MEPX
Chapter 5 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Neurons
  2. 2The main regions
  3. 3How function is distributed
  4. 4Plasticity
  5. 5How the brain is studied
  6. 6Brain chemistry
  7. 7Sleep and energy
  8. 8Neuromyths
  9. 9Across a lifetime
  10. 10Brain and mind

Chapter 5 of 10

How the brain is studied

Every method has a catch.

The tools

fMRI tracks blood oxygen as an indirect proxy for activity, with good spatial and poor temporal resolution. EEG measures electrical activity with the opposite trade-off. Lesion studies show necessity.

  • A coloured blob is a statistical comparison, not a photograph of a thought.
  • A famous analysis found apparent brain activity in a dead salmon, illustrating the statistics problem.

Reading claims

Brain scan images make weak claims persuasive. Ask what the comparison condition was and how many participants there were, which is usually a small number.