L6 - Cognitive Neuroscience Flashcards
Define cognitive neuroscience
Scientific study of the influence of the neurological structures, mechanisms, and chemistry on mental processes
Two brain imaging techniques
Positron Emission Tomography
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Brain imaging shows what?
Which brain parts become active under certain circumstances
Cognitive psychologists have been able to locate what which leads to what?
Where different memories are stored
More effective treatments for memory disorders
Why are brain areas mapped?
To locate where specific cognitive functions occur
Maguire study procedure?
MRI scans of brains
16 taxi drivers 16 not - males
Maguire study findings?
Taxi drivers had larger right posterior hippocampus to control
Responsible for visual representation
Longer in the job = larger
+ related to determinism
Soft determinism
Recognises free will and ability to think before reacting
More interactionist less deterministic
+ related to experiments
Scientific methods
Use methods which are objective and not influenced by bias
More valid
- to validity
Use tasks wouldn’t do in real life so lacks mundane realism
Doesn’t have external would influences reducing ecological validity
+ related to study procedure
Compared control to experimental group
More sure and valid conclusions about it being due to length of taxi driving time
- related to study
All male sample
Gender bias beta bias
Less population validity can’t be generalised as much
+ related to study individual differences
Correlation found longer time = more matter
Minimises chance of being due to individual differences e.g. people with certain brain differences attracted to certain jobs
