PowerLab 1_Questions(1)finished - Name Merrett Wagner TA...

Name: Merrett Wagner
TA Name: Tim Campbell
Section #: 504
PowerLab 1 Questions – EEG, Psychophysiology & Wii
Make sure to answer all questions in complete sentences. You need to answer questions using scientific
physiological terms. Answering questions in general/vague statements will result in a loss of points.
1. How does human anatomy make it difficult to record an electroencephalogram?
2. What are common causes of the artifacts you recorded? Name at least three sources of artifacts
in EEG recordings, and in which waveform these artifacts are most prevalent.
There were auditory and visual distractions that were common causes of artifacts in this
powerlab. Three sources of these artifacts would be other people in the room to distract the
subject, maybe they were distracted by something they were thinking about in their head while the
experiment was going on and something that could have been happening outside, like a beeping
truck or loud construction work could have been a distraction or artifact.
Blinking disrupts alpha waves and causes them to be more irregular than they normally would
be if the person’s eyes were closed. Beta waves are more dominant when their eyes were open and
there were some spikes in the waves when she blinked her eyes.
3. Under what conditions did you see alpha waves more clearly? What are alpha waves thought to
indicate physiologically?