Chapter 15 Flashcards
What are psychological constructs?
idea or set of impressions that some mental ability exists an entity (memory, language, thought, emotion)
How is language a driver of higher-level thinking?
- categorizes information
- organizes time
- syntax
What does cognition entail the abilities of?
attending to, identifying and making meaningful responses to stimuli
Where does human thought come from in the brain?
arises from activity of complex neural circuits in the prefrontal cortex
What are cell assemblies?
hypothetical group of neurons that become functionally connected via common sensory inputs
What is the most important way in which human thought differs from thinking in other animals?
a lot of human thought is verbal through language which allows us to categories information and provides a way to organize our behaviour around time
What are structural differences between the left and right hemispheres?
- lateral fissure
- sensorimotor face area
- broca’s area
What role does the right hemisphere play?
spatial behaviour and music
What does the left hemisphere play a role in?
controlling voluntary movement sequences and language
What happens when there is right parietal damage?
- difficulties copying pictures (constructional apraxia)
- difficulties doing puzzles, navigating familiar environments
What happens when there is left parietal damage?
- impairment in generating coordinated voluntary motor movements (apraxia)
- difficulties in math, reading, object naming
What is dichotic listening?
experimental procedure for simultaneously presenting a different auditory input to each ear through stereophonic earphones
- right ear seems to have preferential access to the left hemisphere
What causes split brain?
severing the corpus callosum
What are the two major contributors to organizational differences in individual brains?
- sex
- handedness
What is synesthesia?
people who experience certain sensations in more than one sensory modality
What roles do gonadal hormones play in brain organization and function?
influence brain development and shape neural circuits in adulthood
What is the association cortex?
neocortex outside the primary sensory and motor cortices; produces cognition
What is spatial cognition?
our knowledge about the environment that allows us to determine where we and objects in our environment are, how to go from one place to another, how to interpret our spatial world, and how to communicate about space
Where is knowledge stored?
association cortex
Which lobe processes information about objects?
temporal
Which lobe processes information about spatial cognition?
parietal
What are ways we conceptualize space?
- space in reference to body
- allocentric and egocentric
- more abstract cognitive space
What is a key feature of being able to navigate spatial environment?
mental manipulation
What are visuospatial deficits?
- implicates posterior parietal regions
- topographic disorientation
- balint syndrome (optic ataxis, ocular apraxia, simultagnosia)
