Chapter 5: The Research Methods of Biopsychology

The Ironic Case of Professor P.

5.1: Methods of Visualizing and Stimulating the Living Human Brain
Conventional X-ray are useless for viewing the living brain.
By the time an X-ray beam has passed through neural tissue, with its numerous folds of tissue with
similar ability to absorb X-Rays, there is little detail that can be seen from an x-ray
Contrast X-Rays: X-Ray techniques that involve the injection into one compartment of the body a
substance that absorbs X-ray either less than or more than the surrounding tissue.
o Cerebral Angiography: Contrast X-Ray technique uses the infusion of a radio-opaque dye into
a cerebral artery to visualize the cerebral circulatory systems during X-ray photography
Most useful for locating vascular damage
Displacement of blood vessels from their usual position can indicate the presence of a
tumour
X-Ray Computed Tomography: Computer-assisted X-ray procedure that can be used to visualize
the brain and other internal structures of the human body.
o Discovered in the 1970's
o Patient lays with their head in the center of a large cylinder
o On one side of the cylinder is an X-ray tube that projects an X-ray beam through the head to an
X-Ray detector mounted on the other side
o Both the emitter and the recorder rotate automatically around the patient, taking many
individual images.
o The information from all the images are combined by the computer for a single flat image of the
brain.
o The procedure is then repeated until about 8 or 9 flat images have been produced.
o The images combined can offer a three dimensional view of the brain

Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A procedure in which high resolution images of structures of the
living brain are constructed from the measurement of waves that hydrogen atoms emit when they
are activated by radio-frequency waves in a magnetic field.
o MRIs provide clearer pictures of the brain than a CT
o Spatial Resolution: The ability to detect and represent differences in spacial location.
o MRIs typically have relatively high spatial resolution.
o Another benefit of MRIs is that they are able to produce images in three dimensions.
Positron Emission Tomography: A technique for visualizing brain activity, usually by measuring
the accumulation of 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) or radioactive water in in the various areas of the
brain.
o First imaging technology to provide images of brain activity (Functional images) rather than
brain structure (Structural images)
o Because 2-deoxyglucose is so similar to glucose, it is taken up rapidly by active, energyconsuming cells
o Unlike glucose, 2-deoxyglucose cannot be metabolized, so it accumulates in active tissues until
it is gradually broken down by the body
o Thus, if a pet scan were taken of a patient who engages in an activity for about 30 seconds (ie.
Reading) the PET scan would show which areas of the brain were most active during the
performance of the activity.

o Pet scans do not show structures in the brain, and they are not really images of the brain.
o A PET scan is a conglomerate of colours showing which portions were the most active during
the time immediately following the uptake of 2-deoxyglucose
o How well the PET scan matches up to a structural brain area can only be estimated by
superimposing the PET scan data on a structural image of the brain being observed.
Functional MRI: A magnetic resonance imaging technique for infering brain activity by measuring
increased oxygen flow into particular areas.
o fMRI has become the most influential tool used in cognitive Neuroscience, and is widely used
for medical diagnosis.
o fMRI is made possible by two qualities of oxyginated blood:
Active areas of the brain take up more oxyginated blood than necessary, meaning that
oxyginated blood accumulates in the tissues using it.
Oxyginated blood has magnetic properties, oxygen influences the effect of magnetic fields
on iron
o BOLD Signal: Signal recorded by fMRI machines. Acronym for Blood-Oxygen Level
Dependent Signal.
o fMRI has four advantages over PET technology:
Nothing has to be injected into the subject.
It provides both functional and structural information about the brain in the same image
It has improved spatial resolution compared to PET technology
It can be used to produce three dimensional images of activity over the entire brain.
o Disadvantages of fMRI
fMRI is often misunderstood because it presents so many advantages, meaning that people
will often trust studies supported by fMRI data without critically evaluating the research
involved.
fMRIs are not real-time images of neural activity. It does not capture electrical activity or
the transfer of potentials. It measures the BOLD signal, which has a complex, variable and
poorly understood relationship to neural activity in the truest sense.
fMRI is too slow to capture many neural responses. It takes between 2-3 seconds for an
image to be generated. Many neural activies, however, including action potentials happen
on the time order scale of milliseconds.
Magnetoencephalography: A technique for recording changes produced in magnetic fields on the
surface of the scalp by changes in underlying patterns of neural activity.
o Temporal Resolution: The ability to detect and represent differences in temporal location.
o The major advantage of MEG imaging over fMRI is its temporal resolution, it's ability to detect
and record very rapid changes in neural activity.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): A technique for disrupting the activity in an area of
the cortex by creating a magnetic field under a coil positioned next to the skull; The effect on
cognition is assessed to clarify the function of the affected region of the cortex.
o The above mentioned methods for developing images of the brain are all excellent ways of
seeing what is going on inside our heads, but they all share a single common weakness:
Imaging techniques can be used to show correlation between brain activity and cognitive
activity, but it cannot prove that brain activity is the cause of cognitive activity.

5.2: Recording Human Psychophysiological Activity

There are five commonly used physiological methods of making inferences about the brain
o EEG measures brain waves

o Muscle tension measures somatic nervous system activity

o Eye movement measures somatic nervous system activity
o Skin conductance measures autonomic nervous system activity
o Cardiovascular activity measures autonomic nervous system activity
Scalp Electroencephalography
o The electroencephalagram is a measure of the overall electrical activity in the brain
o In EEG studies of human subjects, each channel of EEG activity is recorded through an
individual electrode attached to the scalp
o EEG waves from the scalp are a mixture of neural activity, including action potentials, postsynaptic potentials and electrical signals from the skin, muscles, blood and eyes
o The value of EEG in research is that certain patterns of brain waves are associated with certain
states of consciousness (ie. Sleeping and waking) or particular types of cerebral pathology (ie.
Seizures)
o Alpha Waves: regular, 8- to 12-per second, high-amplitude waves that characterize relaxed
wakefulness.
o EEG waves decrease in amplitude as they move farther away from their source, wo slight
differences in amplitude strength can be used to determine the origin of particular waves.
o Event Related Potentials: The EEG waves that typically accompany certain psychological
events.
Sensory-Evoked Potential: Commonly studied event related potential; Momentary change
in cortical EEG readings that occurs when the individual is presented with a stimulus.
Sensory-evoked potential has two components: background EEG, the portion of the
EEG which is of no interest to researchers, and the signal, the portion of the EEG which
is of interest to researchers
Often there is so much noise captured when recording a sensory-evoked potential that
the signal is difficult or impossible to detect. (The signal is masked)
Signal Averaging: A method used to reduce the noise of background EEG and isolate
the signal. A subject's EEG scalp response is recorded for the same stimulus many times.
A computer identifies the millivolt value of each of the stimulus traces at its starting
point, and averages them out. The computer then repeats this procedure for each
millisecond after the initial starting point and plots the values of these means against
time.
o The plotted averages show a much clearer picture of the evoked potential because
the noise is cancelled out by the averaging process
o Each averaged wave is characterized by its direction and its latency
o The direction can be either positive or negative. By convention, positive waves are
observed as downwards deflections and negative waves are observed as upwards
deflections.
o Latency reflects how long after the stimulus was presented that the wave occurred
o P300 Wave: Positive wave that occurs approximately 300 milliseconds after
presentation of a stimulus occurs that indicates the stimulus has some special
significance to the participant.
Far-Field Potentials: So-called because even though they are recorded at the scalp,
they originate far away in the sensory nuclei of the brain stem
o EEG scores high on temporal resolution, but initially did very poorly in terms of spacial
resolution.
o New technologies have improved the spatial resolution of EEG immensely.

Muscle Tension
o Each muscle fiber contracts in an all-or-none fashion when it is activated by the neuron
innervating it.
o Levels of tension typically indicate high levels of arousal, which is why biopsychologists are
interested in studying it.
o Electromyography: A useful procedure for measuring muscle tension;
Record that is produced by electromyography is an electromyogram (EMG)
EMG is recorded with two electrodes placed over the muscle of interest
Most psychologists do not work with the raw signal. A more useful form of the signal is to
convert it to an Integrated EMG signal, which is a sum of all the EMG spike activity
recorded per 0.1 seconds. Each time point is plotted and the result is an easy-to-read curve
which represents a fluid measure of muscle tension.
Eye Movement
o Electrooculography: A technique for recording eye movements by placing electrodes around
the eye.
Record produced by electroocculography is called an electroocculogram (EOG)
Occular movements are able to be recorded because there is a standing potential difference
between the front and back of the eyeball. The front of the eyeball is positively charged and
the back of the eyeball is negatively charged.
When the eyeball moves, a change in the potential is recorded.
It is common to use four electrodes to measure eye movement on two planes. One electrode
above and below the eye measures movement up and down (movement in the vertical plane)
and a pair of electrodes to the left and right side measure movement to the left and right
(movement in the horizontal direction)
Skin Conductance
o Emotional thoughts and experiences are related to the ability of the skin to conduct electricity
o Skin Conductance Level: The steady level of skin conductance associated with a particular
situation
o Skin Conductance Response: The transient change in skin conductance associated with a brief
experience.
o The physiology of of how the skin changes conductance is not well understood, but it is
hypothesized that skin conductance is mediated by the sweat glands.
o Though the primary purpose of sweat glands is to cool the body down, they also become more
active in emotional situations. The most impacted areas during an emotionally charged
situations are the feet, palms, forehead and underarms.
Cardiovascular Activity
o Cardiovascular activity has long been associated with changes in emotion.
o The cardiovascular system has two parts:
Blood vessels
Heart
o Three measures for cardiovascular activity are commonly used
Heart Rate
The electrical signal generated by each heartbeat can be measured by placing electrodes
on the chest above the heart.
Recording is called an Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)
Average resting heart rate of a healthy adult is 70 beats per minute, but it increases

sharply with intense thought, emotional outburst and the presentation of some stimuli
Blood Pressure
Measuring blood pressure involves integration of two measurements:
o Peak pressure when the heart is contracting, called systoles
o Minimal pressure during periods of relaxation, called diastoles
Blood pressure is typically represented as a ratio of systolic to diastolic pressure in
millimetrs of mercury (mmHg)
Normal resting blod pressure is 130/70 mmHg
Chronic blood pressure is 140/90 - called hypertension
Blood Volume
Changes in the volume of blood in particular parts of the body are associated with
emotional and psychological events
Best-known example is the rush of blood flow to the genitals in both males and females
during sexual arousal.
Plethysmography: Techniques for measuring changes in the volume of blood in
particular parts of the body. Plethysmos means enlargement.
o One method is to measure the the volume by wrapping a strain guage around it. This
method works for fingers and similar organs, but is relatively limited in other
situations.
o Another method is to shine a light through the tissue and measure how much of the
light was absorbed. The more blood in the tissue, the more light will be absorbed.

5.3: Invasive Physiological Research Methods

Stereotaxic Surgery
o Stereotaxic surgery is the method by which precise recording devices are implanted and
positioned in the depths of the brain.
o There are two requirements in sterotaxic surgery:
An atlas or map to guide the surgeon to the target area
An instrument able to reach the target area without being damaged or damaging other
necessary areas of the brain.
o Stereotaxic Atlas: Similar to a geographic atlas in that is allows navigation through the brain in
the same way a geographic atlas of the globe allows you to navigate the world.
A geographic atlas, however, has only two dimensions since we do not need to measure
depth while travelling. A sterotaxic atlas needs to account for the third dimension, and thus
presents a different image on each page, each an individual map of a 2D frontal brain slice.
In a stereotaxic atlas, all distances are reported in millimeters from a single reference point.
For stereotaxic atlases of rats, the reference point is frequently the bregma.
Bregma: The point on the top of the skull where tow major seams or sutures intersect.
o Stereotaxic Instrument: A device for performing stereotaxic surgery. Composed of two parts:
a head holder and an electeode holder.
The head holder ensures that the subject's brain is held in precisely the desired position and
orientation.
The electrode holder holds the device to actually be inserted in the brain.
The electrode holder is able to be moved in three dimensions by a series of precision gears
Lesion Methods
o Lesion methods involve a piece of the brain being selectively lesioned, removed, damaged or

destroyed and then the subject's behaviour being carefully observed and analysed afterwards to
attempt to determine the function of that brain structure.
Aspiration Lesions
Aspiration is frequently the method of choice when the area under study is readily available
to the eyes and instruments of the surgeon.
Cortical tissue is suctioned off using a fine pipette.
Underlying white tissue is more resistant to the suction, so a skilled surgeon can aspirate off
only a fine section of tissue without damaging underlying white matter and major blood
vessels.
Radio-Frequency Lesions
Small subcortical lesions can be made by passing radio-frequency current through target
tissue from the tip of a stereotaxically placed electrode
Heat from the current destroys the target tissue
The size and shape of the lesion are determined by the duration and intensity of the current
and configuration of the tip.
Knife Cuts
Sectioning is used to eliminate conduction in a nerve or tract
A small, well-placed cut can accomplish this task with only minor damage to the
surrounding tissue
Cryogenic Blockade
Cryogenic blockade is a non-destructive alternative to lesions
Coolant is pumped through an implanted cryoprobe.
Neurons directly surrounding the tip are cooled until they are unable to fire.
Temperature is maintained above the freezing level, however, so no structural damage is
done to the cells.
When the tissue is allowed the rewarm, normal neural activity returns.
Because cryogenic blockades produce the same effects as lesions, they are often referred to
as reversible lesions.
Reversible lesions can also be produced by injecting the brain with local anesthetics such as
lidocaine. (Floresco, Seamans & Phillips, 1997)
Interpreting Lesion Effects
Even though interpreting lesion effects may seem straight forward, it is not.
Because of the size and convolutions of the brain structures involved, even the most highly
skilled surgeon is unable to to destroy only the singular brain structure without causing
some damage to the surrounding tissue.
The simplification of "structure lesion" can lead to two misinterpretations:
If the lesion is believed to have caused damage to the target brain structure and no
others, lesion studies may be taken as incorrect evidence that all behavioural difficulties
found can be attributed to damage to the target brain structure.
If the lesion is believed to have destroyed the entire brain structure, and not leave any
part of it intact, lesion studies may be taken as incorrect evidence that any behaviours
unaffected by the lesion study are not associated with the target brain structure.
Bilateral and Unilateral Lesions
Generally (but not always) behavioural effects of lesions that occur on only one side of the
brain (unilatal lesions) are milder than the behavioural effects of lesions on both sides of the
brain (bilateral lesions)

This observation is particularly true for non-human species

The effects of some unilateral lesions can be difficult even to detect.
Most studies use bilateral, rather than unilateral lesions.
Electrical Stimulation
o Electrical stimulation is usually delivered across the two tips of a bipolar electrode.
o Bipolar Electrode: Two insulated wires wound tightly together and cut at the end.
o Weak amounts current produce immediate increases in neural firing.
o Electrical stimulation studies generally produce opposite results to lesion studies, which make
them excellent to use in conjunction with each other.
o The particular behavioural response that is elicitted depends on the location of the electrode tip,
the parameters of the current and the environment in which the test is conducted
Invasive Electrophysiological Recording Methods
o Intracellular Unit Recording
Intracellular unit recording provides a moment by moment record of graded fluctuations in a
single neuron's membrane potential.
Most experiments using this method are performed on anesthetized animals, because it is
nearly impossible to keep an electrode tip stationary enough to record the firing of an
individual neuron in an animal that is allowed to move freely.
o Extracellular Unit Recording
The process of recording action potentials by placing the tip of an electrode in the fluid
outside of the neuron
Each time the neuron fires, a blip is recorded by the electrode tip.
Provides a record of neuron firing, but gives no information regarding the potential of the
neuron
Difficult to record the firing of a single neuron in a freely roaming animal.
Can be accomplished by using flexible microelectrodes that are able to shift slightly as
the brain shifts
It is now possible to record the firings of up to approximately 100 neurons in an area by
analyzing correlations among the signal strength among multiple electrodes implanted
around the same area.
o Multiple-Unit Recording
In multiple unit recording, the electrode tip is much larger than the microelectrode tip used
in intracellular and extracellular unit recording
The electrode picks up neural activity from multiple neurons in the area of implantation
Movement of the subject produces neglible effects on the signal overall
The many action potentials are recorded and summed to generate a total amount of neural
activity in a given area.
A multiple unit recording is a graph of the total number of recorded action potentials per
unit of time.
o Invasive EEG Recording
In lab animals, EEG signals tend to be recorded not by scalp electrodes, but by electrodes
implanted directly into the brain.
Cortical EEG signals are typically recorded through stainless steel skull screws.
Subcortical EEG signals are typically recorded through stereotaxically implanted wire
electrodes.

5.4: Pharmacological Research Methods

Routes of Drug Administration
o In psychopharmacological research, drugs are administered to the subject in one of the
following ways
The substance is fed to the subject
Substance is injected directly into the stomach through a tube
Injected hypodermically
Into the peritonal cavity of the abdomen
Into a large muscle
Into fatty tissue beneath the skin
Into a large surface vein
o One problem with using peripheral routes of drug administration is that many substances do not
readily cross the blood-brain barrier.
To circumvent this problem, a stereotaxically implanted tube (cannula) can be used to
administer small dosages directly into the brain.
Cannula: Fine, hollow tube implanted into the brain in order for researchers to observe the
effect of substances on the brain that are normally prohibited entry by the blood-brain
barrier.
Selective Chemical Lesions
o In some cases, neurotoxins can produce more selective lesions than traditional lesioning
methods.
o Neurotoxins: Neural poisons.
Neurotoxins have an affinity for certain components of the nervous system.
Many different selective neurotoxins exist
o Kainic acid or ibotenic acid can be used to selectively destroy neurons around the cannula
without damaging cells whose axons also pass through the area
o 6-hydroxy-dopamine (6-OHDA) is taken up by and destroys only neurons that release the
neurotransmitter norepinephrine or dopamine
Measuring Chemical Activity in the Brain
o The 2-Deoxyglucose Technique (2-DG)
An animal that has been injected with radioactive 2-DG is placed in a test situation where it
performs a behaviour of interest
Because 2-DG is very similar in structure to glucose, neurons that are active during the
activity of interest will take up larger amounts of 2-DG but not metbolize it.
The subject is then killed so its brain can be removed, sliced, and subjected to
autoradiography.
Autoradiography: The technique of photographically developing brain slices that have
been exposed to a radioactively labelled substance such as 2-DG so that regions of high
uptake are visible.
High levels of uptake are initially black on the readout, but areas of highest density can be
colour-coded to make it more human readable.
o Cerebral Dialysis
Cerebral Dialysis: A method for recording changes in brain chemistry in behaving animals
in which a fine tube with a short, semipermeable section is implanted in the brain, and
extracellular neurochemicals are continually drawn off for analysis.

Most methods of measuring neurochemicals involve killing the animal, but cerebral dialysis
does not.
Small amounes of fluid are collected and can be frozen, stored and analysed at a later date.
Constituents of the liquid can also be identified using a chromatograph.
Locating Neurotransmitters in the Brain
o In order to understand the psychological functions on neurotransmitters, we need to be able to
identify where receptors for that neurotransmitter are located in the brain.
o Both methods used for identifying the locations of receptors in the brain involve exposing brain
slices to a labelled ligand.
o Ligand: A molecule that binds to another molecule. Neurotransmitters are ligands of their
receptors.
o Immunochemistry
When a foreign protein (antogen) is injected into an animal, the animal's body produces
antibodies that bind to the foreign protein and help eradicate it
Neurochemists have invented neural antibodies for the brain's own peptide
neurotransmitters
Immunocytochemistry: A procedure for locating target neuroproteins by labelling them
with a dye or radioactive accumulation and then exposing them to labelled antibodies.
Regions of dye or radioactivity denote locations of the neuroprotein
Immunocytochemistry works because all enzymes are proteins and because only those
neurons that manufacture and release the target neurotransmitter are likely to have all
the required enzymes.
Exposing brain slices to antibodies that bind to enzymes located in only the neurons that
produce the specific neurotransmitter of interest, allows those antibodies to bind to the
enzyme and indicate which neurons release the neurotransmitter of interest.
o In Situ Hybridization
In Situ Hybridization: A technique for locating peptides and other proteins in the brain.
Molecules that bind to mRNA that directs the synthesis of the target protein are
synthesized and labeled, and brain slices are exposed to them.
By exposing slices of brain tissue to the artificially created mRNA, complimentary
strands will bind to them and mark the locations of neurons that manufacture the
neurotransmitter if interest.

5.5: Genetic Engineering

Gene Knockout Technique
o Gene Knockout Techniques: Procedures for generating organisms lacking a specific gene of
interest.
o Mice that have been exposed to a gene knockout technique are called knockout mice.
o Melanopsin gene-knockout study showed that mice had impaired, but not eliminated responses
to circadian cycle changes.
o Many genes contribute, but do not uniquely control, behaviour
o Each behaviour is controlled not by a single gene, but by a collection of genes interacting with
one another and with experience.
Gene Replacement Techniques
o Gene Replacement Techniques: Techniques that allow the replacement of one gene with
another.

o Transgenic Mice: Mice that contain the genetic material of another species.
o Another gene replacement technique is to replace the gene with a nearly identical gene, except
with a few extra bases that act as a switch to turn the gene on or off depending on the chemical
environment of the nucleus.
That chemical can then be used to activate or suppress the gene at a particular point in
development.
Treating neurological disease in patients suffering from genetic disorders has not yet been
done.
Fantastic Fluorescence and the Brainbow
o Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP): A protein that is found in some species of jellyfish and that
floureces green when exposed to blue light; Inserting GFP genes into neurons allows
researchers to visualize the neurons
o the GFP gene can be used to visualize specific neurons in two ways
The GFP gene can be selectively inserted into some neurons and not others
The GFP gene can be introduced into the entire organism, but expressed only in target
organs or neurons
The GFP gene has now been used to visualize the cells of many plant and animal species,
including humans.
A minor adjustment to the gene allowed the neurons to floresce in colours other than green.
Any colour can be created by mixing different combinations of proteins for cyan, yellow
and green.
Since each neuron is coded with its own colour, the pathways of each axon could be
mapped.
o Brainbow: A neuroanatomical technique that involves inserting various mutations of the green
fluorescence protein gene into neural tissue so that different neurons floresce in different
colours.

5.6: Neuropsycholotical Testing

The main goal of neuroscientific techniques is to make the unobservable observable.
By contrast, the main goal of behavioural neuroscientific techniques is to simplify, control and
objectify
Behavioural Paradigm: A group of procedures and techniques developed for studying the same
given behavioural phenomenon.
o Each behavioural paradigm typically contains a method for observing or producing the
behaviour under investigation and a method for quantifying or measuring it.
Neurologists typically assess basic sensory and motor functions in the body.
o Neuropsychologists typically deal with complex changes in emotion, cognition, motivation and
perception
Because neuropsychological testing is so costly and time consuming, very few individuals are
referred to the procedure.
Neuropsychological testing can help patients with brain damage in three ways
o Neuropsychological testing can help diagnose an undiagnosed disorder or can confirm or lend
support to a suspected diagnosis.
o Neuropsychologists can offer counselling and can also serve to offer additional care to the
patients.
o Neuropsychological testing can provide an objective basis for evaluating treatment
effectiveness and side effect severity.

Modern Approach to Neuropsychological Testing

o Modern approach to neuropsychological testing has undergone three main phases of evolution:
Single-Test Approach
The few existing neuropsychologicsl tests before the 1950's were designed to diagnose
patients with structural brain damage as opposed to psychological/functional damage.
These tests proved unsuccessful largely because of the variety of potential symptoms
that can occur in a brain-damaged patient. No single test could possibly cover them all
in an efficient way.
Standardized-Test-Battery Approach
Predominent by the 1960's
The objective was still to identify patients whose psychological and cognitive symptoms
were a result of structural brain damage.
Tests were now given in groups or sets (batteries) instead of a single test.
The most widely used test battery is the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test
Battery
o Test battery on which patients with structural brain damage tend to do poorly in
comparison to other patients or healthy control subjects.
o Scores of all the tests are then added together to yield an aggregate score.
o If the aggregate score is below the minimum cutoff the patient is diagnosed with
brain damage.
Standardized test batteries proved to be only minimally useful. They are good at
distinguishing neurological patients from healthy patients, but it is relatively unable to
distinguish neurological patients from psychiatric patients
The Customized-Test-Battery Approach
Predominant approach used today
The nature if the customized-test-battery approach is diagnose patients with structural
brain damage and to characterize the nature of the symptom pattern for each individual.
Typically begins with a standard battery of tests that give the neuropsychologist a
general idea of what symptoms are present in the patient and what other symptoms he or
she might be looking for in future tests.
The neuropsychologist then selects a custom set of tests that will fully characterize the
symptom patterns of the individual patient based in the results of the general battery.
The customized-test-battery approach differs from the previous two approaches in three
key ways:
o Newer tests have been designed to target symptoms that have been highlighted in
modern neuropsychological research as being related to structural brain damage.
o The interpretation of tests are not all based exclusively on patient score. Many tests
require the neuropsychologist to assess the cognitive approach the patient used to
solve the problem, since how a patient solves a problem is usually more telling than
their overall score.
o The cusom-test-battery approach requires the neuropsychologist to be more skilled
in selecting the correct tests to administer and interpreting them accurately in a
qualitative way to expose symptom patterns.
Tests of the Common Neuropsychological Test Battery
o Intelligence
General Tests

Even though a general IQ test is a notoriously bad measure for assessing brain damage,
it is often included in the genal battery of tests
The Weschler Adult Intelligence Test is often the first test administered since the WAIS
IQ score can be useful in interpreting further test results
A good neuropsychologist can sometimes detect brain damage based on the pattern of
errors in the subsections of the WAIS
o Memory
General Tests
Digit Span: Subtest of the WAIS designed to evaluate short term memory; Most
commonly used short-term memory assessment.
o Identifies the longest string of digits a patient can remember and repeat back
correctly a minimum of 50% of the time.
o Most people have a digit span of 7
o Many patients with serious memory impairments have no problem with the digit
span test
Memory problems rarely go unnoticed since they are among the most obvious and when
present are frequently reported by the patient or the patient's family.
o Language
General Tests
Token Test: Twenty tokens of two shapes (circle and square), of two sizes (large and
small) and five different colours (white, black, yellow, green and red). Test begins with
the examiner giving simple instructions for the patient to follow such as "touch a
square" and gets progressively harder, ie. "Show me a large, red circle". Finally, the
patient is asked to read the instructions for him or herself and perform the required
action.
Can also be assessed with a low score on the WAIS verbalization subsection
o Language Lateralization
General Tests
Most people use one hemisphere more than the other to produce language.
For most, the left hemisphere works harder when speaking, but for some the right
hemisphere is dominant in language production.
A test to determine language lateralization is often included because knowing which side
of the brain is interpreting and producing language enables the neuropsychologist to
more easily interpt the results of the other tests.
Language lateralization tests are given to any patients who are undergoing neural
surgery that might in any way encroach upon the cortical language areas of the brain.
o Results are used to plan the surgery in such a way as to avoid the language centers of
the brain by any means possible.
Sodium Amytal Test: sodium amytal is injected into either the right or left carotid
artery in order to anesthetize that side of the brain. A series of language tests are
administered directly following aneasthetization and later the procedure is repeated for
the other side.
o When the dominant language side of the brain is aneasthetized, the patient is mute
for approximately 2 minutes
o When the other side of the brain is frozen it causes only minor language deficits.
o Because the sodium amytal test is invasive it is typically only allowed for medical

reasons, such as determining lateralization of language skills preceding brain

surgery.
Dichotic Listening Test: Patients are given headphones and are presented with three
digits in each ear (6 different digits total) and are asked to report as many of the digits as
they can hear. Subjects correctly report more correct digits for the ear opposite to the
side of the brain that is dominant in language function, as determined by the sodium
amytal test.
Tests of Specific Neuropsychological Function
o Memory
Four fundamental questions must be answered upon the identification of impaired memory
Does the memory impairment involve short-term memory, long-term memory or both?
Are any long term memory effects anterograde, retrograde or both?
Do deficits in long term memory affect semantic memory or episodic memory?
Are deficits in long term memory deficits in explicit memory, implicit memory or both?
Many amnesic patients develop severe deficits in explicit memory but suffer no deleterious
effects to implicit memory
Repitition Priming Tests:
o Language
If a patient has a speech problem it may be one of three fundamentally different problems
Problems of phonology
Problems of syntax
Problems with semantics
Patients can possess one of these problems without either of the other two
Frontal Lobe Function
o Injuries to the frontal lobe are common
o Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: Component of many standardized tests since its performance is
largely determined by frontal lobe function.
Each card contains a single symbol or two, three or four of the same symbol
The symbols are triangles, stars, circles or crosses
Colours are red, green, yellow and blue
Patient is presented with four trays above which are four cards all different in colour, shape
and number of shapes
Patient is asked to sort a deck of cards, but is not told how to sort them. After each card is
placed, the examiner tells the subject whether the card was placed correctly or incorrectly.
First task is to sort by colour. When the patient has made several correct sorting behaviours,
the examiner changes the pattern simply by reporting correct or incorrect based on shape or
number instead of colour.
Each time the patient correctly discerns the pattern, the pattern is changed.
Patients with frontal lobe damage will have great difficulty learning and remembering that
previously appropriate guidelines for effective behaviour are no longer appropriate.
Perseveration: The inability to determine a behaviour is inappropriate in one situation
because it was previously appropriate in another.

5.7: Behavioural Methods of Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive Neuroscience: A division of biopsychology that focusses on the use of functional brain
imaging technology to study the neural bases of human cognition.

Constituent Cognitive Process: Simple cognitive processes that are combined into complex
cognitive processes and that are assumed to be mediated in particular areas of the brain.
Paired-Image Subtraction Technique: The use of PET or fMRI to locate constituent cognitive
processes in the brain by producing an image of the difference in brain activity associated with two
different tasks that differ in terms of a single constituent cognitive process. (Posner & Raichle,
1994)
Default Mode: The pattern of brain activity that is associated with restful wakefulness, when a
subject is not focusing on the external world.
Default Mode Network: The network of brain structures that tend to be active in default mode.
o Includes medial and lateral parietal cortex, medial frontal cortex and lateral temporal cortex
A difficulty that comes up with fMRI and PET tests is that any sudden thought, trivial annoyance,
pang of hunger or wondering how much longer the test will take can all influence the results of an
individual study.
By averaging the difference between control tasks and experimental tasks across many participants,
the signal-to-noise ratio is reduced
If two participants have two distinct, but different patterns of cortical activity for the same
behaviour, the averaging process is likely to cancel them both out. This cancellation is problematic
because it hides centers of the bring that may be associated in some people but not others.
Localization of different abilities is highly variable among people, so cancelling out data that was in
fact used in the behaviour is a very likely possibility.
The area of the cortex that controls a particular ability can change as a result of experience.

5.8: Biopsychological Paradigms of Animal Behaviour

Paradigms for Assessment of Species-Common Behaviours
o Species-Common Behaviours: Behaviours that are displayed by virtually all members of the
species, or at the very least of all members of that species of similar age and gender.
Some commonly studied species common behaviours include eating, grooming, swimming,
copulating, fighting and nest-building.
o Open-Field Test: The subject is placed in a large, barren chamber and its activity is recorded
for the duration.
Common to have behaviour recorded by automatic recorder.
Common to paint lines on the floor and count how many lines were crossed during the time
in the barren room.
Also common to count the number of boluses (pieces of excrement) left by the animal.
Low activity scores and high bolus counts are generally indicative of fearful animals.
Thigmotaxic: Tending to stay near the walls of an open space such as a test chamber.
Rats become thigmotaxic when they are fearful.
Rats are often fearful when placed in an unfamiliar open space, but the fearfulness decreases
with repeated experience in the same open space.
o Tests of Aggressive and Defensive Behaviour
Colony-Intruder Paradigm: A paradigm for the study of aggressive and defensive
behaviours in male rats. A small male intruder is placed in an established rat colony in order
to assess the aggressive reactions of the colony's alpha male and the defensive responses of
the intruder.
Dominant male moves sideways towards the intruder, with its hair erect.
When the dominant rat nears the intruder it attempts to push the intruder off balance by

biting its flanks and back

The defender attempts to protect its flanks and back by rearing up on its hind legs and
pushing the dominant male away with its paws.
Defender may also roll on his back.
Also common to test a rat's resistance to being picked up as a measure of defensiveness.
0 is the lowest score and represents no resistance to being handled
10 is the highest score represents biting the experimenter
Elevated Plus Maze: A four armed, plus sign shaped maze mounted 50cm off the ground
(typically) with two arms missing the side walls and two arms that do have side walls.
Used to study defensiveness.
Typicaly used to study the anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing) effects of therapeutic drugs in
rats.
Test of defensiveness is the ratio of time spent in walled arms to time spent on unwalled
arms
Many established antianxiety medications consistently increase the amount of time rats
spend on open wall arms.
o Tests of Sexual Behaviour
Most research on rat copulation has focused on the sexual act itself.
Male mounts female from behind, grasping her hindquarters. If the female is receptive, she
will assume the lordosis position.
Lordosis: The arched-back, rump-up, tail-to-the-side posture of female rodent sexual
receptivity, which serves to facilitate intromission.
During some mounts the male successfully initiates intromission.
Intromission: Insertion of the penis into the vagina.
After intromission, the male dismounts by jumping backwards off of the female.
After a few seconds, the male remounts the female and intromission is attempted again.
After approximately 10 such cycles, the male mounts the female, intromits and ejaculates.
Three most common measures of male rat sexual behaviour:
Number of mounts required to achieve intromission
Number of intromissions required to achieve ejaculation
Interval between ejaculation and initiation of mounting.
Lordosis Quotient: Proportion of mounts initiated by the male that is met with lordosis
from the female. The most common measure of female sexual behaviour in rats.
Traditional Conditioning Paradigms
o Learning paradigms are important to biopsychologists for three reasons
Learning is a phenomenon of primary interest to biopsychologists
Because animals cannot follow instructions, it is often necessary to train them to behave in a
fashion consistent with the experiment
It is possible to infer much about the sensory, motor, motivational, and cognitive state of an
animal by its ability to learn and perform responses.
o Pavlovian Conditioning Paradigm: The experimenter pairs an initially neutral stimulus with
an unconditional stimulus to elicit an unconditional response
As a result of these pairings, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus which
then evokes the conditioned response in the absense of the unconditioned stimulus.
The conditioned response is usually, though not always, similar to the unconditioned

response evoked by the unconditioned stimulus

o Operant Conditioning Paradigm: The rate at which a behaviour is emitted is increased by
reinforcers and decreased by punishers.
Self-Stimulation Paradigm: A paradigm in which animals press a lever to administer
reinforcing electrical stimulation to their own brains.
Structures in the brain which support self-stimulation are often called pleasure centers.
Seminatural Animal Learning Paradigms
o Seminatural animal learning paradigms mimic learning situations an animal may encounter in
its natural environment.
o Forms of learning which are related to an animal's survival in the wild tend to be more fully
developed and related to innate neural mechanisms
o Conditioned Taste Aversion: Avoidance response that develops to tastes of food whose
consumption has been followed by illness.
In a standard conditioning experiment, the rat is given an emitic (nausea inducer) which is
paired with an unfamiliar taste. A single pairing is often enough to establish a conditioned
taste aversion.
Rats are neophobic, meaning that they are afraid of new things
Because rats are neophobic, when presented with a new food, they will consume only a
small quantity and wait for a period of time to see if they feel ill.
Conditioned taste aversions can be developed to familiar tastes as well, but these taste
aversions generally develop much more slowly. Conditioned taste aversions to familiar
tastes rarely develops after only a single food-illness pairing.
Cancer patients have reported developing taste aversion to foods they eat directly before
nausea-inducing cancer treatments
Conditioned taste aversion challenged the notion that learning typically occurs in a stepwise format.
Temporal contiguity is not essential to develop a conditioned taste aversion. Taste aversions
can be developed even if the rat does not get sick for hours after the food was consumed
Conditioned Taste Aversion challenged the notion that all conditioning proceeds along the
same path regardless of the stimuli and responses under investigation. For example, rats are
biologically prepared to learn to avoid tastes that have been paired with illness. It takes a
longer time to learn to avoid a colour that signifies illness, however.
o Radial Arm Maze Test: A widely used test of rats spacial ability in which the same arms are
baited on each trial and the rat must learn to visit only the baited arms once each during the
trial.
Radial Arm Maze: A maze with several arms radiating out from a central starting chamber.
Commonly used to study spacial learning in rats.
Rats have well developed spatial abilities. Their survival depends on their ability to navigate
through familiar spaces quickly and accurately as well remember which areas are likely to
have food.
In versions of the exercise where the same corridors are baited for each test rats quickly
learn which corridors do not contain food and rarely visit them.
Even when a special technique is used to remove all odours from the maze, rats will rarely
visit the same arm twice in the same day.
Because the arms of the maze are identical, the rat needs to use cues from the external
environment of the maze. This is true because rotating the maze or placing it in a different
setting disrupts the rat's ability to navigate the maze effectively.

o Morris Water Maze Test: A widely used test of spacial memory in which rats must learn to
swim directly to a platform hidden just beneath the surface of a circular pool of murky water.
Morris Water Maze: A pool of milky water that has a goal platform invisible just beneath
its surface and is used to study the ability of rats to learn spacial locations.
Useful for assessing the navigational skills of brain-lesioned or drugged animals.
o Conditioned Defensive Burying: The burial of a source of aversive stimulation by rodents.
A single aversive stimulus (mild shock, displeasing odour, air blast etc...) is placed on the
wall just above the floor. Rats learn quickly that the stimulus is aversive and respond by
flinging bedding material at the stimulus with their hands and head
Antianxiety drugs reduce the amount of conditioned defensive burying
This paradigm is used to study anxiety in humans.
o There are no methods of brain manipulation that alter only a single aspect of brain function.
o There are no measures of behaviour that do not reflect a combination of psychological
processes.
o Lines of research that use only a single method can often be interpretted in multiple different
ways
o Typically, important research questions are resolved only when several methods converge to
demonstrate the same answer.