The Mind and Brain Flashcards
Four Lobes of brain
Frontal
Parietal
Occipital
Temporal
Functional Specialization
- Jerry Fodor
- brain is modules, each one performs a limited # of tasks
Modules
- dedicated input systems for specific tasks
- lower level information
- localized to brain areas, domain specific
-opposes idea of brain as general purpose
Franz and Lashley
ablation, maze rat tumors
-opposition to functional specialization
opposition to functional specialization
if specialized, lesioning rat brains would fuck up specific function
- Franz and Lashley
- not about where the lesions are, but how BIG they are
Law of Mass Action
performance of mental tasks depend on the total mass of brain remaining
Law of Equipotentiality
any part of the brain can do any other function within reason
Interactionism
- mind and brain as separate entities that ineract and influence each other at pineal gland
- Descartes and Dualism
Dualism:
- descartes
- Interactionism
- mind and brain are radically different
Ephiphenominalism
- Mental events are physical events
- mind as byproduct, steam form a locomotive
Parallelism
- Mind and brain are two aspects of the same reality
- related to dualism
Isomorphism
- no point for point correspondance between brain events, physical world and experienced events
- all share the same structural pattern
- GESTALT
Morris Water Maze Task
- Rats learn where platform in bucket of water is
- some rats are lesioned
- rats are placed back into water maze
- rats with hippocampal lesions don’t remember location of platform
Strengths/ Weaknesses of Animal Models
STR: provides a causal link btwn brain and behavior
WEAK: differences in brain structure and function across species
Psycho-physiological measurements
1) Skin conductivity
2) eye tracking
