Alzheimer's Strengths And Weaknesses

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the research methods adopted by cognitive neuroscientists in order to understand the biological basis behaviour and mental processing

This essay will discuss strengths and weaknesses of fMRI, PET and CT scanning and explore how this has been beneficial with regards to researching Alzheimer`s. These particular methods vary between each other as they all involve different techniques and this essay will discuss which is most and least effective for Alzheimer`s. The most important section with regards to memory is found within the medial temporal lobe. Additionally, the hippocampus, the amygdale, and the hypothalamus. (Mastin, 2010). Alzheimer`s, is an illness involving memory loss and is the result of a

PET scans produce images of inside the body which are 3D and enriched with detail. The scans direct our attention to the abnormal areas and allow us to see which parts of the body are working well and which parts aren’t. This is particularly useful as it can help doctors diagnose people with Alzheimer`s. The PET scanners work from radiation which is emitted from the substance radiotracer. The most typical radiotracer which is used is called flurodeoxyglucose, which isn’t that much of a shock to the body as it treats it like a natural glucose. The process of a PET scan is as follows; you are injected with a radiotracer into the vein and then have to lie still within a large circular scanner. (NHS choices, 2015) One really important strength of PET scanning with regards to Alzheimer`s is they are effective in highlighting amyloid protein plaques in the brain. This is extremely positive and may even allow doctors to diagnose people with Alzheimer`s even before any signs of symptoms appear. There has been studies conducted which reveal how PET scanning using florbetapir F as a tracer was effective in distinguishing between 68 people who were thought to have Alzheimer`s, also 60 people who showed signs of mild cognitive impairment and 82 healthy older people who showed no signs of cognitive impairment. The scans have a high resolution as what we see on the scan directly reflects how much amyloid protein is in the brain. However, a weakness of this is that the two don’t always link. Around one third of people older than 65 have the amyloid protein which is linked to Alzheimer`s, but they won`t actually have any cognitive impairment. (Mann, 2011) A strength of PET scans for Alzheimer`s is that if longitudinal studies are used, researchers can clearly see differences over time with regards to brain structure and cognition of these patients.(Habeck et al,2012) Another weakness is they have low