The electrophysiological brain Flashcards
Properties of the world that are manifested in cognitive systems (mental representations) and neural systems (neural representations)
Representations
Measure the responsiveness of a neuron to a given stimulus (in terms of action potentials per second)
Single-cell recordings
Measurements of electrical signals generated by the brain through electrodes placed on different points on the scalp
Electroencephalography (EEG)
The average amount of change in voltage at the scalp that is linked to the timing of particular cognitive events (ex: stimulus, response)
Event-related potential (ERP)
The time taken between the onset of a stimulus/event and the production of a behavioral response (ex: a button press). Also referred to as response time
Reaction time
The electrical activity (in terms of action potentials per second) of many individually recorded neurons recorded at one or more electrodes
Multi-cell recordings
A hypothetical neuron that just responds to one particular stimulus
Grandmother cell
The informational content of a neuron may be related to the number of action potentials per second
Rate coding
The synchrony of firing may be used by a population of neurons to code the same stimulus or event
Temporal coding
A pair of positive and negative electrical charges separated by a small distance
Dipole
The study of the time-course of information processing in the human nervous system
Mental chronometry
A general method for dividing reaction times into different stages
Additive factors method
An ERP component linked to perceiving facial structure (negative potential at 170ms)
N170
Reaction times are faster to stimulus X after being presented to stimulus Y if X and Y have previously been associated together (ex: they tend to co-occur)
Associative priming
Related to properties of the stimulus
Exogenous
