Chapter 2- Cognitive Neuroscience

Question 0

Phrenology

Answer 0

The study of the shape, size, and protusions of the cranium in an attempt to discorver the relationships between parts of the brain and various mental activities and abilities-Franz Gall-ended up being more of an entertainer.

Question 1

Modules

Answer 1

Different parts of the brain, each of which is responsible for particular cognitive operations

Question 2

Phrenology underlying principles

Answer 2

1) the brain is the sole organ of the mind
2) Basic character and intellectual traits are innately determined
3) Since there are diffeerences in character and intellectual traits among individuals as well as differences in various intellectual capacities within a single individual, there must exist differentially developed areas in the brain, responsible for these differences. When there is a variation in the function there must be a variation in the structure.

Question 3

Localization of function

Answer 3

The idea that there is a direct correspondence between specific cognitive functions and specific parts of the brain

Question 4

Broca’s Aphasia

Answer 4

A deficit in the ability to produce speech as a result of damage to Broca’s area

Question 5

Broca’s Area

Answer 5

Te=he area of the brain’s elft hemisphere that is responsible for processing the meaning of words

Question 6

Wernicke’s Area

Answer 6

Area of the brain’s left hemisphere that is responsible for processing the meaning of words

Question 7

Wernicke’s Aphasia

Answer 7

A deficit in the ability to comprehend speech as a result of damage to Wernicke’s area

Question 8

Language comprehension and production

Answer 8

Goes from ear-to wernicke’s area-to Broca’s area-to motor cortex.

Question 9

Interhemispheric Transfer

Answer 9

Communication between the hemispheres facillitated by the corpus collosum

Question 10

Split Brain

Answer 10

A condition created by severing the corpus collosum. Often done in cases of sever seizures,

Question 11

Emergent Property

Answer 11

In sperry’s (nobel prize on interhemispheric transfer, conducted on cats) sense, a property that emerges as a result of brain processes, but is not itself a component of the brain. In the case of the mind this means that consciousness is neither a reducible to, nor a property of, a particular brain structure or region

Question 12

Emergent Causation

Answer 12

In Sperry’s sense, causation brought about by an emergent property. Once the ‘mind’ emerges from the brain, it has the power to influence lower level processes

Question 13

Supervenient

Answer 13

In Sperry’s sense, describes mental states that may simultaneously influence neuronal events and be influenced by them

Question 14

Event-Related Potential

Answer 14

An electrical signal emitted by the brain after the onset of a stimulus

Question 15

Positron Emission Tomography

Answer 15

An imaging technique in which a participant is injected with a radioactive substance that mingles with the blood and circulates to the brain, A scanner is then used to detect the flow of blood to particular areas of the brain

Question 16

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Answer 16

A non radioactive, magnetic procedure for detecting the flow of oxygenated blood to various parts of the brain

Question 17

Magnetoencephalography

Answer 17

A non invasive brain imaging technique that directly measures neural activity

Question 18

Connectionism

Answer 18

A theory that focuses on the way cognitive processes work at the physiological/neurological (as opposed to information processing) level. It holds that the brain consists of an enormous number of interconnected neurons and attempts to model cognition as an emergent process of networks of simple units (neurons) communicating with one another

Question 19

Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Answer 19

An MRI based neuroimaging technique that makes it possible to visualize the white matter tracts within the brain

Question 20

Two basic connectionist ideas

Answer 20

1) information can be broken down into elementary units

2) There are connections between these units

Question 21

Neural Network

Answer 21

Neurons that are functionally related or connected

Question 22

Hebb Rule

Answer 22

A connection between two neurons takes place only if both neurons are firing at approximately the same time

Question 23

Parallel processing

Answer 23

Many neural connections may be active at the same time

Question 25

Serial Proecessing

Answer 25

Only one neural activity may take place at any one time

Question 26

Scans for Brain Structures

Answer 26

CT

MRI

Question 27

Scan for Brain Functions

Answer 27

EEG
PET
fMRI
MEG

Question 28

Diffusion tnesor imaging

Answer 28

MRI based neuroimaging technique that makes it possible to visualize the white matter tracts within the brain

Question 29

Modularity of mind

Answer 29

domain specificity
informational encapsulation
obligatory firing
fast speed
shallow outputs
limited accessibility
characteristic ontogeny
fixed neural architecture