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Brain Studies

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Studying the brain can be a hard thing to accomplish. There are quite a few methods that our bio psychologist’s use to study the brain. As stated in Biopsychology 8 Ch5, “Some of the methods used to study the brain include: X-rays, contrast x-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (also known as MRI), positron emission tomography (also known as PET), and in my opinion the best way of studying the brain; functional MRI.” Unlike using just MRI to visualize the brain; functional MRI is a great way to study the activity of the brain, while being able to visualize the brain. When using just a magnetic response imaging machine to study the brain, the only great thing about using it is being able to visualize what is going on in an individual’s brain. For example; if someone were to have an appointment to look at their brain, to determine whether or not they have a tumor; this type of method would be a great method to use. The reason I say this is because an MRI machine is able to visualize if there is anything growing inside the brain. While an MRI may be a great method to use for this type of procedure; a functional MRI would be able to not only visualize what is growing in the brain; it would be able to show the doctor the activity of the tumor and other activity in the brain. As stated in Biopsychology 8 Ch5, “Functional MRI produce images representing the increase in oxygen flow in the blood to active areas in the brain.” Another great aspect of Functional MRI’s are that unlike other methods used to study the brain; they are a UN invasive way to study the brain. Invasive procedures to visualize and study the brain are very dangerous to an individual and can cause many problems with the brain. Functional MRI’s are used to produce images inside the brain by a doctor or bio psychologist having an individual to ingest glucose and using the functional MRI to visualize what

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