Lec 1: Makings of Cog Neurosci

Question 1

introspection

Answer 1

• studying/analyzing yourself
• cannot be fact checked

Question 2

structuralism

Answer 2

• breaking down complex constructs into simpler parts
• introspection is a way of doing it

Question 3

behaviourism

Answer 3

• psych is the science of behaviour
• taught us a lot about stimulus/input and response/output
• did not focus on the mind
• could not explain things like false memories or language acquisition in children

Question 4

cognitivism

Answer 4

• rejected notion that only behaviour should be subject of study
• developed serial and parallel processing models
• can use computer software to model processes

Question 5

cardiac hypothesis

Answer 5

• the brain “air conditioned” blood
• mind comes from the heart

Question 6

rationalism

Answer 6

• descartes
• thoughtful reflection on how you think thing might work to discover the truth

Question 7

descartes and the pineal gland

Answer 7

he believed that it was the way the mind and the brain communicated because there is only 1 of them

Question 8

dualism

Answer 8

mind and the brain are separatem

Question 9

monism

Answer 9

brain gives rise to the mind

Question 10

Montreal Procedure

Answer 10

• created by Wilder Penfield to treat epilepsy
• would surgically destroy neurons in the brain that produced seizures
• to determine which cells to destory, he would stimulate various parts of the brain with electrical probes and observe results on patients who were awake
• from observations, created maps of sensory and motor cortices in the brain

Question 11

phrenology

Answer 11

• hypothesized that if person used one faculty of the brain more than the others, part of the brain representing that function would grow
• increase in local brain size would cause bump in overlying skull
• believed analysis of skull could describe personality of person inside the skull

Question 12

aggregate field theory

Answer 12

• no single part of the brain has a distinct role
• a brain area can serve lots of diff functions
• whole brain participates in behaviour
• mental functions distributed across the entire brain rather than localized to specific regions

Question 13

localization of function

Answer 13

• different parts of the brain serve different functions
• specific areas of the brain are responsible for particular cognitive processes or behaviors

Question 14

Franz Joseph Gall

Answer 14

• studies patients and believed brain was the organ of the mind and innate faculties were localized in specific regions of the cerebral cortex
• thought brain was organized around about 35 or more specific functions and each was supported by specific brain regions
• phrenology

Question 15

Brodmann’s map of cerebral cortex

Answer 15

• interested in how the neurons were layered
• numbered histological differences in the brain
• the different #s mean different arrangement of the 6 layers of neurons

Question 16

evidence for localization of function

Answer 16

Broca’s aphasia:
- damage to portion of left frontal lobe causes non-fluent speech but intact language comprehension
Wernicke’s aphasia:
- damage to portion of left temporal lobe causes impaired comprehension but intact speech production
John Hughlings Jackson:
- noticed seizures tend to progress to body parts in a consistent way across various people
- created topographic map of cerebral cortex
Wilder Penfield:
- brain mapping using electrocortical stimulation
- electrically stimulating diff parts of the brain found diff responses
Phineas Gage:
- destruction of orbitofrontal cortex had an impact of emotion and personality
Patient H.M.:
- had his bilateral medial temporal lobe removed bc. of seizures
- had anterograde amnesia after
Removing corpus callosum:
- showed hemispheres do different things

Question 17

Progression of the lobotomy

Answer 17

• ppl. started to wonder if prefrontal cortex contributed to mental illness
  Burkhardt:
• disconnected prefrontal cortex from rest of the brain
• did not find evidence that it had therapeutical value
  Moniz:
• found that disconnection of prefrontal cortex from rest of brain reduced aggressive behaviour in non-human primates
• found varying results in humans, overall considered it a success
  Freeman:
• developed transorbital lobotomy
• involved not going through the skull
• insert instrument behind the eyes

Question 18

Alexander Luria

Answer 18

• focuses on how brain injury affected the person
• humanized clinical psych
• had hierarchical view of brain organization: some parts of brain controlled others
• thought of mental functions as being distributed across brain areas

Question 19

Luria’s notion of cognitive networks

Answer 19

• mental functions, including cognition, arise from the interaction of different parts of the brain, each of which has specialized roles
• evolves around the brain functioning as an integrated system rather than being composed of isolated regions handling specific tasks