Chapter 2 - Cognitive Neuroscience

Question 1

action potential

Answer 1

electrical potential that travels down a neuron’s axon

Question 2

brain stem

Answer 2

the connecting part of the brain that controls basic life functions like breathing, blood pressure, heartbeat and swallowing

Question 3

cerebellum

Answer 3

located back and down near the brain stem, it is the smaller brain-like structure that controls balance, coordination, and fine muscle control

Question 4

Broca’s aphasia

Answer 4

a condition associated with damage to Broca’s area, in the forntal lobe, characterized by difficulty in using speech to express thought, but with a remaining facility for understanding speech

Question 5

Broca’s area

Answer 5

an area in the frontal lob associated with the production of language

Question 6

diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)

Answer 6

a variant of MRI that enables directional imaging of water diffusion in brain tissue that allows mapping of connected brain regions

Question 7

cerebral cortex

Answer 7

the 3-mm-thick outer layer of the brain that contains the mechanism responsible for higher mental functions such as perception, language, thinking, and problem solving

Question 8

cognitive neuroscience

Answer 8

field involved in studying the neural basis of cognition

Question 9

electroencephalography (EEG)

Answer 9

electrodes placed around scalp to measure electrical activity emanating form neurons within brain

Question 10

lesions

Answer 10

removal or cutting of brain tissue due to trauma or intentional surgery

Question 11

localization of function

Answer 11

location of specific functions in specific areas of the brain

Question 12

event-related potential (ERP)

Answer 12

an electrical potential, recorded with disc electrodes on a person’s scalp, that reflects the response of many thousands of neurons near the electrode that fire together; consists of a number of waves occur at different delays after a stimulus is present and that can be linked to different functions

Question 13

extrastriate body area (EBA)

Answer 13

an area in the temporal cortex that is activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies, but not by faces or other objects

Question 14

near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)

Answer 14

shining a light into the skull and detecting how much is absorbed by the brain

Question 15

frontal lobe

Answer 15

the lobe in the front of the brain that serves higher functions such as language, thought, memory, and motor functioning

Question 16

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Answer 16

a brain imaging technique that measure how blood flow changes in response to cognitive activity

Question 17

fusiform face area (FFA)

Answer 17

an area in the temporal lobe that contains many neurons that respond selectively to faces

Question 18

neuron

Answer 18

a specialized cell that receives and transmits information in the nervous system

Question 19

neuropsychology

Answer 19

the study of the behavioral effects of brain damage in humans

Question 20

neurotransmitters

Answer 20

chemicals within the brain

Question 21

occipital lobe

Answer 21

the very back of the brain that controls vision

Question 22

parahippocampal place area (PPA)

Answer 22

Area of temporal lobe activated by places (buildings, scenes, etc.)

Question 23

parietal lobe

Answer 23

the top and back part of the brain that controls intelligence, reasoning and sensation

Question 24

phrenology

Answer 24

A pseudoscience that assumed mental “propensities” are associated with specific brain areas and can be measured from the surface of the skull

Question 25

positron emission tomography (PET)

Answer 25

low dose of a radioactive tracer is injected in a person’s bloodstream

Question 26

prosopagnosia

Answer 26

an inability to recognize faces

Question 27

single-cell recording of neurons

Answer 27

an electrode is inserted in the brain tissue of an animal until the tip is near a neuron

Question 28

synapse

Answer 28

the gap between neurons where neurotransmitters are transmitted

Question 29

temporal lobe

Answer 29

on the side of the brain; controls speech, memory, and emotions

Question 30

topographic organization

Answer 30

adjacent areas of cortex process adjacent areas of the sensory field

Question 31

transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Answer 31

not an imaging method; used to temporarily activate/deactivate brain areas

Question 32

Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 32

Difficulty in understanding language; production of meaningless speech

Question 33

Wenicke’s area

Answer 33

Region of temporal lobe involved in language comprehension