Exam 1 Flashcards
Cognition, History of Cognition, Neuroscience: Structures and Functions, and Cognitive Science Methods
Memory
Acquisition, retention, and retrieval of information
Sensory memory
Storage for sensory information
Explicit memory
Conscious memory
Implicit memory
Memory without awareness
Semantic memory
General world knowledge
Short-term memory
Temporary memory
Long-term memory
Holds information indefinitely
Metamemory
Knowledge on your own memory abilities
MP: Encoding
Taking in
MP: Retrieval
Pulling out info
MP: Storage
Holding on
MP: Interference
Getting in the way
MP: Decay
Fading away
MP: Recognition
Multiple choice questions
MP: Recall
Short answer questions
Perception
Interpretation of sensory information
Sensation
The bringing in of information
Transduction
Physical energy that has transferred into neural signals
Language
A shared symbolic system for communication (includes written, spoken, and body language)
Phonology
Sound component of language
Syntax
Word ordering component of language
Semantics
Meaning component of language
Discourse
Multi-sentenced component of language
Pragmatics
Social constraint component of language (How is language different in different situations)
Psycholinguistics
Involves comprehension, word learning, and reading (aloud)
Attention
The selection and inhibition of certain thoughts in order to take possession of the mind
Presentism vs. Historicism
Evaluation in terms of current knowledge vs. what was known at the time
Dialectal progression
Hegel - Nature and nurture come together to affect cognition
Von Helmholtz
Studied the speed of a nerve impulse (d/t=velocity) Impulses take time
Broca
Studied stroke patients that lacked speech production (Broca’s Area)
Wernicke
Studied patients with brain damage that lacked speech comprehension (Wernicke’s Area)
Structuralism involves…
Wundt and Titchner
Structuralism
Attempt to dissect perception into elements
Introspection
Structuralism technique that requires one to describe stimuli with sensation or feelings
How might someone describe a sweater with introspection?
Soft, (color), fuzzy
What are some problems with introspection?
Perceptual experience is subjective, the conscious mind does not have access to basic perceptual processes, and the act of introspecting can change the experience itself
Von Ebbinghaus
Researched memory on himself with the relearning task
Relearning Task
Write a list of nonwords, test until all are memorized, pause the experiment and come back again to see if you still remember, relearn the list if not
“Forgetting curve”
The rate at which we forget novel information is initially rapid but slows down
What do “saving scores” mean?
High saving score = Quick relearning period; Low saving score = Slow relearning period
Functionalism involves…
William James and Sigmund Freud
Functionalism
What are the evolutionary benefits of memory, attention, consciousness?
Natural selection
How did the functions of the mind help us survive?
What is Sigmund Freud’s major contribution to cognitive psychology?
The idea that thoughts and behaviors can be influenced by unconscious thoughts
Gestalt Theme
The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts
What concept does Gestalt’s Theme directly contradict?
Introspection
Behaviorism involves…
Watson, Logical positivism, and Conditioning (Classical and Operant)
Logical positivism
All knowledge should be expressed by statements that are directly verifiable
Why was Behaviorism dominated by Experimental Psychology?
Chomsky’s critique of BF Skinner’s book “Verbal Behavior”, Invention of the computer, and World War II
Where are neurotransmitters held in a neuronal cell?
Presynaptic buttons
What is the resting potential in a nerve impulse?
-70 mV
What is the purpose of the Absolute Refractory Period?
Neuron becomes more negative than it needs to be so that after a neuron fires, it cannot fire again too immediately
What is the Relative Refractory Period?
A period of time in which the cell can fire an action potential, but only in response to a stronger stimulus
Acetylcholine
Excitatory neurotransmitter, Contributes to learning/memory/attention
What disease correlates with low levels of acetylcholine?
Alzheimer’s dementia
What disease correlates with high levels of dopamine?
Schizophrenia
What disease correlates with low levels of dopamine?
Parkinson’s,, Involuntary movements are a product of low inhibition
Thalamus
Relay station, identifies different sense based information and sends it to the correct area of the brain
Corpus callosum
The bridge, connects the 2 hemispheres of the brain and allows for the sharing of information (made up of neuronal axons)
Hippocampus
Involved in the formation of memories (Made of 2 extensions, each with an amygdala at the end)
Amygdala
Associated with the creation and retrieval of emotional memories
What makes up the Cerebral Cortex?
Frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes, the Pons, the Medulla oblongata, and the Cerebellum
What is contra laterality?
Cross-over,, The left brain controls the right side of the body and the right brain controls the left side of the body (it’s the same for optic senses)
In what hemisphere is language dominantly represented?
The left side of the brain houses both Broca and Wernicke’s areas
WADA Test
Sodium amytal is injected into the left carotid artery, temporarily shutting down function in one hemisphere (loss of function is studied)
What is a “split-brain” patient?
Individuals with a completely separated corpus callosum, this was usually done to reduce the severeness of epileptic seizures
What is the effect of the split-brain procedure?
If a patient sees something in their right optical field, it is likely they could tell you what it is, but not be able to draw it. If something is seen in the left optical field, the patient may be able to draw it, but not tell you what it is
Language (dominant left)
Spatial (dominant right)
Association
The cognitive process that is eliminated by brain damage is associated with that area
Dissociation
The cognitive process that is not eliminated by brain damage is dissociated from that area
Double Dissociation
2 patients with 2 different types of brain damage result in 2 cognitive processes being interfered with showing that the 2 processes are localized to separate parts of the brain
Attentional Neglect
Damage to the right parietal lobe that causes someone to fail to pay attention to the left side of their world (Sensory stimuli is still perceived, but is unintentionally ignored)
Can someone with damage to the left parietal lobe be affected by attentional negelect?
Yes, but at a much lesser degree
Associative Agnosia
Damage to the right parietal lobe that causes a deficit in object recognition based on visual sensory information
Prosopagnosia
Damage to the FFA that results in “face blindness”
What might someone with prosopagnosia depend on for recognition?
Body type, hair color/style, style of dress, etc.
What is the FFA?
Fusiform Face Area, located in both hemispheres of the brain
Anterograde Amnesia
Damage to the hippocampus that makes it difficult to from new memories
Retrograde Amnesia
Damage to the hippocampus that causes old memories to be lost
Which type of amnesia is most common?
Anterograde amnesia (i.e. Alzheimer’s amnesia)
Anomia
Damage to the (Frontal, temporal, or parietal) lobe that causes someone to have difficulties in labelling objects
How are anomia and associative agnosia different?
With anomia, you know what the object is but can’t name it; with associative agnosia, you can’t even identify what the object is used for despite seeing it clearly.
Broca’s Aphasia
Deficit in speech production, Someone can understand what they were asked and know what they want to say, but cannot form the proper language to express it
Wernicke’s Aphasia
Deficit in speech comprehension, Someone cannot understand what they are asked and lack the ability to come up with speech that other people can understand
Why is frustration a hallmark of Broca’s aphasia but not Wernicke’s aphasia?
With Broca’s aphasia, the patient is aware of what they want to say, but they cannot produce it (which is frustrating). With Wernicke’s aphasia the patient is unaware.
Surface Dyslexia
Deficit with irregular word reading (Bury/chaos) as they only have access to their phonics rules
Phonological Dyslexia
Deficit in reading new words/nonwords (Flirple/Gondin) as they only have access to their lexicon
What is helpful about making the distinction between the 2 types of dyslexics?
With this information, we realized there are 2 ways we decide on how to pronounce new words; by accessing one’s lexicon and one’s phonics rules.
Semantic Dementia
Loss of the ability to access general knowledge in a “last in, first out” fashion
Structural imaging includes…
MRI
MRI
Magnetic fields align hydrogen atoms, signals from the brain disrupt this field, and sensors detect atom movement
Functional imaging includes…
PET, fMRI, EEG, and ERP
PET
Mix radioactive isotopes and glucose, inject the mixture into the carotid artery, ask the patient to do an activity, and use sensors to detect where the glucose travels as the activity is done
fMRI
Magnetic field aligns electrons, iron in the blood causes a disruption in the field (blood flow disrupts the field), movement in the magnetic field is detected by a sensor
EEG
A person wears a cap of electrodes that detects electrical activity and does a task (Electrical activity of their brain is detected by the cap)
ERP
Detects syntactic anomalies; it can detect activity in your brain showing you “don’t like” a certain sentence structure and exhibits this “dislike” as a high amplitude reading
Animal Studies includes methods such as…
Lesions and single cell recording electrodes
Single cell recording electrode
A specialized microelectrode (used to measure the electrical activity of a single neuron) is implanted into the brain of an animal
Describe Patient H.M.
HM suffered from epilepsy and (as a treatment option) had the entirety of the hippocampus removed resulting in anterograde amnesia (unable to form new memories)
Stroop Task
When presented with a word, the subject is asked to name the color the word appears in, not the word itself
How does the Stroop Task involve the cognitive process of Attention?
You select for the information of the color and ignore the information of the shape of the word/letters
What are the 3 conditions in which color naming is timed in the Stroop Task?
Congruent (color and word match), Incongruent (color and word do not match), and Neutral (color and word are unrelated)
From the Stroop Task, rank the conditions from greatest amount of time to name, to least amount of time
Incongruent>Neutral>Congruent
What group would take a similar amount of time to name colors in all the condition groups, as a result of the Stroop Task?
Illiterate groups/small children because the words wouldn’t have meant anything to them, it was easy to focus of the color
2-Back Task
Subjects (hooked up to an fMRI machine) are given a screen that flashes images, they are then required to affirm or deny if the image matches one they have seen 2 images ago
What type of memory does the 2-Bakc task activate?
Working memory
Why is the ecological/external validity of fMRI scans a problem?
The setting is very artificial and this may affect the readings
