Lecture 2 - Neurobiological Foundations

Question 1

What are models of the mind?

Answer 1

These are representations of structures or processes that help us simplify, visualise or explain the respective structure or process.

Question 2

What are the 2 types of models?

Answer 2

Structural models
Process models

Question 3

What are process models?

Answer 3

Illustrate how a process operates
Breaking processes down into units and subprocesses
- flow diagrams

Question 4

What are structural models?

Answer 4

Represent structures in the brain that are involved in specific functions
Useful for localization, visualization, brain comparison.

Question 5

What is cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 5

The study of the physiological basis of cognition.

Question 6

What are the levels of analysis?

Answer 6

Different points in understanding cognitive phenomena
- context
- individual differences
- experience
- emotions
- brain regions
- neural communication
- hormones

Question 7

What are neurons?

Answer 7

Cells specialised to create, receive and transmit information in the nervous system

Question 8

What are the structures in a neuron?

Answer 8

Cell body
Dendrites - receive messages
Axon - passes messages on (outgoing signals)
Action potential - electrical signal travelling down axon
Myelin sheath - covers axon of some neurons
Terminals - form junctions
Dendrites (incoming signals)

Question 9

What is a nerve net?

Answer 9

Interconnected neurons
- continuously interconnected
- allows nonstop continuous communication of signals

Question 10

What is the neuron doctrine?

Answer 10

(Ramon and Cajal)
Argue that nerve nets are not continuous but rather made up of individual cells that transmit in the nervous system
Neurons form connections to specific neurons resulting in groups of interconnected neurons which together form neural circuits

Question 11

What are receptors?

Answer 11

Neurons that receive information from outside the senses

Question 12

How do we measure how neurons communicate?

Answer 12

Electronic amplifiers that are sensitive enough to pick up and amplify a single neuron firing
First recorded by Adrian in 1920s with micro electrodes placed near axons

Question 13

What is the synapse?

Answer 13

Space between axon of one neuron and dendrite or cell body of another.

Question 14

What is resting potential?

Answer 14

When a nerve is at rest

Question 15

What is action potential?

Answer 15

Neuron receives signal from environment (impulse) which briefly raises the relative voltage in the neuron. Information travels down the axon of that neuron to the dendrites of another neuron.

The size of the action potential is always the same but the firing rate depends on stimulus intensity.
Low-intensity stimulus: slow firing (a).
High-intensity stimulus: fast firing (c).

Question 16

How do neurons communicate across the synapse?

Answer 16

When the action potential reaches the end of the axon, synaptic vesicles open and release chemical neurotransmitters. Synaptic transmission is not an electrical transport of signals but a biochemical one

Question 17

What are neurotransmitters?

Answer 17

chemicals that affect the electrical signal of the receiving neuron, cross the synapse and bind with the receiving dendrites.

Question 18

What is the principle of neural representation?

Answer 18

Everything a person experiences is based on representations in the person’s nervous system.
=Everything you experiences is reflected/represented somewhere in the neural system

Question 19

What are feature detectors?

Answer 19

neurons that respond best to a specific stimulus.

discovered by Hubel & Wiesel (1960s) in research with visual stimuli in cats.

each neuron in the visual area of the cortex responded to a specific type of stimulation

This means that multiple feature detectors represent different aspects of objects

Question 20

What is experience dependent plasticity?

Answer 20

the structure of the brain changes with experience.

Question 21

What is sensory coding?

Answer 21

= the problem of neural representation for the senses
= sensory code refers to how neurons represent various characteristics of the environment

Question 22

What are the three types of sensory coding?

Answer 22

1. Specificity coding:representation of a stimulus by the firing of specifically tuned neurons specialized to respond only to a specific stimulus (grandmother cells/neurons)
2. Population coding:representation of a stimulus by the pattern of firing of many neurons.
3. Sparse coding:representation of a stimulus by a pattern of firing of only a small group of neurons, with most neurons remaining silent.

Question 23

What is localisation of function?

Answer 23

Specific functions are served by specific areas of the brain.

Cognitive functioning declines in specific ways, when certain areas of the brain are damaged (e.g. by age, disease, or trauma)

Cerebral cortex (3-mm-thick layer covering the brain) contains mechanisms responsible for most cognitive functions.

Question 24

What are the functions of the frontal lobe?

Answer 24

Motor cortex
- Motor control
- Action knowledge
- ‘Muscle memory’

Executive Control
- Focus/ conscious attention
- Knowledge coordination
- Evaluation of information

Abstract thinking & Problem solving

Question 25

What are the functions of the parietal lobe?

Answer 25

• Sensory cortex
• Attention
• Imagination & Creativity
• Knowledge integration

Question 26

What are the functions of the occipital lobe?

Answer 26

Visual cortex
- Visual perception
- Categorization

Question 27

What are the functions of the temporal lobe?

Answer 27

Memory and Remembering
- Knowledge categories

Language
- Auditory perception & parsing

Hearing

Question 28

What are the functions of the cerebellum?

Answer 28

Movement coordination

Balance

Rhythm

Proprioception

Question 29

What are the functions of the brain stem?

Answer 29

Basic biological functions
- Breathing
- Heart rate

Question 30

What are the primary receiving areas for the senses?

Answer 30

Occipital lobe: vision
Parietal lobe: touch, temperature, and pain
Temporal lobe: hearing, taste, and smell.

Question 31

Where is coordination of information received from all senses?

Answer 31

Frontal lobe

Question 32

What are the areas specialised for language?

Answer 32

Broca’s area, in the frontal lobe - Language production is impaired by damage to this area.

Wernicke’s area, in the temporal lobe - Language comprehension is impaired by damage to this area.

Question 33

What is double dissociation?

Answer 33

When damage to one part of the brain causes function A to be absent while function B is present … and damage to another area causes function B to be absent while function A is present.