PSYCH 1XX3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Radioactive Tracer, Phineas Gage

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 1XX3
• Professor: Michelle Cadieux

Document Summary

Lesion studies induced brain lesions in animals, targeting the function of a brain region. Since human brain lesions are rarely isolated to specific structures, making it harder to assign impaired function to specific areas. Researcher destroys, removes, or inactivates a defined brain region. But since brain is highly interconnected, a variety of behaviours can be affected by a single lesion. Gage was a railway foreman who had a 3 foot iron rod go through his skull. Supporting the idea that the brain has specialized structures for complex behaviours. Stimulation and single cell recording electrically stimulating an area of the brain to observe result of behaviour and build an anatomical map of brain function. Penfield was a canadian neurologist who extensively used this technique during his brain surgery treatments of epilepsy patients. He had to be sure the critical areas of the brain were left intact.