ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the primary methods for studying the brain during development. It focuses on the relatively new technique of functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and outlines why it is used increasingly in developmental research. The chapter highlights some of the practical challenges involved with studying infants and children. It explains the key developmental psychopathology findings with fNIRS. The major advantage of fNIRS compared with electroencephalography (EEG) is that it is less susceptible to data corruption by movement artefacts. It offers a more highly spatially resolved image of activation allowing the localization of brain responses to specific cortical regions. Neuroimaging methods either detect the direct activation related to electrical activity of the brain. Several advantages of fNIRS make it a highly suitable method for the study of individuals with psychiatric or developmental disorders.
