Methods and Issues of Studying The Brain in Psychology

METHODS AND ISSUES
OF STUDYING THE
BRAIN IN PSYCHOLOGY
Kevin Brewer
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3
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Kevin Brewer BSocSc, MSc
An independent academic psychologist, based in England,

who has written extensively on different areas of
psychology with an emphasis on the critical stance
towards traditional ideas.
Orsett Psychological Services,

PO Box 179,
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Methods and Issues of Studying the Brain in Psychology; Kevin Brewer; 2009
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 2
CONTENTS
Page Number
1. Introduction 5
2. Studying the Brain Outside the Body 7
2.1. Tissue or cell culture 7

2.2. Post mortems 9
3. Studying Non-Human Animals 12
3.1. Olds and Milner (1954) 13

3.2. Key arguments for studying
non-human animals to understand humans 14
3.3. Key arguments against studying
non-human animals to understand humans 15
4. Intervention Techniques 18
4.1. Destruction of brain tissue 18

4.1.1. Psychosurgery 19
4.1.2. Brain lesions - example with
animals: Lashley (1931) 21
4.2. Split brain patients 24
4.3. Artificial stimulation 28
4.3.1. Wilder Penfield 29
4.3.2.Studying temporal aspects of
perception 34
5. Naturally Occurring Brain Damage 37
5.1. Brain injury/damage from birth 37

5.2. Acquired brain injury/damage 37
5.2.1. Phineas Gage 38
5.3. Brain injury/damage through illness 41
5.3.1. Clive Wearing 44
6. Recording Electrical Activity 47
6.1. Electroencephalogram 47
6.2. Evoked potentials or
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 3
event-related potentials 47
6.3. Magnetoencephalography 48
6.4. Single unit recording 48
7. Computer Tomography/Neuorimaging 50
7.1. Computerised axial tomography 52

7.2. Positron emission tomography 53
7.2.1 Single-photon emission
computerised tomography 55
7.2.2. Hippocampus and London taxi drivers 55
7.3. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging 58
7.4. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy 59
7.5. Functional magnetic resonance imaging 59
7.6. Ethical issues and neurimaging 60
8. New and Miscellaneous Techniques 65
9. Issues and Debates 66
9.1. Mind-brain relationship 66

9.2. Conscious and not conscious 69
10. References 75
11. Appendix 83
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 4
1. INTRODUCTION
The brain has been studied in psychology using a
number of different methods over time and currently:
i) Studied in detail outside the body as with post-

mortem brains, and in tissue cultures;
ii) Through studying the brains of non-human

animals;
iii) Intervention and artificial stimulation

techniques that deliberately damages or alter the brain
in some way;
iv) Studying case studies of naturally occurring

brain injury and damage;
v) Recording of electrical activity as with

electroencephalography (EEG);
vi) Modern technological methods of computer

tomography and neuroimaging - computerised axial
tomography (CAT), positron emission tomography (PET),
single-photon emission tomography (SPECT), magnatic
resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic imaging
(fMRI), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS);
There are many different ways used to study the

brain, but they can be classified as:
Invasive/non-invasive - whether the researcher goes

inside the skull (table 1);
Intervening with the brain's normal functioning or not

(table 2);
Studying the active or the static live brain, or the

dead brain (table 3);
Studying the structure or function of the brain (table

4).
INVASIVE NON-INVASIVE
Animal studies Patients with brain damage
Artificial stimulation Tissue culture
Destruction Transcranial Magnetic
Post-mortems Stimulation (TMS)
Tomography
Table 1 - Examples of invasive and non-invasive methods

of studying the brain.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 5
INTERVENTION NON-INTERVENTION
Animal studies Patients with brain damage
Artificial stimulation Post-mortems
Destruction Tissue culture
TMS Tomography
Table 2 - Methods of studying the brain involving

intervention or not.
ACTIVE LIVE BRAIN STATIC LIVE BRAIN DEAD BRAIN

Animal studies CAT scans Post-mortems
Artificial stimulation MRI
Destruction
Electrical recording
fMRI
Patients with brain
damage
PET scans
MEG
TMS
Table 3 - Methods studying the active or static live

brain, and the dead brain.
STRUCTURE FUNCTION BOTH

CAT scans Artificial stimulation Animal studies
MRI Destruction Post-mortems
Electrical recording
fMRI
Patients with brain damage
PET scans
MEG
Tissue culture
TMS
Table 4 - Methods studying the structure and function of

the brain.
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2. STUDYING THE BRAIN OUTSIDE THE BODY
One way to study the brain, and overcome the problem
of accessibility, is outside the body. This is done with
tissue or cell culture (live) and post-mortems (dead
tissue).
2.1. TISSUE OR CELL CULTURE
A small amount of brain tissues or cells can be kept

alive outside the body as tissue or cell cultures. These
are known as "in vitro" (outside the body) compared to
"in vivo" (inside the body)(Whatson 2004). The cells or
tissues continue to grow in nutrients (table 5).
Some cultures can continue to grow as long as
required ("immortalized cell lines") while others have a
limited lifespan (Whatson 2004).
A typical experiment involves stimulating a
particular cell, like a Purkinje cell from the cerebellum
(figure 1), in different ways to see the response
(Whatson 2004).
STRENGTHS
1. Ideal for the study of specific cells and their physiology.
2. The cells are alive and so have advantages over post-mortem

tissue, like responsiveness to stimuli.
3. No ethical concerns as with live participants.
4. Overcomes problems of studying these cells "in vivo".
WEAKNESSES
1. The study of individual cells without the normal interactions in

the brain. It is like studying a city by concentrating on one person
only.
2. Isolated cells behave differently in nutrients than in situ

(inside the brain) like maintaining their usual structure.
3. Very reductionist - trying to understand the complexity of the

whole brain from individual cells.
4. How are the cells and tissues obtained? Probably by use of an

invasive technique like brain surgery.
Table 5 - Strengths and weaknesses of using tissue or

cell culture to study the brain.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 7
Purkinje cells - green
(Source: Sbrander; in public domain)
Figure 1 - Mouse cerebellum seen with laser scanning

microscope.
2.2. POST-MORTEMS
Historically, this was the first method used to

study the brain. The brain of the dead person (or animal)
is examined. It "remains the gold standard" method
because of the ability to study genetic, molecular,
cellular, and neurochemical aspects (Deep-Soboslay et al
2005). This gives it advantage over the other methods of
study of non-human animals, or of live humans in
neuroimaging studies (table 6).
The brain can be sliced to reveal the internal parts
as well as evidence of abnormalities in size or shape,
and tumours, for example.
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There is a routine 48-hour interval between death
and the post-mortem (Harrison 1996).
STRENGTHS
1. Overcomes limitations of using other methods with animals to study

human behaviour.
2. More detailed examination of genetic, molecular, cellular, and

neurochemical aspects of the brain than neuroimaging of live
participants.
3. Used to study brain structure as well as biochemistry.
4. Gains details that non-invasive studies cannot, like the ability

to study individual parts of the brain under a microscope.
5. No concerns about the ethics of treatment as with live

participants.
6. Non-intervention method which can be used with humans and non-

human animals.
7. Able to investigate the internal parts of the brain.
8. Complex techniques, like immunohistochemistry, aid the

understanding of brain chemistry.
WEAKNESSES
1. Death may cause changes for the brain.
2. Confounding variables include:

Peri-mortem (ie: before death); eg: fever as cause of death;
Post-mortem; eg: method of storing body after death;
Miscellaneous; eg: age of individual, smoker, drug addict.
3. Not possible to establish cause and effect relationships as in

experiments with live participants.
4. Problems of retrospective diagnosis of problems after death.
5. Reductionist - studies individual parts, even cells, and not the

whole brain.
6. Dead tissue decays and dries out quickly even with a speedy
preservation process.
7. The brain has to be preserved by chemicals, like formalin. Brain

slices are often stained by Golgi stain or horseradish peroxidase to
aid microscopy (Whatson 2004). These processes alter the brain.
8. Methods using live human participants allows them to talk about

their sensations and thoughts while the brain is being studied. This
is not possible with post-mortems or studies with non-human animals.
Table 6 - Strengths and weaknesses of studying the brain

using post-mortems.
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The best known examples of discoveries about the
brain using the post-mortem method with human brains
relate to Broca's and Wernicke's areas (figure 2). In
1861, Paul Broca (figure A appendix) reported the case of
"Tan" (box 1). This was a man who could only say "tan-
tan", but had a fuller understanding of speech (known now
as expressive aphasia). The post-mortem of "Tan" found
damage in the left frontal lobe in a region now known as
Broca's area.
Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe is named
after Carl Wernicke who studied stroke patients able to
speak, but who had problems with language comprehension
(known now as receptive aphasia).
(Source: US Federal Government; in public domain;

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/aphasia.asp)
Figure 2 - Broca's and Wernicke's areas.
Complex techniques today using electron microscopy

allow researcher to understand the biochemistry of the
brain (Whatson 2004):
Immunohistochemistry - washing brain slices in certain

fluids highlights antibodies, for example, present.
Antibodies are reactions to attacks on the immune
system and are taken as evidence of diseases;
Autoradiography - radioactive substances can be used to

show what substances are within the brain tissue;
In situ hybridization - this can locate proteins in the

brain tissue.
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"Tan" was 51 years old when he died on 17th April, 1861
at Bicetre hospital in France, and he had lost his speech
before 21 years old (when first seen at the hospital). He
was also paralysed on the right side.
His intelligence was affected to "a great degree" "but he
maintained certainly more of it than was needed for
talking". He answered some questions with gestures, and
others not at all (even when the answer was obvious).
At the autopsy, the dura mater was found to be thickened and
vascularised, covered on the inside with a thick pseudo-membranous
layer; the pia mater thick, opaque, and adherent to the anterior
lobes particularly the left lobe. The frontal lobe of the left
hemisphere was soft over a great part of its extent; the convolutions
of the orbital region, although atrophied, preserved their shape;
most of the other frontal convolutions were entirely destroyed. The
result of this destruction of the cerebral substance was a large
cavity, capable of holding a chicken egg, and filled with serous
fluid. The softness had spread up to the ascending fold of the
parietal lobe, and down to the marginal fold of the temporal-
sphenoidal lobe; finally, in the depths, [it spread to] the region of
the insula and the extraventricular nucleus of the striate body; it
was the lesion of this last organ which was responsible for the
paralysis of the movement of the two limbs of the right side.
However, it suffices to cast a glance at this paper to recall that
the principal home and the original seat of the softness, is the
middle part of the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere; it is there
than one find the most extensive lesions -- the most advanced and the
oldest. The softness progressed very slowly to the adjoining parts
and one can regard it as certain that it was there for a very long
period. [p. 238] during which the illness did not affect the
convolutions of the frontal lobe. This period probably corresponds to
the eleven years that preceded the paralysis of the right arm, and
during which the patient had maintained his intelligence, having lost
nothing other than speech.
All this permits, however, the belief that, in the present case, the
lesion of the frontal lobe was the cause of the loss of speech (Broca
1861 pp237-8; translated by Christopher. D. Green 2003;
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/index.htm).
Box 1 - Details of post-mortem of "Tan" by Paul Broca

(1861).
In terms of the biochemistry of the human brain,

Owen et al's (1978) study of the brains of sufferers from
schizophrenia after death found an excess of the
receptors for the neurotransmitter, dopamine, in the
limbic system. Specifically, more D2 receptors than in
the brains of non-schizophrenic individuals.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 11
3. STUDYING NON-HUMAN ANIMALS
Non-human animals can be studied in ways similar to
humans or in cases where it is not possible to study
humans. Often non-human animals are used where direct
intervention is required. Table 7 compares the methods
used to study the brain of human and non-human animals.
METHOD SAME DIFFERENT
Post-mortems yes
Destruction Larger areas than with humans
Artificial Greater risks than with humans

stimulation and less concern about side effects,
including death
Table 7 - Methods used to study the brain of human and

non-human animals.
Home Office (2005) data showed that in all licensed

scientific experiments in 2005, 20 542 animals had
"interference with brain" and 13 978 "injection into
brain". The most common animals used were rats and mice.
These figures relate to all scientific research, not just
psychology nor only to study the brain.
There are both strengths and weaknesses in studying
non-human animals to understand the human brain (table
8).
STRENGTHS
1. Non-human animals can be used in ways unacceptable with humans.
2. A "shared biological heritage" between human and non-human

animals.
3. The whole process of development can be observed in animals with

short lifespans.
4. Greater control over variables by keeping animals in standard

laboratory cages.
5. Gives ideas for research with humans.
6. Benefits from research findings for humans.
WEAKNESSES
1. The physiology of non-human animals is not exactly the same as

humans.
2. The morality of using animals in experiments.
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3. The ethics of inflicting pain and suffering upon animals in
experiments.
4. Human and non-human animals are different in a number of ways

including the use of language, and flexibility in learning.
5. Animals are kept and studied in the artificial environment of the

laboratory.
6. There are alternative methods available which involve studying

humans to understand the human brain.
Table 8 - Strengths and weaknesses of studying non-human

animals for understanding the human brain in psychology.
3.1. OLDS AND MILNER (1954)
In a classic experiment, Olds and Milner (1954)

placed electrodes in the brains of fifteen male hooded
rats in order to stimulate particular areas of the brain.
Under anaesthesia, the 0.010 inch diameter electrodes
were implanted in the brain and attached to a block
cemented on the skull and wires through which the minute
electrical signals (0.5-5 volts) were sent. Straight
after testing, which occurred three days after the
operation, the animals were killed ("sacrificed") in
order to perform a post-mortem study of the brain.
Different areas of the brain were implanted in order
to see how the rats responded to stimulation of the
areas. The research concentrated on, what was later
called, the "reward" or "pleasure centre" (Olds 1956) of
the brain. The rats would press the lever frequently to
receive stimulation to electrodes in that area of the
brain (in forebrain).
For example, "rat no.32" pressed the lever over 3000
times in twelve hours, and "rat no.34" 75000 times in the
same period. This is known as electrical self-stimulation
of the brain" (ESB).
Table 9 lists the main strengths and weaknesses of
the research by Olds and Milner (1954).
STRENGTHS
1. Controlled environment of the experiment including implanting of

electrodes and testing.
2. Both overt behaviour was observed (lever pressing) and the effect
upon the brain (post-mortem study).
3. Able to isolate areas of the brain involved in feelings of

"pleasure" and "reward".
4. Animals not deprived of food and water during the experiment.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 13
WEAKNESSES
1. The effects of the operation upon the rats' brain (ie: damage
caused other than implanting the electrodes).
2. The rats' lives ended immediately after testing for post-mortem

study. The ethics and morality of such behaviour by the researchers.
3. Not studying "natural" behaviour as rats inhibited by, for

example, wires attached to skull.
4. A small number of rats were used, and different areas of the brain
tested (eg: 4 rats had electrodes in septal area, one rat in
hippocampus).
Table 9 - Strengths and weaknesses of experiment by Olds

and Milner (1954).
3.2. KEY ARGUMENTS FOR STUDYING NON-HUMAN ANIMALS TO

UNDERSTAND HUMANS
1. It is possible to use invasive techniques that would

be unacceptable with humans. This includes the
destruction of larger areas of the brain, and greater
levels of artificial stimulation without concern for the
side effects or consequences. In other words, it is not
seen as an issue if the animal dies, which is not
possible with human participants.
2. In terms of physiology, non-human and human animals

are the same. The biology of the brain is the same with
common evolutionary origins, even if the human brain has
developed further than other mammals. This is called the
"shared biological heritage". For example, dopamine in
the substantia nigra area of the brain controls movement
in the same way in rats and humans (Whatson 2004).
There are also common ailments and diseases. For
example, narcolepsy (sleep disorder) occurs in both
humans and certain breeds of dogs (Whatson 2004).
3. Non-human animals with short lifespans allow

researchers to study the whole proces of development and
several generations. Such animals can be kept in
controlled environments which limit outside influences
and confounding variables.
Thus the mouse is seen as an ideal candidate to
study with its short lifespan, rapid maturation, multiple
offspring, documented genetics, and ease of housing
(Whatson 2004).
But Baldwin and Berkoff (2007) reported evidence

that standard laboratory conditions used with mice and
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 14
rats caused stress, enough to affect the animals'
physiology, and this produced a major confounding
variable.
3.3. KEY ARGUMENTS AGAINST STUDYING NON-HUMAN ANIMALS TO

UNDERSTAND HUMANS
1. Non-human animals are not exactly the same as humans

in terms of physiology. For example, comparison of visual
processing in the brain of rhesus monkeys and humans
found similarities, but also key differences in "the
higher-order areas of the association cortex" (Orban et
al 2004).
The study of non-human animals to aid the

understanding of humans is based upon the assumption that
similar physiology and genes do the same things in
different species. In the case of genes, similar genes in
different species are said to be orthologous (Liao and
Zhang 2008). But if the same gene had different functions
in two species, this would challenge research using
animals to understand human genetics.
Liao and Zhang (2008) found 1450 orthologous genes
between mice and humans, and then concentrated upon 120
human genes. Genes were rated as essential ("loss of
function renders the fitness of the organism zero") or
non-essential. In practice, "essential" means the
organism dies before puberty, or if survives into
adulthood is infertile. Twenty-seven (22.5%) of the human
genes rated as essential in humans were non-essential in
the mouse. This study focused upon genes for diseases.
So it could be that results from animal studies are

not applicable to humans because many of the apparent
anomalies in animal experiments merely reflect the unique
biology of the species being studied (Barnard and Kaufman
1997).
In another example, a vaccine for Alzheimer's
disease ("AN-1972") worked on genetically modified mice,
but there was evidence of brain inflammation in human
clinical trials (Roundabout 2002).
2. The ethical and moral question of whether it is right

to use non-human animals in this way, particularly when
pain and suffering are involved.
This issue is addressed by legal restrictions on the
use of animals in experiments, like the Animals
(Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Britain. Any
experiment using a non-human animal requires a licence
from the Home Office.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 15
In a report for the British Union for the Abolition
of Vivisection (BUAV), Langley (2006) listed the types of
experiments used with primates for "fundamental
research". This is "knowledge-driven studies with no
foreseen medical relevance, to basic medical research
that might, in time, contribute to new ways of preventing
or treating human disease" (p84). This included brain
lesions, electrodes and probes to study vision, taste,
hearing and the brain of marmosets and macaques. The
reality of these experiments is suffering for the animals
(box 2).
Vision research and similar studies on primates invariably cause

suffering, sometimes classed as substantial. For electrophysiology,
surgery typically, involves removing an area of skull to expose the
brain, and cementing a metal ring over the area. To the ring is
attached an electrode positioner and electrodes. Metal tubes are
cemented onto the skull for restraining the monkey by the head during
recording and stimulating sessions. Scleral search coils may be
implanted in the eye to monitor eye movements.
Animals are sometimes deprived of food or water for many hours prior
to the experiments, to motivate them to perform visual tasks. During
recording or stimulating sessions, which can last for several hours a
day, animals are usually conscious and restrained in chairs by the
metal fixtures cemented to the skull. To avoid other animals
tampering with the implants, in some laboratories monkeys are kept in
solitary confinement for the duration of experiments which can last
for months or years.
Some monkeys are used and re-used in similar experiments for very
long periods of time. In the late 1980s, a monkey used at
Oxford University in taste research had had electrode implants in the
brain for five years, during which four experiments were
conducted. At the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, some
monkeys had been kept instrumented in single caging for two years,
while being used and re-used in vision research.
In tract-tracing studies, monkeys are injected with tracers into the

eye, or elsewhere along the visual pathways. They are later killed
for post-mortem analysis. Sometimes specific areas of the brain are
ablated, or fibrous tracts severed, to discover the roles of these
areas in vision (Langley 2006 p86).
Box 2 - Examples of the reality of suffering of

experiments on vision, hearing and taste with primates.
Concern generally over experiments with non-human

animals has led to the "Three Rs" campaign to Replace,
Reduce and Refine such experiments (Langley et al 2007).
For example, the replacement of animal lesioning
experiments, where an area of the brain is surgically
damaged, by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) with
human volunteers, where a magnetic field temporarily and
safely disrupts part of the brain (table 10).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 16
STRENGTHS
Non-invasive.
Temporary "virtual lesion".
Use of humans to study humans.
Repeated measures design experiments possible (ie: same
individuals tested with and without TMS).
Avoids problems of brain surgery, including operation itself, side
effects, and functional re-organisation of the brain afterwards.
WEAKNESSES
Not as precise as surgery in inhibiting certain areas of the

brain.
Only short-term: not able to show permanent and long-term effects
of damage to particular areas of the brain.
Table 10 - Strengths and weaknesses of the use of TMS

with humans as alternative to animal lesioning
experiments.
3. There are differences between human and non-human

animals in terms of the use of language, and the
flexibility of humans to learn.
"Lack of linguistic complexity.. restricts animals'
ability to solve problems by the manipulation of symbols,
to reflect on the past and future.." and "..it may be
only a human being who monitors his own monitoring,
seeing his behaviour as more or less efficiently goal-
directed.." (Hinde 1987 p26).
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4. INTERVENTION TECHNIQUES
These techniques involve interfering with the brain
in some way either through destruction or artificial
stimulation of a particular area.
4.1. DESTRUCTION OF BRAIN TISSUE
Brain tissue in a particular region of the brain may

be deliberately destroyed or damaged to see the effect
upon the behaviour of the human or non-human animal. For
ethical reasons, it is more often with non-human animals.
There are different techniques used to destroy the

brain tissue:
i) Ablation
This is the surgical removal of a small area of

brain. This can be done as an experimental investigation
as well as medical intervention for malfunctioning brain
tissue or to alleviate the symptoms of a disorder like
severe epilepsy.
Blasdel (1992) reported work with a technique that

involved surgically removing part of the skull of a
monkey and replacing it with a glass window. An optical
dye is injected in the brain and it responded by colour
change to an electrical field (ie: brain activity). When
applied to the visual cortex, it was possible to
establish which cells responded to left or right eye
stimuli.
This technique is most effective when studying the
surface of the brain (Eysenck and Flanagan 2001).
Chemical ablation is also used in a technique known

as excitotoxocity (Whatson 2004). Cells are, in effect,
poisoned, and destroyed that way.
ii) Lesion
This involves cutting part of the brain.

The procedure with a lesion is known as "-ectomy",
and with removal, it is an "-otomy" (Whatson 2004). For
example, historically, psychosurgery with individuals
with mental illness has focused on the pre-frontal
cortex, and tissue connecting the frontal lobes to other
areas of the brain. Pre-frontal lobotomy removes the
cutting tissue and pre-frontal leucotomy cuts it.
Ablations and lesions had been performed with
knives, lasers that burn away the tissue, more recently,
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 18
or with a strong electric current that does the same.
4.1.1. Psychosurgery
Modern psychosurgery was began by Egas Moniz in 1936

who developed the technique of prefrontal leucotomy.
However, "history has not treated the man or his
invention kindly. Scientists and lay people alike look
back upon the age of psychosurgery with critical eyes,
deploring the procedure that turned men and women into
‘mental invalids’ or ‘drooling zombies’" (Tierney 2000
p22).
Moniz (birth name: Antonio Caetano de Abreu Freire)

was a Portuguese neurologist born in 1874. His technique
to cut part of the frontal lobes in order to "cure"
mental illness was based on the (incorrect) assumption
that pathological circuits in the brain has become fixed
(causing the mental illness), and surgery would eliminate
the consequent abnormal thinking (Tierney 2000).
Psychosurgery had been tried in the late nineteenth
century to treat neurological symptoms of syphilis. But
this involved making holes in the skull to drain fluid
from the brain which was causing the insanity. Or parts
of the cortex were removed in schizophrenics to reduce
aggression. Both techniques "were greeted with much
criticism from the medical communities in Britain and and
Europe" (Tierney 2000).
Moniz's aim was to destroy connections between the

prefrontal cortex and other brain regions. The early
operations did this by injecting a small amount of
"absolute alcohol" which killed cells, while the later
operations used a "leucotome" 1. This was a specially
designed cutting device (Tierney 2000).
The first series of operations (Moniz 1936) included
twenty individuals with anxiety, depression, and
schizophrenia. The first patient (a 63 year-old woman)
was pronounced "cured" of her paranoia and hallucinations
two months after the operation. Of the twenty, Moniz
rated seven as cured, seven as improved, and six
unchanged after the operation.
Tierney (2000) noted the criticisms of Moniz's

report from today's point of view:
Inadequate follow-up times (eg: days or weeks only);

Absence of a control group - Not standard practice in
1
Picture at http://www.medicine.manchester.ac.uk/images/museum/full/warlinghamparkleucotome.jpg.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 19
the 1930s;
Superficial evaluation of patients (ie: no standardised
testing of abilities);
Subjective evaluation of patients performed by himself
or "asylum physicians who were aware of the aims of the
procedure" (p31). Blind assessment of patients also not
standard procedure in 1930s;
Ignoring negative changes in personality, emotions, and
behaviour after the operation.
Moniz felt that the "facts speak for themselves:
These were hospital patients who were well studied

and well followed. The recoveries have been
maintained. I cannot believe that the recoveries
can be explained upon simple coincidence.
Prefrontal leucotomy is a simple operation, always
safe, which may prove to be an effective surgical
treatment in certain cases of mental disorder
(Moniz 1937 p1385 quoted in Tierney 2000 p31).
The problem of the time was that the alternatives in

terms of treatments for severe mental illness were
limited to techniques like insulin coma and
electroconvulsive shock. Anything that seemed to work
would be well received.
Prefrontal leucotomies were quickly popularised in
many countries, and, especially in the USA, were promoted
by Walter Freeman (eg: Freeman and Watts 1950).
"Freeman’s energetic support for psychosurgery, the sheer
number of operations he performed, and his development of
the infamous transorbital lobotomy (in which frontal
white matter was destroyed via an ice pick-like
instrument pushed into the brain though the bone behind
the eyeball) are legendary..." (Tierney 2000 p31).
The attitude of the time towards mental illness can
be seen:
Freeman repeatedly argued, however, that the

symptoms of mental illness were more distressing
to the patients and their families than the
symptoms incurred by the surgery, and he pointed
out that even if patients were not completely cured,
the surgery often made them easier to care for
and able to live at home (Tierney 2000 p32).
Moniz began by cutting the brain areas, while

subsequent method of lobotomies destroyed brain areas.
For example, in the USA, less than 300 lobotomies were
performed in 1945, but this increased to nearly 5000 in
1951 (total of 20 000 between 1945-51), and 10 000
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 20
individuals had some form of psychosurgery between 1942-
54 in England and Wales (Tierney 2000). "Thus Moniz’s
innovative, ‘audacious’ procedure prematurely shed its
status as an experimental, very cautiously applied
operation, and entered a period of indiscriminate use and
unchecked expansion" (Tierney 2000 p33).
As Moniz received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine in 1949 for his work, voices of dissent for
psychosurgery were being raised. An article in the "New
England Journal of Medicine" (Hoffman 1949) described the
post-operative patients as, among other things, "dull,
apathetic, listless, without drive or initiative.."
(p233; quoted in Tierney 2000 p33).
"In retrospect, it seems obvious that the blind,

grossly imprecise techniques employed by lobotomists
could only impair the intricate functioning of the human
frontal lobes, creating additional emotional and
behavioural impairments rather than curing the initial
disease" (Tierney 2000 p33).
The 1950s and 1960s saw the development of
psychotropic drugs for mental illness, and psychosurgery
declined in popularity, though it is still used today.
The "idea that brain surgery may help the mentally ill
has never completely died, but instead returned to its
point of origin, becoming once again a technique used
very sparingly on patients with severe, chronic,
treatment-refractory disorders" (Tierney 2000 p34).
4.1.2. Brain Lesions - Example with Animals: Lashley

(1931)
Lashley was interested in the localisation of brain

function (ie: different parts of the brain have different
functions). He began critical of the view from the
nineteenth century that "because the mind is a unit the
brain must also act as a unit" (p245). This is the view
that the brain works as a whole for each ability.
Lashley studied rats using apparatus of the day like
a choice of cardboard doors with visual patterns and rats
learn which pattern represents food, and mazes. Then an
area of cortex was damaged to see the effect on visual
perception and memory.
It was found that damage to small areas of the
occipital (visual) cortex affected vision the same as
destruction of the whole cortex. This showed that
specific functions were localised to particular areas.
In some cases, the rats' brains were damaged before

learning the maze. These animals were slower to learn
than healthy rats, and it did not matter which part of
the cortex was destroyed: "The degree of retardation
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 21
seems proportionate to the amount of tissue destroyed,
irrespective of the locus of injury" (p249). For example,
destruction of any 10% of the cortex produced over one
hundred errors during learning, 20% over two hundred, and
80% over 1000 errors. There was a correlation of 0.84
between amount of cortex destroyed and number of errors
during maze learning.
If the rats learned the maze, and then underwent
surgery, the memory loss was related again to extent of
damage not location. So "every part of the cortex plays a
part in learning and in retention" (p250). This has been
called the equipotentiality or mass action of neural
tissue.
Lashley's work had shown the paradox of the brain

that certain functions are clearly localised to
particular brain areas, whereas other functions are not
and involve the whole cortex.
Lashley defended the use of rats in his experiments

with the following arguments:
"simplicity of the animal's behaviour, its steadiness

in activity under the motivation of hunger and its
availability in large numbers" (p246);
their use "only as a means of outlining problems and

gaining clues which must in every case be retested by
experiments with primates and by comparison with
clinical evidence" (p246);
"these lower animals seem to show the beginnings of

every human mental trait and I have come to doubt that
the evolution of mammals has introduced any changes in
the fundamental organisation or mechanism of cerebral
activity" (p246).
iii) Suction
This is the removal of an area of the brain by

inserting a fine tube called a cannula and applying
suction, and is known as aspiration (Whatson 2004).
iv) Temporary or transient lesion
Techniques like freezing with cold liquids

deactivate particular areas of the brain or an
anaesthetic can be used. These processes do not
permanently damage the brain.
For example, Keenan et al (2001) studied five
patients undergoing the intracortoid amobarbital (WADA)
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 22
test for evaluation for surgery to treat epilepsy. This
test inactivates one cerebral hemisphere through
anaesthesia.
Five right-handed (left hemisphere language-
dominant) patients were shown pictures of morphed faces
(a combination of own face and a famous face) during the
anaesthesia of one hemisphere. After recovery from the
anaesthetic, the patients were asked between a picture of
their won face and the famous face as to which was shown.
All patients selected the "self" face after anaesthesia
of the left hemisphere and four of them chose the famous
face after anaesthesia of the right hemisphere. The key
finding for the researchers was the role of the right
hemisphere in self recognition.
There are strengths and weaknesses to using these

techniques which cause damage to study the brain (table
11).
STRENGTHS
1. Researchers can control which particular areas of the brain to

destroy.
2. Allows researchers to pinpoint particular areas of the brain to

establish the function of that area.
3. Able to measure behaviour before and after the brain damage.
4. Allows for replication of experiments.
5. Advantages over case studies of naturally occurring brain damage

which is uncontrollable and unique to the individuals involved.
6. It is possible to compare the behaviour of the normal and the

abnormal brain.
WEAKNESSES
1. Produces permanent brain damage in most cases.
2. The damaged brain is no longer a normal brain, and so the

applicability of findings to the general population are open to
question.
3. Ethics of such techniques with human or non-human animals.
4. Accuracy of destruction process - either damaging the wrong area

or causing extra damage beyond the area of focus. This is
particularly relevant in the past when techniques were not as
sophisticated as today.
5. Side effects of the operation.
6. There is usually a time lag between the operation to destroy the

brain tissue and the measurement of behaviour. Changes to the brain
may occur during that time.
Table 11 - Strengths and weaknesses of the deliberate

destruction of brain tissue for understanding the brain.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 23
4.2. SPLIT-BRAIN PATIENTS
There are situations where the brain has been

deliberately damaged for medical reasons, like with
split-brain patients.
The brain is divided into two hemispheres which are
connected by two hundred million nerve fibres known as
the corpus callosum (figure 3). Split-brain patients are
a number of individuals who, for medical reasons, had the
corpus callosum cut in an operation called a
commissurotomy or callosotomy. Thus the two hemispheres
become separate (ie: unable to communicate).
(Source: Gray's Anatomy of Human Body, 20th US ed, 1918; in public domain)
Figure 3 - Drawing of brain from above showing corpus

callosum.
In the late 1950s, three individuals (WJ, NG, and

LB; Gazzaniga 1995) with very severe epilepsy had this
operation, and it "virtually eliminated" the seizures.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 24
These individuals were studied, initially by Roger Sperry
who was joined by Michael Gazzaniga (Hock 2002). The
surgeons in California, Phillip Vogel and Joseph Borgen,
performed nine operations between 1962 and 1968, and more
operations have taken place in the USA, France and
Australia since then (Trevarthan 1987).
Gazzaniga (1967) reported tests on the patients.

Different types of tests were developed to assess each
hemisphere.
1. Visual test
Individuals were asked to focus on a point in the

middle of the screen, and information was flashed on one
side (visual field), so that only one eye could see it.
This is known as the stimulus lateralization technique.
This was tried with a row of light bulbs. When those
on the right side were flashed, the patient reported
seeing them, but when on the left side, the patient
claimed to see nothing. However, when asked to point at
the light that flashed, the patient did equally well for
both sides.
What was happening? Information from the right side
goes into the left hemisphere, which is also the area for
speech, and so the patient could answer the question.
Information from the left side goes into the right
hemisphere without language, and thus the patient cannot
answer. Normally information passes between the
hemispheres, and so this is not a problem.
In one variation of this test, the researchers

flashed a picture of a nude woman among the other
pictures. When presented to the right eye, the female
patient "verbally identified the picture of a nude", but
when presented to the left eye, "she said.. she saw
nothing, but almost immediately a sly smile spread over
her face and she began to chuckle.. Although the right
hemisphere could not describe what it had seen, the sight
nevertheless elicited an emotional response like the one
evoked in the left hemisphere" (Gazzaniga 1967 p29).
2. Tactile test
The apparatus consisted of a screen through which

the individual could touch an object but not see it. When
objects were touched by the right hand, the patient was
able to name them. But when touched by the left hand, the
patient could not name them. However, they were able to
correctly pick it out from a choice of objects presented
as pictures.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 25
3. Visual and tactile test
A picture of an object was shown to one eye and the

task was to feel for that object behind the screen. When
a picture was presented to the left eye, patients denied
seeing anything, but they could find the object with
their left hand behind the screen.
Furthermore, a picture of a cigarette, for example,
could be shown to the left visual field, and the left
hand could find a related object, like an ashtray, behind
the screen. "Oddly enough.. even after their correct
response, ad while they were holding the ashtray in their
left hand, they were unable to name or describe the
object or the picture of the cigarette" (Gazzaniga 1967
p26).
4. Auditory test
This type of test showed that the right hemisphere

could comprehend language even if there is no speech
centre. Patients were asked to reach into a bag of
objects with their left hand and find a particular thing,
which they could do. The could also find objects
described like "the fruit monkeys like best".
But Gazzaniga (1998) has admitted that the original
patients were unusual, and the right hemisphere may not
be able to comprehend language at all.
5. Drawing test
The patients were asked to copy a simple drawing,

like a cube, which could only be seen by one side of the
visual field. Drawings presented to the left eye and
drawn by the left hand were more accurate. This is
because the right hemisphere is better at spatial
relationships.
Gazzaniga (1985) has argued that the brain is really

two brains because of the specialisation in ability in
each hemisphere. Levy (1985), among others, has
challenged this idea: "Normal people have not half a
brain, nor two brains, but one gloriously differentiated
brain, with each hemisphere contributing its specialised
abilities" (p44).
There are very rare cases of children born without a
corpus callosum, and it was found that information was
being transmitted between the hemispheres (Hommet and
Billard 1998).
Gazzinaga (1998) reported a case that seemed to
suggest that communication between the hemispheres was
happening in split-brain patients. For example, when the
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 26
word "bow" was flashed to one eye, and "arrow" to the
other, the patient produced a bow and arrow drawings. But
"we finally determined that integration had actually
taken place on the paper, not in the brain". A patient
shown the word "sky" in one eye and "scraper" in the
other produced a drawing of the sky above a scraper, and
not a skyscraper which would have been integration as in
the normal brain.
However, the word "fire" followed by "arm", for
example, presented to the left eye produced a drawing of
a rifle from the patient. Thus each hemisphere is capable
of integrating information itself.
The study of split-brain patients has strengths and

weaknesses for understanding the brain (table 12).
STRENGTHS
1. Possible to study rare cases and unusual events to understand more

about the normal brain.
2. It has led to increased knowledge about the different functions of

each hemisphere and brain lateralisation.
3. The knowledge of the location of different abilities has aided in

treating individuals with injury to particular brain areas (Hock
2002).
4. Well documented cases studied over many years.
5. Split-brains in humans have shown that the human brain is

different non-humans. Split-brains in monkeys, for example, still
show communicate between the hemispheres.
6. The original patients have been studied in many different ways

over the years, and testing different hypotheses about the brain.
WEAKNESSES
1. There are only a small number of such case studies.
2. The brains of these patients are abnormal because of the

operation, which means they are not necessarily comparable to the
normal brain.
3. It is not clear how much the epileptic seizures had damaged the
brain before the operation.
4. The brain has changed post-operation. For example, a few patients

developed speech in both hemispheres (Gazzaniga 1995).
5. Details of the original cases are not as well documented as modern

cases where neuroimaging can establish the exact damage.
6. The idea of two separate brains in one head has been challenged.
Table 12 - Strengths and weaknesses of studying split-

brain patients to understand the brain.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 27
4.3. ARTIFICIAL STIMULATION
This method involves stimulating the brain in some

way to see the effect. It is usually chemical or
electrical. Table 13 lists the strengths and weaknesses.
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
1. The researcher is able to see 1. Most studies involve small
the exact effect of controlled samples which makes it difficult
stimulation. to prove that the precise effect
is the same for all.
2. It can be used with human and
non-human animals. 2. Stimulation, particularly with
drugs, can have more than one
3. Researchers are able to make effect. Thus it is difficult to
baseline measures before the interpret the results.
process begins which is not
possible with naturally occurring 3. Invasive.
changes.
4. Some processes can be
4. Chemical stimulation is a good irreversible.
way to study the biochemistry of
the brain. 5. The implanting of micro-
electrodes in the brain changes
5. It is possible to use with the brain (ie: it is no longer a
humans when the brain is operated "natural" brain).
upon for medical reasons.
Table 13 - Strengths and weaknesses of artificial

stimulation of the brain.
i) Chemical stimulation
The biochemistry of the brain can be altered by

chemical substances to see the effects. Chemicals can be
ingested (eaten or drunk) or injected. Micro-injections
use thin needles that can inject minute quantities of
chemicals into precise areas of the brain through an
opening in the skull. The technique of micro-
iontophoresis (using micro-pipettes) can even influence
individual neurons (Whatson 2004).
Chemical substances can either mimic biochemical

processes (agonist drugs) or block the activity
(antagonist drugs).
For example, Harris et al (2005) were interested in
the role of a neurotransmitter (orexin) in the lateral
hypothalamus in reward-seeking behaviours. Male rats were
conditioned to associate one chamber of two with a reward
(food, cocaine, or morphine). Injection of an orexin
antagonist reduced the preference for the rewarding
chamber. Thus it was concluded that orexin must play a
role in the brain in reward-seeking behaviour.
While learning and memory can be studied by blocking
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 28
the consolidation of memory in mice with a drug that
inhibits protein synthesis, for example. Mice can learn
the maze, but three hours later have no recall of the
correct path (Murphy and Naish 2004).
ii) Direct electrical cortical stimulation (DECS)
This technique uses micro-electrodes to stimulate

the surface of the brain.
4.3.1. Wilder Penfield
During operations on the brain (between 1920s-50s),

Wilder Penfield (figure B appendix) stimulated the
surface of the exposed brain of individual undergoing
brain surgery for epilepsy with a weak electric current
(box 3). Patients, who were conscious during the
operation, reported vivid memories and perceptions:
There is an area of the surface of the human brain

where local electrical stimulation can call back
a sequence of past experience... It is as though
a wire recorder, or a strip of cinematographic
film with sound track, had been set in motion
within the brain. The sights and sounds, and the
thoughts, of a former day pass through the
man's mind again (Penfield 1959 p1719).
Sterilization of scalp: local injection of nupercaine in solutions of

1 : 1,500 and 1 : 4,000 to which adrenalin is added. The sterile
towels are then arranged perpendicularly so that the patient is cool,
can see and move freely, and can be observed constantly. The role of
anaesthetist is most important even though a general anaesthetic is
rarely given, and in all of the records found in this communication
we are indebted to our anaesthetist, Miss Mary Roach, who constantly
followed the behaviour and movements of the patients as well as their
blood-pressure, pulse and general condition through the long and
sometimes trying ordeal of electrical exploration of the cerebral
cortex.
Osteoplastic craniotomy is used to expose large areas of the

hemisphere, and the bone is replaced at the close of operation. The
exposed brain is kept warm by the heat of lights focussed upon it,
and moistened with Ringer's solution applied with an atomizer.
Stimulation is carried out by either unipolar or bipolar platinum
electrodeswhich emerge from a glass handle and are attached to
insulated wires, all of which may be autoclaved (Penfield and Boldrey
1937 pp396-397).
Box 3 - Details of operation techniques as used by

Penfield in 1930s.
"Gentle electrical stimulation" of the temporal lobe

ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 29
in conscious patients produced sudden, powerful
experiences which stopped when the electrode was removed.
"The conclusion is unavoidable that the music a patient
hears or the appearance before him of his mother or
friend are memories. It seems evident that in some way
the stimulating electrode is activating acquired patterns
of neuronal connexion which are involved in the mechanism
of memory. The patient considers and thinks over these
hallucinations as he would a memory which he had himself
summoned" (Penfield 1947 p343).
Table 14 gives some examples of individual patients.
In most cases, stimulation of the same area produced
the same experience "provided the interval between
stimulations is not too short or not too long" (Penfield
and Perot 1963 p682), but sometimes unconnected
experiences were reported from stimulation of the same
spot.
PATIENT RESPONSE TO STIMULATION

S.Be "There was a piano over there and someone playing. I could
hear the song you know". When the approximately same point
was stimulated, he said, "Someone speaking to another, and
he mentioned a name but I could not understand it.. It was
like a dream".
The same point was stimulated again, he said, "Yes, 'Oh
Marie, Oh Marie'. Someone is singing it", and again on the
fourth time (Penfield 1959).
D.F Heard music, and "believed that a gramaphone (sic) was
being turned on in the operating room" (Penfield 1959).
R.W Heard mother talking on telephone when right temporal
cortex stimulated - "My mother is telling my brother he
has got his coat on backwards. I can just hear them"
(Penfield 1959).
R.R Stimulation of areas of the left temporal lobe produced
recall of conversations in Johannesburg (Penfield and
Perot 1963).
N.C An orchestra playing some music which she could not
identify. She asked for the same point to be stimulated
until she recognised the piece of music. "The electrode
was clearly activating a neuronal record which she could
not activate herself by any voluntary effort" (Penfield
and Perot 1963 p681).
Table 14 - Examples of reports by patients when areas of

cortex stimulated with electrodes.
The responses of the patients were not made up, as

with shown with "S.Be": "The surgeon then warned him that
he was about to apply the electrode again. Then, after a
pause, the surgeon said 'Now', but he did not stimulate.
(The patient has no means of knowing when the electrode
is applied, unless he is told, since the cortex itself is
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 30
without sensation). The patient replied promptly,
'Nothing'" (Penfield 1959 p1720).
One patient, "J.V", reported the experience lasting
after the stimulation had stopped. The experience of
voices shouting lasted for fourteen seconds beyond the
two-second stimulation. While sometimes the experience
could disappear before the end of the stimulation
(Penfield and Perot 1963).
Penfield and Perot (1963) admitted that:
All of these patients were subject to temporal

lobe epilepsy which did, no doubt, make response
from the cortex easier to elicit. This is to be
expected since localised epileptic discharge
renders the motor cortex of man more easily
stimulable, and sensory cortex as well. This
increase in stimulability (decrease in threshold)
does not mean that the epileptic process is
responsible for the nature of the response (p683).
But only 7.7% of patients reported such experiences

during the operations (Eysenck and Flanagan 2001).
Penfield was also able to map the motor cortex by

showing that stimulation to a particular area produced
movement of part of the body (Lyon and McLannahan 2004).
Penfield and Boldry (1937), in particular, "confirmed the
precise tomography of cortical localisation, and were
able to relate stimulation of a discrete part of the
brain with motor and sensory phenomena affecting a
particular part of the body" (Schott 1993 p329).
iii) Deep brain stimulation
This involves placing micro-electrodes inside the

brain. In the 1950s, a technique called electrical
stimulation of the brain was tried with animals (Olds and
Milner 1954) and humans (Heath 1954) by placing
electrodes in the limbic system.
Figure 4 is a photograph of the type of electrode
used. The point is placed into the brain, and the top end
is attached to an electrical current.
Jose Delgado (1969) implanted electrodes, which were

radio-controlled, in the brains of cats, monkeys and
apes, bulls, and humans. He called the implants
"stimoceivers".
His most famous experiment from 1963 involved
stopping a bull charging at him by stimulating its
caudate nucleus (part of basal ganglia) in a bull-ring in
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 31
(Source: Open Research)
Figure 4 - Deep brain stimulation electrode.
Spain 2. Thankfully it worked to great public acclaim.

However, "critics contended that the stimulation did not
quell the bull's aggressive instinct, as Delgado
suggested, but rather forced it to turn to the left"
(Horgan 2005 p70).
Twenty-five humans had electrodes implanted by

Delgado between the 1950s and 1970s at a mental hospital
in Rhode Island, USA. Stimulation of areas of the motor
cortex produced physical reactions, like clenching of the
fist, that could not be resisted by the patient.
Not surprisingly, such work (nicknamed "brain

chips") was controversial. Though brain implants are used
today with many individuals suffering from Parkinson's
disease (over 30 000 people)(Horgan 2005) 3.
Carlson (1986) noted that "electrical brain

stimulation is probably as natural as attaching ropes to
the arms of the members of an orchestra, and then shaking
all the ropes simultaneously to see what they can play..
the surprising finding is that stimulation so often does
produce orderly change in the brain" (Carlson 1986).
2
Photographs from original experiment at http://www.biotele.com/Delgado.htm.
3
This has led to modern developments in brain-computer interfaces (BCI)(Ohl and Scheich 2007).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 32
iv) Trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Trans-cranial electrical stimulation (TES)(Merton

and Morton 1980) was the forerunner of TMS, but the use
of electrical stimulation on the scalp was painful. TMS
works indirectly, so that it does not stimulate the scalp
and produce pain (Hallett 2000).
TMS (Barker et al 1985) involves placing a magnetic
coil above the scalp (with a focused pulse of magnetixm;
Whatson 2004) which produces electrical currents in the
neurons in the underlying cortex. This stimulates or
inhibits that area of the brain in a way that is non-
invasive and reversible.
Amassian et al (1989) was one of the first studies

to use TMS to study perception. Participants were shown
letters briefly on a computer screen, and TMS was
delivered to the occipital cortex 80-100ms after. The
participants reported seeing a blur or nothing at all.
Developing upon this finding, Beckers and Zeki (1995)
applied TMS to area V5 of the visual cortex, and this
interfered with motion perception.
Applying TMS while the brain is scanned allows

researchers to "see" the neural changes (Allen et al
2007).
Though the changes to the brain are reversible,
there are concerns over the effects of TMS. Short
durations of TMS can produce effects lasting hours and
even days (Allen et al 2007). For example, short TMS
pulses of less than one minute were found to suppress
neural activity for 5-10 minutes in cats (Allen et al
2007).
TMS has been developed and expanded in different

ways (Huang et al 2009), like:
Theta burst stimulation (TBS) - Either continuous

(cTBS) or intermittent (iTBS), which uses 50Hz bursts
every 200ms to disrupt activities in the cells;
Controllable pulse shape TMS (cTMS) - Greater control

over the strength of the electrical field generated.
Knoch et al (2006) applied low-frequency repetitive

TMS (rTMS) for fifteen minutes to areas of the
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) while participants
played the Ultimatum Game. This game is used to test
fairness and co-operation. A proposer has a certain
amount of money, and offers to share it with the
responder. The proposer can offer any amount of money. If
the responder rejects the offer, both players receive
nothing, but if they accept, the money is divided
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 33
accordingly.
Many responders reject offers if they are not
perceived as fair (eg: below 25% of available money).
This goes against economic self interest which would
accept any offer as better than zero.
Acceptance rates for unfair offers in this
experiment were 10% at baseline. With right DLPFC TMS
this increased to 45%, but not with left side TMS. TMS
"switched off" the area of the brain, and the
participants were less able to resist the "economic
temptation" of the offers. The DLPFC (right side, in
particular) seems to be involved in over-riding "selfish
impulses". However, the participants still knew the offer
was unfair even with TMS and accepting it.
4.3.2. Studying Temporal Aspects of Perception
Researchers studying the brain tend to use a

combination of methods, and use newer techniques to
confirm and develop findings from other methods. This is
the case with TMS studies and visual perception.
Visual perception involves a number of processes and
aspects that have been studied (Battelli et al 2008):
"Primary features" - The "physics" of the visual

stimulus (eg: light wavelength);
Spatial components - The parts of the stimulus in
relation to each other, and the stimulus in space;
Semantic components - The meanings attached to the
stimulus (eg: predator approaching) and thus the action
required.
Take the example of a stimulus approaching. Details

of the shape and motion are the primary features that
reach the eye, and the spatial aspects relate to the
direction. The semantic aspect is the fact that the
stimulus is a charging bull.
Battelli et al (2008) added another aspect of visual
perception - a temporal component. This is the brain
registering the time involved in the sequence of events,
their duration, and the interval between events in order
to co-ordinate action. As the bull approaches, the visual
information has to be ordered into a correct sequence to
show that the bull is moving towards the viewer before
action is taken. Without a temporal sequencing of events
it would be difficult to tell if the bull was running
towards or away from the viewer. The time involved may be
milliseconds, but time is being processed as part of the
visual information. "The role of time at this scale is
not so much to underpin the experience of time but to
establish the ordering and nature of the flow of events"
(Battelli et al 2008 p120).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 34
The time aspect of visual perception includes
marking the arrival and the disappearance of of a
stimulus in the visual field (opening and closing
transients; Battelli et al 2008). The intervening period
between them is the duration of the stimulus's presence.
If the arrival is not marked, the stimulus will not be
seen. While if the disappearance is not marked, another
stimulus may be perceived as part of the original
stimulus in motion. For example, two lights close
together flashing on and off consecutively appear to be
one light moving.
Using the rapid serial visual presentation paradigm
(RSVP), two letters are presented very quickly one after
the other at the same point on the computer screen. If
the time between them is faster than 400ms, the second
letter is not seen. This has been called the attentional
blink (AB) phenomenon (Battelli et al 2008).
The temporal aspect of perception involves

particular parts of the brain together called the "when"
pathway, which goes with the "where" pathway
(establishing the position of the stimulus in space and
motion; "dorsal stream" involving inferior parietal lobe)
and the "what" pathway (establishing what the stimulus is
- form and face recognition; "ventral stream" involving
inferior temporal lobe)(Cacioppo et al 2008). Because the
processing of information is so quick, the experience of
visual perception is a combination ofthese pathways. We
just "know" the stimulus is a bull charging at us.
Work with non-human primates (eg: Saalmann et al
2007) has shown that the lateral intraparietal cortex
(LIP) is involved in the "when" pathway.
Isolating the temporal aspect of perception occurs

when there is damage to the brain which produces deficits
in visual perception. In humans this means waiting for
naturally occurring brain injuries to occur. That is
until the development of TMS which is able to produce
transient "damage" to the brain.
Both observations from brain injuries (eg: Battelli
et al 2003) and TMS studies (eg: VanRullen et al 2008;
box 4) have confirmed that the right parietal cortex
(figure 5) is involved in temporal processing in
perception.
The "when" pathway has been expanded to the
"extended when" pathway to include anticipation of when
an event will occur, and estimation of the duration of
the period from one event to the predicted next time.
This is "when-past", "how long", and "when-future"
(Battelli et al 2008). TMS studies have shown that other
areas of cortex are involved in the "extended when"
pathway. This pathway also includes other senses than
vision. Battelli et al (2008) proposed that "each sensory
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 35
system will have its own 'when' pathway originating in
sensory cortex and taking a route through the parietal
and motor related cortices" (p124).
In understanding the "when" pathway in perception,
TMS studies are being used to confirm and develop
findings from intervention studies with non-human
primates, case studies of brain injured human patients,
and EEG studies (eg: VanRullen et al 2006)
(Source: Joint effort on English Wikipedia; last part: King of Hearts; in public
domain)
Figure 5 - Brain showing different lobes.
VanRullen et al (2008) used TMS while participants viewed the

"continuous Wagon Wheel illusion" (c-WWI). This illusion is where a
wagon wheel appears to rotate in the opposite direction to is actual
rotation. The researchers explained the illusion in relation to the
"when" pathway failing to sequence the temporal aspects of perception
correctly. Disruption of the right parietal lobe with TMS weakened
the illusion.
Box 4 - VanRullen et al (2008).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 36
5. STUDYING NATURALLY OCCURRING BRAIN
DAMAGE
The aim here is to study naturally occurring brain
damage in order to gain clues about the healthy brain.
There is no manipulation of the brain by the researcher,
simply the study after the event. Acquired brain injury
is generally through injury (eg: closed head injury) or
illness (eg: stroke), and is studied by the case study
method.
5.1. BRAIN INJURY/DAMAGE FROM BIRTH
Most research studies individuals, usually adults,

who suffer brain injury, but there are rare conditions
where the individual is born with brain abnormalities.
One such condition is "agenesis of the corpus
callosum" (ACC) where the corpus callosum is partially or
completely absent (Aribandi 2008). It is due to a genetic
fault which hinders the normal brain development in the
first trimester of gestation.
ACC is usually associated with other central nervous
system anomalies (85% of cases). This does effect the
usefulness of studying such cases (table 15). Overall the
condition is relatively rare (eg: 0.7 - 5.3% in the USA;
Aribandi 2008), but more common in males.
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
1. Possible to follow the 1. Usually have multiple areas of
development of individuals with brain abnormality which limits
such brain abnormalities. the comparison of single area
damage to healthy controls.
2. Does not involve any
intervention to cause brain 2. Many individuals do not live
abnormality. very long, even to adolescence.
3. Modern scanning techniques 3. Problems of studying such

give details of the brain area infants.
damaged.
Table 15 - Strengths and weaknesses of studying naturally

occurring brain injury from birth.
5.2. ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY/DAMAGE
These are cases where individuals have acquired

brain damage later in life through injury (eg: Phineas
Gage) or illness.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 37
5.2.1. Phineas Gage
One of the best known case studies of brain injury

is that of 25-year-old Phineas Gage (Harlow 1848) 4. He
was a US railroad building foreman who suffered the freak
accident of a three-foot long tamping iron being
propelled through his skull by an explosion (figure 6).
The iron entered the left cheek and exited the back of
the skull causing damage to the left pre-frontal cortex.
"Beyond the astonishing fact of Mr.Gage's survival
was the description of his ability to walk immediately
after the event, communicate sensibly, and remain lucid
through most of the period following the injury" (Neylan
1999).
(Source: Harlow 1868; copyright expired; in public domain)
Figure 6 - Drawing of tamping iron through Gage's skull.
John Harlow was the local doctor, and was called to

help Gage about two hours after the accident: "He seemed
to be perfectly conscious, but was getting exhausted from
the haemorrhage, which was very profuse both externally
and internally.." (Harlow 1848).
The accident happened at 4.30pm on Wednesday 13th

September (1848) near Cavendish, Vermont, and for the
following month Gage slept a lot and has problems with
the would healing, typical of the time and medical
knowledge. On 11th October, Harlow (1848) wrote:
"Intellectual faculties brightening.. Relates the manner
in which it {accident} occurred, and how he came to the
4
Details were also reported in Bigelow (1850a and 1850b), Harlow (1849, 1868, 1869), and
Anonymous (1851).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 38
house.. says he knows more than half of those who
inquired after him. Does not estimate size or money
accurately, though he has memory as perfect as ever." He
returned home to his family at the end of November.
Before the accident, he was described as having

"temperate habits, and possessed of considerable energy
of character" (Harlow 1848). Full details of the case
were reported in Harlow (1868), and the focus was upon
the change in the personality of Gage:
His contractors, who regarded him as the most

efficient and capable foreman in their employment
previous to his injury, considered the change in
his mind so marked that they could not give him
his place again. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging
at times in the greatest profanity (which was not
previously his custom), manifesting but little
deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint
or advice when it conflicts with his desires, at
times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious
and vacillating, devising many plans of future
operation, which are no sooner arranged than they
are abandoned in turn for others appearing more
feasible (Harlow 1848 quoted in Neylan 1999 p280).
Overall he was described as "no longer Gage" by

friends and colleagues.
He was forced to leave his job and wandered around
for much of the rest of his life including a spell in
Chile and ended up in San Francisco (where he died).
Ferrier (1878) was the first to argue that the
damage caused by the iron rod missed the motor and
language centres of the brain, behaviours which were
unaffected, but the damage to the left pre-frontal cortex
caused the "mental degradation".
Gage died twelve years after the accident. No post-
mortem study of the brain took place as Harlow only
learned of Gage's death five years after it occurred
(Damasio et al 1994), but the skull was later recovered.
Measurements from the skull have been made to try

and establish the exact brain damage. Subsequent studies
have suggested damage to the right pre-frontal cortex as
well as the left. Damasio et al (1994) believed that the
behaviour changes shown by Gage were typical of general
damage to areas of the whole pre-frontal cortex, and seen
in recent cases of pre-frontal cortex injury: "Their
ability to make rational decisions in personal and social
matters is invariably compromised and so is their
processing of emotion. On the contrary, their ability to
tackle the logic of an abstract problem, to perform
calculations, and to call up appropriate knowledge and
attend to it remains intact.." (p1104).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 39
The case study of Phineas Gage has a number of
strengths and weaknesses for understanding the brain
(table 16).
STRENGTHS
1. Detailed notes about Gage immediately after the accident from

Dr.Harlow.
2. Insight and detail of an outstanding and rare case.
3. Possible to study brain damage that cannot be produced by an

experiment with human participants.
4. Exceptional cases like this encourage research to discover more.
5. Freak accidents like this can highlight aspects of the brain not
considered at the time (eg: frontal cortex and self control).
6. It is the nearest to "turning off" part of the brain to see the

effect.
7. There are not ethical or moral issues as with experiments on non-

human animals or humans.
8. Case studies produce rich, qualitative data.
WEAKNESSES
1. No post-mortem study of the brain, so the exact area of damage is

not known.
2. Because case studies like this depend upon accidents, there are
few details and measures from before the event. Experiments are able
to gain measures before and after the event.
3. Dependent upon the records kept by witnesses of the time. Though

Harlow was a doctor, his records are not as detailed as those of
modern medicine.
4. It is not advisable to generalise the findings from unique cases.
5. The damage to the brain is haphazard, so it is not really like

experimentally "turning off" part of the brain.
6. Experiments with non-human animals would allow researchers to

control the variables and isolate the exact cause and effect
relationship.
7. Researchers may become involved with the case, and thus their
reports lack objectivity.
8. Case studies are often low on quantitative data, which are more
objective.
Table 16 - Strengths and weaknesses of the case study of

Phineas Gage for understanding the brain.
Macmillan (2000) was interested in how the Gage case
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 40
was reported in psychology and psychiatry textbooks. he
estimated that details appeared in 60% of such textbooks
published between 1983 and 1998, and, in many cases, with
errors. The errors related to seven elements of the
story:
Dimensions of the tamping iron.
Gage's work - reports included that he was a miner or

building a road.
Circumstances of the accident.
Damage done to Gage's skull and brain.
His treatment and recovery - one report had Gage

walking to the doctor's office with the tamping iron
still through his skull, and another described him as
living for twenty years with it still in his skull.
Changes in personality and behaviour (table 17) - in an

extreme case, Gage "virtually became a psychopathic
personality who lied and could not be trusted to honour
his commitments" (Macmillan 2000 p54).
His life after the accident - for example, Harlow said

nothing about Gage's drinking, but a few textbooks
reported him as "frequently drunk".
PRE-ACCIDENT POST-ACCIDENT
"temperate habits" (Harlow "he was gross, profane,
1848) coarse, and vulgar, to such a
"possessing an iron will as degree that his society was
well as an iron frame" (Harlow intolerable to decent people"
1868) (Anonymous 1851)
"well-balanced mind.. very "The equilibrium or balance..
energetic and persistent in between his intellectual
executing all his plans of faculties and his animal
operation" (Harlow 1868) propensities, seems to have
been destroyed. He is fitful,
irreverent.. manifesting but
little deference for his
fellows" (Harlow 1868)
Table 17 - Key details about Phineas Gage from primary

sources (Macmillan 2000).
5.3. BRAIN INJURY/DAMAGE THROUGH ILLNESS
Brain damage and injury can occur through illness,

of which one of the most common is stroke. Blood flow to
part of the brain is restricted and the area is
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 41
consequently damaged.
Stroke can lead to visual agnosia (an inability to
recognise familiar objects) and prosopagnosia (an
inability to recognise familiar faces).
Aviezer et al (2007) reported the case of SE, a 52

year-old Israeli man who suffered a stroke in 2004. He
was unable to visually recognise common objects and
faces, though tactile and auditory recognition were
unaffected. He also had problems with colour perception,
and orientation (eg: difficulty describing how to get
home). He was tested two months after the stroke.
SE could match geometric shapes, and copy and name
simple figures (eg: square). But for drawings of complex
objects, he scored 26% correct recognition (eg: a
mushroom mistaken for a parachute). Despite not being
able to name the object, he was able to give information
about the purpose of the object and copy it accurately
from memory. This showed that the problem was not related
to semantic memory.
In another test, an object was named and SE had to

point to the correct line drawing out of five. He had a
success rate of 77%.
In a test with Navon hierarchical letters (Navon
1977)(figure 7), he could not recognise the global letter
even when pointed out, only the local letters.
EEEE YYYY
E Y
EEEE YYYY
E Y
EEEE YYYY
Congruent Incongruent
Figure 7 - Examples of Navon's hierarchical letters.
In the congruent condition (same global and local

letters), shown for 450ms, SE recognised the global
letter in 61% of trials and 73.4% for the local letters.
For the incongruent condition, the correct trials were
33% and 73.2% respectively.
Aviezar et al tested for unconscious recognition of

objects. SE was shown a drawing of an object (which he
could not recognise) for 300ms, followed by a word. His
task was to say as quickly as possible if the word was an
animate or an inanimate object. Some preceding drawings
were the same as the word, others were not. If he had
unconscious recognition, his reaction time would be
faster when the drawing was the same as the word.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 42
The reaction time for the "same" condition was
2076ms compared to 2328ms for the "different" condition.
So it seemed that SE had unconscious recognition of
objects, and the problem was the conscious recognition of
them. This was confirmed when the last experiment was
repeated using scrambled drawings. Here there was no
difference in reaction times between the two conditions.
Some improvements in visual recognition abilities
were found when SE was tested nine months after the
stroke.
SE also suffered from prosopagnosia, and could not

even recognise faces known before the stroke, including
famous people, family members, and himself. Furthermore,
when presented with faces with parts changed (eg: apples
instead of eyes), he recognised the objects but not that
the stimuli were faces: "here are some fruits (pointing
to the eyes).. judging by their shape, they are apples..
and these (points to nose and mouth) might be branches..
and this here (points to circular outline of face) might
be a plate". But occasionally, he did "see" the face in
such a stimuli when pointed out to him.
A problem with testing was that SE used semantic

information, like context, to aid his recognition of
objects. For example, when in an office, it was noticed
that he recognised a stapler, a pen, and other expected
objects, but not unexpected objects. This showed that his
was using top-down information in visual perception.
Aviezer et al tested this experimentally.
The task was to say if a line drawing was a possible
or an impossible object. Before each drawing, SE was
shown a word for 1500ms. The word, known as the primer,
was either for the same object or not in the following
drawing. Where the word was the same as the possible
object, SE was 82% accurate in naming the drawing (50 out
of 61 trials), but when the word was different to the
drawing, 50% accuracy (21 out of 42).
For the drawings of impossible objects, he got 69%
correct but took a long time (average 13.5 seconds).
5.3.1. Clive Wearing
On 29th March 1985 Clive Wearing collapsed and was

admitted to hospital with encephalitis (inflammation of
the brain) caused by the herpes simplex 1 virus (which
causes cold sores usually)(Wilson and Wearing 1995). In
rare cases like this, the virus is dormant near the
spinal column, "wakes up" and heads for the brain. The
subsequent inflammation of the brain caused damage to the
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 43
hippocampus, which is linked to memory 5.
After hospital he showed many symptoms of confusion,
not understanding speech, and repeating meaningless
phrases. He went through a phase of backward spelling and
talking. The world seemed to be continually changing for
him as he could not retain information for longer than
the briefest time. He showed epileptic and Parkinson's
symptoms like jerking and shaking. Confabulation is also
common.
Clive is unable to lay down new memories, and has a

limited number of memories from before the illness. He is
in a permanent state of feeing that he has just woken up
that minute (with a memory span of seconds) from
"unconsciousness". He keeps a diary compulsively (which
began on 7th July 1985):
"7.46am: I wake for the first time.

7.47am: This illness has been like death till NOW. All senses work.
8.07am: I AM awake.
8.31am: Now I am really, completely awake.
9.06am: Now I am perfectly, overwhelmingly awake.
9.34am: Now I am superlatively, actually awake (Wearing 2005 quoted
in France 2005) 6.
"Clive's world now consists of a moment with no past

to anchor it and no future to look ahead to. It is a
blinkered moment.. So it's a moment to moment
consciousness as it were.. a time vacuum" (Deborah
Wearing speaking on BBC documentary, "The Mind Machine",
in 1988 quoted in Wilson and Wearing 1995 p15).
Yet he remembers his wife, Deborah, but not his

wedding nor his children's names (France 2005). There are
some intriguing behaviours like learning the route to the
hospital dining room and back to his room over seven
years. Though he did need his name to be on his door.
Also "After the first few years post-insult, when talking
to his wife he began to abbreviate his questions [ "How
long?" = "How long have I been ill?"; this suggests that,
at some level, he is aware he must have asked them
before" (Wilson and Wearing 1995 p27).
Clive's semantic memory (general knowledge) is less

affected, but its usefulness is limited because of the
severe damage to the episodic memory (autobiographical
5
A MRI scan in 1991 showed damage in the temporal lobe, especially the left, including almost
complete disappearance of the hippocampus (Wilson and Wearing 1995).
6
Clive reported auditory hallucinations in his diaries as a "master tape" ("what he thinks is a tape of
himself playing in the distance"; Wilson and Wearing 1995).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 44
memories). His IQ was tested as 106 immediately after
hospital, and estimated as 120-140 pre-illness (Wilson
and Wearing 1995).
Before the illness, he was an accomplished musician,
and he still retains these ability - to sight-read music,
to play the piano and organ, sing and conduct a choir
(Sacks 2007).
Barbara Wilson made the first formal assessment of

his amnesia between November 1985 and May 1986 (Wilson
and Wearing 1995) using different psychometric tests:
Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (Wilson et al 1985) -

This involves twelve tasks related to everyday life
(eg: remembering a person's first and last names;
remembering an appointment)(Strauss et al 2006);
Wechsler Memory Scale (Wechsler 1945) - Recall of prose

passage immediately and after delay;
Rey Osterreith Complex Figure Test (Osterreith 1944) -

The task is to copy a drawing of a complex figure from
memory;
Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI)(Kopelman et al

1989) - Recall on personal semantic questions (facts
from own past life) and autobiographical incidents
(specific incidents in own life);
Clive's performance on each test is detailed in

table 18.
TEST CLIVE'S PERFORMANCE

Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test 0/12
Wechsler Memory Scale immediate recall - 1
delayed recall - 0
(and confabulation)
Rey Osterreith Test No delayed recall
AMI Abnormally poor
Table 18 - Clive Wearing's performance on memory tests in

1985-6.
Clive was formally assessed in 1989, 1991 and 1992

by Wilson. The scores on the different memory tests were
unchanged including an immediate recall of six digits
(forward) and four backwards. His IQ seemed to have
dropped to 97 (Wilson and Wearing 1995).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 45
Other tests used included the Graded Naming Test
(GNT)(McKenna and Warrington 1983) which tests naming of
thirty objects (eg: corkscrew, handcuffs) and thirty
proper names (eg: Hitler, Shakespeare) 7, and a semantic
memory test 8 (Hodges et al 1992) on which Clive was
similar to a moderate Alzheimer's sufferer)(table 19).
Categories: LIVING NON-LIVING

Naming pictures (out of 24) 46 83
Naming to description (out of 12) 17 67
Word-picture matching (out of 24) 71 100
(After Wilson and Wearing 1995)
Table 19 - Percentage of total items correct on semantic

memory test.
7
The logic behind this test was a case study of "GBL", who had stroke damage to the left hemisphere,
and showed perfect naming of objects, but poor naming of famous people (McKenna and Warrington
1980).
8
This tests knowledge with tasks that involve naming pictures (eg: birds), naming items described, and
matching words to pictures.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 46
6. RECORDING ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY
6.1. ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM (EEG)
This method records the general electrical activity

of the brain by attaching electrodes to the scalp. The
brain waves vary in frequency (the number of oscillations
per second), and in amplitude (measured as half the
height from the peak to the trough). One complete
oscillation is a cycle, and cycles per second (cps) are
measured.
Hans Berger (1929) is seen as the first report of
human EEG (figure 8).
(Source: Berger 1929; in pubic domain)
Figure 8 - First human EEG recording.
EEG readings show four major types of brain waves:
Beta waves (13 cps or more) - recorded in adults awake

and alert;
Alpha waves (8-13 cps) - recorded in adults awake, but
relaxed;
Theta waves (4-7 cps) - mainly in young children;
Delta waves (1-3 cps) - mainly in infants, and sleeping
adults (Gross 1992).
Table 20 lists the advantages and disadvantages of

EEG, and in relation to the other methods of recording
electrical activity.
6.2. EVOKED POTENTIALS OR EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS
This is the measurement of small groups of cells,

and is more sensitive than EEG. Recordings are made on
the scalp and neck away from main EEG regions of spinal
cord, brainstem and cortex.
Measuring the response to a specific stimulus by
groups of neurons is measuring event-related potentials.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 47
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
1. Measures electrical activity 1. Measuring whole brain's
of whole brain. electrical activity tells us
little about specific area
2. Ability to measure whole activity. This is overcome by
hemisphere activity. using the other techniques of
recording electrical activity.
3. Easier to perform than single
unit recording. 2. Only indirect measure of brain
activity because electrodes on
4. Non-invasive. scalp. Invasive techniques of
recording overcome this problem.
5. Both the waking and sleeping
brain can be studied.
Table 20 - Advantages and disadvantages of EEG.
6.3. MAGNETOENCEPHALOGRAPHY (MEG)
This technique makes use of changes in the magnetic

fields in cortical neurons, which can be detected by
magnets placed on the scalp. Liquid helium coiled
superconducting sensors (eg: single superconducting
quantum inference devices; SQUIDS) are used to pick up
the faint magnetic fields. It is able to detect changes
in signals over milliseconds, but it does not have the
localised accuracy of MRI scans.
"GY" is a man in his 50s who, due to a car accident

as a child, has brain damage that limits his visual
abilities. He is "functionally blind" on his right side,
but can "guess" correctly stimuli shown in this visual
field. This is known as "blindsight".
He was tested using a whole-head MEG system "with
151 radial gradiometers over the head and 29 reference
gradiometers and magnetometers for ambient field
correction. Signals were digitised at a sampling rate of
1250Hz (0-200Hz bandwidth) during epochs lasting five
seconds, beginning one second prior to stimulus onset"
(Schurger et al 2008 pp2190-2191).
The researchers were able to identify neural
responses to awareness of a target and attention-without-
awareness of a target in the blind field. The neurons
that fire are similar in both cases.
6.4. SINGLE UNIT RECORDING
The activity of single neurons can be measured by

invasive microelectrodes placed in the brain. This is
different to other techniques for recording electrical
activity which do not go inside the brain.
The most famous use of this technique was by Hubel
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 48
and Wiesel (eg: 1959, 1962) who mapped the visual cortex
of a cat by recording visual activity in response to
different visual stimuli. They found different cells in
the cortex that responded to different line orientations.
The cerebral cortex is highly developed in mammals, and
may include over 100 000 neurons for each square
millimetre. The primary visual cortex (or striate cortex)
occupies the area at the back of the brain (occipital
lobe).
Hubel and Wiesel began their work in 1958, and the
first set of results were published a year later. Further
details were then reported in 1962. Alongside this work
on single cell recording, Hubel and Wiesel studied the
development of the visual system in kittens where one eye
was surgically closed (Hubel and Wiesel 1998).
In the single cell recording experiments, the cats

were paralysed by anaesthetic, but remained conscious.
The researchers used minute micro-electrodes to measure
the electrical activity of individual brain cells at the
back of the surface of the brain.
Lines of different angles and orientations were
shown on a screen in front of the cat's eyes.
Painstakingly, the researchers measured the response of
individual cells, and built up a picture of how cells in
the visual cortex work.
Hubel and Wiesel (1959) identified three types of
cells in the visual cortex:
i) "simple cells" - these cells respond to

particular features of the line only (eg horizontal), and
in particular locations of the visual field;
ii) "complex cells" - these cells respond to

particular orientations also, and receive information
from the simple cells;
iii) "hypercomplex cells" - these cells are also

sensitive to the length of the line, and receive
information from the complex cells.
The information from each cell is processed in an

upward direction (ie: from simple to hypercomplex).
Working downwards through the cortex, the researchers
found that the cells were stacked in "ocular dominance
columns".
In a more recent example, Romo et al (1999) recorded

the activity of single neurons in the prefrontal cortex
of four monkeys during a task to discriminate between two
mechanical vibrations to the fingertips. Four hundred and
ninety-three neurons were recorded by seven moveable
microelectrodes.
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 49
7. COMPUTER TOMOGRAPHY/NEUROIMAGING
Brain scans can be used in a number of ways:
i) To study the biochemistry in the brain.
ii) For the measurement of cerebral blood flow or

regional blood flow (rCBF) to particular areas of the
cortex. For example, PET scans show a time lag of
1-3 seconds for blood flow rises after the start of
activity in an area of the brain where there is low rCBF.
iii) Closely linked to (ii) is the measurement of

cerebral metabolism; eg: the rate of use of oxygen or
accumulation of deoxyglucose shows the active parts of
the brain in PET scans. It is possible now to study
regional glucose metabolism (rCMRglu) in specific areas
of the cortex, using, for example, 18 F-deoxyglucose
(18-FDG).
iv) To assess structural brain differences; eg: the

reduction in certain brain areas in CAT scans.
"With these new imaging techniques, researchers

interested in the function of the human brain were
presented with an unprecedented opportunity to examine
the neurobiological correlates of human behaviours"
(Raichle 2003 p3959).
Cacioppo et al (2008) noted the impact of
neuroimaging: "The detailed three-dimensional colour
images provided by neuroimaging, modelling statistical
properties of the working brain, have captured the
imagination of the public and the science community,
shaped funding priorities at federal funding agencies and
foundations, and produced a dramatic growth in scientific
papers and journals in the area" (p62).
The popularity of studies using neuroimaging

techniques can be seen in the number of papers recorded
on PubMed 9 - nine using fMRI in 1993 to 2139 in 2007
(Poldrack and Wagner 2008).
Neuroimaging has a number of advantages and

disadvantages (table 21).
9
This is a database of medical and related academic research provided by the US Library of Medicine
and the Nationa Institutes of Health (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 50
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
1. Detailed picture of the living 1. Health risks with some
brain. techniques.
2. Pictures of the brain in 3-D. 2. Expensive to use.
3. Able to watch changing brain 3. Scanners can be noisy and

including blood flow patterns. confined spaces to remain still
in for long periods of time (eg:
4. Able to detect damage to the 3 hours for fMRI).
brain.
4. Require large computing
5. Comparisons can be made capacity to convert raw data into
between individuals or by looking visible images.
at the same brain area in the
same individuals at two different 5. Some methods have time lags
times. between brain activity and
measurement; eg: fMRI measures
6. Non-invasive. blood flow approximately one
second after neuronal activity
7. Some techniques have no know (Raichle 1994).
health risks; eg: MRI (Berger
2002). 6. Some techniques produce better
quality images than others.
8. So much more information about
the brain than other methods. 7. How to interpret the results.
8. Ethics of claims about such

techniques.
Table 21 - Advantages and disadvantages of neuroimaging.
There are a number of different neuroimaging

techniques which show the structure or function of the
brain (table 22):
Computerised axial tomography (CAT)
Positron emission tomography (PET)
Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Neuroimaging studies in recent years have both

confirmed and challenged existing theories and ideas in
psychology, and especially in cognitive psychology (table
23).
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TECHNIQUE STRUCTURE OR MAIN ADVANTAGE MAIN DISADVANTAGE
FUNCTION
CAT S Detect damage in Health risks of X-
brain rays
PET F Shows active brain Health risk of
radioactivity
SPECT F More sensitive Shows activity over
than PET 60-second period
rather than moment
by moment (Eysenck
and Flanagan 2001)
MRI S Detailed picture Cannot show
of brain anatomy function
MRS F Shows brain's Requires very low
chemical compounds temperature to work
(ie: 4 degrees
above absolute
zero)
fMRI F Shows localised Need for patient to
brain activity be perfectly still
for long periods
Table 22 - Different techniques of neuroimaging.
EXISTING IDEA FINDING FROM NEUROIMAGING STUDY

Short-term memory and long-term Challenged: Unitary model of
memory distinctively different memory (Nee et al 2008)
Declarative memory in Confirmed: Knowlton and Foerde
hippocampus, but not non- (2008)
declarative memory
Table 23 - Neuroimaging studies and existing ideas in

cognitive psychology.
7.1. COMPUTERISED AXIAL TOMOGRAPHY (CAT SCANS)

First used in 1972 (Sadock and Sadock 2003), this
method produces a 3D X-ray picture of the static brain
based on many X-rays from different angles and then
combined together by the computer.
X-ray machines are based on the principle that
abnormal tissue absorbs X-rays to different degree to
normal tissue. It is best at showing the presence of
blood clots, tumours, and enlarged ventricles.
There is a small risk from the X-rays if CAT scans
are used too often on the same individuals.
Owens et al (1985) performed a British study based

on a sample of 112 hospitalised patients with
schizophrenia. CAT scan results showed that lateral
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ventricular size increased more often in the patients
than controls. In other words, the brain volume was
reduced. The type of treatment was found to play no role
either. These findings were constant over the length of
the illness suggesting it was not a product of the
disorder (Lewis 1996).
This method has been supplanted by others, except

for assessing calcification, which may be invisible on
MRI (Sadock and Sadock 2003).
7.2. POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY (PET SCANS)
This technique is able to show the active brain by

following the movement of a radioactive substance that
has been injected into the brain (figure 9).
Radioactivally labelled glucose molecules travel to
active areas of the brain. When the radioactive atoms
decay, they emit positrons (sub-atomic particles). These
encounter electrons (the opposite type of particles) and
both are annihilated. This gives rise to gamma rays that
travel in opposite directions, and these can be traced to
the point of origin.
Its strength is the ability to show blood flow

patterns in the brain, which can be affected by, for
example, strokes.
Different radioactive tracers (eg: water labelled
with oxygen isotope 15O) can be used to target different
aspects of the brain's activities, like blood flow,
glucose metabolism, dopamine receptors, or MAO activity
(Grasby et al 1996).
Because a small amount of radioactivity is involved,

the World Health Organisation recommends one PET Scan per
five years. 10 PET scans or 2 SPECT scans are the same as
annual background radiation exposure (Liddle 1996).
Baxter et al (1992) performed a study based upon 18

patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder given either
drug therapy or behaviour therapy. Initial PET Scans
showed high levels of activity in the caudate nucleus in
the right hemisphere when suffering an attack of the
disorder.
Thirteen of the patients responded to the treatment,
and, in a second PET scan, the caudate nucleus was less
active.
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(Source: US Department of Health and Human Services; in public domain;
http://www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers/Resources/HighRes.htm)
Figure 9 - PET scan of healthy brain (top) and

Alzheimer's disease brain (bottom).
Raichle et al (1994) used PET scans to show that

different parts of the brain are active during the
process of learning. Participants were asked to generate
a verb to go with a noun (eg: hammer). Forty nouns were
presented at a rate of one every 1.5 seconds. This was
the "naive" condition, and areas of the brain like the
left prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex were
active.
Then the task was repeated ten more times with the
same nouns. This was the "practised" condition, and
participants produced stereotyped responses over time.
Now there was less activity in the cortex areas than in
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 55
the naive condition. In the third ("novel") condition,
new nouns were introduced and the brain activity returned
to the same as the naive condition. Brain activity is
different for new and learned tasks.
7.2.1. Single-photon emission computed tomography

(SPECT)
This is a more sensitive measure of blood flow in

the brain. It makes use of exametazime labelled with
technetium isotope, 133mTc, for example (Liddle 1996).
7.2.2. Hippocampus and London Taxi Drivers
Maguire et al (1997) used PET scans to study the

hippocampus (figure 10) and spatial (or topographical)
memory of eleven male London taxi drivers. All the men
has passed the stringent examination of their recall of
London streets (known as "The Knowledge") to become
licensed.
The participants were tested on different tasks (in
each case twice):
Routes - describe the shortest route between a starting

and a destination point in London (recall of
topographical knowledge involving the sequencing of
information);
Landmarks - describing the appearance of world-famous

landmarks (not in London) that they had never visited
(recall of topographical knowledge);
Film plots - recall the plot of a familiar film (seen

five times or more)(recall involving sequencing of
information);
Film frames - recalling individual frames from famous

films;
Baseline - repeating two four digit numbers (control

task).
Blood flow (rCBF) to areas of the brain was used as

the measure of activity in response to a particular task.
Each task showed a slightly different pattern of brain
activation (table 24), but the routes task involved
activation of the right hippocampus, in particular,
compared to the baseline. Box 5 gives an example of a
taxi driver's description of a route to take.
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(Source: Washington irving; in public domain)
Figure 10 - Hippocampi in human brain.
TASK MAIN BRAIN AREAS ACTIVE

Route Extrastriate regions; medial parietal lobe;
posterior cingulate cortex; parahippocampal gyrus;
right hippocampus
Landmarks Posterior cingulate cortex; medial parietal lobe;
occipito-temporal regions
Film plots Left frontal regions; left middle temporal gyrus
Film frames Left frontal regions; right middle temporal gyrus
Table 24 - Main areas of the brain activated by different

tasks.
Task: Pick up on Grosvenor Square in Mayfair, drop off at Bank Underground Station, then at
the OvalCricket Ground.
"Grosvenor square, I’d leave that by Upper Grosvenor Street and turn left into Park Lane. I
would eh enter Hyde Park Corner, a one-way system and turn second left into Constitution
Hill. I’d enter Queen Victoria Memorial one-way system and eh leave by the Mall. Turn right
Birdcage Walk, sorry right Horse Guards Parade, left Birdcage Walk, left forward Great
George Street, forward into Parliament Square, forward Bridge Street. I would then go left into
the eh the Victoria Embankment, forward the Victoria Embankment under the Blackfriars
underpass and turn immediate left into Puddledock, right into Queen Victoria Street, left into
Friday Street, right into Queen Victoria Street eh and drop the passenger at the Bank
where I would then leave the Bank by Lombard Street, forward King William Street eh and
forward London Bridge. I would cross the River Thames and London Bridge and go forward
into Borough High Street. I would go down Borough High Street into Newington Causeway and
then I would reach the Elephant and Castle where I would go around the one-way system”
(Maguire et al 1997 p7106).
Box 5 - Example of taxi driver's description of route.

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Maguire et al (1997) showed that the hippocampus was
more active in spatial memory tasks. Subsequently, MRI
scans showed the structure of the hippocampus as
different in London taxi drivers.
Maguire et al (2000) compared sixteen experienced
male taxi drivers with 50 healthy (non-taxi driving)
controls. The taxi drivers had significantly different
hippocampi (right and left) than the controls, though the
overall volume was the same, and the brains showed no
other differences. The difference was manifest as a
larger posterior part and a smaller anterior part (table
25). Furthermore, length of time spent as a taxi driver
correlated with right posterior hippocampus size.
Overall, this work showed that "mental maps" are stored
in the posterior hippocampus.
HIPPOCAMPUS TAXI DRIVERS NON-TAXI DRIVERS

Right
- anterior 95 105
- posterior 76 74
Left
- anterior 80 100
- posterior 75 70
(All significant differences p<0.05 between taxi and non-taxi drivers)
(After Maguire et al 2000)
Table 25 - Size of areas of hippocampus (mm²).
7.3. NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (NMRI or MRI)
This technique, which entered clinical practice in

1982 (Sadock and Sadock 2003), also shows the static
brain, through the use of magnetic fields (figure 11).
It works by measuring the hydrogen atoms in water.
The hydrogen nuclei are exposed to strong magnetic fields
and line up like tiny magnets. Then they are hit with
radio signals which causes them to move out of alignment.
This produces a signal that can be measured.
Compared with CAT scans, MRI provides a better

contrast between grey and white matter. The upshot of
which is more anatomical detail (Johnstone 1993).
This is no need for radioactive substance to be
injected, but there is concern about the effect of the
strong magnetic field on the body.
Manganese has been used recently to enhance brain
activity in MRI scans (manganese enhanced MRI; MEMRI),
though in large doses it is toxic (Silva and Bock 2008).
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(Source: NASA; in public domain;
http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/general_info/05feb_superconductor.html)
Figure 11 - MRI scan of brain from side.
Johnstone et al (1989) had three groups of

participants receive MRI scans: 21 individuals with
schizophrenia, 20 with bipolar disorder, and 21 controls.
The first group showed two brain structure differences
compared to the others: larger temporal horns of the
lateral ventricles, and a reduction in the left temporal
lobe area.
Thompson et al (2001) were able to produce 3D maps

of the grey matter of the brain and the cortical surface
using high-resolution 3D MRI of forty healthy Finnish
adult twins. Identical twins were "almost perfectly
correlated in their grey matter distribution".
7.4. MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY (MRS)
MRS is based on the same principles as MRI, and uses

magnetic fields - unpaired photons and neutrons aligned
with a magnetic field. Radio frequency pulsing causes
nuclei to absorb and emit energy. This produces a
spectrum of the brain's chemical compounds.
There are different types of MRS: for example,
observing the proton nucleus (1H) in the hydrogen atom (H
MRS), or the stable isotope of phosphorous (31P) (Frangou
and Williams 1996).
7.5. FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (fMRI)
This technique detects tissue mass based on blood

flow, by measuring changes in deoxyhaemoglobin when
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neurons are active. Increased neural activity means a
reduction in the concentration of deoxyhaemoglobin. In
practice, it is possible to localise neuronal activity.
It measures the "pooled neural responses across a
voxel (a three-dimensional volume element analogous to a
pixel in a two-dimensional digital image) or many voxels
that constitute a brain region" (Grill-Spector and Sayres
2008).
Recent developments include fMRI-adaptation (fMRI-

A), pattern analysis (PA), and high-resolution fMRI (H-
fMRI)(Grill-Spector and Sayres 2008).
There is no need for a radioactive tracer (Liddle

1996). But acquisition of enough images for study can
require the participant's head to remain still in the
machine for up to three hours. Small changes in head
position can lead to "erroneous interpretations" of brain
activation (Sadock and Sadock 2003).
The strong magnetic field has also been shown to
slow down brain processes, even if it is not harmful
(Foucher et al 2008).
Brain activity in a female partner of a couple was

examined with fMRI for "pain empathy" as the male partner
was seen to receive a painful electric shock to the hand.
Certain areas (eg: rostral anterior cingulate cortex)
were activated both when experiencing pain and when
seeing partner experience pain. Seeing a loved one
experience pain was not identical to experiencing pain,
but there were common patterns of brain activity (Singer
2004).
7.6. ETHICAL ISSUES AND NEUROIMAGING
The technology of neuroimaging has implications

related to free will, agency, and personality among other
things, and it requires an ethical awareness for their
use by researchers. This ethical awareness has been
called "neuroethics" (Marcus 2002).
Fuchs (2006) distinguished two main areas of ethical

concerns with neuroimaging:
i) The "new methods and technologies, by laying bare

neural correlates of personal identity, cause problems of
individual rights on privacy, non-interference and
inviolability" (p600);
ii) The findings are reductionist in that everything

is reduced to neurons firing and electrochemical
processes.
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For example, Libet (1985) showed that electrical
activity in the brain ("readiness potential") occurs
500ms before an individual consciously chooses to do an
action. Individuals, wired to EEG sensors, were told to
pick up items when they wanted. If free will is nothing
more than this, than is an individual ever truly
responsible for their behaviour?
Responsibility
So many of the findings using neuroimaging questions

the responsibility of the individual for their behaviour.
The assumption of biological determinism is implicit (and
explicit) in the research.
Adrian Raine (eg: Raine et al 1998), for example,
using PET scans with convicted murderers, has found poor
prefrontal cortex functioning compared to the general
population. Relevant abilities in the prefrontal cortex
include controlling impulses, awareness of future
consequences, and empathy which all discourage murderous
behaviour. The first thing is the distinguishing in terms
of physiology between offenders and non-offenders.
The prefrontal cortex can be damaged in subtle ways
by childhood physical abuse and maltreatment (Teicher
2002). So the abuse leads to brain damage which leads to
violence (directly or indirectly), can the perpetrator be
held responsible for their actions? If an individual has
no impulse control through damage to the prefrontal
cortex, what is to stop them committing impulsive
behaviour? Who is to blame when a car without brakes
crashes?
Knowing More Than the Individual Themselves
Another issue is that the sophistication of the

technology has led to inferences about mental states
outside of conscious awareness. In other words,
neuroimaging is telling us something that the individual
does not consciously know themselves. The idea of the
"transparent brain" (Fuchs 2006).
One example of this is unconscious attitudes. The

idea that there is a conscious attitude (what the
individual reports on attitude questionnaires) and an
unconscious attitude (what they really believe). The two
may, of course, be in agreement. But more interesting
when they are not, as in the case of racial attitudes.
For example, white participants who did not report
racist attitudes, showed greater activity in the amygdala
in response to black people's faces than whites (Phelps
et al 2000). This would suggest fear of these faces, and
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the inference of unconscious racist attitudes.
More than this, inferences are made about future

behaviour. For example, Arnow et al (2002) showed a link
between particular sexual preferences and physiological
correlates in "healthy heterosexual men". In other words,
if a non-offender shows the physiological correlates
associated with sexual violence in an experiment, the
prediction could be made that such an individual will
perpetrate sexual violence in the future. But should it
be made in terms of labelling individuals before they
offend?
If it is possible to know more from brain scans than

the individual knows themselves, it could be inferred if
they are lying. "Brain fingerprinting" is based on this
assumption. Developed by Lawrence Farwell (Farwell and
Smith 2001), it measures P300 waves by EEG in response to
knowledge of facts about a crime.
The P300 wave response to crime-related words
flashed on a screen are classed as "guilty knowledge"
which the offender cannot hide. The key is that there
will be information that is only known to the offender
and the "guilty knowledge test" will find it among
hundreds of questions asked. The technology is being used
in the US legal system (eg: murder conviction reversal
in Iowa; Fuchs 2006).
One major problem stands out with "brain
fingerprinting". It measures recognition, and this
recognition may be from elsewhere than the "guilty
knowledge" of the offender (Innovation 2004).
Neuroimaging has also been used to detect deception
by showing the physiological correlates of intentional
deception (eg: in anterior cingulate cortex in functional
magnetic resonance imaging; Langleben et al 2002).
The faith in what scanning is able to tell us about

the "real" or "secret" thoughts of the individual is
highlighted in a system called MALINTENT (Future
Attribute Screening Technology - FAST). It is a "body
scanner" developed in the USA to detect terrorists in
advance of an attack, for example, using measures of body
temperature, heart rate, and respiration, and micro-
facial scanning (minute muscle movements in faces). "It
is like an X-ray for bad intentions" (Barrie 2008).
Wider Ethical Issues with Neuroimaging
There are a number of critical issues in using

neuroimaging, particularly when it goes beyond the simple
description of physiology.
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1. The gap between subjective experience and
electromagnetic signals.
"Imaging studies are based on probabilistic

covariances and not on causal connections. Their
interpretation depends on the design and theory behind
the study.." (Fuchs 2006 p601).
It is one thing to see the brain activated during
certain behaviour, and another to say what is actually
going on, particularly in terms of subjective experience.
This is even more so with complex social issues - eg:
showing a reaction in the amygdala to a photograph
flashed on a screen briefly is a very poor way of
measuring racial attitudes. Attitudes, at least, involve
different components - cognitive, affective, and
behavioural (Secord and Backman 1964).
If neuroscience comes to dominate in psychiatry, as

in cognitive neuropsychiatry (CNP) (Halligan and David
2001), then diagnosis of mental disorders will depend on
neuroimaging techniques. Such an approach would lead to
changes in the clustering of symptoms, and the
elimination of classifications like "schizophrenia",
"bipolar disorder" etc.
They will be replaced by "neurological explanations
and to the entities that make up such explanations
instead" (Fuser-Poli and Broome 2006 p610).
So at the moment, depression would be diagnosed
based on the presence of behavioural symptoms like low
mood and suicidal thoughts, diagnosis in CNP would
revolve around brain abnormalities. Depression would
equal the specified abnormalities in the particular areas
of the brain. Behavioural symptoms would simply be a
product of these brain abnormalities. The mind, as in
subjective experience, is removed from the process. This
has been called "eliminative mindless psychiatry"
(Jablensky and Kendell 2002).
2. From potential to actual.
It is one thing to say that the individual has the

physiology for potential violence and another for them to
show it. There are many factors between the potential and
actual.
Brewer (2003) distinguished three groups of factors
(individual, group and social) that lead to a general
level of aggression, but then disinhibitions and
environmental triggers that explain the specific
aggression shown. This move from general to specific is
similar to the move from potential to actual.
There are a lot of concerns if individuals are
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punished for having the potential to be dangerous. Though
we live in a society that is trying to pursue such ideas.
The ability to predict future behaviour is the holy grail
of psychology and psychiatry. Sometimes it is done well,
many other times done badly.
"The wide-spread misunderstanding of brain scans as
direct measures of psychological states or even traits,
however, carries the risk that courts, parole boards,
immigration services, insurance companies and others will
use these technologies prematurely" (Fuchs 2006 p601).
3. Acting on the knowledge.
In the area of mental illness, studies have looked

for pre-onset factors to predict the mental disorders.
For example, functional magnetic resonance scans of
adolescents with a high family risk of schizophrenia show
brain differences (eg: Pantelis et al 2003).
To act upon this knowledge could mean giving these
adolescents anti-psychotic drugs before any behavioural
symptoms have appeared. Such drugs have effects on the
brain as well as producing side-effects. How long to
remain on the medication? Not to mention the potential
for discrimination from others, and the effects of the
knowledge on the individual's self-esteem (Fuchs 2006).
4. Technology as threatening.
"Our sense of privacy may be threatened by

technologies that can reveal the neural correlates of our
innermost thoughts and unconscious attitudes" (Fuchs 2006
pp601-602).
At the moment, such technology is relatively limited
in this, but what if it becomes more reliable and
accurate in the future. This is a threat to "cognitive
liberty" - an individual's right over their own brain and
its contents (Sententia 2004).
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8. NEW AND MISCELLANEOUS TECHNIQUES
1. Computer Modelling
Neural networks can be used to model human

cognition, and then parts "turned off" to show the effect
of brain damage (Mayall 1998).
2. Transgenic and Knockout Animals
Modern genetic engineering allows for animals to be

"produced" which lack a gene of interest ("knockout") or
have a gene from a human, say (transgenic). For example,
knockout mice have been engineered that cannot produce
the neurotransmitter, orexin (Siegel et al 2001).
3. Reverse Engineering
This involves speculating about the function of a

behaviour in the evolutionary past from its current
existence (Tooby and Cosmides 1992).
4. Thought Experiments
These are philosophical puzzles that help

researchers to think about the issues in consciousness.
For example, in the "zombie thought experiment", a
molecule by molecule replica of a conscious human being
is made. Is this replica ("zombie") conscious? How this
question is answered links to the view taken about
consciousness (Braisby 2002).
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9. ISSUES AND DEBATES
9.1. MIND-BRAIN RELATIONSHIP
The focus is upon how to study the brain (the

physical organ), but what is its relationship with the
mind or consciousness (the subjective experience).
Rene Dēscartes, in the seventeenth century,
distinguished between the mind and the body in an idea
now called dualism. The body was described as a "machine"
while the mind (or soul) is non-material and located in
the pineal gland. This established the principle of the
mind and the brain/body as different. Dualism would mean
that the mind could exist in the absence of the body
(Toates 2004).
The alternative to dualism is monism, which sees the
mind and brain as one. There are also theories which
attempt to reject both monism and dualism.
Searle (1999) distinguished two types of dualism in
philosophical terms:
Substance dualism - the universe is divided into

material objects and immaterial minds;
Property dualism - there are physical properties (eg:
how much an object weighs) and mental properties (eg:
subjective experience).
In each case, the two elements are mutually

exclusive.
The different relationships between the mind and the

brain can be summarised thus (Gross 1992):
1. Dualism: The mind and body/brain are causally related.
i) Interactionism
There is a two-way relationship between the mind and

the body/brain. The mind can influence the body/brain as
in psychosomatic illness or the placebo effect, while the
body/brain can influence the mind (eg: drugs that change
perception or brain damage changing personality).
Strength - Fits well with common sense.
Weakness - How do they actually influence each other?
ii) Epiphenomenalism
The causal relationship is only in one direction

(ie: the physical influences the mental). In fact, mental
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experiences are by-products of physical processes.
The mind or consciousness is "just a kind of
vaporous residue cast off by the brain, but is unable to
do anything on its own" (Searle 1999 p58).
Strength - Concentrates upon the brain which can be seen

and studied.
Weakness - Does not explain how mental processes are a

by-product of physical processes.
2. Dualism: The mind and body/brain are correlated but

causally independent.
Psychophysical Parallelism
Originally proposed by Leibniz in the eighteenth

century, mental and physical processes occur
simultaneously but independent of each other (ie: not
causing one another). For example, the mental experience
of perceiving an object occurs at the same time as the
physical processes involved (neurons firing in different
parts of the brain).
Strength - Allows for both the mind and the body to be

studied separately.
Weakness - Often there is no simple correlation between a

physical and a mental process. For example, the mental
experience of depression can occur in response to
different physical states or processes.
3. Dualism: The mind and body unrelated.
4. Monism: The mind and the brain are the same.
i) Idealism/Mentalism
Based on the original idea of George Berkeley, in

the nineteenth century, only mental processes are real.
This idea saw the mind as only existing and the brain
exists as ideas in that mind.
"Transcendental idealism", from Immanuel Kant,
"maintains that the fundamental categories in terms of
which we characterise the world are not objective
features of things in themselves but are structures
imposed by the mind; without such organising structures
experience would not be possible" (Haugeland 1987 p337).
Strength - "Transcendental idealism" emphasises how
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 67
structures of the mind (meanings) make sense of the
physical world.
Weakness - Idealism seems to be anti-common sense.
ii) Materialism (or physicalism)
Only physical processes are real. In other words,

the mind is the product of the brain: cells firing in a
certain way produces the experience of consciousness (eg
Dennett).
Strength - It is a view held by many scientific

psychologists, and it holds out hope of finding the
physical basis to all experiences.
Weakness - Reductionist: subjective experience is reduced

to physiology.
iii) Identity Theory
This is a recent development of Materialism which

emphasises that consciousness is a brain process. They
are the same thing, but have different meanings, like the
words, "sister" and "female sibling". The two words
describe the same person, but the meaning of each is
different. So the language is important.
Strength - As Materialism.
Weakness - As Materialism.
iv) Panprotopsychic Identism (or Panpsychism)
This is the view that consciousness exists in all

matter, and that "all physical things have a mental side,
aspect, or properties, even if in a primitive and
undeveloped form" (Armstrong 1987 p491).
Strength - Offers a "spiritual" view to counter

Materialism.
Weakness - Difficult to study scientifically.
5. Alternatives to Monism and Dualism.
i) Double-aspect theory (Valentine 1982)
Both the mind and the brain are real, but they are
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aspects of a "fundamental underlying reality".
Strength - Tries to break out of the monism-dualism

dichotomy.
Weakness - Not clear what the "fundamental underlying

reality" is.
ii) Naturalistic Functionalism
Developed by William James, consciousness

("Conscious Mental Life") has evolved via natural
selection among species with a certain type of brain.
Consciousness (the mind) is an "emergent property" of the
physical brain, but, at the same time, distinct from it.
Strength - Explains the development of the mind through

the theory of evolution.
Weakness - How is the mind both a product of and distinct

from the brain?
iii) Computational Theory of the Mind
This is a recent development of the last view, and

uses the computer analogy of software/hardware. The brain
is the hardwire and the mind is the software.
Strength - Gives a basis for developing computer models

of the mind and brain.
Weakness - Reductionist: the computer analogy is

limiting.
9.2. CONSCIOUS AND NOT CONSCIOUS
There is the conscious part of the mind, and the

other part. This other part can be called "not-
conscious", though many other terms have been used like
unconscious, sub-conscious, or pre-conscious.
Work on the physiology of the brain in recent years
has played down the importance of the conscious part as
seen in this quote: "the normal unconscious brain
monitors the mirror for cues that prompt it to decide
whether to awaken and engage.. The decision to engage at
all is, in effect, an unconscious decision to be
conscious" (Michael Shadlen quoted in Douglas 2007).
Here are some categories of conscious and not-

conscious. It is an attempt to clarify the different
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 69
ideas rather than being exhaustive.
1. Conscious
The part of the mind that the individual is fully

aware of. Early psychology focused on conscious thought
through introspection, while con awareness is key to
humanistic and experiential psychology (Stevens 1996).
2. Unconscious
Sigmund Freud (1923/1991) saw the majority of the

mind as inaccessible to consciousness, but still
determining behaviour. It is the originator of the "real"
motive for behaviour rather than the conscious (illusory)
explanation given. Technically, it is known as the
"dynamic unconscious".
3. Pre-conscious
This is the part of the mind that the individual can

become aware of when required. For example, the recall of
stored memories. Memories are not conscious until
recalled.
4. Outside consciousness
This category is used to cover automatic

physiological processes that individuals have no
conscious control over (eg: breathing, digestion). These
processes continue irrelevant of the individual's
conscious state, like during sleep.
5. Automatic behaviours
Learned behaviours or skills can be performed

without conscious attention, and in well practised cases,
do better without conscious thought. It is possible to
focus consciously upon them if necessary.
6. Non-conscious
This category is the most challenging to the

understanding of the conscious self. It is the situation
where physiological measures show brain activity, but the
individual reports no conscious awareness (eg: subliminal
perception).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 70
For example, in the case of blindsight, individuals
with damage to the visual cortex report blindness, but
when asked to guess a position of an object in their
blindfield do so correctly. It is almost an "unconscious
seeing and a conscious blindness".
7. Unawareness
This category is included to cover lack of insight

and not noticing things. For example, individuals may not
be aware of the effect of their behaviour on others, but
they can be made aware by others telling them or by self-
reflection. This can be called "consciousness-raising".
Non-Conscious
Non-conscious brain activity is studied by flashing

a stimulus on a screen for a very short time. Individuals
fail to report seeing anything if the duration is less
than 50ms, but the brain registers the stimulus even when
not consciously seen (as measured by electrical
activity)(eg: Del Cul et al 2007).
The question is whether the conscious/non-conscious
are parts of the same system or separate systems. In the
case of the latter, for example, Daw et al (2005) have
described four systems (two conscious and two non-
conscious)(Douglas 2007):
Pavlovian controller (non-conscious) - controls

routine, reflexive, and instinctive behaviour;
Habitual controller (non-conscious) - controls

habitual, learned behaviour like driving;
Episodic controller (conscious) - in control in

unfamiliar situations, and when learning is new;
Goal-directed controller (conscious) - rational

decision-making.
In Halligan and Oakley's (2000) two-level model,

most cognitive processes occurs at level 2 (non-
conscious), which includes the central executive system
(CES). Level 1 is conscious awareness and voluntary
control. The CES creates the belief in the self, and
maintains a consistent self and a biography along with
the illusion of control 10.
10
Another debate relates as to whether we have free will and conscious control over our behaviour .
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 71
Non-Conscious Decision-Making
The declining importance of conscious thought

includes the case of making decisions. "An example of
unconscious thought is the following: One compares two
holiday destinations (say the Costa Brava and Tuscany)
and does not know what to decide. One puts the problem
aside and after 48 hours of not thinking about it
consciously, suddenly the thought 'It's going to be
Tuscany!' pops into consciousness. This thought
itself is conscious, but the transition from
indecision to a preference 2 days later is the
result of unconscious thought, or of deliberation
without attention" (Dijksterhuis et al 2006 p1005).
Dijksterhuis et al (2006) have called this the

"deliberation-without-attention" effect. They argue that
conscious thought is better for simple decisions, but
unconscious decisions are better with complex choices.
This was formalised in the "unconscious thought theory"
(UTT)(Dijksterhuis and Nordgren 2006). Basically
unconscious thought is able to find patterns which
conscious thought can do because the latter is "rule-
based and very precise".
Dijksterhuis et al (2006) offered participants a

choice of four cars based on a series of attributes. In
the simple decision, there were four attributes, and
twelve with the complex decision. The attributes were
positive or negative, and altered for each car - one car
75% positive/25% negative, 50%/50% for two cars, and one
car 25% positive/75% negative.
One group were asked to think carefully for four
minutes about their decision (conscious decision-making)
while the other group had to solve anagrams as a
distraction task for four minutes (unconscious decision-
making). The latter group made the better choice for the
complex decision, and the simple decision was better in
the conscious decision-making group (table 26).
SIMPLE DECISION COMPLEX DECISION

CONSCIOUS DECISION-MAKING 55 20
UNCONSCIOUS DECISION- 40 60
MAKING
(After Dijksterhuis et al 2006)
Table 26 - Percentage of participants who chose most

desirable car.
Dijksterhuis et al (2006) performed three other

ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 72
experiments about choices of consumer goods and found the
same principle. They concluded:
Although we investigated choices among

consumer products in our studies, there is no a
priori reason to assume that the deliberation-
without-attention effect does not generalize to
other types of choices—political, managerial,
or otherwise. In such cases, it should benefit
the individual to think consciously about
simple matters and to delegate thinking about
more complex matters to the unconscious (p1007).
Lassiter et al (2009) replicated the complex

decisions in the experiment, but added conditions which
asked participants (university students) to memorise the
cars' attributes as well. In this case, the conscious
decision-making group did better (table 27).
THINK CAREFULLY SOLVE ANAGRAMS

DIJKSTERHUIS ET AL 0.80 1.78
REPLICATION
MEMORISE ATTRIBUTES 1.95 0.92
(Higher score = better decision)
(After Lassiter et al 2009)
Table 27 - Mean preferences for car with most positive

attributes.
This work challenges that of Dijksterhius et al, but

it does not necessarily support conscious decision-
making. For the researchers the decision is made on "an
immediate gut instinct" (Schultz 2009).
This is supported by Cleeremans (quoted in Schultz
2009) who used a similar experiment to test decision-
making on apartments based on a series of attributes.
Decisions made immediately were as good as those made by
the unconscious decision-making group.
Central Executive
Another question related to consciousness is whether

the brain has a central place or executive that controls
its activities.
The common sense belief and historical view is that
there is a central executive in the brain. This is
sometimes called the "Cartesian theatre", where
consciousness lives and is controlled. Descartes believed
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 73
that the brain had a centre, which he said was the pineal
gland.
Also early theories of the brain believed that a
"little man" (homunculus) sat inside and controlled
everything that happened (Dennett 1991).
In terms of cognitive processes, Norman and Shallice
(1986) developed the idea of a central executive that
controlled attention, memory, and willed actions 11.
Modern theories of the brain tend to reject the idea

of such a place in the brain. "Rather than a central
executive, there seems to be a network of brain regions
that organise the resting state and maintain overall
orientation towards context" (Shadlen and Kiani 2007).
Neuroimaging scans during performance of attention-
demanding cognitive tasks produced two patterns of brain
activity - increased activity in frontal and parietal
cortical regions and reduced activity in other areas
including the medial prefrontal cortex (Fox et al 2005).
This supports the notion of opposing or competing
processes in the brain, which is popular in a number of
recent theories (Blackmore 2002).
Dosenbach et al (2007) confirmed the idea of to
distinct "task-control networks" in the brain - the
fronto-parietal network and the cingulo-opercular
network.
The feeling that we have that there is a control
place in the brain where we "live" is an illusion created
by the brain (Blackmore 2002).
11
Some implicit processing produces prefrontal cortex activity similar to explicit processing/conscious
awareness (Badgaiyan 2000).
ISBN: 978-1-904542-48-3 74
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Methods and Issues of Studying The Brain in Psychology

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METHODS AND ISSUES

1. All work is sourced to the original authors. The

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons

2. Details of the author are included so that the level

Kevin Brewer BSocSc, MSc

An independent academic psychologist, based in England,

Orsett Psychological Services,

2. Studying the Brain Outside the Body 7

2.1. Tissue or cell culture 7

3. Studying Non-Human Animals 12

3.1. Olds and Milner (1954) 13

4.1. Destruction of brain tissue 18

5. Naturally Occurring Brain Damage 37

5.1. Brain injury/damage from birth 37

6. Recording Electrical Activity 47

7.1. Computerised axial tomography 52

8. New and Miscellaneous Techniques 65

9. Issues and Debates 66

9.1. Mind-brain relationship 66

i) Studied in detail outside the body as with post-

ii) Through studying the brains of non-human

iii) Intervention and artificial stimulation

iv) Studying case studies of naturally occurring

v) Recording of electrical activity as with

vi) Modern technological methods of computer

There are many different ways used to study the

Invasive/non-invasive - whether the researcher goes

Intervening with the brain's normal functioning or not

Studying the active or the static live brain, or the

Studying the structure or function of the brain (table

Table 1 - Examples of invasive and non-invasive methods

Table 2 - Methods of studying the brain involving

ACTIVE LIVE BRAIN STATIC LIVE BRAIN DEAD BRAIN

Table 3 - Methods studying the active or static live

STRUCTURE FUNCTION BOTH

Table 4 - Methods studying the structure and function of

2.1. TISSUE OR CELL CULTURE

A small amount of brain tissues or cells can be kept

1. Ideal for the study of specific cells and their physiology.

2. The cells are alive and so have advantages over post-mortem

3. No ethical concerns as with live participants.

4. Overcomes problems of studying these cells "in vivo".

1. The study of individual cells without the normal interactions in

2. Isolated cells behave differently in nutrients than in situ

3. Very reductionist - trying to understand the complexity of the

4. How are the cells and tissues obtained? Probably by use of an

Table 5 - Strengths and weaknesses of using tissue or

(Source: Sbrander; in public domain)

Figure 1 - Mouse cerebellum seen with laser scanning

Historically, this was the first method used to

1. Overcomes limitations of using other methods with animals to study

2. More detailed examination of genetic, molecular, cellular, and

3. Used to study brain structure as well as biochemistry.

4. Gains details that non-invasive studies cannot, like the ability

5. No concerns about the ethics of treatment as with live

6. Non-intervention method which can be used with humans and non-

7. Able to investigate the internal parts of the brain.

8. Complex techniques, like immunohistochemistry, aid the

1. Death may cause changes for the brain.

2. Confounding variables include:

3. Not possible to establish cause and effect relationships as in

4. Problems of retrospective diagnosis of problems after death.

5. Reductionist - studies individual parts, even cells, and not the