Week 1 - Brief History Flashcards
What was cognitive psychology’s view of Behaviorism?
Cognitive psychologists argued that behaviorism was overly simplistic and inadequate
for explaining complex mental processes like memory, problem-solving, and language
acquisition. Instead, they emphasized the importance of understanding internal mental
states and processes to gain a full understanding of behavior.
How did behaviorism influence the emergence of cognitive psychology?
Behaviorism influenced cognitive psychology by introducing rigorous experimental methods and a focus on empirical evidence. While behaviorists avoided studying mental processes, their emphasis on observable and measurable data laid the groundwork for cognitive psychologists to develop experiments investigating internal processes. This combination of behaviorism’s methods and cognitive psychology’s broader scope helped establish the field.
Who was one of the first people to link brain damage to specific behavioral deficits?
Paul Broca was one of the first to link brain damage to specific behavioral deficits. In the
1860s, he studied patients with speech impairments, notably the famous case of “Tan,”
who could only utter that single word. Broca found that these patients often had
damage in the left frontal lobe, a region now known as Broca’s area, which is critical for
speech production.
What were the first studies to reveal functional localization/maps in humans?
What was the method?
The first studies to reveal functional localization in humans were based on Gall’s theory of phrenology, which proposed that specific mental abilities were localized to distinct brain regions. This was followed by Flourens’ animal ablation studies, which observed the effects of removing parts of the brain on behavior. While Gall’s methods were flawed, Flourens’ work confirmed some functional distinctions and challenged strict localization for higher-order processes.
What are the primary differences between Gall’s phrenology and Flourens’ aggregate field theory?
Gall’s phrenology advocated for strict localization of mental faculties to specific brain regions and suggested that their development caused bumps on the skull. Flourens’ aggregate field theory countered this, arguing that complex behaviors involve the entire brain working collectively, even though specific regions have distinct roles.
Describe how Flourens’ studies supported or challenged Gall’s theories.
Flourens’ ablation studies supported the idea that certain brain regions had specific roles, such as the cerebellum for motor coordination and the brainstem for vital functions. However, he challenged Gall’s strict localization claims, arguing that higher-order functions like memory and cognition involved distributed processes across the brain. His work emphasized a more integrative view of brain function.
Describe one methodological innovation that advanced cognitive neuroscience.
Reaction time studies by Franciscus Donders introduced the idea of measuring mental
processes indirectly. By comparing reaction times across different cognitive tasks, Donders demonstrated that internal processes like decision-making could be quantified. This laid the foundation for experimental approaches in cognitive neuroscience.
The science of the structure and function of the nervous system
Neuroscience
The action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding.
Cognitive Psychology
Learning is more effective when visuals and spoken words are presented together.
Dual-Coding Theory
Why does the dual-coding theory work?
It activates both visual and verbal systems for deeper processing and better recall.
What does the Dual-Coding theory do?
Reduces cognitive load and helps retain information longer.
What is the Dual-Coding Theory supported by, and what does it demonstrate?
It is supported by cognitive psychology, demonstrating that multi-sensory learning enhances retention.
Studies the mind through behavior
Psychology
Knowledge through reasoning
Rationalism
Knowledge through experience
Empiricism
The totality of an individual’s experience shapes mental development.
Sensory experience -> simple ideas -> complex ideas
Associationism
Who believes that Internal mental processes can be measured in reproducible ways?
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Who believes that adaptive behavior is the basis for operant conditioning?
Edward Thorndike
Learned behaviors that reflect an individual’s social and practical competence to meet the demands of everyday living
Adaptive behavior
Who had a focus on stimulus-response and that Psychology is the science of observable behavior?
John Watson
Known for establishing the psychological theory of behaviorism. He believed that psychology should be the science of observable behavior. His research included the Little Albert experiment, which demonstrated that a child could be conditioned to fear a neutral stimulus
John B. Watson
An American psychologist whose work on animal behaviour and the learning process led to the theory of connectionism, which states that behavioral responses to specific stimuli are established through a process of trial and error that affects neural connections between the stimuli and the most satisfying responses.
Edward L. Thorndike
A German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory. He discovered the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. The forgetting curve shows us that memory declines the sharpest within 20 minutes of initial learning, and then after an hour, our memory loses about half of the new information
Hermann Ebbinghaus
When were the origins of cognitive psychology established?
The 1950s–60s as a branch of psychology focused on studying the mind in terms of information processing.
What did cognitive psychology shift away from?
Shifted away from behaviorism and “stimulus-response” psychology.
What did experimental findings of cognitive psychology challenge?
The idea of the brain as a tabula rasa is built entirely from experience
The idea that people are born with a mind that is empty of any knowledge, and that their experiences shape who they become.
Tabula rasa
Who believed the heart was the organ of thought, reasoning that its activity changes with emotion and is warm compared to the brain?
Aristotle
Who claimed the brain was the seat of sensation and intelligence, though his reasoning is unclear?
Hippocrates
Who conducted experiments on live animals, demonstrating that the brain, not the heart, is essential for consciousness?
Galen
During the Middle Ages, what were the ventricles thought to be?
The key structures mediating thought.
During the Middle Ages, what was overlooked/misrepresented?
The cortex
He is considered the father of neuroscience and pioneered research into brain anatomy and the nervous system. Established the link between brain damage and specific behavioral deficits.
Thomas Willis
He was the first comparative anatomist, studying brain differences across species, age groups and brain damage.
Franz Gall
What did Franz Gall demonstrate regarding the two hemispheres?
The two hemispheres are connected by white matter.
White matter that tracts cross from one side of the body to the opposite side of the spinal cord
Contralateral organization
What are higher mental functions correlated with and what does it mean?
With the size and intactness of the cortex, it helps to solidify the brain’s role in higher mental activity.
What did Franz Gall propose?
The brain was organized into functionally specialized regions. Larger brain regions cause bumps on the skull, leading to the pseudoscience of phrenology.
What did Franz Gall hypothesize?
That extensive use of a brain region leads to increased size
What did Franz Gall believe phrenology to be based on?
Observation, not direct scientific evidence
He conducted ablation studies on pigeons and rabbits. He found that brain damage often caused no loss of function or effects unrelated to phrenology.
Jean Pierre Flourens
What did Jean Pierre Flourens propose?
Aggregate Field Theory
The whole brain is responsible for behavior and challenging localization.
Aggregate field theory
What did Jean Pierre Flourens demonstrate?
Different brain divisions have distinct functions
Perception, movement, judgement, controls movement, thought, and emotions
Cerebral Hemisphere
Equilibrium and motor coordination
Cerebellum
Vital functions, involuntary bodily functions like breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing, digestion, consciousness, and sleep-wake cycles
Brainstem
He was the first to propose functional localization of cognitive functions. He observed topographic organization in the brain based on body movements during seizures.
John Hughlings Jackson
What did John Hughlings Jackson propose?
A 3-level hierarchy of nervous system organization, as his insights were based on behavioral observations.
He extended ablation studies to humans and studied stroke patients. He identified Broca’s area.
Paul Broca
Left Frontal lobe region for speech production
Broca’s area
He studied sensory aphasia and marked speech by unusual word substitutions and mispronunciations. He is known for his discovery of the area in the cerebrum responsible for receptive language/speech phenomena in the superior gyrus of the temporal lobe
Carl Wernicke
Fluent speech by severely impaired comprehension
Aphasia
The production of an unintended sound within a word or of a whole word or phrase.
Paraphasia
What did Broca and Wernicke together demonstrate and identify?
Focal brain damage causes specific behavioral deficits. They identified at least two independent language facilities: comprehension vs. production
Who discovered the primary visual, auditory, and tactile cortex using stimulation and ablation studies?
David Ferrier
Who mapped out the “motor strip” through electrical stimulation of the dog cortex?
Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig
He used electrical stimulation to localize seizure origins in epilepsy patients.
Wilder Penfield
What did Wilder Penfield reveal?
Organization of motor, sensory, speech, and memory functions. This provided early functional mapping of the human brain
He classified the cortex into 52 regions using cell staining. (cytoarchitectonics)
Korbinian Brodmann
Structural arrangement of neurons across brain regions
Cytoarchitectonics
He developed a staining technique to visualize individual neurons. He proposed reticular theory.
Camillo Golgi
Nervous system as a singular, interconnected network.
Reticular Theory
He developed the neuron doctrine and observed the unidirectional transmission of electrical signals.
Santiago Ramon y Cajal
What is the unidirectional transmission of electrical signals?
from dendrites to the axonal tip (presynaptic to post-synaptic)
Nervous system is made of discrete individual cells
Neuron Doctrine
He discovered electrical impulses carry information along a neuron’s axon and was the first to measure the speed of nerve conduction.
Hermann Helmholtz
Who developed the law of conservation of energy, and what were the tools of the trade?
Hermann Helmholtz, the first ophthalmoscope and color vision theory.
Focuses on understanding the biological foundations of human cognition.
Cognitive Neuroscience
What did advances in brain imaging allow for?
noninvasive recording of brain activity in normal, unimpaired humans
What did electrophysiological techniques do?
Expanded insights into animal brain functioning.
Golgi’s stain allowed for?
visualization of neuronal structure.
Who discovered that electrical impulses carry information along a neuron’s axon?
Hermann Helmholtz
How was the first to measure the speed of nerve conduction and developed the law of conservation of energy?
Hermann Helmholtz
