Exam 1: Sept 19 Flashcards
Who did Dualism?
Descarte
Describe the theory of dualism
the human mind and body are two distinct entities that interact with each other to make a person
How is cognitive revolution different from behaviorism?
it is the (indirect) study of mental functions rather than the study of observable behavior in response to an external stimulus
Describe the theory of introspection and its limitations
the process of observing the operations of one’s own mind with a view to discovering the laws that govern the mind, cannot be proven
Hypothesis
A specific, testable prediction
Validity
Accurately measures the concepts you think you are measuring
Construct Validity
Am I measuring what I want to measure?
External Validity
Can these findings be generalized? Are they similar to the “real world”?
Internal Validity
Are my results due to my independent variable alone?
CONFOUNDING variables
Confounding Variables
other variables that might affect the dependent variable that unintentionally varies between groups
Random vs. convenience sample
Random Sample - can generalize findings to population
Convenience Sample - cannot generalize to population
Between subjects experiment
Control and an experimental group
Counterbalancing
If order may be a factor, randomly assign participants to each combination
E.g., the first 10 participants would complete condition A followed by condition B, and the remaining 10 participants would complete condition B and then A. Any order effects should be balanced out by this technique.
Demand characteristics
Influence subjects to behave a certain way based on what they expect the experimenter to want
Operational definition
Operationally define what you are trying to measure
Break down memories into number of details
Correlations - Problems
Third Variable Problem (Correlations)
When observing a correlation between two things a third variable may be influencing both variables
Within-subjects experiment
All participants complete all experimental conditions
Reliable
Must be stable and consistent over time and across people
Accurate
The degree to which the measure is error free
ZAPS Split Brain Chart
Visual Field + Hand → Recognize, Choose, both
Left Visual Field + Left Hand → only choose
Left Visual Field + Right Hand → neither
Right Visual Field + Left Hand → recognize only
Right Visual Field + Right Hand → recognize and choose
Recognize in Right Visual Field, Choose when Visual Field=Hand
Parts of Neuron: Dendrites
Excitatory and inhibitory signals enter
Parts of Neuron: Cell body/soma
Signals are integrated
Parts of Neuron: Myelin Sheath
Insulate axon and speed signals
Parts of Neuron: Node of Ranvier
Saltatory conduction
Parts of Neuron: Terminal buttons
Release Neurotransmitters
Parts of Neuron: synapse
Between axon terminals of one neuron and dendrites of another
Neuroaxis
Line drawn through the CNS, up spinal cord and to the front of the brain
Rostral/Anterior
Along the neuroaxis towards the front of the face (up)
Caudal/Posterior
Along the neuroaxis away from the front of the face (down)
Dorsal
∟ to the neuroaxis towards the top of the head or the back
Ventral
∟ to the neuroaxis towards the bottom of the skull or the front of body
Superior and Inferior
Above/below
Lateral and Medial
Towards the side or the middle
Ipsilateral
Same side of the body
Contralateral
Opposite sides of the body
Coronal/Frontal Plane
Parallel to the forehead
Axial/Transverse/Horizontal Plane
Parallel to the ground
Sagittal Plane
∟ to the ground and = to the neuroaxis or midsagittal plane
Gray matter
cell bodies
White matter
dense array of nerve fibers (axons) connecting parts of the cortex
Corpus Callosum
large bundle of axons, connects the two hemispheres
Cerebral Cortex
Outer layer of the brain, gray matter Contains fissures (sulci) and bumps (gyri)
Occipital (cortex)
Primary visual cortex
Back of brain
Parietal (cortex)
Primary somatosensory cortex
Touch and attention
Between frontal and occipital, top of brain
Temporal (cortex)
Primary auditory cortex
Audition and language
By ears, bottom of brain
Frontal (cortex)
Prefrontal cortex - Rational thought and behavior
Primary motor cortex
Movement and rational behavior
Front of brain
Brainstem
Essential for basic survival functions
Cerebellum
Essential for movement
Thalamus and Hypothalamus
Thalamus is ‘gateway’ to the cortex’
Hypothalamus → regulatory functions
Hippocampus
Formation of new memories
Spatial memory and navigation
Amygdala
Learning about biological relevant stimuli, responding to fear and emotional processing
Personal space
Basal ganglia (group of structures) (+ Damage causes…)
Nucleus accumbens → rewarding behaviors
Involved in movement, reward, and motivation
Damage can lead to Parkinson’s
Damage to the occipital cortex can lead to…
visual apperceptive agnosia
is a visual impairment that
cannot recognize familiar objects, cannot draw/match/copy objects
associative agnosia - issues associating sight with conceptual information
Damage to the parietal cortex can lead to…
Hemispatial inattention/neglect
Draw a clock with the 12 at the bottom, ignore half of the visual field
Damage to the temporal cortex can lead to…
Anomia
problems with word finding or recall
What are the two structural imaging techniques?
MRI and DTI
What does MRI stand for? What parts of the brain can it scan?
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Picture of the brain / Volume of segments
Gray and white matter
What does DTI stand for? What parts of the brain can it scan?
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
White matter only
Integrity of white matter pathways
Connections between areas
Lesion
Damage from trauma, surgery, stroke
What does TMS stand for? What kind of imaging is it?
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Changes the electric field of the brain - virtual lesion
Hard to localize, especially with subcortical regions
What are the five types of functional imaging?
fMRI, EEG, ECoG, MEG, PET
What does fMRI stand for? How does it work and what is its spatial and temporal resolution in comparison with other functional tests?
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Measures oxygenation of blood, seconds
Second only to ECoG for spatial resolution
What does EEG stand for? How does it work and what is its spatial and temporal resolution in comparison with other functional tests?
Electroencephalography
Continuous recording of electrical activity (millisecond)
Event Related Potential (ERP)
Spatial is pretty crappy
What does ECoG stand for? How does it work and what is its spatial and temporal resolution in comparison with other functional tests?
Electrocorticography
Grid of electrodes on cortical surface of the brains of epileptic patients
Greatest spatial resolution, temporal similar to EEG (very good)
What does MEG stand for? How does it work and what is its spatial and temporal resolution in comparison with other functional tests?
Magnetoencephalography
Measures magnetic activity
Good temporal resolution (10-100 milliseconds), poor spatial resolution
What does PET stand for? How does it work and what is its spatial and temporal resolution in comparison with other functional tests?
Positron Emission Tomography
Blood flow through radioactive isotopes
Slightly lower temporal and spatial resolution than fMRI
Sensation
detection of physical stimuli and transmission of that information to the brain
Perception
brain’s further processing, organization, and interpretation of sensory information
Transduction
sensory stimuli are converted into electrochemical (neural signals)
Threshold
level at which you can detect a stimulus or a change in stimulus
Absolute Threshold
lowest level of stimulus intensity for a sense to respond 50% of the time
Weber’s Law
smallest detectable increase in the intensity of a stimulus is a constant proportion of the intensity of the original stimulus
Signal Detection Theory
our detection of a stimulus is not an objective process, but based on sensitivity and response bias
Sensitivity
Sensitivity to the signal in the presence of noise
Response Bias
A general term for a wide range of tendencies for participants to respond inaccurately or falsely to questions. For signal detection a response bias might be an increase in likelihood for the person is to say they perceived a signal
Rods
photoreceptor cells that work best in low light, produce b/w images, and are found in decreasing levels from the edges of the fovea to the end of the retina
Cones
photoreceptor cells that work best in bright light, produce color images, and are clustered in the fovea
Optic Chiasm
the part of the brain where the axons of the optic nerve crossover to send input from each eye to the opposite side of the brain
Lateral Inhibition
the process by which horizontal cells in the eye inhibit neighboring cells from firing, exaggerating the contrast at the edge of bright and gray stimulus
Receptive Fields
different neurons respond to different sizes, shapes, and characteristics in the visual world
Center-Surround Cells
circular receptive field, strong response when light is in the center, weak response when light is further away, at midrange response is equal to that at rest
“Dot detectors”
Edge Detector Cells
respond to light in a particular orientation, such as strong response when light is vertical, mild response when light is diagonal, and very weak when light is horizontal
Trichromatic Theory
Color vision results from activity in three different types of cones
Opponent-Process Theory
Color perception is controlled by the activity of two opponent systems: a blue-yellow mechanism and a red-green mechanism.
one will give excitatory signals and the other will give inhibitory signals to the ganglion
Gestalt Principles
describes how visual stimuli is perceived according to the laws of perceptual organization and the principle of maximum likelihood
Stroboscopic Movement
If an object jumps from one location to another in the visual field at a fast enough interval, it appears to be moving
What are the four parts of a response bias chart?
Signal Present / Response Yes → Hit
Signal Absent / Response Yes → False Alarm
Signal Present / Response No → Miss
Signal Absent / Response No → Correct Rejection
What is the path visual signals take from our eyes to the brain?
Light → Retina → Photoreceptor Cells (Rods/Cones) → Bipolar Cells, Ganglion Cells, and Horizontal Cells → Optic Nerve → Optic Chiasm → Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (Thalamus) → Primary Visual Cortex
Two Categories of Gestalt Principles and their rules
Grouping → Proximity, Similarity, and Continuity
Maximum Likelihood → Simplicity, Common Fate, Closure
Monocular depth cue of occlusion
nearby objects block far objects
Monocular depth cue of texture gradient
textures get denser as they recede
3 “Constancy”s
Shape
Lightness and Color
Size
Which factors determine the loudness and pitch of a sound?
Amplitude = loudness Frequency = pitch
What is the path a sound wave takes to the final receptors?
Ear Canal → Eardrum → Ossicles (3 bones) → Oval Window → Cochlea→ Fluid in Basilar Membrane → Hair Cells
Define oval window
The oval window is the membrane at the start of the cochlea
Temporal Coding (hearing)
low frequency only
Firing rate of hair cells matches the frequency of the sound
Place Coding or Tonotopic Organization (hearing)
High frequencies displace basilar membrane in the base of the cochlea
Low frequencies displace basilar membrane at the tip of the cochlea
Receptors for taste
Papillae have taste buds along their sides
Five elemental tastes
Sweet Salty Sour Bitter Umami
Two parts of flavor
Flavor = Taste + Retronasal Smell
Smell receptors
Olfactory epithelium in the nasal cavity
Path of smell to brain
odorant stimulates many types of receptors → particular pattern of activity = smell
DOES NOT GO TO THALAMUS
→ olfactory bulb (brain cavity above nose) → prefrontal cortex and amygdala
Particles travel to nose -> Nasal cavity -> olfactory epithelium smell receptors -> olfactory bulb-> olfactory nerve -> cortex and amygdala
Haptic Sense / Receptors
the sense of touch
Sensations of temperature, pressure, and pain
Two types of pain receptors (fast/slow)
Different types of receptors for different sensations
Kinesthetic Sense
perception of the positions in space and movements of our bodies and our limbs
Associative agnosia
Can see, but cannot associate vision with meaning of the object
Cannot ID the object, but can copy it
Bottom-up processing
Stimulus-driven effects
Stimulus → Processing → Perception → Prior Experience
Top-down processing
Knowledge or expectation driven effects
Prior Experience → Perception → Stimuli Processing
Stimulus → Stimuli Processing
3 takeaways of Word Flash experiment
High-frequency words are better detected than low-frequency words → top-down processing
Words you have seen recently are better recognized → repetition priming
Better at identifying letters within a word → word superiority effect (top/down)
Feature Nets
Stimulus → Feature Detectors → Letter Detectors → Bigram Detectors (2 letters) → Word Detectors
The face-specificity hypothesis
the perception of faces is conducted by specialized cognitive and neural machinery distinct from that engaged in the perception of objects
Face-inversion effect
more difficult to recognize inverted faces, not so with other objects
Thatcher Illusion
more difficult to detect local feature changes in an upside-down face, despite identical changes being obvious in an upright face
Prosopagnosia
an acquired or congenital (developmental) disorder in face perception
Fusiform Face Area (FFA)
A region in the inferior temporal lobe responding preferentially to faces, has right hemisphere dominance
Can also be activated for discrimination between objects of expertise
Who did Introspection?
Wundt- 1880s
Who did Psychoanalysis?
Freud- 1900s
Who did Behaviorism?
Watson- 1920s-60s
Who founded the cognitive revolution?
Miller- 1960s
Who founded cognitive neuroscience?
Gazzaniga- 1980s
Organization of ions inside and outside neuron
more Na outside and more K inside
action potential #s
-77 to +55
action potential channels
action potential begins → Channels open and Na enters → positive polarization → K flows out → repolarizes
mechanism of inhibitory and excitatory signals
Inhibitory → hyperpolarize, Excitatory → depolarize
how myelin/nodes work together
Myelin prevents ions from escaping, action potential re-energizes when it reaches nodes
