Research Study Articles Flashcards
Describe the key points of the Cognitive Revolution article- a historical perspective.
Cognitive science-product of the 1950s when psychology, anthropology & philosophy; linguistics were redefining themselves; computer science and neuroscience were formed as disciplines. psychology had to free itself from behaviorism in order to participate in cognitive revolution. solution: cross-disciplinary research Result: birth of cognitive science; interdisciplinary; includes: (6) psychology, philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, neuroscience, computer science
Describe the key points from “This is your brain on politics” and the blog responses to it
Iacoboni published an article describing a study out of UCLA looking at how people’s brains respond to presidential candidates. (amygdala= anxiety) Other scientists contested claiming that Iacoboni’s study is making assumptions/convenient guesses and that his research was unfounded. He retorted- siting that there are 1000 studies implicating the amygdala in anxiety whereas there are only less than 100 implicating the amygdala in happiness.
Describe the main points from “Glial Biology in Learning and Cognition”
Glia is likely more important than once thought- maybe even more relevant than neurons. Astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocytes all have biological properties that could influence learning and cognition
Figure-ground illusions (like the Raven-bear) illustrate how border regions become grouped with the object that is perceived. Such global analysis might implicate the involvement of astrocytes rather than just neuromodeling.
Describe the article “Antidepressants and the adolescent brain”
Depressed adolescents cannot be thought of as smaller versions of depressed adults
Changes in the adolescent brain create conflicting abilities/disparities. Teens might have just as strong a reaction to reward as adults, but a severely decreased ability to strategize and control impulsivity- explaining behavioral issues.
With so many changes happening during development, research is needed to explore age-dependent effects (short/longterm)
For depression, antidepressants may outweigh risks
Summarize the 2 articles related to “The Fusiform Face Area”
- FFA-specialized for face perception: study showed a preference for faces over heads and over objects.
- Expert individuation of objects increases activation in FFA of children: evidence that the FFA can be used and activated by more than just faces. Effects of expertise on FFA
Summarize “Enhancing Sensorimotor Activity by Controlling Virtual Objects with Gaze”
Implications for field of neurorehabilitation to generate activation of sensorimotor system to support recovery of motor systems
ie using the eyes to control virtual objects
Describe “Attention to Intentiion”
Study implicates that activity in the pre-SMA reflects intention
Study had participants pay attention to their intention or decision to move vs. their actual movement
limitations?
Describe “Action’s Effect on Perception”
Study challenges traditional view that perception provides an objective, behaviorally independent represenation of the environment
Study demonstrated how action-specific perception, that perception is a function of the perceiver’s abilities. See softball as bigger if you’re an expert ball player.
“Describe “Wishful Seeing: More desired objects are seen as closer”
Study where desirability influences distance perception. Sugguests that these biases arise in order to encourage perceivers to engage in behaviors leading to acquisition of the object
Eg- tired people see hill to climb as steeper.
Threatening objects could be seen as closer if the motivation is to guide essential action (eg cobra)
Describe “Reduced change blindness suggests enhanced attention to detail in individuals with autism”
Change blindness: a limited number of items within a visual scene are attended to at any one time
Autistic individuals typically pay less attention to the face and more attention to peripheral details. Better at detecting inaccuracies in movies, and things ignored by typical observers.
Conclusion: reflects either superior top-down control of visual search, enhanced perceptual funtion OR inefficient filtering of visual information
Ventral striatum reactivity article
Ventral striatum is like a mediator- related to reward and with positive afffect
higher activity is correlated with protection of positive affect
article: implied more activity-more PA-less MDD risk (limitations- weren’t studying MDD population)
