LEC 9: spatial cognition

Question 1

anterior parietal lobe

Answer 1

somatosensory representations (not apart of dorsal stream proper)

Question 2

posterior parietal cortex (PPC)

Answer 2

multisensory and crucial to spatial cognition

Question 3

three pathways that project from dorsal stream

Answer 3

1. PC to prefrontal cortex
2. PC to premotor cortex
3. PC to medial temporal cortex

Question 4

parietal cortex to prefrontal cortex

Answer 4

supports spatial working memory

Question 5

parietal cortex to premotor cortex

Answer 5

supports guided actions (like reaching and grasping)

Question 6

parietal cortex to medial temporal

Answer 6

supports spatial navigation

Question 7

cells in PPC are most responsive to and not sensitive to

Answer 7

responsive to:
- combination of retinal location of obj & position of eyes/head
- specific direction of motion

not sensitive to:
- color or form

• or central foveal focus

Question 8

stereoscope

Answer 8

allows for 2 images to be presented to each eye separately
when images depict objs at slightly diff angles, it creates perecetion of depth

Question 8

how is depth perception computed

Answer 8

binocular (2 eyes) and monocular (1 eye)

Question 9

depth perception helps us

Answer 9

localize items in near-far plane

Question 10

binocular disparity

Answer 10

(binocular depth cue) discrepancy btwn images seen by 2 eyes

Question 11

motion parallax

Answer 11

(monocular cue) perceive motion of thinsg closer as faster
and motion of things farther as slower or staying put

Question 12

egocentric reference frame

Answer 12

reference where something is relative to viewer

Question 13

allocentric reference frame

Answer 13

maps relative to btwn objs

Question 14

categorical spatial relations

Answer 14

position of one location relative to another (above vs below, etc)
left hem specialization

Question 15

coordinate (or metric) spatial relations

Answer 15

distance btwn 2 locations
right hem specialization

Question 16

corollary discharge theory

Answer 16

motor regions of brain could let visual system know when eye movements are planned

Question 17

optic ataxia

Answer 17

damage to parietal lobe
impariment in visually guided reaching

Question 18

3 diff characteristics of PPC developing reference frames

Answer 18

1. spatial representations encoded in PPC go beyond eye-centered representations in primary visual cortex (PPC cells go beyond retinotopy - aka left visual field)
2. diff subpopulations of PPC cells participate in coding space for diff functions (PPC cells show specialization for egocentric vs allocentric recognition)
3. coding of location is dynamic process that must constantly take into account the changing position of eyes (constantly adapting and changing as eyes move)

Question 19

2 types of spatial nav

Answer 19

cognitive map based or route based

Question 20

map based navigation

Answer 20

constructing a map w/in your head

Question 21

route based

Answer 21

based on directions like turn left
not based on mental map

Question 22

parahippocampal place area PPA

Answer 22

encodes landmarks
strongly associated w spatial navigation

Question 23

retrosplenial complex RSC

Answer 23

determine loation of self
damage leads to prbs of spatial navigation

Question 24

medial temporal lobe MTL

Answer 24

map like representations
closely tied to memory

Question 25

place cells

Answer 25

cells in hippocampus
active when animal is located in particular place in its local environment (certain areas activates specific place cells)
creates grid in hippocampus