Important Theories

Question 1

Automaticity

Answer 1

automatic processing; automatic in the sense that a fxn does not require a good deal of cognitive effort; habit system (neuroanatomical base: subcortical areas including basal ganglia)

Question 2

Effortful Processing

Answer 2

not automatic, requires greater cognitive effort

Question 3

Brain-Behavior Relationship

Answer 3

the role the brain plays with regard to human behavior including cognition, emotion, sensory-motor, and related abilities

Question 4

Central Executive

Answer 4

Alan Baddeley; system responsible for the control and regulation of cognitive processes, largely related to prefrontal brain regions, helps to regulate attn, working memory, and memory

Question 5

Executive Function

Answer 5

regulatory mechanisms responsible for higher-level human fxns involved in organization, reasoning, flexibility, initiation, and related skills; largely subserved by prefrontal regions and networks

Question 6

Equipotentiality

Answer 6

Karl Lashley; an intact brain region can carry out the fxns of damaged brain regions, thought that the brain has the capacity to transfer “fxnal memory” from damaged regions to intact region

Question 7

Modular/Localization View

Answer 7

discrete brain regions are responsible for specific mental and behavioral functions

Question 8

Two-Streams Hypothesis

Answer 8

as visual info leaves the occipital lobe it follows two main streams: dorsal (associated with objects spatial location; “where” stream) and ventral (associated with an object’s identity; “what” stream)

Question 9

Whole-Brain

Answer 9

domain-general theory; states that the whole brain acts in concert to produce fxns; e.g., gestalt psychologists believed that visual perception was a whole-brain phenomenon

Question 10

Brain Reserve Hypothesis

Answer 10

refers to a brain’s ability to absorb insult and potentially recover; passive threshold model: hinges on brain’s physical health prior to insult/disease onset; critical threshold of brain cell loss must be crossed to get a deficit

Question 11

Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis

Answer 11

education and enriched experience can increase cerebral reserve and are relatively protective against the expression of sxs following brain disease or injury; does not prevent impairment but can modify the functional and clinical expression of conditions; efficiency model: the mind’s resistance to brain damage due to presence of more efficient synaptic networks or preexisting cognitive abilities