Ch1: Intro to Cog Neuro Flashcards
A variety of higher mental processes such as thinking, perceiving, imagining, speaking, acting, and planning
Cognition
Aims to explain cognitive processes in terms of brain-based mechanisms
Cognitive Neuroscience
The problem of how a physical substance (the brain) can give rise to our sensations, thoughts, and emotions (our mind)
Mind-Body Problem
The belief that mind and brain are made up of different kinds of substance
Dualism
The belief that mind and brain are two levels of description of the same thing
Dual-Aspect Theory
The belief that mind-based concepts will eventually be replaced by neuroscientific concepts
Reductionism
The failed idea that individual differences in cognition can be mapped on to differences in skull shape
Phrenology
Different regions of the brain are specialized for different functions
Functional Specialisation
The study of brain-damaged patients to inform theories of normal cognition
Cognitive NeuroPsychology
An approach in which behavior is described in terms of a sequence of cognitive stages
Information Processing
Later stages of processing can begin before earlier stages are complete
Interactivity
The influence of later stages on the processing of earlier ones (e.g. memory influences on perception)
Top-Down Processing
The passage of information from simpler (e.g. edges) to more complex (e.g. objects)
Bottom-Up Processing
Different information is processed at the same time
Parallel Processing
The notion that certain cognitive processes (or regions of the brain) are restricted in the type of information they process
Modularity
The idea that a cognitive process (or brain region) is dedicated solely to one particular type of information (e.g. colors, faces, words)
Domain specificity
Computational models in which information processing occurs using many interconnected nodes
Neural network models
The basic units of neural network models that are activated in response to activity in other parts of the network
Nodes
The accuracy with which one can measure when an event (e.g. a physiological change) occurs
Temporal resolution
The accuracy with which one can measure where an event (e.g. a physiological change) is occurring
Spatial resolution
A comprehensive map of neural connections in the brain that may be thought of as its wiring diagram
Connectome
A mathematical technique for computing the pattern of connectivity (or “wiring diagram”) from a set of correlations
Graph theory
Wilder Penfield stimulated the brains of patients undergoing brain surgery for which neurological disorder? A) Alzheimer’s B) Epilepsy C) Multiple Sclerosis D) Depression
B) Epilepsy
Which of the following researchers was the first to describe the nerve cell (in 1837)? A) Owaga B) Berger C) Purkinje D) Lauterber
C) Purkinje
