Methods in Neuropsychology
Chapter 4
Anatomical Methods
• Identifying anatomical connections
– Axoplasmic transport
• Anterograde
• Retrograde
• Structural imaging methods
– Angiography (opaque dye in blood)
– Pneumoecephalography (air in ventricles)
– Computerized Tomography (CT) Scan (subtle x-ray shadows)
– Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) (hydrogen atoms line up in magnetic field show density)
Methods Measuring Function
• Functional imaging methods– Regional Cerebral Blood Flow (rCBF) radioactive isotope in blood– Positron Emission Tomography (PET) radioactive ion -
metabolism– Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT)– Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) active neurons
increase blood flow in vicinty
• Neurophysiological methods– Single cell recording– Electroencephalography– Event related potentials (ERP’s) averaging techniques– Electrocorticography (ECo) direct stimulation of exposed cortex
Lesion Methods
• Dissociation of function
• Interpretation of single and double dissociation
• Associated impairments
• Dissociations as a window on the structure of cognition and on localization of function
• Limits on the interpretation of dissociations
Commissurotomy
• Split brain surgery
• Dichotic listening
• suppression
Sodium Amobarbital Test
• Hemispheric specialization and handedness
• Use in management of focal seizures
• Testing procedure
Studies of People
• Studies of people with behavioral and cognitive abnormalities
• Studies of normal people: laterality studies