Chapter 3

Question 1

main concepts of cognitive psychology

Answer 1

1. information processing depends on mental representations
2. mental representations undergo internal transformations

Question 2

word superior effect

Answer 2

letters are better recognized as part of a word than within a random string of letters

Question 3

Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 3

a degenerative vascular disorder caused by tangles within neurons and plaque build up in the brain that increases with age

Question 4

epilepsy

Answer 4

excessive and abnormal patterned behavior in the brain; often causes seizures which are a transient loss of consciousness

Question 5

double dissociation *

Answer 5

strongest neuropsychological evidence that a patient has a selective deficit in a certain cognitive function; done by studying two patients who have different lesions that affect different areas of the brain

Question 6

agonist

Answer 6

pharmacological substance that activates a receptor to cause a biological activity

Question 7

antagonist

Answer 7

pharmacological substance that blocks the activation of a receptor to prevent a biological activity

Question 8

behavioral genetics

Answer 8

study of how genetic makeup and environment impact behavior

Question 9

knock out procedure

Answer 9

study method that involves inactivating part of a gene

Question 10

deep brain stimulation

Answer 10

invasive form of brain stimulation that involves implanting an electrode on the brain

Question 11

optogenetics *

Answer 11

a protein is encoded in a virus that is selectively given to certain neurons that allows them to be ‘turned on and off’ by different light exposures

Question 12

transcranial magnetic stimulation *

Answer 12

form of noninvasive neuronal stimulation that involves using a magnetic field to temporarily deactivate neurons

Question 13

(rTMS) repetitive

Answer 13

(noninvasive) low frequency bursts stimulation over a long period of time- inhibitory effects

Question 14

cTBS (continual-theta burst stimulation)

Answer 14

high frequency continuous stimulation for a shorter period of time- excitatory effects

Question 15

ERP (event related potential)

Answer 15

measure of neuron that aligns a trial relative to an event

Question 16

PET

Answer 16

brain scan that uses radioactive tracer distribution to see brain function

Question 17

fMRI

Answer 17

noninvasive brain scan that measure Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent signals as an indirect measure of brain activity

Question 18

connectomes

Answer 18

structural or functional connections within the brain