minds, brain and behaviour Flashcards
Temporal Lobe
- Inferior to lateral sulcus
- primary auditory cortex
- language comprehension
- medial temporal lobe
~ amygdala (fear and arousal)
~ hippocampus (learning and memory)
Central Sulcus
- separates frontal and parietal lobes
- deep groove
Frontal Lobe
- anterior
- executive functions e.g. reasoning planning, problem solving, inhibitory control, working memory
- motor functions
- speech production (broca’s area)
- emotion (insula cortex)
Lateral Sulcus
- separates temporal and parietal lobes
- large deep groove
- present in both hemispheres
Parietal Lobe
- posterior to central sulcus
- primary somatosensory cortex
- sense of space & locations
- spacial attention
- linking vision to action
Occipital Lobe
- posterior and inferior
- primary visual cortex
- higher visual areas
Corpus Callosum
- neuron connections between left and right hemispheres
- allows communication between hemispheres
Cerebral Cortex
- outermost surface layer of cerebrum
- grey matter
- primary visual cortex
- primary somatosensory, auditory, and motor cortex
Habituation/Sensitisation
Habituation:
- respond less strongly to repeated stimuli over time
Sensitisation:
- respond more strongly (or similarly) to repeated stimuli over time
3 Processes for Memory
Encoding: transform memory stimulus into a form that can be placed in memory
Storage: effectively retaining information for later use
Retrieval: locating item and using it
Memory Structures
1) Sensory Register
- storage system that registers and briefly holds info from senses
- iconic memory: related to visual system, <0.5 sec, 9-10 times
- echoic memory: relates to auditory system, 2 sec, 5 times
2) Short Term Memory
- intermediate storage system that briefly holds info prior to consolidation
- 30 sec duration
3) Long Term Memory
- large capacity
- long duration
- different types
Free Recall (things that affect long term memory)
Primary effect: memory best for things learned first
Recency effect: memory also good for things learned last (STM can contribute)
Context: memory is better when in the context you learned material in
Internal State: memory better when internal state is same as time of learning
Memory Abstraction
Bransford - 1971
Cognitive process by which we encode and store essential meaning of message but not exact details of learning event
Schema Memory
Bartlett- 1932
Set of ideas about objects and events associated with a familiar activity
Semantic and Episodic Memory
Long term memory
Episodic = memory for specific events
Semantic = general knowloege
Procedural vs Declarative
Long term memory
Procedural = without awareness of remembering (implicit)
Declarative = conscious recollection (explicit)
Left Hemisphere
language lateralised in left hemisphere for most
(95% right handed, 70% left handed)
- language comprehension
- speech
- reading
- speech production
Language and Hemispheres
Language lateralised in left for most people (95% right-handed, 70% left-handed)
- language comprehension
- speech
- reading
- speech production
Determined by WADA test
- anaesthetic drug in left or right carotid artery stops function of one hemisphere
- check for language deficits
Contralateral Function:
Contralateral = opposite side Ipsilateral = same side
Motor and Sensory Cortex:
- connect to contralateral side of body
- right hemisphere to left side of body and vice versa
Vision
- left vision from both eyes goes to right hemisphere and vice versa
Corpus Callosum
- connects left and right hemispheres
- axons of neurons crossing to opposite hemisphere –> contralateral
Inter-hemispheric Communication
- stimuli on left side processed by right hemisphere
- must cross to left hemisphere dor language to report what object was
Split Brain
- severed corpus callosum
- last resort surgery for severe epilepsy
- right hemisphere can read and understand words, but not speech
- hemispheres can function independently
- left hemisphere can tell what is seen
- right hemisphere can only show via left hand
Biological Paradigm
Subject matter:
- scientific study of biological basis of behaviour
- behavioural and cognitive topics
Methods:
- experimental
- case study
- correlational
Language and Concepts
- biological terms
- behavioural terms
- cognitive terms
Root metaphor:
- biological machine
Intelectual influences:
- prior: behaviourism
- contemporary: neuroanatomy and physiology, cognitive perspectives
Psychodynamic Paradigm
Subject Matter:
- study of conscious and unconscious processes as seen in mental illness
Methods:
- case history
Language and Concepts:
- ego
- defence mechanisms
Root Metaphor:
- mental illness
Intellectual Influences:
- prior: philosophy
- contemporary: victorian culture, medicine
Humanistic Paradigm
Subject Matter:
- study of conscious human experience
Methods:
- case history
Language and Concepts:
- personal growth
- self actualisation
- free will
Root Metaphor:
- growth
Intellectual Influences:
- 1960s culture
Brainstem
- ANS functions
- relay between cortex and spinal cord, cerebrum and cerebellum
Medulla
- ANS functions
- controls heart rate, respiration, vasomotor control
- reflex centres
Pons
- relays signals from cerebral cortex to cerebellum
- some nerves to face for expression and eye movement
Glial Cells
Oligodendrocytes:
- produce myelin sheath
Astrocytes:
- maintains blood brain barrier
- supply nutrients from blood to neurones
Microglia:
- brains immune system
- clean up of foreign or toxic substances
Waking Consciousness
- guided by attention
- different people have different perspectives
- interpretive aspects of awareness (in perception and memory) are constructed
Habituation
respond less strongly over time
Sensitisation
respond more strongly to repeated stimulus over time
Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus (food) —-> unconditioned response (salivating)
conditions stimulus (bell) —-> conditioned response (salivating to bell)
EEG - electroencephalography
summed activity from APs of neurons in cortex cause electrical activity change on scalp
Measure change in voltage from electrodes placed on scalp
Brain activity in EEG shows constant oscillations
Frequency changes w/ alertness and sleep
ERP - Event Related Potentials
Brain activity related to specific event
Average together >100 trials of EEG in response to stimulus
Peaks represents different stages of processing stimulus
MRI / fMRI
MRI —> brain anatomy
fMRI —> brain function
fMRI detects change in blood oxygen dependent level signal
Law of Effect
if a stimulus followed by behaviour results in a reward, the stimulus is more likely to elicit the behaviour in the future
Rate of Learning
Acquisition: heavily influenced by schedule of consequence
Discrimination/generalisation: of different reinforcement can be trained in operant conditioning
Extinction: in operant conditioning takes place when reinforcement is ceased
Photoreceptors
two types of photoreceptors in retina - rods and cones
rods more numerous and located in periphery
cones densely packed and exclusive in fovea but also scattered through periphery
organisation of visual pathways is such that the left side of visual field is processed by right visual cortex and vice versa
5 Altered States of Consciousness
- sleep/dreaming
- hypnosis
- daydreaming
- drug-induces states
- meditation
Components of Attention
Selectivity:
- ability to differently process and respond to one of several sources of info
- unattended info filtered but still registered
Capacity:
- limitations in ability to process and respond to several source of info at once
- research strategy —> dual task performance
- tasks that require attentional capacity will interfere with each other in dual task
Alertness:
- variable amount of mental energy of processing power available
- performance is low with low and high levels of arousal
Late Selection Theory
Sensory register —> perceptual system —> memory —> response
Neurogenesis
- generation of new neurons
- neurons born through stem cells in hippocampus and subventricular zone of olfactory bulb
Synaptogenesis
- generation of new synapses
- constantly formed and strengthened via experience and learning
- impoverished environments are detrimental to brain development
Homunculus
- A cortical homunculus is a distorted representation of the human body, based on a neurological “map” of the areas and proportions of the brain dedicated to processing motor functions, or sensory functions, for different parts of the body
Limbic System
Amygdala:
- medial temporal lobe
- fear and arousal
- responds to threat
- fear conditioning / learning phobias
Hippocampus:
- medial temporal lobe
- memory
- spacial navigation
Long-Term Memory
- procedural –> not for conscious recall (skills learnt)
- retrieval –> retrieving memories for conscious recall
Hippocampus:
- declarative –> conscious recollection (episodic = past events and semantic = facts and basic knowledge)
- encoding –> laying down memories for long term storage
Long-Term Proteniation
Change in structure of synapses to give stronger synapse connection
Hebbian Learning
- neurons that fire together wire together
- repeated firing of neurons together strengthens connection
- brain learns association through repeated pairings
Atkinson and Shiffrin Model
stimuli —> sensory register —> short term memory —> long term memory
phonological loop = long term —> short term
Memory Structures
1) Sensory Register
- storage system that registers and briefly holds info from senses
- iconic memory is related to visual system
- <0.5 sec duration
- echoic memory related to auditory system
- ~2 sec duration
2) Short Term Memory
- intermediate storage system that briefly holds info prior to consolidation
- ~30 sec duration
- 100% recall for 7+/-2 items
3) Long Term Memory
- large capacity
- long duration
- different types
Memory Abstraction
Bransford
Cognitive process by which we encode and store essential meaning of a message and not exact details of learning events
Schema Memory
Bartlett
Set of ideas about objects and events associates with a familiar activity
Types of Long Term Memory
episodic = memory for specific events
semantic = general knowledge
procedural = implicit (without awareness of remembering
declarative = explicit (conscious recollection)
Lateralisation of Brain Function
Left hemisphere:
- language
- speech
Right hemisphere:
- tone of voice
- face perception
- perceptual grouping
Contralateral Functions:
- movement, sensation and vision
- left controls right and right controls left
WADA Test
- anaesthetic drug in left or right carotid artery stops function of one hemisphere
- check for language deficits
- wears off after a few mins
Contralateral Function of Motor and Sensory Cortex
Contralateral = opposite side Ipsilateral = same side
Primary motor and sensory cortex connect to contralateral side of body (right controls left vice versa)
Contralateral Function of Visual Cortex
- each side of visual space mapped to contralateral visual cortex
- left vision from both eyes goes to right hemisphere and vice versa
Split Brain
- severed corpus callosum
- last resort surgery for severe epilepsy
- right hemisphere can read and understand words but no speech (verbal report)
- hemispheres can function independently
- left can tell what it has seen
- right can only show via left hand
Thinking
Incubation = unconscious problem solving
High evaluation situations tend to increase function fixedness and decrease creativity
Extrinsic motivation (outside rewards) tend to increase functional fixedness and decrease creativity
Algorithms Heuristics
Algorithms are methods that produce solutions to a problem
Heuristics are “rules of thumb” (short cuts)
From part of knowledge base
Spatial Neglect
- lesion to parietal cortex commonly by stroke
- deficit in directing attention to one side of space
- “ignore” things on one side; unable to perceive stimuli on side contralateral to brain lesion
- not sue to sensory deficit
Frontal-Temporal Dementia
- degration (loss of neurons) in frontal and temporal lobes
- disinhibition (increasing inappropriate actions)
- apathy
- loss of empathy
- deficits in executive functions
Mirror Neurons and Empathy
- mirror neurons fire both when performing action and watching someone else perform said action
- “mirrors” brain state of other in observers brain
- mirrors emotions for ampathy
- social group association
interference effects:
- observing others actions interfere with our own actions
- suggests that observed action are automatically mapped to motor cortex
Empathy and Group Association
Group association:
- forms associations with people we perceive are like us
- in-group vs out-group (social identity theory)
Group behaviour:
- in-group: favouritism, conformity, helping
- out-group: prejudice, discrimination, conflict
Neural empathy and mirroring stronger for in-group
Availability Heuristic
mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given persons mind when evaluation a specific example
Representativeness Heuristic
Judging a frequency or probability based on how well an event or person fits one’s mental prototype
Conjunction fallacy —> believing the occurrence of two events is more likely than each event separately
Primary Heuristic
- anchoring and adjustment
- giving inordinate weight to first pieces of info encountered
- first impressions endure
- halo effects = enduring + judgements
- horn effects = enduring - judgements
Behavioural Paradigm
Subject Matter:
- scientific study of behaviour
- learning
Methods:
- experimental (animal)
Language and Concepts:
- stimulus, response
- conditioning
- reinforcement
- shaping
Root Metaphor:
- blank slate, lump of clay
Intellectual Influences:
- mentalism
- other sciences
Naive Realism
when experiences or perceptions are a direct reflection of reality
Rosenthal effects
- higher expectations lead to increased performance
Hawthorne effects
- change behaviour due to awareness of being observed
Top-Down Processing
- brains make use of information that has already been brought into the brain by one or more of the sensory systems
- initiates with our thoughts and flows down to lower-level functions (senses)
