6 Questions
Which method of measuring perception involves the experimenter adjusting intensity up or down until the observer changes their response?
Method of limits
What is the Just Noticeable Difference?
The minimum change in a stimulus for the change to be perceivable
What is the absolute threshold for stimulus detection?
The minimum amount of energy needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time
Which method of measuring brain function involves the cutting of the corpus callosum to resolve epilepsy, resulting in fascinating cases of lateralized occipital lobe damage and prosopagnosia?
Split brain experiments
Which brain region was once thought to be responsible for vision but is actually responsible for visually guided action, attention, and self-processing?
The angular gyrus
Which method of measuring brain function provides whole brain activity in real-time, but has limited temporal and spatial resolution?
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Study Notes
Methods of Measuring Brain Function and Perception
- Lesion experiments involve removing a section of an animal's brain to compare behavior to an intact animal, providing insight into the function of different regions.
- The angular gyrus, a complex brain region responsible for attention, self-processing, and mental imagery, was once thought to be responsible for vision, but it actually plays a role in visually guided action.
- Clinical studies of patients with brain injury or disease can assess the functional and anatomical extent of the insult, using neuropsychological tests to compare behavior to non-injured individuals.
- Split brain experiments, in which the corpus callosum is cut to resolve epilepsy, have revealed fascinating cases of lateralized occipital lobe damage and prosopagnosia.
- Psychophysics studies investigate the relationship between stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce, using methods such as the method of limits, constant stimuli, and adjustment.
- Single unit recordings measure the change in action potential of a single neuron to provide information about specific neural transmissions responsible for particular neural input.
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measures changes in blood flow to show brain activity and infer the localization of function.
- Lesion experiments can remove specific regions, but as knowledge of the brain has grown, it has become clear that many processes use various parts of the brain.
- Clinical studies must account for differences in age, extent of injury, experience prior to injury, and comorbidities, making generalizations difficult.
- Psychophysics studies rely on participant judgment, but can provide useful information for applied areas such as human factors and disease assessment.
- Single unit recordings have excellent spatial and temporal resolution, but provide only a small window into brain activity and are expensive.
- fMRI provides whole brain activity in real-time, but has limited temporal and spatial resolution.
Test your knowledge on measuring perception with this informative quiz! Explore the concept of perception and whether it can be measured, along with the history of psychophysics and individual thresholds. Challenge yourself and improve your understanding of perception measurement!
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