TMS/tDCS

Question 1

Dysgraphia

Answer 1

Difficulties in spelling and writing

Question 2

Syndrome

Answer 2

○ Cluster of different symptoms that are believed to be related in some meaningful way
○ Focuses more on associations between symptoms rather than dissociations
○ Main reason that 2 symptoms may associate together is that they are close together in the brain, and so tend to be similarly affected by damage in that region
i.e. Patients with difficulty recognizing faces often have difficulties in perceiving colours due to neuroanatomical proximity rather than neural module that is specialized for both

Question 3

Classical single dissociation

Answer 3

Patient performs normally on task B compared to control group

Question 4

Strong single dissociation

Answer 4

Patient is impaired on both tasks, but is significantly more impaired on one task

Question 5

Fractionation assumption

Answer 5

§ Damage to the brain can produce selective cognitive lesions
§ Refers to lesion within a cognitive model, not a lesion to a particular region of the brain (although the 2 may be correlated)
§ Whether selective cognitive impairments will be observed also depends on neural architecture
i.e. Deficit more likely if all neurons responsible are in the same area

Question 6

Transparency assumption

Answer 6

§ Lesions affect one or more components within the pre-existing cognitive system, but do not result in a completely new cognitive system being created
§ Want to use the abnormal to study the normal, not just to study the abnormal
§ Brain damage removes one component of cognition, but does not create a rearranged/different cognitive system
§ Plasticity seems like evidence against this assumption, but could be that a pre-existing cognitive model has been re-instated, rather than a new system being created
Less likely to be violated in adult brains than child brains

Question 7

Universality assumption

Answer 7

§ All cognitive systems are basically identical
§ Individuals are representative of the population
Individual differences are due to “noise” but do not reflect how the task is performed

Question 8

Edema

Answer 8

§ Swelling of the brain following injury

Distorts true size and shape of brain tissue, can render neurons inoperative even if they are not destroyed

Question 9

Diaschsis

Answer 9

§ Discrete brain lesion can disrupt the functioning of distant brain regions that are structurally intact
i.e. Lesion to the left frontal lobe can reduce activity in other distant regions when those 2 regions work together to implement a particular cognitive function

Question 10

Agnosia

Answer 10

recognizing objects impaired

Question 11

Object orientation agnosia

Answer 11

□ Some right parietal lobe patients can recognize objects in all viewpoints, but can’t identify object orientation
Suggests that the principle axis is stored separately from other aspects of object recognition

Question 12

Anterioir intraparietal (AIP)

Answer 12

○ Anterioir intraparietal (AIP) cells in parietal cortex prefer 3D shapes (not 2D) of certain sizes and orientations
2D information is not enough to interact with an object, need 3D info

Question 13

Optic ataxia

Answer 13

○ Can recognize objects, but can’t act on them

Dorsal stream impaired, ventral stream intact

Question 14

Affordances

Answer 14

• Properties of an object that make it clear how it should be used
i.e. Shape- a hammer is designed to be used in one specific way

Question 15

domain specificity

Answer 15

○ We spend a lot of time staring at faces, suggests that there may be regions in the brain dedicated for processing faces because they are so important
Suggests there may be a mechanism specific for processing faces= domain specificity

Question 16

Pure Alexia

Answer 16

§ Read using letter-by-letter strategies (slow)
§ 2 routes for reading
□ Letter by letter- slow
Holistic (entire word)- faster