Methods used for studying brain development

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Lecture 2

• Methods used for studying brain development

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Food for thought

• How can you get inside someones brain without
  really getting inside their brain?
• What would you do to study brain development?
• What can we learn about brain from studying
  behavior (and vice versa)?

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Outline

• Methods used to measure brain development
• Lesion studies

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Outline

• Methods used to measure brain development
• Lesion studies
• EEG

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Outline

• Methods used to measure brain development
• Lesion studies
• EEG
• ERP

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Outline

• Methods used to measure brain development
• Lesion studies
• EEG
• ERP
• Imaging Studies

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Outline

• Methods used to measure brain development
• Lesion studies
• EEG
• ERP
• Imaging Studies
• Animal Studies

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Outline

• Methods used to measure brain development
• Lesion studies
• EEG
• ERP
• Imaging Studies
• Animal Studies
• Neuropsychological Studies

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Outline

• Whats so great?

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Outline

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?

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Lesion Studies

• Damage to a particular part of the brain can
  result in specific behavioral effects

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Lesion Studies

• Damage to a particular part of the brain can
  result in specific behavioral effects
• Examples
• Amygdala (emotion)

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Lesion Studies

• Damage to a particular part of the brain can
  result in specific behavioral effects
• Examples
• Amygdala (emotion)
• Hippocampus (memory)

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Lesion Studies

• Damage to a particular part of the brain can
  result in specific behavioral effects
• Examples
• Amygdala (emotion)
• Hippocampus (memory)
• Visual cortex (blindsight)

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Lesion Studies

• Damage to a particular part of the brain can
  result in specific behavioral effects
• Examples
• Amygdala (emotion)
• Hippocampus (memory)
• Visual cortex (blindsight)
• Parietal cortex (attention)

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Lesion Studies

• Damage to a particular part of the brain can
  result in specific behavioral effects
• Examples
• Amygdala (emotion)
• Hippocampus (memory)
• Visual cortex (blindsight)
• Parietal cortex (attention)
• Left hemisphere (language)

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Lesion Studies

• Whats so great?

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Lesion Studies

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• Measures brain waves

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• Measures brain waves
• Gross measure of integrity of the brain as a
  system

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• Measures brain waves
• Gross measure of integrity of the brain as a
  system
• Can be used as a very low level indicator (is
  this person alive)

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• Measures brain waves
• Gross measure of integrity of the brain as a
  system
• Can be used as a very low level indicator (is
  this person alive)
• Can also be used to measure behavior
• Depression

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• How does it work?

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• How does it work?
• Brains produce electricity

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• How does it work?
• Brains produce electricity
• Neurons do their business basically by acting
  like wires

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• How does it work?
• Brains produce electricity
• Neurons do their business basically by acting
  like wires
• Electrodes placed on scalp record brain
  electrical activity

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• How does it work?
• Brains produce electricity
• Neurons do their business basically by acting
  like wires
• Electrodes placed on scalp record brain
  electrical activity
• Measures include the amount of activity in
  particular frequency bands

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• How does it work?
• Brains produce electricity
• Neurons do their business basically by acting
  like wires
• Electrodes placed on scalp record brain
  electrical activity
• Measures include the amount of activity in
  particular frequency bands
• Power

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• How does it work?
• Brains produce electricity
• Neurons do their business basically by acting
  like wires
• Electrodes placed on scalp record brain
  electrical activity
• Measures include the amount of activity in
  particular frequency bands
• Power
• Activation

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Electroencephalography (EEG)

• How does it work?
• Brains produce electricity
• Neurons do their business basically by acting
  like wires
• Electrodes placed on scalp record brain
  electrical activity
• Measures include the amount of activity in
  particular frequency bands
• Power
• Activation
• Activation in a particular frequency range

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EEG

• Whats so great?

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EEG

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?

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Event related Potentials (ERP)

• Definition

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Event related Potentials (ERP)

• Definition
• Brain electrical activity that comes from
  simultaneous firing of synapses, and is related
  to a specific event.

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Event related Potentials (ERP)

• Definition
• Brain electrical activity that comes from
  simultaneous firing of synapses, and is related
  to a specific event.
• How do you measure them?

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Event related Potentials (ERP)

• Definition
• Brain electrical activity that comes from
  simultaneous firing of synapses, and is related
  to a specific event.
• How do you measure them?
• Electrodes placed on the scalp record brain
  activity

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Event related Potentials (ERP)

• Definition
• Brain electrical activity that comes from
  simultaneous firing of synapses, and is related
  to a specific event.
• How do you measure them?
• Electrodes placed on the scalp record brain
  activity
• Activity is recorded in response to a specific
  discrete event.

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Event related Potentials (ERP)

• Definition
• Brain electrical activity that comes from
  simultaneous firing of synapses, and is related
  to a specific event.
• How do you measure them?
• Electrodes placed on the scalp record brain
  activity
• Activity is recorded in response to a specific
  discrete event.
• Averaging over enough trials gets rid of the
  noise of the background EEG.

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ERP (continued)

• What do they look like?

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ERP (continued)

• What do they look like?
• Components seen in infants
• Nc Component

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ERP (continued)

• What do they look like?
• Components seen in infants
• Nc Component
• PSW

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ERP (continued)

• What do they look like?
• Components seen in infants
• Nc Component
• PSW
• P300

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ERP (continued)

• What do they look like?
• Components seen in infants
• Nc Component
• PSW
• P300
• Sensory Components

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ERP (continued)

• What do they look like?

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ERP (continued)

• What do they look like?
• Components seen in infants
• Nc Component
• PSW
• P300
• Sensory Components
• What can you learn from them?
• Examples
• Language and early phonological development

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ERP

• Whats so great?

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ERP

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?

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Imaging

• CAT Scans

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Imaging

• CAT Scans
• Useful for describing overall brain structure

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Imaging

• CAT Scans
• Useful for describing overall brain structure
• PET Scans

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Imaging

• CAT Scans
• Useful for describing overall brain structure
• PET Scans
• Good measure of blood flow in brain

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Imaging

• CAT Scans
• Useful for describing overall brain structure
• PET Scans
• Good measure of blood flow in brain
• Poor resolution

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Imaging

• CAT Scans
• Useful for describing overall brain structure
• PET Scans
• Good measure of blood flow in brain
• Poor resolution
• Involves radiation

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Imaging (continued)

• MRI

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Imaging (continued)

• MRI
• Excellent resolution for structure of the brain

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Imaging (continued)

• MRI
• Excellent resolution for structure of the brain
• Example - Myelin

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Imaging (continued)

• MRI
• Excellent resolution for structure of the brain
• Example - Myelin
• fMRI

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Imaging (continued)

• MRI
• Excellent resolution for structure of the brain
• Example - Myelin
• fMRI
• Excellent resolution

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Imaging (continued)

• MRI
• Excellent resolution for structure of the brain
• Example - Myelin
• fMRI
• Excellent resolution
• Provides image of blood flow in the brain

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Imaging (continued)

• MRI
• Excellent resolution for structure of the brain
• Example - Myelin
• fMRI
• Excellent resolution
• Provides image of blood flow in the brain
• Example - Working Memory

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?
• CAT Scan

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?
• CAT Scan
• PET Scan

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?
• CAT Scan
• PET Scan
• MRI

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?
• CAT Scan
• PET Scan
• MRI
• fMRI

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?
• CAT Scan

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?
• CAT Scan
• PET Scan

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?
• CAT Scan
• PET Scan
• MRI

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Imaging Studies

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?
• CAT Scan
• PET Scan
• MRI
• fMRI

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Animal Studies

• You can look directly at brain with animals
• Whatever you want to look at
• Do specific lesions

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Animal Studies

• Whats so great?

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Animal Studies

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?

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Neuropsychology

• Behavioral method derived from lesion and animal
  studies

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Neuropsychology

• Behavioral method derived from lesion and animal
  studies
• These behaviors are associated with parts of the
  brain from lesion, animal, or imaging studies

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Neuropsychology

• Behavioral method derived from lesion and animal
  studies
• These behaviors are associated with parts of the
  brain from lesion, animal, or imaging studies
• You can measure the function of the brain
  indirectly

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Neuropsychology

• Behavioral method derived from lesion and animal
  studies
• These behaviors are associated with parts of the
  brain from lesion, animal, or imaging studies
• You can measure the function of the brain
  indirectly
• Example Autism

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Neuropsychological Studies

• Whats so great?

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Neuropsychological Studies

• Whats so great?
• Whats the problem?

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All of the above?

• There are advantages to combining these methods.
  What might these be?

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All of the above?

• There are advantages to combining these methods.
  What might these be?
• Look at behavior to determine what youre really
  measuring converging measures

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All of the above?

• There are advantages to combining these methods.
  What might these be?
• Look at behavior to determine what youre really
  measuring converging measures
• What if an imaging study shows something
  different than lesion studies or animal studies
  always have?

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All of the above?

• There are advantages to combining these methods.
  What might these be?
• Look at behavior to determine what youre really
  measuring converging measures
• What if an imaging study shows something
  different than lesion studies or animal studies
  always have?
• Complementary resolution advantages

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