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Self MCAT > Cognition, consciousness and Language > Flashcards

Cognition, consciousness and Language Flashcards

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MCAT flashcards
1
Q

What does the dual coding theory state?

A

Verbal and visual cues is used to process and store info leading to redundancy i.e makes it hard to forget

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2
Q

Information processing model uses states what?

A

thinking requires sensation, encoding and storage of stimuli

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3
Q

Jean Piaget’s concluded that?

A

Adults and children differ qualitatively the wa they think

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4
Q

What are Piaget’s stages of development?

A
  • sensorimotor (0-2yrs)
  • preoperational (3-7)
  • concrete operations (3-11)
  • formal operations (11+)
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5
Q

What are the characteristics of sensorimotor stage?

A
  • Child manipulates environment to meet needs
  • Circular reactions (repetitive things babies do)
    • primary- involve baby’s body- sucking toe, thumb
    • secondary-involve things away from body- throwing things in the ground & mum picks it
  • Object permanence- things still exist even when not in view- peek a boo. maatering this end sensorimotor
  • representational thought- follows OP- creates mental reps of external objects and events
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6
Q

What features characterise preoperational stage?

A
  • symbolic thinking-pretend, play make-believe, imagine
  • egocentricism-unable to imagine what other person may think or feel
  • centration- fixed on one aspect of a situation i.e not fully internalised conservation
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7
Q

What features characterise concrete operations?

A
  • Understand conservation and no longer egocentric
  • logic thought with concrete objects or info directly available
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8
Q

Describe formal operations stage

A
  • Logic is abstract eg Piaget’s pendulum expt
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9
Q

How does culture affect cognitive devt?

A

Culture dictates what is vital to learn and places value on some things and not others

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10
Q

What does Lev Vygotsky say about culture and cognition?

A

proposes the engine driving cognitive devt that children learn from instruction and watching others

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11
Q

What is fluid intelligence?

A

intelligence that peaks in early adulthood involves problem solving skills. declines with age

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12
Q

What is crystallised intelligence?

A

intelligence use of learned skills and knowledge, peaks in middle adulthood, declines with aging

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13
Q

Decline in cognitive abilities is linked to what in older adults?

A

how long one takes to perform ADLs (eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, ambulation)

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14
Q

What are schematas?

A

organised patterns of behaviour and thought

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15
Q

What is a schema

A

Refers to a concept (what is a dog?) behaviour or sequence of events

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16
Q

According to Piaget, how is new information processed?

A

thru adaptation is

  • assimilation- classify new info into existing schemata
  • accommodation-existing schemata modified to encompass new info
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17
Q

What factors may influence cognition

A
  • heredity
  • environment
  • parenting styles
  • intellectual disabilities dt chemicals/ physical eg etoh/ shaken baby syndrome
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18
Q

What is delirium

A

rapid onset cognitive decline, reversible and caused by medical issues eg pH imbalances, electrolyte, malanutrition, low bs, infection, etoh withdrawal

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19
Q

What is a mental set

A

approaching similar problems the same way

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20
Q

What is functional fixedness

A

inability to use a tool in a nontraditional manner

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21
Q

Types of problem solving include?

A
  • Trial and error
  • Algorithms
  • Deductive (top down) reasoning
  • Inductive (bottom-up) reasoning
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22
Q

What tools are used in decision making

A
  • heuristics
  • biases
  • intuition
  • emotions
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23
Q

What are heuristics?

A

simplified principles to reach a decision i.e rule of the thumb

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24
Q

Differentiate availability heuristics and representativeness heuristic

A

AH- things that come to mind easily we think of as more common and improtant at the expense of things that actually happen and are uncommon.used when deciding how likely something is eg are there more words starting with K or Q (u guess K coz u come up with more words with K)

RH-categorizing items on basis of whether they fit the prototypical, sterotypical or representative image of the category eg. flip a coin 50x and only get heads then claiming the next will ne heads rather than 50-50 h/T

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25
Q

What is base rate fallacy?

A

ignoring actual (base info) real data and going with stereotypical or prototypical factors

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26
Q

What is disconfirmation principle?

A

discarding information that has been proven to be useless

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27
Q

define confirmation bias?

A

tendency to focus on info that fits your belief whilst rejecting information against your beliefs. can lead to overconfidence

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28
Q
A
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29
Q

What is belief perseverance?

A

inability to reject a particular belief despite evidence showing otherwise

30
Q

What is intuition?

A

acting on perceptions that may not be supported by clear evidence- d/t experience

-recognition-primed decision model- accessing info w/o awareness eg during triage in the ER by MD

31
Q

Who proposed the multiple intelligences theory?

A

Howard Gadner

32
Q

List the types of intelligences according to Gardner

A
  • linguistic
  • logical-mathematical
  • musical
  • visual-spatial
  • bodily-kinesthetic
  • interpersonal
  • intrapersonal
33
Q

Define consciousness

A

Ones level of awareness of the world and their existence within it

34
Q

What is alertness

what hormone precipitates this

A

awake and able to think

cortisol

35
Q

What brain areas are responsible for alertness? what happens with this neural circuit is destroyed?

A

prefrontal cortex with reticular activation system (formation) keeping it “awake”

-coma

36
Q

Stages of sleep include?

A
  • NREM 1,2,3,4
  • REM
37
Q

What EEG patterns are observed in sleep?

A
  • Beta
  • Alpha
  • Theta
  • Delta
38
Q

Awake brain patterns include

A
  • Beta- high frequency- neuronal firing
  • Alpha- slower than beta, when awake but eyes closed- relaxed state
39
Q

Stage 1 of sleep

A

theta waves- slower frequency and high voltages

40
Q

stage 2 of sleep

A

theta waves with sleep spindles and K complexes

41
Q

stage 3/4 is referred to as?

characteristics include

A
  • Slow-wave sleep SWS
  • Low frequency delta waves
  • Difficult to arouse someone
  • Cognitive recovery and increase in GH release
42
Q

REM sleep

A
  • Akin to being awake- beta waves present- increased HR, RR
  • Paradoxical sleep- muscles are paralysed but brain “awake”
  • Dreams occur
  • Serves to consolidate memory- procedural memory
43
Q

How long does a sleep cycle last

A

90 mins in adults and 50 in children i.e increases as ine gets older

44
Q

How does the sleep cycle proceed

A

1-2-3-4-REM or 1-2-3-4-3-2-REM

45
Q

What does increasing light or decreasing light do with circadian rhythms

A

Early morning result in increased cortisol release d/t increase in light; low light triggers hypthalamus to cause melatonin release from pineal gland

46
Q

Name and describe the three theories of dreams

A
  • Activation-synthesis theory- dreams caused by widespread activation of neural circuitry
  • Problem-solving theory-dreams are a way of solving problems
  • Cognitive process theory- dreams just idealise another version of your consciousness

Neurocognitive model unites both psych and bio perspectives

47
Q

How are dyssomnias and parasomnias different?

A
  • Dyssomnias are disorders that make it hard to sleep, fall asleep or stay asleep- narcolepsy, sleep apnea, insomnia
  • Parasomnias are abnormal movements or behaviours during sleep- night terrors, sleep walking
48
Q

Most sleep wake disorders occur during what stage?

A

NREM sleep

49
Q

What is narcolepsy

A

Inability to control onset of sleep during wake hours xterised by

  • cataplexy- muscle dystonia and rapid REM sleep
  • sleep paralysis- unable to move despite being awake
  • hypnagogic hallucinations- occur when going to bed
  • hypnapompic hallucinations- when popping out of bed
50
Q

What are xteristics of night terrors

A
  • mostly in young children during SWS
  • Increased sympathetic stimulation
  • very difficult to awake, does not remember them
51
Q

Characteristics of somnambulism include?

A
  • Occur in SWS
  • No recollection of events
52
Q

What is REM rebound?

A

occurs after someone has had sleep deprivation, REM sleep has an earlier onset and lasts longer compared to normal

53
Q

What is the action mechanism of antidepressants

A

Increase GABA receptor activity- leads to brain inhibition

Etoh increases dopamine activity=euphoria

Alcohol myopia- short-sightedness of drunkeness

54
Q

Alcohol use is associated with which class?

A

low SES

55
Q

Mechanism of action for stimulants includes? ex of stimulants

A

Arouses nervous system either by release of dopamine, nore-epi and serotoning (amphetamines) or decrease reuptake of these neurotransmitters (cocaine)

-opiates, ecstasy,

56
Q

Drug addiction follows which brain pathway

A

mesolimbic reward pathway which includes nucleus accumbens (NAc), ventral tegmental area (VTA), medial forbrain bundle (MFB) connects the other two. same pathway for reward as in falling in love and gambling.

uses dopamine

57
Q

Drugs known to increase GABA activity include

A
  • Etoh
  • Barbiturates
  • Benzos
  • Marijuana
58
Q

Drugs that increase dopamine, norepi and serotinin include?

A
  • amphetamines
  • hallucinogens-ecstasy
  • cocaine
59
Q

what is the cocktail party phenomenon?

A

paying selective attention to vital details in a busy/ high stimuli environment

60
Q

Describe the five components of language

A
  • Phonology- sound
  • Morphology- structure
  • Semantics-association of meaning with a word
  • Syntax-how words are put together to form sentances
  • Pragmatics-context and preexisting knowledge
61
Q

Timeline for language acquisition

A
  • 9-12months babbling (even deaf babies)
  • 12-18 months-one word per month
  • 18-20m- explosion of langauge
  • 2-3yrs- at least 3 word sentence
  • 5yrs-language rules mastered
62
Q

What is errors of growth relating to language

A

Application of grammar rules in incorrect places i.e runned, funner

63
Q

Name three theories of language

A
  • Nativist/ biological
  • Learning(behavioural)
  • Social interactionist
64
Q

What are key features of the nativist theory

A
  • Noam Chomsky
  • Innate capacity of language- language acquisition device (LAD)
  • Critical periods- langauge must be acquired otherwise its late
  • Sensitive period- time when environmental input has max effect on developing language
65
Q

What are the key points on behaviourist theory of language

A
  • B.F Skinner
  • Operant conditioning gives language
  • babies prefer parents talk
  • language is reinforced
  • fails to account for explosion of language
66
Q

What does the social interactionist theory state

A
  • Focus on biological and social processes
  • language is acquired by the child’s desire to communicate and behave socially
67
Q

Whorfian hypthesis/ linguistic relativity hypothesis

A

language determines our cognitive abilitities i.e you cant think of what you dont know

68
Q

Areas of the brain for speech production and comprehension

A
  • Brocas -production
  • wernicke’s comprehension
69
Q

What is expressive aphasia?

A

Broca’s aphasia- no speech but comprehends

70
Q

Receptive aphasia

A

Wernicke’s aphasia- cannot comprehend- speak but no sense

71
Q

Conduction aphasia

A

Damage to arcuate fasciculus (connects Broca’s and wernicke’s). Comprehends and produces speech but cannot repeat words

Self MCAT (9 decks)

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