Week 12 Lecture Flashcards
What is social cognitive neuroscience?
understanding how brain function supports the cognitive processes underlying social behaviour
Where did Phineas Gage have damage to through the rod going through his skull?
severe damage to the orbitofrontal cortex resulting in major personality changes
What are some parts of the brain which are involved in self-referential processing?
prefrontal cortex, lateral partietal cortex, dorsolateral PFC
What is a part of the brain which is involved in memory?
temporal cortex
What are two parts of the brain involved in the processing of emotions?
insula, orbito frontal cortex
What is mindblindness?
inability to properly represent the mental state of others
What are some core features of autism?
- mindblindness
- impaired social interaction
- repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests
- symptoms must be present in the early developmental period
What are two neurophysiological measurements of autism?
- eye movements
2. neural activity
Schizophrenic patients have what in the prefrontal cortex?
hypo-metabolism
In depressed patients, what does the activation look like in the prefrontal cortex?
increased activation (depressed patients are thinking MORE about themselves) hypermetabolsm
What is the self reference effect?
enhanced memory for information processed in relation to the self
in passive tasks, what regions are most active?
mainly in the prefrontal cortex - relate to self referential processing
What is the sentinel hypothesis?
Default network is there to ensure we always have some idea of what is going on around us
One reason as to why we have activation in the PFC is because it reflect self referential processing at rest. What does this mean?
thinking about what we might be getting ready to do, evaluating current condition etc.
What is one reason as to why in passive tasks, there is mainly activation in the PFC?
Most active when we are inwardly focused, lack of attention on external stimuli
In an activity which is associated to rating positive personality traits in comparison to negative personality traits, what happens with interior cingulate cortex activation?
If you think the trait applies to you, there is a big difference between if the trait is positive or negative. if the trait is not related to you, the activation is the same.
What happens in damage to orbitofrontal patients, after they have a discussion with the experimenter and they watch that conversation back
They are generally embarrassed after the video . For control patients, they will increase their score.
What is the theory of mind?
The ability to infer the mental state of other people
What is empathy?
Our capacity to understand and respond to the unique experiences of another person
What is empathetic accuracy?
a perceiver’s accuracy in inferring a target person’s thoughts and feelings
In developmental milestones, babies are quick to respond to information about faces and use the same neural structures for this as adults, BUT:
it takes much longer before they start incorporating contextual information and understanding what others are thinking (e.g metaphors, jokes, irony)
What is the simulation theory?
- when observing another person’s behaviour, we imagine it unconsciously (mirror neurons)
- they have a physiological response that we feel and interpret
Do the experience and perception of disgust both activate similar regions within the anterior insula?
Yes
Brain machine interface has. been used to do what?
open a simulated emails, operate a television, open and close a prosthetic hand, all with our mind.
