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Cognitive Neuroscience > Lecture 4 - The Developing Brain > Flashcards

Lecture 4 - The Developing Brain Flashcards

1
Q

Piaget - Formed developmental psychology - Middle ground in nature vs nurture debate. What does he argue about child development?

A

CYCLICAL process of interactions between child and their environment - STAGES that are fixed and predetermined. Environment impacts child’s cognitive processes to enable the next stages.

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2
Q

What is the Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)

A
  • A child learns that objects still exist when hidden
  • Learns nature of cause and effect, actions have consequences
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3
Q

What is Neuroconstructivism? - Westermann 2007

A
  • Interaction between environment and genetic factors that lead to mature cognitive system
  • Individuals experience things differently even with the same brain based constraints
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4
Q

What is the Blueprint analogy?

A

Each neural connection to the brain is pre-determined. Human brain has 86 billion neurons, each with 10,000 synapses.

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5
Q

PREDETERMINED DEVELOPMENT (Gottlieb, 1992)

A

Genes -> Brain Structure -> Brain Function -> EXPERIENCES

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6
Q

PROBABILISTIC DEVELOPMENT (Gottlieb, 1992)

A

Brain structure and Genes influenced by EXPERIENCES - All linked together

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7
Q

What is the neural tube formation? (prenatal brain development)

A

Cylinder of cells
- at 5 weeks, organised into bulges and starts to form parts of the brain
- Cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, midbrain

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8
Q

How are neurons and glial cells produced?

A

DIVISION OF PROLIFERATING CELLS - neuroblasts and glioblasts

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9
Q

How many neurons are produced per minute in foetal early development?

A

250,000

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10
Q

What are radial glial cells?

A

Glial cells that exist in the neural tube during neural migration - GUIDE NEURONS TO THEIR FINAL DESTINATION

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11
Q

What is Hebbian learning?

A

Neurons that wire together, fire together - Strengthening of a synapse that occurs when presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons are active at the same time

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12
Q

What does a new born babies brain weigh?

A

450g (adults = 1400g)
Expansion due to growth of synapses, dendrites, axons

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13
Q

What does a new born babies brain weigh?

A

450g (adults = 1400g)
Expansion due to growth of synapses, dendrites, axons

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14
Q

What age is the primary visual and auditory cortex peak density?

A

4-12 months. 150% above adult level. Falls to adult level ages 2-4 years old.

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15
Q

What age does the prefrontal cortex reach its peak?

A

After 12 months - doesn’t return to adult level for 10-20 years

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16
Q

What is myelination?

A
  • Increase of fatty myelin sheath that surrounds axons.
  • Prefrontal cortex last to achieve adult levels of myelination - this is associated with social and control behaviour
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17
Q

What is brain plasticity?

A

The brains ability to CHANGE - learn new things

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18
Q

Draganski 2004 - juggling study

A

3 balls, 3 months JUGGLE
Increase in gray matter density - in region specialised for visual motion and the occipitoparietal region (hand eye coordination)

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19
Q

Maguire et al 2000 - taxi drivers

A

Longest time spent as a taxi driver = increased gray matter density

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20
Q

Why might gray matter density not be a proxy of cognitive ability?

A

Blind people have more gray matter in visual cortex.
- Developmental pruning of synapses (thinner is better)
- Experience-dependent changes (expertise - thicker is better)

21
Q

Patient AH - 10 year old girl with no RH or right eye

A
  • Only had minor visual impairment
  • Visual info that would normally cross optic chiasm into missing hemisphere was rerouted into the intact hemisphere.
  • Brain plasticity - processed info from both fields
22
Q

What is the Kennard principle?

A

Brain plasticity is better in early life
- Evidence of children developing language skills after a stroke

23
Q

What is Filial Imprinting?

A

When an animal recognises their parent

24
Q

Lorenz - ducklings study

A
  • Evidence of a critical period
  • 15h-3 days for goslings to imprint
  • Ducklings that imprinted to objects generalised to similar objects
25
Q

What is a critical period?

A

Time period that something has to happen - strict and essential for learning

26
Q

What is a sensitive period?

A

Time period important for learning, but not essential

27
Q

What does Lenneberg 1967 state about language acquisition?

A
  • Critical period to learning language ends at puberty
  • Ability to comprehend and produce language may depend on other skills and their sensitive periods (hearing, motor ability etc)
  • MULTIPLE SENSITIVE PERIODS FOR DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
28
Q

Genie - Feral child study - what was found?

A
  • Had been neglected from birth to 13 years old
  • After 18 months post release she was able to learn language but it was poor compared to others her age
29
Q

Bilingual study - Petani & Abutalebi, 2005

A

When both languages are learnt from birth, able to learn without grammatical errors

30
Q

Genetic explanation to learning - Thomas & Johnson, 2008

A

Programmed synaptogenesis - readies the brain for learning. This is followed by reduced plasticity where learned info is fossilised

31
Q

Environmental explanation to learning - Thomas & Johnson, 2008

A

Closure of time window - environmental cue - e.g gene plays a role in filial imprinting and is switched off after exposure. Neurons readied for learning but process is self terminating - won’t occur if environment is not suitable

32
Q

What does Empiricism mean?

A

Newborn mind is a blank slate

33
Q

What is the Nativist viewpoint?

A

Humans are born with basic innate knowledge

34
Q

What is a modern view of innate knowledge?

A
  • Readiness to learn
  • Environmental cues - children will only learn language with effective input (encouraged by caregivers)
35
Q

What is the meaning of prepared learning?

A

Learning that occurs without extensive training as it is predisposed - easier to become scared of snakes than flowers

36
Q

What did Harlow’s Monkey Study find?

A

Baby monkeys have an innate preference to the soft mother over the wire mother that provided food

37
Q

What is the habituation paradigm? - Fantz 1964

A
  • Infants prefer novelty
  • When showed pairs of stimuli simultaneously then one remains the same but another changes = increased fixation to a new pattern
  • When repeated same stimulus until an infant is bored then shown a new stimulus, if infant is interested then they have discriminated the two
38
Q

What is the visual interest test - looking chamber (Fantz, 1961)

A
  • If an infant turns gaze towards some forms more than others then it must perceive its form / object / shape
  • Form perception appears at 1 week old - 3.5 months old.
  • Show selective attention and preferences for visual stimuli - early perceptual development
39
Q

What is the visual acuity threshold?

A

Minimum level of detail required to detect or recognize specific details or objects.
Eye, visual nerve pathways and visual brain is poorly developed at birth - visual acuity threshold not developed

40
Q

What are ERPs

A

Averaged voltage fluctuations from specific event - reflect cognitive functions

41
Q

What is the Nc (negative central peak)?

A

Peak of ERP typically 300-700ms after stimulus onset
Large peak = high attention
Large Nc for mothers face compared to stranger

42
Q

fNIRS - functional near-infrared spectroscopy

A
  • Tracks blood flow via changes in haemoglobin
  • Sensitive to wavelengths - the extent that the signal is scattered computes BOLD response
  • Large BOLD response = more cognitive and neural activity
43
Q

What does BOLD stand for?

A

Blood Oxygen Level Dependent contrast

44
Q

What is BOLD?

A

The signal measured in fMRI that relates to the concentration of deoxyhaemoglobin in the blood

45
Q

Con of fNIRS

A

Low spatial resolution as they only cover surface of cortex

46
Q

Pros of fNIRS

A

Portable and tolerant of movement - convenient for children

47
Q

Cons of ERP/EEG for children

A
  • Uncomfortable (electrodes)
  • Time consuming
  • Children and adults show different patterns in tasks that they both find easy
    Could relate to cognitive differences (same task performed differently)
    Or non cog differences - skull thickness
48
Q

TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation)

A

Strong magnets that briefly interrupt normal brain activity as a way to study brain regions

49
Q

tES (transcranial electrical stimulation)

A

Use of weak electric currents to stimulate the brain

Cognitive Neuroscience (12 decks)

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