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Three Brain Imaging Techniques

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Three Brain Imaging Techniques
PS1030 Essay – Psychology – Rachelle Petho
Describe three brain-imaging techniques and explain what the literature tells us about the function and structure of the brain.
This essay is going to describe three different types of brain-imaging techniques. It will also explain what the literature tells us about the function and the structure of the brain. The three types of brain-imaging techniques that will be clearly described are; CT (computed tomography), PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).
Brain-imaging techniques allow medically trained healthcare professionals such as doctors and researchers to examine potential activity or possible issues that could be occurring within the human brain, without any
…show more content…
The different types of scans that have been mentioned and described within this essay have been proved to show that the human brain has three main parts, the Cerebrum, the Cerebellum, and the Brain Stem [http://enchantedlearning.com – The Brain 2001]. By using brain-imaging techniques it has been able to help specialists find out that the Cerebrum is a major part of the human brain which mainly controls, emotions, hearing, vision, personality and much more. It also controls all of the human body’s voluntary actions. They have also been able to gather plenty of evidence and help professionals to find out that the Cerebellum receives information from the body’s sensory systems, the spinal cord, and other parts of the brain and help to regulate a person’s motor movements. With the use of brain-imaging techniques, it has also been able to show that the brain stem mainly controls the direct flow of certain messages that effectively occur between the human brain and the rest of the human body. It also controls basic bodily functions such as breathing, swallowing, blood pressure, consciousness, heart rate and if the person is wide awake or feeling really fatigued. Overall, it has been very successfully proven that brain-imaging techniques such as, MRI scans, PET scans and CT scans help the healthcare professionals (radiographers) come to an evaluation of any problems that are occurring within a patient’s brain. Without brain-imaging techniques healthcare professionals would be unable to detect any issues that are happening in the brain, which could lead to very serious

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