Chapter 5: Research Methods of Biopsychology

Methods of Studying the Nervous System

Most methods used to study the Brain are also implemented for clinical purposes as either diagnostic or treatment oriented. Prior to the 1970's biopsychology was limited by the inability to obtain images of the living human brain

Conventional X-ray photography: was useless for obtaining images of the living brain or information about its structures Contrast X-ray Techniques: involve injecting a substance into the body that absorbs X-rays either less than or more than the surrounding tissue. It then heightens contrast between the compartment and the surrounding tissue.

Cerebral Angiography: A contrast technique which uses radio-opaque dye injected into the carebral artery to visualize the cerebral circulatory system during x-ray photography. Is useful for localizing vascular damage & displacement of blood vessels can indicate location of a tumor Computed tomography (CT): Developed in the early 70's, is computer assisted X-ray procedure that can be used to visualize the brain and other internal structures of the living body. Patient lies on table, with their head in the center of a large cylinder. A X-ray tube projects an x-ray beam through the head to an x-ray detector. Info in each CT scan is combined by a computer to one horizontal section. The process is repeated numerous times to provide a 3D representation of the Brain. **The CT scan stimulated development of other techniques** Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) A procedure where high resolution images are constructed from the measurement of waves that hydrogen atoms emit when they are activated by radio frequency waves in a magnetic field. MRI provides clearer images of the brain than A CT. High Spatial Resolution: the abilty to detect and represent differences in spatial location. MRI can produce 3D & 2D images Positron Emission Tomography (PET): was the first brain imaging technique to provide images of Brain Activity (functional Brain images) rather than images of Brain Structure (structural brain images). Common version of PET uses radioactive (2-DG) which is injected into the patient's Carotid Artery. The similarity between 2-DG and glucose allows it to be rapidly taken up by active cells. Because it can not be metabolized it accumulates in the active neurons, and scans can therefore create images of the brain where it is most active. These aren't really images of the brain but a colored map of the radioactivity amount accumulated.

Functional MRI (fMI): the most influential tool of cognitive neuroscience, it produces images representing the increase in oxygen flow in the blood to active areas of the brain.

This is possible because oxygenated bloods 2 attributes: Active areas of the brain take up more oxygenated blood Oxygenated blood has magnetic properties the effect magnetic fields on the iron in blood BOLD signal is the recorded signal of the Blood-oxygen-level -dependent signal.

4 Advantages of fMRI over PET: 1. nothing has to be injected into the subject 2. It provides both Structural & Functional Information in the same image 3. Its spatial resolution is better It can be used to produce 3D images of activity over the entire Brain Disadvantages: It is to slow to capture many neural responses such as action potentials, since it takes 2-3 seconds to create an fMRI image.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG): measures changes in magnetic fields on the surface of the scalp that are produced by changes in underlying patterns of neural activity. Major Advantage of MEG vs. fMRI Is its termporal Resolution: It can record fast changes in neural activity

**WEAKNESS OF ALL IMAGING TECHINIQUES: they can be used to show a correlation between brain activity and cognitive activity but THEY CANNOT prove that the brain activity caused the cognitive activity**

The best way to support causation is to study people who are lacking a function of the desired part of the brain, damage to the particular interested part, or if the part can be turned off Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): A technique for affecting the activity in an area of the cortex by creating a magnetic field under a coil positioned next to the skull. It temporarily turns off part of the brain while the effects of disruption on conition and behavior are assessed. Used to infer Causation

Psychophysiological Recording methods: (methods for recording physiological activity from the surface of the body)

5 Main types of psychophysiological measures:

Brain Activity (EEG) Somatic Nervous System Activity (muscle tension & eye movement) Autonomic Nervous System Activity (skin conductance)

1. Brain Activity

Scalp Electroencephalography (EEG): a measure of the gross electrical activity of the brain, recorded through large electrodes which provide EEG activity. It records the sum of electrical events throughout the head including: Action Potentials Postsynaptic potentials Electrical signals from the: skin, Muscles, Blood & Eyes. Its value is the result of EEG wave forms are associated with particular states of consciousness or particular types of cerebral Pathology (epilepsy). Alpha Waves: regular 8 to 12 per second, high amplitude waves associated with Relaxed Wakefulness EEG signals decrease in amplitude as they spread from their source which helps indicate the origin of particular waves.

2-3. Somatic Nervous system Activity

2. Muscle Tension Electromyography: The Procedure for measuring muscle tension. The record Electromyogram (EMG) is created by measuring activity recorded between 2 electrodes taped to the surface of the skin over the muscle of interest. 3. Eye Movement Electrooculography: Technique used for recording eye movement. The resulting record is an Electrooculogram (EOG) which is created by the measurement of eye movements both horizontally and vertically.

4-5. Autonomic Nervous System Activity

4. Skin Conductance: Skin Conductance Level (SCL): A measure of the background level of skin conductance that is associated with a particular situation. Skin Conductance Response (SCR): A measure of the transient changes in skin conductance that are associated with discrete experiences. 5. Cardiovascular Activity Blood Pressure: Systole/diastoles Good pressure = 130/70

Hypertension = 140/90

Blood Volume: Plethysmography: various techniques for measuring changes in the volume of blood in a particular part of the body. e.g. hands, dick Heart Rate: Electro cardiogram (ECG) or (EKG)

Invasive Physiological Research Methods: (Mostly conducted on animals)

Stereotaxic Surgery: The means by which an experimental device is precisely positioned in the depths of the brain which requires 2 things A Stereotaxic Atlas: used to locate brain structures

An Instrument: Used for getting to the structures Including Head holder Electrode holder: holds the device to be inserted

Techniques fall into 1 of 3 categories: 1. Lesion method 2. Electrical Stimulation Method 3. Invasive Recording methods

Lesion methods: A part of the brain is removed, damaged or destroyed, the behavior of the subject is carefully assessed in an effort to determine the functions of the lesioned structure.

4 Types of Lesions 1. Aspiration Lesions: Used when accessible through the eyes 2. Radio-Frequency lesions: The heat from the radio current destroys the tissue 3. Knife cuts: Used to eliminate conduction in a nerve or tract 4. Cryogenic Blockade: Coolant is pumped through a probe to cool neurons till they stop firing No structural damage is produced with this method.

Unilateral lesions: lesions restricted to one half the brain Bilateral lesions: Lesions involving both sides of the brain ( most studies employ bilateral.

4 invasive electrophysiological recording methods

1. Intracellular unit recording: provides moment by moment record of the graded fluctuations in one neuron's membrane potential. (done when animals are chemically immobalized) 2. Extracellular Unit Recording: provides a record of the firing of a neuron but no info about the neuron's membrane potential. Now possible to record signals from up to about 100 neurons 3. Multiple-unit Recording: larger electrode tip used, and picks up signals from many neurons. 4. Invasive EEG Recording: Large implanted electrodes rather than scalp electrodes. Recorded through wires attached to stainless steel skull screws inserted in the head.

Pharmacological Research Methods

Pharmacological Research Methods: Strategy to administer drugs that either increase or decrease the effects of particular neurotransmitters & to observe the behavioral consequences

Routes of Drug Administration 1. Fed (oral) 2. Injected into the stomach (intragastrically) 3. Injected into the peritoneal cavity of the abdomen (intraperitoneally), Into a muscle (intramuscularly) Fatty tissue beneath the skin (subcutaneously), & into a surface vein (intravenously) Issue with peripheral routes is that many drugs do not pass through the BBB A Cannula: a stereotaxically implanted hollow tube allows small amount of drugs to be given Neurotoxins: neural poisons who's affinity to certain components of the nervous system allow it to target specific areas for lesions to occur, while leaving neurons close to the area unscathed. e.g. 6-OHDA is taken up by neurons that release Norepinephrine or dopamine. 2 Techniques for Measuring Chemical Activity in the Brain 1. The 2-Deoxyglucose Technique: The 2-DG is radioactive and similar to glucose so it is absorbed readily by active cells. They then allow the animal to engage in an activity of interest, kill the animal and slice up the brain. The slices are subjected to Autoradiography; which is like developing film (brain slices). The density of accumulation is then color coded

2. Cerebral Dialysis: A meathod of measuring the extracellular concentration of specific neurochemicals in behaving animals. Instead of having to kill the animal, an device is implanted in the brain so that the permeable tip can absorb intracellular chemicals from the structure. After collection they can be froze for later use, or measured immediately in a Chromatograph to decipher the contents.

Immunocytochemistry: Is a procedure for locating particular neuroproteins in the brain by labeling their antibodies with a dye ro radioactive element and then exposing slices of brain tissue to the labeled antibodies Accumulation of the dyes in the brain mark the locations of the target neuroprotein Since enzymes are proteins, and only particular enzymes are required for NT synthesis, researchers are able to locate neurotransmitters through this method. In Situ Hybridization: Technique for locating peptides and other proteins in the brain.

Genetic Engineering

Gene Knockout Techniques: Are procedures for creating organisms that lack a particular gene under investigation . Used to clarify the neural mechanisms of behavior Melanopsin knockout Mice: (gene for Melanopsin has been deleted) were used to see the function of melanopsin in regulating circadian control. Its deletion reduced to the ability of the circadian rhythm but did not completely disrupt it, suggesting that it plays a role in it but is not the sole reason.

Gene Replacement Techniques: Pathological genes from human cells are inserted in other animals such as mice. Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP): A protein that exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to blue light.

Behavioral Research Methods of Biopsychology

Behavioral Paradigm: A single set of procedures developed for the investigation of a particular behavioral phenomenon Each behavioral paradigm comprises a method for producing the behavioral phenomenon and a method for objectively measuring it.

Species-common Behaviors: those that are displayed by virtually all members of a species, or at least by all those of the same age and sex. e.g. grooming, swimming, eating, drinking, copulating, fighting, nest building Traditional Conditioning Paradigms Pavlovian Conditioning Paradigm: A neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus causing it to become a conditioned stimulus resulting in a conditioned response Operant conditioning paradigm: the rate at which a particular voluntary response is emitted is increased by reinfrocement or decreased by punishment Semi natural Animal Learning Paradigms Conditioned taste Aversion: conditioned response to avoid food whose consumption is followed by illness Radial Arm Maze: Spatial abilities of rats to navigate are not simply based on smell but on memory. Morris Water maze: The rats are forced to swim until they reach a submersed platform. After a few trials they learn to swim directly to it, regardless of where the starting point is positioned, because of spatial cues. They used BRAIN-LESIONED or DRUGGED animals. Conditioned defensive Burying: