Practice question · Multiple choice
fMRI has excellent spatial resolution and poor temporal resolution; EEG has the reverse. Why can a researcher not simply choose whichever is better?
Hints
- Ask what physical quantity each machine actually detects.
- Blood takes time to arrive. Electricity spreads through the skull. Which limitation is which?
Show the answer
A. Because the two measure different things: blood flow and voltage.
Why
Neither instrument is a compromised version of the other. The haemodynamic lag of four to six seconds is a property of blood flow, so no engineering removes it; EEG inherits the inverse problem, where infinitely many internal configurations produce the same surface pattern. Asking where points to fMRI, asking when points to EEG.
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