Language and Cognition Flashcards
What are the claims underpinning Psychoanalysis?
A person’s development is determined by often forgotten events in early childhood, rather than byinherited traitsalone.
Human behaviourandcognitionare largely determined by instinctual drives that are rooted in the unconscious.
Attempts to bring such drives into awareness triggersresistancein the form ofdefense mechanisms, particularlyrepression.
Conflicts between conscious and unconscious material can result inmental disturbances, such asneurosis, neurotic traits,anxiety, anddepression.
Unconscious material can be found indreamsandunintentional acts, including mannerisms andslips of the tongue.
Liberation from the effects of the unconscious is achieved by bringing this material into the conscious mind through therapeutic intervention.
What is behaviourism?
- Mental processes are not amenable to direct observation
- However, behaviours are amenable to direct observation
- The study of behaviour is therefore the only proper approach to study mental processes in science
What are the types of conditioning associated with behaviourism?
Classical:
-Association between stimuli
-Behavioural response occurs with either stimulus in isolation
Operant:
-Reward/Punish behaviours
-Behavioural responses train to the reward paradigm
What are the types of cognitive processes?
- Perception
- Attention
- Memory (coding, retention, recall)
- Reasoning (decision making, problem solving)
- Language
- Action (planning, executing)
Anterior visual pathways and the types of streams
- Photons in pupil, retina, electrical signal, to occipital cortex
- 2 streams of information flow= dorsal stream links occipital lobe to parietal lobe= fast, where in 3D space the objects are
- Ventral stream= what the object is, occipital lobe link to temporal lobe, energy demanding (bottom up perception)
- Anterior stream= so what, connected to prefrontal cortex and limbic, sufficiently interesting to invest energy of ventral stream
- Perceptron= neural networks
What are the executive functions?
Attention
Working memory
Reasoning
Problem solving
-Largely reflective of frontal lobe functioning (PFC)
-Dysfunction is key sign in delirium (Acute Confusional State)
What are the types of attention?
- Focused attention: The ability to respond discretely to specific visual, auditory or tactile stimuli.
- Sustained attention (vigilance and concentration): The ability to maintain a consistent behavioural response during continuous and repetitive activity.
- Selective attention: The ability to maintain a behavioural or cognitive set in the face of distracting or competing stimuli. Therefore, it incorporates the notion of “freedom from distractibility.”
- Alternating attention: The ability of mental flexibility that allows individuals to shift their focus of attention and move between tasks having different cognitive requirements.
- Divided attention: This is the highest level of attention and it refers to the ability to respond simultaneously to multiple tasks or multiple task demands. (may not be true)
What are the influences on perception?
- Bottom up: stimulus quality and accuracy of perceptron
- Top down: influence of attention (see what we’re looking for)
- Salience
What are the types of human memory?
- Sensory
- Short-Term (about 30 seconds) (RAM)
- Long-Term (Hard-drive)
What are the types of Long-Term memory?
- Explicit/ declarative
- Implicit/ procedural (playing instrument, riding bike)
What are the types of explicit long-term memory?
- Semantic (knowledge of facts)
- Episodic (holidays)
- Autobiographical (life)
- Visual
What is the Baddeley model of working memory?
- Sensory memory (visuospatial sketch pad= occipital lobe, phonological loop= auditory, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas)
- Interplay between long-term memory and central executive (prefrontal cortex)= episodic buffer (parietal lobe)
Prefrontal cortex
- Critical role in integration of information from visuospatial sketch pad, phonological loop and episodic buffer
- Short term memory, decision to commit to long term memory
- Hippocampus
What is the hippocampus?
- Medial deep, temporal lope
- Gating for long term memory
- Anterograde amnesia is damaged
What structures are involved in procedural memory?
Basal ganglia and cerebellum
- Basal ganglia= repetitive movement, sequencing muscles
- Cerebellum= fine tuning, coordination , learning of skilled movement
Describe declarative memory
Not localised
- Library, memory stored diffusely throughout cerebral cortex
- Engrams (small memories) from hippocampus transferred to neocortex in distributive way
- Wide distribution reflected in loss of memory in dementia
Reasoning and problem solving
Reflection of highly developed prefrontal lobes in humans
Interpretation, plan for movement
To pre-motor cortex and primary motor cortex
What is Goal Setting?
-Self-propagation = affiliative desire = sexual desire -Self-maintenance = thermoregulation = thirst = hunger
Maslow’s Hierarchy
Bottom up -Basic needs =Physiological needs (food, water) =Safety needs -Psychological need =Belonginess and love =Esteem -Self-fulfilment =Self-actualisation
Describe the limbic system
Homeostasis= hypothalamus
Reward= nucleus accumbens, medial forebrain bundle, ventral tegmental area
Emotions (negative)= amygdala
Describe limbic dynamicity
Objects
-Useful tool= positive affect
-Not useful/ obstacle= negative affect
Goal setting interaction and attainment
