Introduction to Cognitive Psychology - Department of Psychological ...

Prof. Greg Francis 1/2/12Brain scansPSY 200Greg FrancisLecture 03How to study the brain withoutkilling someone.Purdue UniversityScanning!! Technology provides insight into brain processes!! EEG recordings!! MRI!! Functional MRI!! Non-invasive!! Maps of brain activity!! The goal is to relate brain events to cognitiveeventsPurdue UniversityResolution!! For almost every technique we have to worry about itsability to discriminate differences in!! Space: whichplace is active?!! Time: whendoes somethinghappen?!! Finer resolutionis usually better!! But can bedifficult to dealwith so muchdataElectroencephalogram!! EEG!! The brainproduceselectrical activity!! Put electrodeson the headPurdue UniversityPurdue UniversityEEG!! Watch the electrical current change through time whilereading sentences (averaged across many trials)!! Good temporal resolution!! Kutas & Hillyard (1980)SemanticanomalyBrain maps!! You can analyze the EEG signals in many different ways!! Compare the signal strength for different situations!! Ayahuasca is a Brazilian psychoactive teaPurdue UniversityPurdue UniversityPSY 200: Intro. to Cognitive Psychology 1