Chapter 10

Self-assessment Questions

1. Define an “experiment” in your own words.
2. What difference are there between independent and dependent variables?
3. What is a research hypothesis? What types of hypotheses are possible for fMRI studies, and what kinds of studies do these types represent?
4. Why do some people consider fMRI data to be epiphenomenal? What do you think about this issue?
5. What are confounding factors in an experiment, and how can they be minimized?
6. What are the basic principles of blocked designs? Why are they sometimes referred to as “subtractive” designs?
7. Are blocked designs better for detection of activity or estimation of the time course of activity? Why?
8. Why do some experiments evoke increased activity during control conditions compared to experimental conditions? What might subjects be doing/thinking during control blocks?
9. What are the basic principles of event-related designs?
10. What does the term “epoch” describe in an event-related design?
11. How do researchers often improve signal to noise in event-related designs?
12. What is the advantage of a pre-stimulus baseline period for event-related analyses?
13. What is the primary disadvantage of slow event-related designs?
14. What sorts of experimental questions can be answered by event-related designs, but not by blocked designs?
15. What is trial sorting? In what sorts of experiments would it be useful?
16. What are semi-random designs? What advantages do they provide?
17. What are mixed designs? Why would they be used?