Psychology 2220A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Electrodermal Activity, Blood Pressure

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2220A/B
• Professor: Scott Mac Dougall- Shackleton

Document Summary

Part one: methods of studying the nervous system. Methods of visualizing and stimulating the living brain. X-rays are useless in obtaining images of the human brain. X ray photography is only effective in characterizing internal structures that differ substantially from their surroundings in the degree to which they absorb x rays. But by the time an x ray beam has passed through the numerous overlapping structures of the brain (which differ only slightly), it carries little information about the structures through which it has passed. Contrast x-ray techniques - involve injecting into one compartment of the body a substance that absorbs x-rays either less than or more than the surrounding tissue. The injected substance then heightens the contrast between the compartment and the surrounding tissue during x-ray photography. Cerebral angiography - a type of contrast x-ray technique that uses the infusion of a radio-opaque dye into a cerebral artery to visualize the cerebral circulatory system during x-ray photography.