L2 Cognitive neuroscience

Question 1

How does information travel around the brain?

Answer 1

Cognitive processes are mediated through the synchronised firing of many neurons.

Question 2

How does FMRI work and how does it help us understand cognition?

Give an example.

Answer 2

Functional magnetic resonance imaging takes an image of the architecture of the brain with a BOLD signal. This signal tells us about blood oxygenation, from this we can infer blood flow and brain activity. more active neurons need more oxygen and thus more blood.

Piaget - FMRI studies have been used to show the development of conservation in developing children.

Question 3

Give Pros and Cons to FMRI.

Answer 3

Pros - Good spatial resolution

      - Good temporal resolution
      - Functional, so tells us whats active when

Cons - Noisy and movementless ( uncomfortable), bad
for long experiments or children.
- No metal allowed, so people can be exluded
- BOLD signal infers activity, does not directly
measure.

Question 4

Describe TMS.

Answer 4

Trans-cranial magnetic stimulation can polarise or depolarise neurons on the scalp, simulating a lesion without lasting effects.

Question 5

Describe Pros and Cons to TMS

Answer 5

Pros - can simulate lesion without lasting effects
- Portable
- Evidence it could be used to treat stroke patients
with spatial neglect
Cons - Only surface regions
- Hard to locate specific locations.

Question 6

Describe EEG.

Answer 6

Scalp cap electrodes that measure voltage along the scalp, detect synchronised firing of groups of neurons.
ERP calculated by time locking and averaging signals.

Question 7

Describe Pros and Cons to EEG.

Answer 7

Pros - Cheap and portable
- High temporal resolution
Cons - Only cortical regions
-cant determine how regions are connected, eg
which part stimulated which other part

Question 8

Describe how EEG has been used to understand early visual processing.

Answer 8

Checker board image used to stimulate eyes, whilst undergoing EEG. ERPS calculated and suggested that early visual processing occurs at the Primary Visual Cortex (V1). supported by changing which eye we project to, alternating stimulation results in contralatteral firing in the V1

Question 9

Describe how FMRI has been used to understand face processing.

Answer 9

People put in scanners and shown faces. found we process faces that are upright fastest, more so than a jumbled up image or a hue controlled image. FMRI and EEG suggest that the Superior-temporal-sculpus-area is responsible for face processing.