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PSYCH 85 > Cognitive Neuroscience > Flashcards

Cognitive Neuroscience Flashcards

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1
Q

what are the three foundations of cognitive science?

A
  1. Philosophical: grounded in philosophical problems
  2. Representation: ‘mental representations’ of the outside world, internal emotions/experiences, and knowledge
  3. Computation: information processing (perception, language, learning, etc.)
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2
Q

what is the modularity of mind?

A

the notion that the mind is composed of a collection of information processing modules
each module…
1. receives a set of inputs, performs specialized functions
2. produces output, made available to other modules

like the components of a computer

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3
Q

what is phrenology?

A

early modularity
- 19th century movement founded by Franz Joseph Gall
- proposed that specific mental faculties were associated with particular locations in the brian
- shape of skull conformed in order to accomodate the different sizes of the brain areas
* mental abilities and personality traits were assessed by measuring bumps in the head

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4
Q

how is phrenology wrong?

A
  • shape of skull does not reflect shape of brian
  • size of brain regions do not reflect strength of psychological faculties
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5
Q

what did phrenology get right?

A
  • the brain is regionally specialized for different cognitive functions
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6
Q

what is Marr’s tri-level hypothesis?

A
  1. computational level (goal of problem)
  2. representation/algorithmic level (process by which the problem is solved)
  3. implementation level (how is the algorithm implemented)
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7
Q

Problem: Determine the result of adding 36 and 47
Identify Marr’s Levels of Analysis for this problem

A
  1. computational: goal = determine the value of X in 36+47=X
  2. representation/algorithmic level: arabic numerics, standard rules of addition
  3. implementation level: brain, calculator, etc.
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8
Q

What is the main critique of Marr’s levels of analysis?

A

the nervous systems display many levels of structured organization from molecules to synapses, neurons, networks, etc
- not just one level of ‘implementation’ (the brain)

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9
Q

what do neurons do?

A
  • process information by electric impulses that travel down the axon
  • when the input to the dendrites reaches a threshold level, the neuron ‘fires’
  • sends an electrical impulse known as ‘action potential’
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10
Q

what is synaptic neurotransmission?

A
  • when the action potential reaches the axon terminal, it causes the release of neurotransmitters into the synapse
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11
Q

what is gray matter?

A

areas of the brain containing cell bodies of neurons

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12
Q

what is white matter?

A

areas of the brain containing axons which are covered in myelin (insulates and increases speed of conduction)

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13
Q

rostral/anterior

A

front, rostral = ‘towards the nose’

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14
Q

caudal/posterior

A

back, caudal = ‘towards the back’

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15
Q

compare dorsal/superior vs ventral/inferior

A

dorsal: upper,
ventral: lower

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16
Q

identify 5 lobes of the brain and their main functions

A
  1. frontal: reasoning, planning speech
  2. parietal: spatial, body awareness
  3. temporal: auditory processing, object
  4. occipital: vision
  5. cerebellum: movement coordination
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17
Q

what are the two main neural pathways?

A
  1. dorsal stream
  2. ventral stream
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18
Q

what neural pathway determines where the object is?

A

dorsal stream

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19
Q

what neural pathway determines what the object is?

A

ventral pathway

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20
Q

what lobe does the dorsal visual stream lead to?

A

parietal lobe (spatial, body awareness)

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21
Q

what lobe does the ventral visual stream lead to?

A

temporal lobe

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22
Q

how does neural activity affect blood flow?

A

neural activity increases metabolic demand -> increases blood flow to the active region

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23
Q

what are the two ways to measure neural activation?

A
  1. directly (measure neural activity)
  2. indirectly (blood flow)
24
Q

describe the process of positron emission tomography

A
  1. subjects are injected with radioactive isotope, which emits positrons
  2. positrons collide with electrons, emitting two photons (gamma rays) in opposite directions

therefore, if there is more neural activity, the increased blood flow to that region will releases a greater PET signal (which is measured)

25
Q

what are the pros of PET scans

A
  • decent spatial resolution
  • can also measure neurotransmitter metabolism
  • can aid in diagnosis of disorders such as alzheimer’s disease
  • very quiet (good for auditory experiments)
26
Q

what are the cons of PET scans

A
  • invasive (radioactive injection)
  • very expensive
  • poor temporal resolution
  • cannot detect the neural response to discrete cognitive events
27
Q

MRI vs fMRI

A

MRI: studies brain anatomy
fundiontal MRI: studies brain function

28
Q

how do fMRI’s work?

A

fMRIs measure brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow
- measures magnetic properties of oxgenated and deoxygenated blood

29
Q

explain cognitive subtration

A

two brain scans:
1: control
2: experiment

looking at the difference in neural activity to see what areas of the brains are activated during the experiment

30
Q

what are the pros of fMRIs

A
  • good spatial resolution (1-3mm^3) allows precise localization of brain activation
  • lots of information represented within spatial patterns of the brain
  • non-invasive
  • widely-available
31
Q

what are the cons of fMRIs

A
  • temporal resolution is higher but is still very slow
  • very expensive
  • scanner is very loud
32
Q

do EEGs directly or indirectly measure brain activity?

A

directly

33
Q

how do EEGs work

A

EEGs record electrical activity from large populations of simultaneously active neurons at the scalp with millisecond resolution

34
Q

what are the pros of EEGs

A
  • good temporal resolution (ms)
  • ERPs are useful to study time-locked complex processing
  • low cost
  • silent (good for auditory experiments)
  • non-invasive
35
Q

what are the cons of EEGs

A
  • poor spatial resolution
  • poor signal to noise ratio (picks up junk/static)
  • preparing the subject is more time-intensive
  • not good with some hairstyles
36
Q

do MEGs directly or indirectly measure brain activity?

A

directly

37
Q

how do MEGs work

A

measure magnetic field generated by electrical activity of neurons

38
Q

what are the pros of MEGs

A
  • high temporal resolution
  • better spatial resolution as compared to EEGs
  • can potentially localize function in healthy controls
  • has revealed activity in brain areas previously thought to be uninvolved (cerebellum)
39
Q

what are the cons of MEGs

A
  • interpretation of imaging data is not straightforward
  • replication of results often poor
  • correlational methods
40
Q

how does TMS work

A

sends brief but strong magnetic pulses that penetrate through the skull and temporality disrupt the electrical activity of the brain

41
Q

what are the pros of TMS

A
  • safe, non-invasive, temporary
  • experimentally controlled
  • test necessity of specific brain region (causal evidence)
42
Q

what are the cons of TMS

A
  • relatively brief effects
  • greater impact on surface cortical areas
  • potential spread of activations
  • not effective on deeper brain regions
43
Q

what are the symptoms of Broca’s aphasia?

A

halting speech, tendency to repeat, disordered syntax, disordered grammar, disordered structure of words

  • CAN COMPREHEND
44
Q

what are the symptoms of Wernicke’s aphasia?

A

fluent speech, little spontaneous repetition, syntax adequate, grammar adequate, contrived or inappropriate words

  • COMPREHENSION NOT INTACT
45
Q

describe apperceptive agnosia

A

unable to recognize objects
- cannot copy a figure but knows objects
- lesions to parietal, occipital cortex

46
Q

describe associative agnosia

A

unable to identify objects
- can draw/copy but not verbally identify
- unable to link perception of object to prior experiences with it
- lesions to bilateral inferior occipitotemporal cortex

47
Q

describe prosopagnosia

A

unable to recognize faces
- damage to fusiform face area (FFA)

48
Q

what type of brain scan is good for auditory experiments?

A

PET scans, EEG

49
Q

what is the BOLD response?

A

blood-oxygen-level dependent response: areas that are more active receive higher levels of oxygenated blood

50
Q

what is an ERP

A

event-related potential: changes in electrical charge in response to stimulus

51
Q

what type of brain scan measures ERP

A

EEG

52
Q

what is a MEG SQUID?

A

superconducting quantum interference device

53
Q

what is the only method that can determine if a brain region is causally involved in some task?

A

TMS scans

54
Q

what does TMS stand for?

A

transcranial magnetic stimulation

55
Q

what might happen to somebody who experienced damage to their FFA?

A

since the FFA is the fusiform face area, the person might have prosopagnosia and be unable to recognize people by their face

56
Q

can somebody with sensory aphasia comprehend words? can they speak fluently?

A

they can’t comprehend but they can speak fluently. sensory aphasia = wernicke’s aphasia

PSYCH 85 (6 decks)

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