fMRI in action

The new AQA spec (soon to be approved, we hear) includes, at A Level, ‘ways of studying the brain: scanning techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)’. This YouTube video gives a functional, magnetic and resonant view of what fMRI involves and what its results look like in practice. The AQA spec is concerned with the […]

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Useful AO2 point

Some recent research reported here  suggests the fMRI studies may present a misleading picture of brain activity. Such studies are used to provide evidence that certain areas of the brain are active when a person is engaged in a target task. However the new research has demonstrated that, while certain areas may be especially active, it […]

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Maternal love on the brain

John Bowlby proposed, in his theory of attachment, that humans are ‘hardwired’ to respond to social releasers from infants – they can’t help but respond to an infant’s smiles or cries of distress and this responsiveness is in our genes. New research has provided evidence of the brain circuitry involved in this response. Dr. Madoka […]

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