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Cognitive Psychology > Lecture 1 > Flashcards

Lecture 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

Information Processing Approach

A
  • Humans are S-R machines
  • Info comes in through senses
  • All information is serial (one step at a time)
  • Bottom up processing = all processes are directly triggered by the stimulus
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2
Q

Information Processing Approach (Criticisms)

A
  • Doesn’t allow for parallel processing = can’t process more than one thing at a time
  • Ignores top down processing = your influence on a stimulus to change perception of it
  • Oversimplification
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3
Q

Bottom up processing: representation in our heads

A
  • Mental representation = our own stimulations and interpretations of the world
  • Neural representation = patterns of brain activity that represent the outside world
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4
Q

Rate vs Temporal Coding

A
  • Rate coding = the faster the neurons respond, the faster the coding of information
  • Temporal coding = the greater the synchrony of neurons the faster the coding of information
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5
Q

Study Cognition

A
  • Experimental Cognitive Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuropsychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
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6
Q

Experimental Cognitive Psychology

A
  • Controlled lab setting
  • Manipulation
  • Uses behavioural measures e.g. reaction times as indirect measures rather than brain measures
  • Successful at generating testable theories
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7
Q

Experimental Cognitive Psychology: Limitations

A
  • Ecological validity
  • Only provides indirect measures of cognitive processes
  • Doesn’t capture what is going on in the brain
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8
Q

Cognitive Neuropsychology

A
  • Studies cognition in brain-damaged patients

- Looks for what cognitive functions are impaired

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9
Q

Cognitive Neuropsychology: Limitations

A
  • Difficult to get pre vs post measures of patient’s performance
  • Brain damage affects several brain areas / several functions
  • Individual differences
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10
Q

Cognitive Neuroscience

A
  • Relates brain structure and brain function to cognitive processes
  • Records brain activity whilst ppts perform cognitive tasks
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11
Q

Tools to Study the Brain

A
  • Single-Cell Recordings
  • EEG
  • ERP
  • MRI
  • fMRI
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
  • Alternating Current Stimulation (tDCS/tACS)
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12
Q

Single-Cell Recordings

A
  • Small electrode records neural activity from within axon or outside axon membrane
  • Only done in animals but occasionally epileptic patients
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13
Q

EEG

A
  • Records electrical activity over large number of neurons (via electrodes on scalp)
    Measures neural activity in real-time (ms scale)
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14
Q

ERP

A

-EEG in response to specific stimulus presented multiple times

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15
Q

Advantages/Disadvantages of EEG

A

Advantages

  • ->Good temporal resolution (ms)
  • ->Portable and cheap

Disadvantages

  • ->Poor spatial resolution (where in brain it occurs)
  • ->Infinite number of possible origins for any signal recorded at scalp = need computer to make informed guess
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16
Q

MRI

A
  • Magnetic field has effect on single protons found in water molecules which align
  • Alignment disturbed by short radio frequency pulses
  • Measure change in magnetic field
  • Returning to relaxed state takes different amounts of times for different tissues
  • This produces lighter or darker images
17
Q

Structural MRI

A
  • Static image of brain
  • Based on fact different tissues have different properties
  • Aquire slices that are 2D images of brain
  • Combine all slices and reconstruct representation of brain
  • Because adult brains have plasticity (grey matter), structural imaging can also teach us about function
  • Can measure white matter through diffusion tensor imaging:
  • -> Investigates how cognition is supported by connections between brain regions
18
Q

Functional MRI

A
  • Measures blood-oxygenation level dependent signal (BOLD)
  • Hemodynamic Response Function (HRF) = BOLD signal changes in response to stimulus
  • Active neurons need oxygen
  • Brain supplies oxygen to active areas
  • Oxygenated blood = causes less magnetic field disturbance than deoxygenated blood –> active brain regions will have higher signals
  • Subtraction logic:
  • -> Measure BOLD while participants conduct 2 tasks and subtract average brain scan during one task from the other task
19
Q

Advantages/Disadvantages of fMRI

A 
Advantages
--> Good spatial resolution = mm
Disadvantages
-->Poor temporal resolution because HRF is slow (5 seconds to reach its peak)
--> Not a measure of neurons themselves
--> Many brain areas can be active
--> Correlational
20
Q

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

A
  • Uses short magnetic pulses that quickly affects electrical activity in a localised patch of brain tissue under coil
  • Applied before/during cognitive task
  • Can have positive/negative effect on task performance
21
Q

Alternating Current Stimulation (tDCS/tACS)

A
  • Uses small current flowing from one cathode to an anode
    -Can either flow constantly (tDCS) or alternates (tACS)
  • tDCS = areas under the cathode are inhibited, areas under anode thought to be excited
  • tACS = induces oscillations at different frequencies
    = Both very poor replicability
22
Q

Advantages of Brain Stimulation

A
  • Causal evidence

- Non-invasive

23
Q

Disadvantages of Brain Stimulation

A
  • Stimulation to brain is weak as happens outside of head

- Risk to individuals with history of epilepsy

Cognitive Psychology (10 decks)

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