Exam 1 Flashcards
The mind body problem
How can a physical substance give rise to our feelings, thoughts and emotions?
Story of Thomas Willis and his most lasting contribution to neurology
Father of clinical neurology -linked brain damage to specific behavioral deficits -documented anatomy and disease Linked brain morphology with cognitive dysfunction by folioing patients for many years and then doing postmortem dissections
Phrenology
Franz Gall Localizationist view -attributed individual cognitive functions to specific brain regions -using a mental function cause corresponding brain region to grow bigger, creating bumps on skull -put mind in brain
Holism vs. Localism (role of Broca and Wernicke in debate)
Holism -whole brain participated in each behavior Both partially right -specific process can be localized to single brain region -complex functions are carried out by many brain regions acting in concert Broca’s aphasia -inability to generate speech Wernicke’s aphasia -comprehension loss
What is cognitive neuroscience?
Understanding the critical link between brain and behavior Understanding early misapplications of this principle
Four lobes
Dorsal (superior) HEAD Rostral (anterior) Caudal (posterior) Ventral (inferior) Frontal lobe Parietal lobe Temporal lobe Occipital lobe
Gyri and Sulci (e.g., central sulcus, calcarine sulcus, intreparietal suclus)
Gyri (protrusion) Sulci (invagination) Precentral sulcus Central sulcus Postcentral sulcus Interparietal sulcus
Orientation references (e.g., coronal)
Medial- toward the inside Lateral- toward the outside Coronal- skull to jaw cut from ear to ear Axial- cut from eye to bump Sagittal- skull to jaw, eye to back
Brodmann’s areas (how they are defined)
Based on different cell types (cytarchitectonics) in postmortem brain V1- Visual processing, primary visual cortex (far back of head- occipital lobe)
General differences between our brains and other animals
?
Methods of stimulation
Selective damage through natural accidents -which necessary for specific cog. function Invasive stimulation -strengths: precise temporal and spacial stim, see direct and downstream effects -weaknesses: invasive Non-invasive stimulation (TMS & tDCS) -strengths: good temporal resolution, spacial precision, non-invasive -weaknesses: limited to brain surface, stimulation vs. disruption not fully understood (must be combined with other techniques)
Methods of measuring natural signals
Electrophysiological -single cells recording Imaging: MEG/EEG -strengths: high temp resolution, non-invasive -weaknesses: localization hard, need many events fMRI -strengths: spacial, functional networks and props -weaknesses: indirect, expensive
Single vs double dissociation
Single
- Two groups, one task minimum; differ for one task, but not other
- weak evidence
- ex. temporal (good spacial, bad object) parietal (good spacial, bad object)
Double
- two groups, two task minimum; one impared on one task, other impared on other task
- strong argument
Principles of choosing research methods
If interested in temporal info -> ERPs/EEG If interested in localizing a cog function -> fMRI/MEG Correlational or causal rel?
Pathway of visual info up to primary visual cortex
Organization of V1
Functional specialties of V5/MT and V4
MT (middle temporal)
- motion (lesion creates deficit)
- dorsal pathway
V4
- color (lesion causes no color perception)
- ventral pathway
Cortical magnification and functional overrepresentation
Mapping and perception is not fixed
Visual hierarchy
Illusory filling-in (examples)
Reconstructive
Example: lines
Case study: how can emotion affect perceived brightness?
Positive -> brighter Moral behavior increases brightness -good and evil, metaphoric illusion
Cortical plasticity/reorganization
Mapping in perception is not fixed
What vs. where/how pathways of infor and supporting evidence
Where: Dorsal stream- position task (how)
- Size of receptive feild increases along dorsal; spacial selectivity preserved
- Interhemispheric comm: more unilateral representation
- Lateral function deficits: lesion IPS -> gross and incorrect misreaching for target in leteral peripheral vision
What: Ventral stream- object task
- RF size increases along stages (integrates over previous stages); central vision; more select to stimulus properties
- Interhemispheric comm: bilateral representation
- Lateral function deficits: lesion LOC -> cannot recognize objects, but know how to act on them
Evidence: temp area removed-> spatial irrelevant; parietal -> object irrelevant
Grandmother cell vs. Ensemble or population coding for object recognition
Grandmother
Highest level representation
Each neuron responds to one specific object (knows everything about X)
Ensemble
Many neurons code parts of object together
individual cells have continuos coding for a certain feature
Need flexibility and specificity
