Karius: Neurophysology of cognition Flashcards
what are the components of cognition
- Language
- Executive function: forward planning, anticipation, reasoning
- Social cognition
- Decision-making
- Memory
- Visuospatial perception
At a neuronal level, cognition is produced by extensive synaptic interactions produced by what?
the pyramidal neurons of the neocortical association cortices
what are the language systems of the brain
Language conceptual system –> Language mediational system –> Language implementation system –> Spoken language
The final common pathway of language (the language implementation system) involves what areas?
- Wernicke’s Area
- Broca’s Area
- Arcuate Fasciculus
- facial area of the motor cortex
What surrounds the language implementation system
- the mediational system for language
- including a number of areas in the temporal, parietal, and frontal association areas
Describe the conceptual system for language
- a broadly distributed set of structures that provides the concepts underlying our language
- For example: the noun mediation area that receives input from the ventral visual pathway provides us with the name of things
describe language of babies under 6 months
- language universalists
- they recognize all sounds that might be language as distinct sounds
Describe language in babies b/t 6-9 months
- brains start to change to recognize the specific language sounds of their native language
- with this change, babies “drop” the used of phenomes that don’t occur in their language
language at age 1 year
- process complete
- child’s “babbling” will begin to convert to true spoken language
Describe the language pathway
- Conceptual pathway: provides the concepts that underlie language (ie. what a “cup” is)
- Mediational pathway: relays the concept to:
- Language implementation system: including Broca’s and Wenicke’s areas, identifies and allows us to speak or read the word in question
Describe acquisition of a second language in babies or adults?
- Babies: all co-located to Broca’s
- Adults: map to neighboring regions
what are the 2 major functions of the Prefrontal cortex
- Planning of complex motor actions
- Carrying out of “thought” processes
In the planning of complex motor actions, the Prefrontal cortex interacts with what
parieto-temporal-occipital association areas and all levels of motor cortex
In Carrying out “thought processes”, the prefrontal cortex interacts with what
- Hippocampus: working memory
- Judgment: multiple areas but Limbic in particular
3 roles of prefontal cortex in executive function
- Reward Processing (orbitofrontal): with the amygdala, we link new stimulus to primary reward
- Integration of bodily signals (ventromedial prefrontal): the “gut feeling”. decision when logical analysis is unable to help
- Top down regulation: especially towards delayed gratification
What are the 2 components of social cognition
- Emotion comprehension (recognition)
- Theory of mind
What part of the brain is required for perception of the face and facial expression
- superior temporal sulcus and
- Fusiform gyrus
parts of brain for emotional recognition
- Anterior cingulate cortex
- Amygdala
- Prefrontal cortex
what areas of the face cue us as to what emotion we are seeing
- eyes
- nose
- mouth
what controls the use of the eyes and directs the gaze to a triangle on another’s face (particularly the eyes) when looking at human faces
-amygdala
An individual with damage to what spends very little tie looking at the eyes of another and doesn’t methodically scan the face
amygdala
Describe the role of mirror neurons in imitation of other people’s actions
- Posterior sector of the superior temporal sulcus provides the visual input
- The posterior mirror neuron system identifies the motor action
- The anterior mirror neuron system identifies the goal of the action
The circuit for imitating is believed to interact with limbic structures via what?
insula
what is prosody
auditory cues
The primary auditory cortex is required for the basics of sound processing, including identity of pitch, loudness, and other characteristics of the sound. Then info is then sent where?
- right posterior superior temporal sulcus
- there, along with other acoustical info from secondary auditory processes, we begin to piece together the “meaning” of the loudness, pitch, etc of the vocalization
The judgment of the emotional stimulus of sound is determined by what
frontal cortex
what is the core pathway of the Theory of mind of social cognition
-Amygdala and connections to the medial temporal lobes and orbitofrontal areas
What is the system involved in decision making and what areas make up this system?
- Stimulus encoding system
- orbitofrontal cortex
- ventromedial prefrontal cortex
- Striatum
What evaluates the evidence available in making a decision
Stimulus encoding system
What system learns and encodes the subjective value of the results from the stimulus encoding system. also involved in error detection
-Action selection system: Anterior Cingulate Cortex
What system predicts the expected reward of a decision and what makes up this system?
Expected reward system
- Basal ganglia
- Amygdala
- Insular Cortex
- Intraparietal cortex
What system is used to make a decision when the risks are explicitly known
Stimulus encoding system
what systems are used when the decisions are made and the risks are unknown
the expected reward system and eventually on the Action selection system
