Lecture Week 2 Flashcards
Who was the ‘father of biopsychology?”
Donald O. Hebb
What did Donald O Hebb propose and help discredit?
- proposed that psychological phenomena might be produced by brain activity
- helped discredit the notion that psychological functions were too complex to be derived for physiological activities
What is Morgan’s Canon?
In no case in an animals activity should be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes if it can be interpreted in terms of lower processes
What were other explanations for Jose Delgado electrical stimulation of the bulls caudate nucleus?
It made the bull dizzy, nauseous, blind etc
Who won the Nobel prize for prefrontal lobotomy and why was this “unstable” evidence?
Egas Moniz, and it was done on a chimpanzee. Failed to look at postoperative evalutaion, looking over side effects.
What are some critical thinking skills when looking at research? (3)
- human vs animal
- $ vs simplicity
- explanation the simplest answer?
Why should we use non-human subjects?
- simpler brains
- simple behaviour
- fewer ethical restrictions
Why should we use human subjects?
- can follow instructions
- able to provide subjective reports
- less expensive to ‘house’ humans
What is a test involving cards, testing learning ability?
The Wisconsin card sorting test
What are some lab based tests to understand human functions?
reaction time tasks memory tasks cognitive load attention decision making coordination etc
What is a simple reaction time task?
A green dot comes onto the screen at random times, and when it does the subjects press a button to respond.
What is a simple reaction time with warning stimulus testing?
Seeing how people prepare for a response by increasing their attention. The hope is they would be faster.
What is a choice reaction time task? (SRT)
A warning signal, and in a congruent trial, if the green dot appears on the right side of the screen, respond with the right. In an incongruent test, the green dot might be displayed on the right hand side, and told to respond with their left..
The warning light can also act as a warning, being displayed on either the right or left side as a hint
What is a movement preparation/initiation test?
You get a warning signal, then there is either a green or red light. Your response is only required when it is green.
What is a stop signal task, testing inhibitory control?
Wen light turns green, go. Sometimes, the green turns red and you’re meat to inhibit that action
What is a stop signal choice reaction time>?
Embeds a stop signal task within a choice reaction.
What is a selective stop cost?
two green arrows mean both hands go. If one is red and one is green, then you only respond with the appropriate hand.
Describe perceptual decisions making?
You have to assess the visual information and determine how to respond. (eg. are there more orange or blue pixels in a ‘flash’ image, or, are the dots moving up or down?)
a letter matching task assessed whether peoples response time to letter matching. What does this demonstrate?
physical representations are activated first (AA), then phonetic representations (Aa) and category representations last (both consonants SC).
In a memory comparison, what is the correlation time between number of items and reaction time?
positive correlation.
What is a motors stroop task?
asked to respond with which side of the screen arrows are on, but they could be pointing in either direction.
What are dual tasks?
Puts a strain on resources. doing a cognitive task while doing a balance test (e.g, balance and count)
What is electromyography?
- indirect measure of output from the motor cortex
- non invasive
- cheap
- ease of use
- single trial analysis - powerful
How can we use skin conductance to assess psychophysiological activity?
measures of electrodermal activity including: skin conductance
How can we use cardiovascular activity to measure human psychophysiological activity?
often used to link physiological changes with emotional state. eg: heart rate, blood pressure and blood volume
What is the problem with x ray?
cannot see brain structures.
What are contrast x- rays?
inject something that observes x rays less or more than surrounding tissue
What is x-ray computed tomography?
Results in cross sections or slices capturing images. can then create a 3D image
What is magnetic resonance imaging?
measures the waves emitted by hydrogen atoms as they turn back to the magnetic field.
How is the size relevant to magnetic resonance imaging?
Bigger is better
What is diffusion tensor imaging?
a form of MRI
makes use of the properties of water molecules and how they diffuse along white matter
What is a positron emission tomography?
PET
highlights brain activity
injection of radioactive tracer
active neurons take up that deoxyglucose tracer
How does a functional magnetic resonance imaging work?
blood carries oxygen, which binds to haemoglobin. looks at areas of the brain which has higher blood flow. Shows the function of brain (the active areas).
What is electroencephalography (EEG)?
electrodes attached to scalp to measure electrical waves. non invasive. Measures the change when patients are shown with different stimuli images.
What is magnetoencephalography? (MEG)
a measure of neural activity
measures changes in magnetic fields on the surface of the scalp
fast temporal resolution
What is functional near infrared spectroscopy?
Light source into cortex, then depending on the blood flow, the light is detected ‘back out’ of the brain.
What is transcranial magnetic stimulation?
a magnetic current stimulates certain parts of the brain. can stimulate the motor cortex and result in hand movement.
Why is TMS so useful?
- non- invasive
- excellent specificity
- average spatial specificity
- can be used in conjunction with motor tasks to explore the neural mechanisms of behaviour
What are three uses of TMS?
- assessment
- disruption
- modulation
What is stereotaxic surgery?
Give lesions and see how it impacts behaviour
How do we interpret lesion studies?
- changes in behaviour
- what tissue did the electrode go through to get to the target
- was it the correct tissue?
What is the scanning electron microscope?
allows you to see a think section of tissue, rather than the magnification of a regular microscope
what are optogenetics?
- insertion of photosensitive proteins into neural membrane
- blue light can cause excitation
yellow light can cause inhibition - specific areas rather than general regions of stimulation
