brain) processes and mental functions or behaviour such as language, memory, and perception. Neuropsychology stresses the dominant role of the nervous system. Neuropsychology was born in the 1980’s and exploded into the scene where a huge range of neuroimaging techniques were created from the 1980’s all the way through to the 2000’s. Therefore, cognitive neuropsychology is a combination of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology and can be defined as the branch of psychology that aims to understand the relationship between the structure and function of the brain and psychological processes such as thinking ect. Cognitive neuropsychology looks particularly into the effects brain damage or neurological illnesses have on cognitive functions with a aim to infer models of normal cognitive functioning. (So aim is to find out what normal brain functioning is or looks like). This essay will be looking into the main goals of cognitive psychology. But one can also learn about cognitive systems by studying ways in which they break down after brain damage: and this is the approach known as cognitive neuropsychology. So cognitive neuropsychology is a subfield of cognitive psychology, distinguished by the feature that it studies people with disorders of perception, attention, learning, memory, processing of spoken and written…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Central Nervous System

    • 14031 Words
    • 57 Pages

    Every behavior begins with biology. Our behaviors, as well as our thoughts and feelings, are produced by the actions of our brains, nerves, muscles, and glands. In this chapter we will begin our journey into the world of psychology by considering the biological makeup of the human being, including the most remarkable of human organs—the brain. We’ll consider the structure of the brain and also the methods that psychologists use to study the brain and to understand how it works.…

    • 14031 Words
    • 57 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Neurology Introduction

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages

    At the end of this topic student should be able to: Discuss the historical background of neuroscience – views of the brain in different era Discuss the history of modern neuroscience State the levels of analysis based on their complexities Explain the scientific process Discuss some major disorder of nervous system…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays