Ecstasy And Agony: A Psychological Analysis

This paper is my second assignment for physiological psychology. The first section of this paper critiques an article entitled “Ecstasy and Agony: Activation of the Human Amygdala in Positive and Negative Emotion”. This sections main point is to show that there is enough evidence indicating that the amygdala plays a critical role in negative human emotions. And the instrument of choice was PET. The second section of this paper critique’s an article entitled “Overactive Action Monitoring in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Evidence from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging”. This section includes the discussion on how the anterior cingulate cortex has been found to be hyperactive in those with OCD. Testing for this study was using FMRI’s. The
There is a difference between the two options but every test suits a different research. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans detect changes of blood flow in the specific brain regions. PET scans are not the greatest on temporal resolution. The purpose of a PET scan is to correlate the changes in blood flow patterns during specific activities. The blood flow is able to be measured by injecting the patient with a radioactive substance and followed by monitoring the substance as the blood is absorbing it and it passes the blood brain barrier into the brain. The radioactive substance that was injected is picked up by the PET scan and is photographed. PET is based the assumption that blood flow will increase in areas of the brain that are in heavy use. The radioactive isotopes that were injected will end up in the active part of the brain. These gamma rays that are from the radioactive substance are picked up by the PET scanner and the PET scan image then determines where they came from in the brain.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) monitors the change of blood flow in the brain just as PET does. FMRI is the best at spatial resolution compared to PET. FMRI scans require really strong magnets that are not available at most hospitals. Oxygen atoms are what controls the results of this scan. Oxygen atoms that are inside and around blood vessels in the brain change in accordance to blood flow in the vessel. The FMRI picks up the transitory surplus of oxygen in the blood vessels. Unlike the PET scan, nothing is injected into the blood stream. It is tested on the oxygen that is naturally in the