Cognitive neuropsychology Flashcards
How can we measure mental processes?
- Reaction time
- Accuracy or error rate
- Pattern of errors
What is cognitive neuropsychology?
Studies patterns of cognitive performance of brain damaged patients with lesion
What is the goal of cognitive neuropsychology?
To understand cognition in brain damaged patients to then understand it in healthy individuals
What is the neuropsychology case study?
Patient HM
What happened to patient HM?
Experienced memory problems after his hippocampus was surgically removed to treat epilepsy
What are the key assumptions of cognitive neuropsychology?
- Modularity
- Anatomical modularity
- Universality
- Subtractivity
- Transparancy
What is modularity?
Modules operate independently
What is anatomical modularity?
Specific brain areas do specific things
What is universality?
Shared organisation of the brain amongst everyone
What is subtractivity?
Damage causes impairments doesn’t change the structure of the brain
What is transparancy?
Brain damage = Healthy brain - Impact of lesion
