Chapter 14 Flashcards
Anterior commisure
bundle of axons that connects the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex
anomia
difficulty recalling the names of objects
aphasia
language impairment
broca’s area
left frontal cortex portion of the brain associated with language production
broca’s aphasia
(nonfluent aphasia) brain damage that causes impaired language characterized by poor pronunciation, speaks mostly in nouns and verbs and omits prepositions and other grammatical connectives, comprehension is impaired if the meaning depends on complex grammar.
backward masking
a brief visual stimulus after another visual stimulus that leads to failure to remember the first
binocular rivalry
when 2 stimuli are presented (one to each eye) and perception shifts from one to the other
corpus callosum
bundle of axons that connects the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex
conscious
capable of reporting presence of a stimulus
dualism
belief that mind and body are different kinds of substance that exist independently
dyslexia
a specific impairment of reading in someone with adequate vision, motivation and overall cognitive skills
epilepsy
a condition characterized by repeated episodes of excessive synchronized neural activity
focus
point in the brain where an epileptic seizure begins
hard problem
philosophical question as to why and how brain activity becomes conscious
inattentional blindness
If something in a complex scene changes slowly or changes when you blink your eyesyou probably will not notice unless you were paying attention to the particular area where the change occurred
language acquisition device
a built in mechanism for acquiring language
lateralization
division of labour between the two brain hemispheres
masking
use of one stimulus to block perception of another
materialism
view that everything that exists is material or physical
mentalism
view that only the mind really exists and that the physical world could not exist unless some mind were aware of it
mind-brain problem
question about the relationship between mental experience and brain activity
monism
belief that the universe consists of only one kind of substance
optic chiasm
area where axons from each eye cross to the opposite side of the brain (right vis field - left side retina - left hemisphere of the brain & vice versa)
planum temporale
section of the temporal cortex that is larger in the left hemisphere (for 65% of people)
productivity
ability of language to produce new signals to represent new ideas
phi phenomenon
tendency to see something as moving back and forth between positions when in fact it is alternately blinking on and off in those positions
spatial neglect
a tendency to ignore the left side of the body ot the left side of objects
Stroop effect
The difficulty of saying the colour of ink of a word instead of reading the word itself
split-brain people
People who have undergone surgery to the corpus callossum
visual field
area of the world that an individual can see at one time
Wernicke’s area
portion of the brain located near the auditory cortex associated with language comprehension
Williams syndrome
Condition in which the person has relatively good language abilities in spite of impairments in other regards. Deletion of genes from chromosome 7, decreased gray matter; perform regularly in music and friendliness despite 50-60 IQ and severe impairment
Wernicke’s aphasia
(fluent aphasia) condition characterized by poor language comprehension and impaired ability to remember the name of objects; speech is grammatical but often nonsensical, comprehension seriously impaired
