FLASHCARDS: Ch. 3 Methods

Question 1

What is the Method of converging operations?

Answer 1

Research technique of examining whether all the answers obtained from a set of interrelated experiments lead to the same conclusion.

Question 2

What is phonology?

Answer 2

Study of the sounds that compose a language and the rules that govern their combination.

Question 3

What is syntax?

Answer 3

The rules of grammer

Question 4

What are semantics?

Answer 4

The meaning of language

Question 5

What is a neuropsychological assessment?

Answer 5

Evaluation performed to determine the degree to which damage to the central nervous system may have compromised a person’s cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning.

Question 6

What is a Neuropsychological test battery?

Answer 6

Multiple tests used to detect any type of brain dysfunction of either neurological or psychiatric origin; most common is the Halstead–Reitan battery.

Question 7

What is an estimate of premorbid functioning?

Answer 7

A reasonable guess as to how well a person was performing before an injury.

Question 8

What is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)?

Answer 8

Technique that relies on the use of magnetic fields to distort the behavior of protons; information about how long the protons take to recover from this distortion is used to create an image of the anatomy of the brain.

Question 9

What is diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)?

Answer 9

Anatomical MRI method that can provide information not only about the structural integrity of brain regions, but also about the anatomical connectivity between different brain regions.

Question 10

What is tractography?

Answer 10

Method that builds on diffusion tensor information to ascertain information about probable white matter tracts in the brain.

Question 11

What is magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)?

Answer 11

An MRI method that allows the concentration of certain biologically active substances, such as the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA, to be determined in specific regions of brain tissue.

Question 12

What is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?

Answer 12

Method most commonly used by cognitive neuroscientists to discern which areas of the brain are physiologically active; uses a variation of MRI techniques to measure changes related to blood flow and the metabolic changes in compounds used by different brain regions.

Question 13

What are resting-state networks or intrinsic connectivity networks?

Answer 13

Networks of brain regions whose activity rises and falls in a similar pattern over time while the brain is at rest, generally assessed when people are simply looking at a fixation cross or lying in the magnet with their eyes closed.

Question 14

What is functional connectivity?

Answer 14

Communication or synchronization of activity between brain regions.

Question 15

What are event-related potentials (ERPs)?

Answer 15

Recordings of brain activity that is linked to the occurrence of an event; derived from scalp-recorded EEG.

Question 16

What is magnetoencephalography (MEG)?

Answer 16

Method related to EEG that relies on the recording of magnetic potentials at the scalp (rather than electrical potentials) to index brain activity.

Question 17

What is functional near-infrared optical spectroscopy (fNIRS)?

Answer 17

A method of examining the brain activity which used a laser source of near-infrared light positioned on the scalp.

Question 18

What is noninvasive brain stimulation?

Answer 18

A group of techniques, including TMS and tDCS, whereby the brain is stimulated using noninvasive means.

Question 19

What is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)?

Answer 19

Methodology by which researchers modulate or change brain activity in neurologically intact people; a pulsed magnetic field, created by a coil or series of coils placed on the scalp, induces an electrical field that alters the pattern of brain activity in the underlying tissue.

Question 20

What is a pulse sequence?

Answer 20

An oscillating magnetic field that creates a perturbation in the static field.

Question 21

What is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)?

Answer 21

Application of a weak electrical current between two large electrodes, whereby neuronal activity is increased in regions below the anodal (i.e., positive) electrode, and decreased below the cathode (i.e., negative) electrode.

Question 22

What is transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)?

Answer 22

Similar to tDCS, except that it applies sinusoidal stimulation to the brain to modify ongoing brain oscillations between the two electrode sites.

Question 23

What are computational models?

Answer 23

Specific algorithms used in neural networks to simulate human mental functions; the basic component of most computational models is a “unit,” which exhibits behavior like an individual neuron.