PSY100H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Cortex, Cognitive Psychology
65
PSY100H1 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
65 documents
Document Summary
Damage in one part of the brain may disturb function in another part. The brain is a plastic device: neural function is constantly being reshaped by our experiences. Use of animals in scientific research allows researchers to adopt a more experimental approach. Most important technological advance in neurophysiology was the development of methods to record the activity of single neurons in lab animals. Single-cell recording enabled researchers to describe response characteristics of individual elements. A thin electrode is inserted into the animal"s brain; if the electrode is in the vicinity of a neuronal membrane, electrical changes can be measured. Single-cell recording is typically done extracellularly (electrode is situated outside the neuron: problem: there is no guarantee that the changes in electrical potential at the electrode tip reflect the activity of a single neuron. Baseline activity varies widely from one brain area to another.
