Chapter 3

Introduction
The relationship between the functional architecture of the brain and behavior can be
investigated through the use of a variety of populations and techniques. Depending on
the question researchers want to answer, the focus may be on the neuroanatomy or
neurophysiology of the brain, or on the way in which the brain affects behavior.

Various techniques are often used in combination because converging evidence from
different techniques is the most powerful tool for uncovering fundamental aspects of
brain–behavior relationships.
One of the most popular techniques is the method of converging-operations, is when
researchers have examined a question from multiple perspectives and all answers point
to the same verdict.
In resume, is the fact of examining whether all the answers obtained from a set of
interrelated experiments lead to the same conclusion.

Populations of Research Participants

Patients with delineated brain damage allow researchers to determine which functions
are lost as a result of damage to specific brain regions. This method cannot identify all
brain regions that participate in a function, but rather identifies only the areas critical
for task performance.

Neurologically intact individuals provide (1) a baseline against which to compare

performance of individuals who sustain brain trauma, (2) information on the basic
neuroanatomical organization of the brain, and (3) when used in conjunction with brain
imaging techniques, evidence on how brain structures work together.
Otherwise, the larger the control group assembled for any given test, the more certainty
researchers can have when they make comparisons. Also, is mandatory that the lesion
group and the neurologically intact control group have to be matched.

Techniques for Analyzing Behavior

Cognitive theories play a large role in helping to dissect the different component
processes of mental functioning.

Clinical assessment of behavior is done either via a test battery that samples a large
number of mental functions without going into a detailed examination of any one
function, or a customized approach that assesses very specific cognitive functions in
addition. In either case, a measure of general intelligence often also is obtained.

There is a technique called neuropsychological assessment to determine the degree to

which damage to the central nervous system may have compromised a person’s
cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning.
Furthermore, using neuropsychological test battery you can examine a range of abilities
from simple test of sensory function to complex test of reasoning, from test of verbal

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function to test of spatial function, and from test of immediate recognition to test of
memory.

TEST WHAT IT MEASURES HOW THE ABILITY IS

MEASURED
The person views four
items on the screen and
pushes one of four
buttons: different sets of
items require different
responses (e.g., push the
button corresponding to
Categories Test Abstract reasoning the atypical item, push the
button corresponding to
the Roman numeral on the
screen). The only feedback
provided is a bell for
correct answers and a
buzzer for incorrect
responses.

The person decides

Rhythm Test Auditory perception and whether two patterns of
timing sounds are similar.

Verbal abilities In each trial, the person

chooses a previously heard
sound from among a
Speech Sounds number of choices. The
Perception Test sounds are nonsense
Attentional abilities syllables that begin and
end with different
consonants.

Finger Tapping Test Motor function The tapping rate of each

Grip Strength Test
Trail Making Test
index finger is determined.
The strength with which a
Motor function dynamometer can be
squeezed by each hand is
assessed.
Part A: The person’s ability
to draw a line connecting
Visual search consecutively numbered
circles is assessed.

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Aphasia Screening Test
Tactile memory
Tactual Performance Test
Spatial localization
Sensory-Perceptual Exam
Attention Part B: The person’s ability
to connect, in an
alternating manner,
numbered and lettered
circles (e.g., A1B2C3) is
examined.
The person’s ability to use
and perceive language, to
Language pantomime simple actions,
and to reproduce simple
geometric forms is
assessed.
Without any visual input
(blindfolded or eyes
closed), the person must
place a set of felt shapes
into a single board from
which they were cut out.
Afterward, with eyes
“open and the board
obscured from view, the
person must draw each
shape at its correct
location on the board.
Sensory loss The person’s perception of
simple information in the
visual, tactile, and auditory
modalities is examined. To
determine whether
Hemineglect neglect is present, the
investigator presents
stimuli to just one side of
the body or to both sides
simultaneously.

A highlight would be that Alexander Luria believed that the brain was composed of
three functional and interrelated systems: a brainstem system that is important for
overall tone and arousal, an anterior system that is important for the planning and
output of behavior, and a posterior system that is important for the reception of
information and its processing.

Techniques for Assessing Brain Anatomy

Magnetic resonance imaging works by perturbing hydrogen atoms and deriving
information about different characteristics of brain tissue, such as water and fat, by
determining the time it takes them to return to their original state at each point of the
brain.

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As such, magnetic resonance imaging provides information about brain structure that
can be tuned to gray matter or to white matter.

MRI can provide information not only on brain volume, but also cortical thickness and
cortical surface area, as well as the shape of subcortical structures.

White-matter connectivity between distant brain regions can be assessed by diffusion

weighted imaging.

Biologic Relevance Tests

Prefrontal, parietal, California Verbal Learning
cingulate cortex, related Test; CERAD Word List
Memory (working and thalamic regions, Learning; WMS-IV Logical
long-term) hippocampus, associated Memory; Digit Span
medial temporal Forward
structures.
Parietal lobe Rey–Osterrieth Figure
Visual-spatial Copy; Benton Visual
construction Retention Test
Left-hemisphere language Boston Naming Test;
Language network (Broca and Token Test
Wernicke areas)
Dorsolateral prefrontal Digit Span Forward; Trail
Attention/psychomotor cortex, posterior parietal, Making Test, Part A
speed anterior cingulate cortex,
subcortical connections
Frontal network Digit Span Backward; Trail
(dorsolateral, prefrontal, Making Test, Part B; Stroop
Executive functions orbitofrontal, posterior Color-Word Test; Clock
parietal, cingulate cortex, Drawing
basal ganglia)

There is a test to obtain an estimate of premorbid functioning, that is, a reasonable

guess as to how well the person was performing before the injury. An example is the
Vocabulary subtest of the WAIS.

Another instrument is the NIH Toolbox which was created so that the same set of tests
could be used across different studies or in multisite studies, to enable better
comparison of results.

Neurochemical Methods
Functional brain imaging methods provide information about the physiological activity
in the brain that occurs as a by-product of neuronal firing, and thus provide very good
information about where in the brain activity is occurring.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most powerful tool for researchers in cognitive
science today. It can provide information about brain anatomy, both with regards to

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white matter and gray matter, as well as information on how the brain functions. Clinical
machines typically are 1.5 Tesla (T), with “high-field” research machines generally being
either 3 or 4 T.
The main limitation is that not everyone can undergo an MRI scan. People with
pacemakers cannot undergo MRI. Also, anyone with metal in her or his body that is not
connected to hard tissue cannot have an MRI taken.

There is another instrument called Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) which provide
information about white matter. Is useful, it can be used to investigate whether there is
less diffusion in particular brain regions as a result of demyelinating disorders such as
multiple sclerosis, to examine changes in diffusion during childhood and adolescence,
and to detect regions that might indicate a partial or complete disconnection between
brain regions.

Positron emission tomography (PET) uses a radioactively tagged molecule to provide a

measure of physiological activity of different brain regions. It can be used to examine
consumption of glucose and oxygen as well as binding of specific neurotransmitters.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) provides information about a limited set of

compounds, such as the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA. In general due to the
small signal associated with such compounds, information can only be gleaned over a
relatively large area of brain tissue.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) works by detecting differences in the

magnetic properties of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood, called the BOLD (Blood
Oxygen Level Dependent) signal. This signal identifies brain regions where neurons are
active because the vascular system provides abundant oxygen to those areas reducing
the amount of deoxygenated blood in that region.

BOLD-related information can be obtained either while individuals are performing a task
or while they are at “rest,” typically staring with eyes open at a fixation cross.

In addition to obtaining information about the degree of activation in a given brain area,
the fine-grained pattern of activity can provide detail on the type of information that is
being represented by the brain (e.g., a fruit versus a tool).

However, fMRI cannot measure a neuronal response directly, it indexes a hemodynamic

response, the response of the vascular system to the increased need for oxygen of
neurons in a local area.

The advantages are that it is a widely available method, a noninvasive technique and it
can do multiple scans running on a single individual and it can be used with children and
women of reproductive age. It provides a measure of brain activity over seconds, useful
for clinical interventions such as neurosurgery.

Brain connectivity can be assessed in a variety of ways. Scientists can design a seed
region and determine which brain region appears to show a similar pattern of activation

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over time. Another approach is to use graph theory to treat the brain as a complicated
network with subnetworks and hubs that are central points of information flow. Still
another approach, independent components analysis, treats the brain as if it were
composed of networks or “groups” of regions whose activity follows a coherent pattern
across time, and which differs from other networks.

Techniques for Revealing When Activity Is Occurring:

Electromagnetic Methods
Electromagnetic recording methods record the electrical signals or the magnetic fields
that accompany neuronal firing, providing very precise information on when neuronal
activity is occurring.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is used “to examine the frequency of the summed

electrical signal of synchronous firing in the dendrites of populations of neurons. It is
useful for distinguishing states of alertness, drowsiness, and sleepiness and can be used
for detecting the electrical spiking that occurs in epilepsy.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) are electrical potentials that are recorded in response to
an event and are time-locked. Different portions of the ERP signal are linked to specific
sensory or cognitive processes. There are two types of components: exogenous and
endogenous. Exogenous components are linked to the physical characteristics of a
stimulus and usually occur early in the waveform. In contrast, endogenous components
appear to be driven by internal cognitive states, independent of stimulus characteristics.

ERP Component Time Period (ms)* Eliciting Conditions Associated Mental

Processes
After the receipt of Transmission of
Sensory sensory sensory
components 0–100 information information from
the periphery to
the cortex
When subjects are Selective attention
paying attention to
N100–P100 100–300 the portion of the
stimulus stream in
which the material
was presented
When a stimulus is Detection of
physically deviant physical deviance
from other recent
Mismatch stimuli; it is not
negativity (N200) 200–300 much affected by
whether the
individual is paying
attention to the
portion of the

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 stimulus stream in
which the deviant
item is presented
When individuals Memory of context
must pay attention updating
to the rarer of two
events, even if that
P300 300–800 rare event is the
absence of sensory
stimulation (e.g.,
silence)
When items Detection of
N400 400–600 deviate in meaning semantic deviance
from what is
expected
When items have Detection of
Late Positive an emotional affectively
Potential (LPP) 400+ valence as valenced
compared to information
neutral

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides information about the magnetic “potentials

that are associated with electrical activity in the brain. Different portions of the MEG
signal are linked to specific sensory or cognitive processes.
The two most common clinical uses of MEG are to localize the source of epileptic activity
and to locate primary sensory cortices so they can be avoided during neurosurgical
intervention.

Recent research has focused on time-frequency analysis in which particular the

distribution of distinct frequency bands of EEG activity is examined over time. In
addition, the relationship between the oscillatory nature of these frequency bands
across brain regions is examined to provide information on brain connectivity.

Optical Recording Methods

Optical recording methods supply information about the absorption and scattering of
light through the brain. These can be used to infer regional changes in oxygenated and
deoxygenated blood that occur on the order of seconds, and information about changes
associated with neuronal firing that occur on the order of milliseconds.

There is one method, event-related optical signal (EROS) takes advantage of this fast
signal to record information locked to an event. The major limitation is that it cannot be
used to obtain information about subcortical regions because too much light gets
absorbed on the way to and from structures deep within the brain. In contrast, one of
the advantages is that it can be used to good effect in populations for whom using fMRI
would be difficult or impossible.

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Techniques for Modulating Brain Activity
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) disrupts brain activity through magnetic fields
on the scalp that interfere with the electrical firing of neurons. It can be used to identify
those regions of the brain that are critical to performance of a task. Repetitive TMS
(rTMS) can also be used to augment brain activity and is used therapeutically. It is not
possible to stimulate deeper cortical neurons or subcortical structures without affecting
the neurons that are on top of them, so the method is most effective with regards to
cortical structures.
One of the major advantages is that it can be used to confirm findings from the lesion
method and implicate a brain region as playing a critical role in a specific mental
function.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) uses a small amount of current and only
two electrodes to either increase or decrease brain activity. Its effects are more diffuse
than TMS but since they are weaker may have advantage in certain experimental and
clinical situations. It is also good to improve memory, attention, and other abilities in
neurologically normal individuals.

Multi-modal and Multimethod Approaches

Because each method used in cognitive neuroscience has its drawbacks or limitations,
scientists may try to use multimodal approaches, such as using structural and functional
MRI in tandem. They may also use multimethod approaches combining, for example,
fMRI because it provides information on where in the brain processing happens along
with electrophysiological methods that provide information on when processing occurs.

Methods of Assessing
Brain Anatomy

CAT (computerized axial
tomography)
Anatomical MRI (magnetic
resonance imaging)
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Can be used with almost a. Involves the use of
all individuals ionizing radiation
b. Does not provide high
spatial resolution
a. Can be used to detect a. Cannot be used with
different substances individuals who have
metal in their bodies or
pacemakers
b. Allows white-matter b. Can induce
tracts to be visualized via claustrophobia in some
diffusion weighted individuals
imaging
c. Does not involve
radiation. Good spatial
resolution”

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 Methods of Assessing
Brain Physiology
Functional Brain Imaging ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Can be used to assess a. Involves the use of
many aspects of ionizing radiation (which
physiological function limits an individual to 4–5
PET (positron emission scans per year)
tomography) b. Provides images that
are averaged over times
longer than thought
processes require
a. Provides information a. Limited to only a certain
about neurochemical subset of compounds that
processes are found in large
concentrations in the
MRS (magnetic resonance brain
spectroscopy) b. Does not involve the b. Information must be
ionizing radiation gathered from a large
associated with PET region of brain tissue, so
that precise localization is
not possible
a. Provides good spatial a. Cannot be used with
resolution in relatively individuals who have
short periods metal in their bodies or
pacemakers
b. Can be performed b. Limited ways of
fMRI repeatedly on the same measuring physiological
individual function
c. Widely available BOLD: (1) Provides
information only on
relative oxygenation of
the blood; (2) measures
the brain’s hemodynamic
response that occurs on
the order of seconds
d. Can be analyzed in a
variety of ways to
examine brain networks
and brain connectivity
Electromagnetic ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Recordings
Provides information on Cannot be used in
Single-cell the type of stimulus to humans except under
which a cell responds very specific
circumstances
a. Provides information a. Difficult to determine
on the general state of the the source of activity

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 EEG person (e.g., alert, from within the brain.
(electroencephalography) drowsy) Difficult to detect activity
b. Provides excellent of cells oriented parallel
temporal resolution to the brain’s surface
a. Provides information a. Difficult to determine
that has been linked to the source of activity
ERP (event-related specific psychological from within the brain.
potentials) processes such as Difficult to detect activity
memory and attention of cells oriented parallel
b. Provides excellent to the brain’s surface
temporal resolution
a. Provides better a. Set-up is large and
information than elaborate, requiring a
EEG/ERP about the source shielded room. Cannot
MEG of the signal detect cells with
(magnetoencephalography) b. Not as susceptible to orientations radial to the
differences in conduction brain’s surface
of tissue intervening
between the brain and
scalp
Optical Imaging ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
a. Noninvasive a. Cannot provide
b. Inexpensive information on
subcortical structures
c. Portable b. Can measure only the
Slow signal (metabolic) d. Allows the hemodynamic response
concentration of of the brain
oxygenated and
deoxygenated blood to be
calculated separately
a. Noninvasive a. Cannot provide
Fast signal EROS b. Inexpensive information on
c. Portable subcortical structures
d. Detects a neuronal
response rather than a
hemodynamic response
Methods of Modulating
Brain Activity
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
a. Can be used to confirm a. Very small but possible
findings from lesion potential for adverse
method effects on brain functions
(e.g., induce seizures)
b. Can be used b. Can only stimulate
therapeutically to treat regions close to the
clinical syndromes surface

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 c. Can provide c. Does not allow for
TMS (transcranial magnetic information on brain precise localization of
stimulation) reorganization effects but better than
d. Provides information tDCS
about the functional
connectivity of brain
regions. Can be used to
determine whether a
deficit results from
dysfunction of a region or
disconnection of brain
regions
a. Is relatively easy and a. Only provides diffuse
tDCS (transcranial direct portable to use stimulation to the brain
current stimulation) b. Is less powerful than and hence cannot be well
TMS and hence is directed to specific brain
generally well tolerated regions

Combining Computational and Neuroimaging Approaches

Recent approaches have used sophisticated computational models to try to find more
refined information above and beyond how much the brain is activated in any given
condition. These methods may determine which brain regions track the outcome of
models that, for example, provide the likelihood of receiving a reward. They may also
help to define the pattern of activation across the whole brain that can predict the
degree of a psychological state of an individual, such as the person’s level of pain.

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