Cognitive Neuroscience Flashcards
Is neural activity chemical or electrical?
Both
How are neurotransmitters brought into the cell?
Dendrites
Neurotransmitters either provide _______ or _______ signals
Excitatory
If an excitatory signal is sufficient, what is elicited?
An action potential
What does an action potential create?
Electrical signal that travels down the axon
The terminal buttons release…
Neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters are released into….
The synapse
What does an Action Potential do to ions?
Redistributes them
Creates a positive charge within the cell (hyper polarise)
The inside of the cell contains a resting state charge of…
-70mv
What does an action potential do the charge of the cell?
Hyper polarises it
How many lobes is the brain composed of?
Four
The lobes in the brain are organised according to…
Cognitive function
True or false
The lobes in the brain are organised according to size
False
Which of the following is NOT a lobe in the brain?
Frontal lobe Medial lobe Temporal lobe Parietal lobe Occipital lobe
Medial lobe
Active neurons burn energy.
How is this energy replenished?
Blood
Why is it possible to distinguish between oxygen-rich blood and oxygen depleted blood?
Oxygen rich blood contains HAEMOGLOBIN which contains iron
What is haemoglobin?
Protein which carries oxygen
What can measuring the BOLD response tell us?
Which parts of the brain were active recently
Which is the most common method of brain imaging?
fMRI
Why is it useful to see which parts of the brain were active recently, in BOLD?
Tells us which parts are used in tasks
Does fMRI have good or bad temporal resolution?
Good
What is temporal resolution?
Precision of a measurement in regard to time
Which of the following is NOT a drawback of fMRI?
Very noisy
Cannot use any metal based equipment
The same patient can only be tested ONCE due to radioactivity
Is not a direct measure of activity
Same patient can only be tested once - there is no radiation involved
What is TMS
Method causing depolarisation or hyper-polaristion of neurons in the brain
Does hyper polarisation increase or decrease brain activity?
Increase
How is TMS used?
Electromagnets induce weak electric currents in cortex
What two functions can TMS carry out?
a) motor evoked potential e.g. twitches
b) simulated temporary lesion
What is a simulated temporary lesion?
(TMS)
Prevents normal function of a brain region temporarily
What is one thing TMS can be used to treat, and what is it?
Spatial neglect
Patients who only acknowledge one side of their vision
What are 3 benefits of using TMS?
1) Portable
2) Can stimulate/lesion
3) No adverse effects
What are two drawbacks of TMS?
Difficult to specify precise regions
Only surface regions
In EEG, where are the electrodes placed?
On scalp
In EEG, what are the electrodes used to measure?
Electrical signals
Changes in voltage over time
What is an example of a motion artefact, that might affect a brain imaging technique?
Blinking
What is a major benefit of EEG?
Good temporal resolution
What are two drawbacks of EEG?
Weak spatial resolution
How can you determine which brain regions caused a pattern of activity?
What does ERP stand for?
Event related potential
What is an ERP?
Measured brain response to a specific stimulus
ERPs are difficult to separate from all background EEG data, so an …..
Average response is graphed
With ERPs, why is the average response graphed?
To reduce any extraneous neural activity
Where does early visual processing occur?
The Primary visual cortex
What is the slight temporal delay after neuron activity referred to?
Haemodynamic response
What does BOLD tell us?
Which parts of the brain most active/when
Is TMS invasive or invasive?
Invasive
TMS uses ______ induction to induce weak electric currents in the cortex
Electromagnetic
Which brain-imaging method can be used to evoke limb twitches?
TMS
Spatial neglect is the result of ________
A stroke
How can TMS be used to treat spatial neglect?
Stimulates (activates) neurons on the neglected side
Analysis of EEG signals may be task _______ or task ________
Dependent
Independent
How are EEG signals detected?
Each electrode given diff code
Amplifier measures changes in voltage
An ERP is the average of ___________
Many single trials
Which imaging techniques tells us about where early visual processing occurs?
FMRI
EEG
ERP
Where does early visual processing occur?
Primary visual cortex
What is the N170
ERP component that detects differentiation in neural response to faces/other stimuli
ERP inspection told us WHAT about the brain when processing faces/objects?
Diff ERP trace depending on category
Brain processes pics more deeply after 170ms
What is number conservation? (Piaget)
Ability to understand that a quantity will stage the same despite adjustment of container
In terms of number conservation, what was the difference between 5/6 year olds and 9/10 year olds?
99.7% of 9/10 year olds could conserve vs only 2.5% of 5/6 year olds
