Lecture 2 Flashcards
What do we know about the study of the brain
By combining lesion studies with functional neuroimaging of the brain
Where and how activity in the brain convaries with a social process, construct, or representation that has the potential to inform theory in social psychology and in the brain sciences
WHERE in the brain is something happening
HOW does it work within the brain
- studies focused on the lesions within the brain
Mental Chronometry
Study of the time-course of information processing in human nervous system
The idea is that nature of the task (how efficient it is) will manifest itself in terms of how much time it takes
Dependent variable for many behavioural tasks is TIME: e.g reaction time, response time, button pressing time…
Who is FC Donders (1818-1889)
Father of mental chronometry
Came up with subtractive method
- still using this to this day
Time it takes to perform a task depends on the number and types of mental stages involved
Componential processing analysis of human task performance
What does time have to do with language???
When the stimulus is harder (more complex) - time goes up [the longer it takes for them to perform the task]
More experience with the stimulus - time goes down [ we can do it faster]
Cognition
Refers to a variety of higher mental processes such as thinking, perceiving, imagining, speaking, acting and planning
Cognitive Neuropsychology
Building a theory of regular cognition based on abnormal cognition
Need patient information and testing for this
Involves using behavioural and lesions data from brain-damaged patients to determine not only which mental abilities can be impaired independently of others, but also which neural structures are necessary to support them
What are the two general aims regarding language
To carve the language faculty at its joints, so to speak, by determining which of its components can be selectively disrupted. This goal is concerned mainly with understanding the cognitive architecture of language
- Note that selective disruption assumes independence among components
- Major issue that remains is where is the boundary between linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge
To identify reliable links between specific linguistic deficits and specific lesion sites. This goal is concerned mainly with understanding the neural architecture of language
[The human brain is ready for language by birth - think of the video with baby and father from first lecture]
[we are not wired for reading/writing - our own technologies we made to represent language]
Cognitive neurosceince discipline
A discipline that bridges cognitive science and cognitive psychology, on the one hand, and biology and neuroscience on the other
Cognitive neuropsychology
Study of brain damanged patients to inform normal cognition
Information processing
An approach where behaviour is described in terms of a sequence of cognitive stages
Selective disruption
We assume theres independence that makes up the cognitive capacity
What part is just about language and what is not?
What are we trying to find
Cognitive Science
Response to behaviourism
It’s OK to study representational structures in the mind and computational procedures that operate on those structures
Represetational structures in the mind and computational procedures that operate on those structure
Are mapped onto the brain
How have we evolved with the study of the brain
Aristolte - thought brain’s function was to “cool the blood”
Herophilus - First person to say that the brain was responsible for cognition, rather then the heart. Also the first to differentiate the cerebrum from the cerebellum
Rene Descartes - Thought of Dualism: body vs. mind
Mind and body interact at the pineal gland. Mind is not physical and immortal, body is physical and mortal
Reductionism
Mind-based concepts (e.g emotions, language, memory) will be replaced by biological constructs
Patterns of neurons firing, neurotransmitter release
