Cognitive Neuroscience - Week 2

Question 1

Visual Evoked Potential (VEP)

Answer 1

with the use of the VEP, it acts as a confirmation of visual selection and offers direct communication between brain and machines.

Question 2

what area(s) of the brain highlight with motor coordination.

Answer 2

supplementary motor cortex (SMA)

*brain activity is indistinguishable between people “locked-in” and not

Question 3

what area(s) of the brain highlight with spatial navigation?

Answer 3

premotor cortex (PMC)
posterior parietal-lobe (PPC)
parahippocampal gyrus (PPA)

Question 4

THE NERVE!
dendrite

Answer 4

absorbs chemical stimulation from other neurons

Question 5

THE NERVE!
soma

Answer 5

if dendritic activity is large enough an electric action potential will be fired

Question 6

THE NERVE!
axon

Answer 6

conducts the electrical signal to terminal buttons at the end of the axon

Question 7

THE NERVE!
terminal button

Answer 7

turns the electrical signal back into a chemical squirt

Question 8

THE NERVE!
synape

Answer 8

the jump the chemical has to made to be taken up by the next dendrite

Question 9

Stimuli and Firing Rate

Answer 9

the magnitude of the action potential doesn’t vary, but the firing rate does

i.e. increased luminance leads to increased firing

Question 10

FEATURE DETECTORS!
simple cells

Answer 10

responds to size, orientation, or colour

Question 11

FEATURE DETECTORS!
complex cells

Answer 11

responds to orientation and direction

Question 12

FEATURE DETECTORS!
end-stopped cells

Answer 12

responds to orientation, direction and size

Question 13

Blackmore and Cooper

Answer 13

cats exposed to vertically striped cylinder and neurons were only responsive to this orientation and were essentially blind to other orientations.

Question 14

Hirsch and Spinelli

Answer 14

cats were exposed to vertical lines in one eye and horizontal lines in the other. each eye was only responsive to the orientation to which they were exposed to and were “blind” to the others

Question 15

neural circuits

Answer 15

neurons form hierarchical processing depending on how they connect to one another

Question 16

specificity coding

Answer 16

only one set of neurons respond to said stimulus

Question 17

population coding

Answer 17

neural signatures are developed in response

Question 18

sparse coding

Answer 18

subset of active neurons. only a select few neurons respond while the others don’t

Question 19

forebrain

Answer 19

hypothalamus involved in hormone release and appetite. limbic system includes amygdala and hippocampus

Question 20

midbrain

Answer 20

includes reticular activation system, which controls consciousness, heartbeat, etc.

Question 21

hindbrain

Answer 21

basic biological functions controlled here such as swallowing and digestion

Question 22

frontal lobe

Answer 22

information coordination!

• perception and decision making
• semi-permanent sense of self
• current events

Question 23

temporal lobe

Answer 23

auditory processing!

• audio information
• store representative information for sensory objects

Question 24

parietal lobe

Answer 24

touch, temperature, and pain!

• direct stimulation can lead to illusive sensory experience

Question 25

primary somatosensory cortex

Answer 25

the organizational properties!

there is a continuity between body parts and larger areas relate to greater sensitivity.

*primary motor cortex is also organized

Question 26

phantom limb

Answer 26

phantom limb occurs after the amputation of a limb and the brain hasn’t completely registered the loss of said limb

the treatment for it and its pain involves the use of a mirror

*signal crossing over occurs after the loss of a limb

Question 27

occipital lobe

Answer 27

visual processing!

this is the place to wear all visual processing begins and is also the distributer of translated information

Question 28

patient sm

Answer 28

visual agnosia!

the fusiform face area (FFA) stopped recognizing faces and was trained to recognize different species of greebles.

*he was the only one able to

Question 29

phineas gage

Answer 29

received damage to his frontal lobe and was still able to live. he suffered a personality change. he also died x amount of time later.

Question 30

broca’s aphasia

Answer 30

non-fluent verbal communication (expressive)

Question 31

wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 31

fluent verbal communication (receptive)

Question 32

lesion studies

Answer 32

damage incurred to a section of the brain is responsible for the viewable informal changes

Question 33

association deficits

Answer 33

shared underlying damage that is causing two problems

Question 34

single dissociation deficits

Answer 34

damage has occurred, but only one of two similar functions have been affected, performed by different areas

Question 35

double dissociation deficits

Answer 35

two patients with opposite dissociations

Question 36

transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Answer 36

sends weak magnetic fields across the cortical surface, leading to temporary (non-permanent) disruption of electrical activity

*safe way of stimulating lesions
**not long lasting effects, but not for epileptic samples

Question 37

event-related potentials (ERP)

Answer 37

records the weak electrical fields generated by large scale neural ensembles that permeate out through the skull

*incredibly precise temporal reading
**spatially diffuse

Question 38

positron emission topography (PET)

Answer 38

after ingestion of a radioactive tag which attached itself to glucose, glucose uptake related to increased brain activity

*allows for insights into functionality of brain regions
**poor spatial resolution and involves radioactive substances

Question 39

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Answer 39

records bold signal on the principle that oxygenated blood has different magnetic properties than deoxygenated blood

*fMRI is popular in revealing brain networks
**bold signal is very slow