Introducing cognitive neuroscience

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

A variety of higher mental processes such as thinking, perceiving, imagining, speaking, acting and planning.

Question 2

Cognitive neuroscience

Answer 2

Aims to explain cognitive processes in terms of brain-based mechanisms.

Question 3

Mind-body problem

Answer 3

The problem of how a physical substance (the brain) can give rise to our sensations, thoughts and emotions (our mind).

Question 4

Dualism

Answer 4

The belief that mind and brain are made up of different kinds of substance.

Question 5

Dual-aspect theory

Answer 5

The belief that mind and brain are two levels of description of the same thing.

Question 6

Reductionism

Answer 6

The belief that mind-based concepts will eventually be replaced by neuroscientific concepts.

Question 7

Phrenology

Answer 7

The failed idea that individual differences in cognition can be mapped onto differences in skull shape.

Question 8

Functional specialization

Answer 8

Different regions of the brain are specialized for different functions.

Question 9

Cognitive neuropsychology

Answer 9

The study of brain-damaged patients to inform theories of normal cognition.

Question 10

Information processing

Answer 10

An approach in which behavior is described in terms of a sequence of cognitive stages.

Question 11

Modularity

Answer 11

The notion that certain cognitive processes (or regions of the brain) are restricted in the type of information they process.

Question 12

Domain specificity

Answer 12

The idea that a cognitive process (or brain region) is dedicated solely to one particular type of information (e.g., colors, faces, words).

Question 13

Interactivity

Answer 13

Later stages of processing can begin before earlier stages are complete.

Question 14

Top-down processing

Answer 14

The influence of later stages on the processing of earlier ones (e.g., memory influences on perception).

Question 15

Bottom-up processing

Answer 15

The passage of information from simpler (e.g., edges) to more complex (e.g., objects)

Question 16

Parallel processing

Answer 16

Different information is processed at the same time (i.e., in parallel).

Question 17

Neural network models

Answer 17

Computational models in which information processing occurs using many interconnected nodes.

Question 18

Nodes

Answer 18

The basic units of neural network models that are activated in response to activity in other parts of the network.

Question 19

Temporal resolution

Answer 19

The accuracy with which one can measure when an event (e.g., a physiological change) occurs.

Question 20

Spatial resolution

Answer 20

The accuracy with which one can measure where an event (e.g., a physiological change) is occuring.

Question 21

Connectome

Answer 21

A comprehensive map of neural connections in the brain that may be thought of as its ‘‘wiring diagram.’’

Question 22

Graph theory

Answer 22

A mathematical technique for computing the pattern of connectivity (or ‘‘wiring diagram’’) from a set of correlations.