The use of technology to investigate cognitive processes 

You have learnt about MRI, fMRI and PET scans in the BLOA. Can you remember how they work?! If not…
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/scanning/index.html This site gives a basic description of the different brain imaging techniques and might be helpful when preparing your model SAQ/ERQ.
This learning objective requires you to understand how these forms of technology have been used by cognitive psychologists to research memory.
In class, we used the following handout to revise how PET scanners work, as this technology has been used in several of the pieces of memory research that we have already looked at. First we went back over our notes to highlight suitable studies that could be included. One of them was Smith and Jonides study of working memory.
These researchers wrote a great paper about PET scanning and this handout is based on their paper. We look at how PET scanners work and the logic of subtraction, an experimental design used by cognitive researchers to work out which parts of the brain appear to be required for different cognitive tasks.
PET scans: pet-scans with information from Smith and Jonides (1997)
Example of another study in the CLOA that uses PET scanning
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v2/n3/full/nn0399_289.html This study ties in well with our work on flashbulb memory as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU3et8qJOrM video clip about this study such a shame it’s all in Japanese!! The researcher f (Hamann) posted this and makes a comment that made me smile, one day maybe we will have a Japanese pupil who can help us out!
If you were in an ERQ you would need to talk about more than one form of technology, so I have provided some materials in MRI and fMRI too.
MRI and the Cognitive Level of Analysis
http://www.howstuffworks.com/mri.htm More info specifically about MRI scans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGcZvSG805Y a clip about how MRI works
Do you remember Maguire’s study from the BLOA?
Here is a link to the complete original article by Maguire: maguire.pdf
Maguire powerpoint: maguire pp.pptx
Maguire worksheet: maguire worksheet julia.pdf
Maguire evaluation grid: maguire evaluation.doc
Maguire questions: maguire questions.doc
You will need to take good care when using studies that you learnt in the BLOA in order to answer a CLOA question, remember this is all about what does the technology tell us about memory.
You may choose to talk about Corkin et al’s (1997) MRI study on HM, find out more here: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/17/10/3964
Example of a study in the CLOA that uses fMRI
This is a really interesting piece of work but it is NOT on memory and therefore is only here for interest.
Evaluating brain scanning in the CLOA
Useful to evaluate cognitive studies which use brain imaging; if they don’t control of motivation, conclusions may not be valid: also another example of a study using fMRI scans. ScienceDirect – Neuroscience Letters Motivation effects in a dichotic listening task as evident from functional magnetic resonance imaging in human subjects.mht
Examples of studies that have used virtual reality to assess participants cognitive abilities
A very interesting study as it looks at the cross over between emotion(affect), cognition and biology and uses virtual reality so ideal for IB! Performance on a Virtual Reality Spatial Memory Navigation Task in Depressed Patients — Gould et al_ 164 (3) 516 — Am J Psychiatry.mht
Sense Cam a treatment for amnesia
The use of modern technology to overcome some forms of amnesia: case study of Mrs B, life logging and sense cam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NjZxCll9Z8&feature=related
 Here is a task sheet for this learning objective. You will be creating a PowerPoint presentation in pairs on brain scanning and will also be learning about the use of virtual reality: use-of-technology