Chapter 1: Cognitive Neuroscience: Definitions, Themes, and Approaches Flashcards
cognition
“higher-order” mental processes
cognitive functions
set of processes that allow humans and many other animals to perceive external stimuli, to extract key information and hold it in memory, and ultimately to generate thoughts and actions that help reach desired goals
mind
full spectrum of a person’s awareness (one aspect of consciousness) at any point in time, reflecting sensory percepts, as well as thoughts, feelings, goals, desires, and so on
behaviourism
perspective in cognitive psychology that holds that only directly observable behavior, and not internal mental states, can be studied scientifically
cognitive science
scientific discipline that seeks to understand and model the information processing associated with cognitive functions
cognitive model
explanatory framework that invokes unobserved internal states to predict how stimuli lead to actions
psychological constructs
theoretical concept, often generated by converging results across experiments, that cannot be directly observed but serves to explain and unify a body of research
nervous system
network of nerve cells throughout the body
cerebral cortex
superficial gray matter of the cerebral hemispheres
phrenology
attempt to create maps of brain function based on the pattern of bumps and valleys on the surface of the skull
localization of function
idea that the brain may have distinct regions that support particular cognitive functions
neuron/ nerve cell
specialized for the conduction and transmission of electrical signals in the nervous system
action potential
electrical signal conducted along neuronal axons by which information is conveyed from one place to another in the nervous system
neurotransmitter
chemical agent released at synapses that mediates signaling between nerve cells
synapse
specialized point of contact between the axon of a neuron (the presynaptic cell) and a target (postsynaptic) cell. Information is transferred between the presynaptic and postsynaptic cells by the release and receipt of biochemical neurotransmitters
cognitive neuroscience
scientific discipline that seeks to create models that explain the interrelations between brain function and cognitive functions
neural correlate
measure of brain function that covaries with the expression of a cognitive function
individual differences
variation in a cognitive function or other trait across people, often as can be related to a particular biological predictor
convergence
combination of results across multiple experimental paradigms, often to support inferences about an unobservable internal state
complementarity
combination of data across multiple methods for measuring brain function, often to improve inferences about the nature of the generative neural processes
meta-analysis
approach of combining results from multiple experiments, usually published studies that vary in their research methods, to improve the specificity and generalizability of the inferences that can be drawn
