Ch3: The electrophysiological brain Flashcards
The electrical activity (in terms of action potentials per second) of many individually recorded neurons recorded at one or more electrodes
Multi-cell recordings (or multi-unit recordings)
A hypothetical neuron that just responds to one particular stimulus
Grandmother cell
The informational content of a neuron may be related to the number of action potentials per second
Rate coding
The synchrony of firing may be used by a population of neurons to code the same stimulus or event
Temporal coding
The study of the time course of information processing in the human nervous system
Mental chronometry
A pair of positive and negative electrical charges separated by a small distance
Dipole
A general method for dividing reaction times into different stages
Additive factors method
An ERP component (negative potential at 170 ms) linked to perceiving facial structure
N170
Reaction times are faster to stimulus X after being presented to stimulus Y if X and Y have previously been associated together (e.g. if they tend to co-occur)
Associative priming
Related to properties of the stimulus
Exogenous
Related to properties of the task
Endogenous
The difficulty of locating the sources of electrical activity from measurements taken at the scalp (in ERP research)
Inverse problem
An attempt to solve the inverse problem in ERP research that involves assuming how many dipoles (regions of electrical activity) contribute to the signal recorded at the scalp
Dipole modeling
ERPs are constructed by averaging time-locked portions of which measure? A) PET B) TMS C) MEG D) EEG
D) EEG
Rather than relying on reaction times, lesion methods tend to rely on which of the following? A) Introspection B) Galvanic Skin Response C) Subjective Reports D) Error Rates
D) Error Rates
It is impossible to measure action potentials from a single neuron non-invasively at the scalp level largely because: A) Neurons do not produce electrical signals B) Neurons fire too rapidly C) The signal is too weak amidst the noise from other neurons D) Electrodes cannot be secured to one location on the scalp
C) The signal is too weak amidst the noise from other neurons
A hypothetical grandmother cell that responds to both the sight and voice of one’s grandmother would be called: A) Integrative B) Multi-modal C) Serial D) Parallel
B) Multi-modal
When all the information about a stimulus or event is carried in all the neurons of a given population, it is considered which type of representation? A) Fully distributed B) Sparse Local C) Local D) Sparse distributed
A) Fully distributed
Neurons representing information via greater synchronization of firing across different neurons for a given stimulus use what type of coding? A) Rate B) Temporal C) Gradient D) Gaze
B) Temporal
Axonal currents associated with the action potential are described as which type of current? A) Passive B) Latent C) Verbose D) Active
D) Active
In the 10–20 system of electrodes illustrated below, the circled electrode is called:
A) Cz
B) Pz
C) T3
D) F0
C) T3
In the image below, the arrow at the back of the head is called the:
A) Nasion
B) Mastoid
C) Sulcus
D) Inion
D) Inion
In ERP parlance, “N400” means the:
A) 400th negative peak
B) The maximum spatial resolution at the N4 electrode
C) The negative peak at 400ms
D) The lowest acceptable impedance at the nasion
C) The negative peak at 400ms
Posner (1978) called ‘the study of the time-course of information processing in the human nervous system’ which of the following:
A) Causal modelling
B) Efficiency analysis
C) Temporal resolution assessment
D) Mental chronometry
D) Mental chronometry
