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Cog neuro (y2s2) > Week 4 Lecture 4 - the developing brain > Flashcards

Week 4 Lecture 4 - the developing brain Flashcards

1
Q

What is nature vs. nurture?

A

the extent to which cognition and behaviour can be attributed to genes or environment

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2
Q

What is nature?

A

genetic blueprint (things we are born with

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3
Q

What is nurture?

A

role of experience

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4
Q

How was Piaget the middle ground of nature vs. nurture?

A
  • Piaget considered development as a cyclical process of interactions between the child and their environment leading to a progression through stages
  • Genetic contribution = developing a brain that is ready to learn in certain ways
  • Environment = assimilating evidence via experience and then developing new
    mechanisms in light of the feedback obtained.
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5
Q

What is neuroconstructivism?

A
  • modern approach
  • Interaction between environment and genetic factors
  • Cognitive system matures and transforms as the brain goes through developmental changes
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6
Q

True or false

Human brains are very similar, but experiences are very different

A

True

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7
Q

What is the blueprint analogy?

A
  • each connection in the brain is pre-determined
  • however there are too many neurons and synapses for this to be realistic
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8
Q

What did Gottlieb propose for the structural development of the brain?

A
  • Deterministic development – structure is the same for everyone
  • Probabilistic development – each stage influence each other
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9
Q

What are some key features of prenatal brain development?

A
  • Cell division
  • Cell specialization
  • Neural tube formation
    o Proliferative zones: neurons and glial cells are produced
    o During early development 250,000 neurons are produced per minute
    o Neurons migrate to their final location
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10
Q

In prenatal brain development, many structural features of the brain emerge from other constraints

Describe these

A
  • Folded cortex emerges from having lots of neurons
  • Pattern of gyri/sulci pulled into shape by tension of axon bundles (white matter tracts)
  • Hebbian learning: Spontaneous electrical activity enables networks to form (e.g. electric activity from the retina helps to form the visual pathways)
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11
Q

When do the majority of neurons form?

A

prior to birth

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12
Q

How much does a newborns brain weigh?

A

450g

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13
Q

Postnatal, the brain increased in size.

In what ways does this happen?

A
  • Synaptogenesis
  • Myelination
  • Glial cell proliferation
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14
Q

What is plasticity?

A

-experience dependent change in neural
functioning.
- experience alone can lead to small but observable structural changes (e.g. juggling, driving a taxi

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15
Q

What can an increase in grey matter lead to?

A
  • new synapses, dendrites, axon
    collaterals, glia cells
  • but doesn’t mean better cognitive ability
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16
Q

What is functional brain plasticity?

A

prenatal brain damage can lead to major
reorganisation of tracts

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17
Q

What is an example of functional brain plasticity?

A

Patient AH –> had no right hemisphere

18
Q

What are some limits of functional brain plasticity?

A
  • Spontaneous electrical activity enables networks to form intrauterine – these
    connections won’t be fully lost
  • Opportunities for major reorganization are time-limited = critical or sensitive periods
19
Q

What did Konrad Lorenz study?

A

studied how birds recognize their mother

20
Q

What is Filial imprinting?

A
  • the process by which young animals learn to recognize the parent
  • Happens between 15h – 3 days
  • Movement is crucial
21
Q

What are the 2 main features of critical and sensitive periods in imprinting?

A
  1. Learning takes place within a limited window
    - But opportunity can be extended in lack of experience
  2. This learning is hard to reverse by later experiences
    - But chicks imprinted to one object can generalize to similar objects (colour or shape)
    - Preference can be changed after sensitive period
22
Q

What are 2 possible explanations for critical and sensitive periods?

A
  1. Genetically programmed synaptogenesis (readies brain for learning), followed by reduced plasticity (learned information is then “fossilized”)
  2. Closure of window could be initiated by learning itself, i.e. an environmental cue
    - E.g. particular gene plays a role in filial imprinting, it is switched off after exposure
23
Q

What is the empiricist vs. nativist view of innate knowledge?

A
  • Empiricism: newborn mind is a blank state
  • Nativist: we are born with some knowledge
24
Q

What is a more modern view of innate knowledge?

A

Innate = readiness to learn (e.g. imprinting)

Knowledge or behaviour that arises in the absence of appropriate experience:
- Development of cat visual cortex
- Preferences – sweet taste, visual pattern

25
Q

Is viewing the structural of prenatal brains easy or hard?

A

easy

can use ultrasounds, MRI

26
Q

What are behavioural methods for investigating brain development?

A

We can infer brain development from
their behaviour
- Preferential looking paradigm
- Habituation paradigm

27
Q

What does preferential looking suggest about form perception?

A

Form perception
- 1-week-olds - 3.5-month-olds
- differential interest within pairs was
based on pattern differences.

  • Infants consistently turn their gaze toward some forms more often than toward others, it must be able to perceive form.
28
Q

What does preferential looking suggest about visual acuity threshold?

A

Visual acuity threshold
- The width of the stripes of the finest pattern that was preferred to grey would provide an index to visual acuity
- The width of the finest stripes that could be distinguished decreased with increasing age (from 0 to 6 months)

  • The eye, the visual nerve pathways and the visual part of the brain are poorly developed at birth
29
Q

What are modern uses of preferential looking?

A
  • Use of video camera(s)
  • Stimuli presented on screen
  • Babies stay with caregiver –> Caregiver shouldn’t interfere with the study or bias the baby
30
Q

What is eye-tracking in preferential looking?

A
  • Uses infrared (non-collimated) light to measure where the participant is looking at the screen at any moment
  • Fixations and saccades
  • Allows more precise measurement of looking times and fixation
31
Q

What are problems with preferential looking?

A

If infants look longer to screen 1 compared to screen 2, they must:
1. Find screen 1 more interesting than screen 2
AND
2. Discriminate 1 from 2

If the infant looks equally to screen 1 and 2:
1. Either they failed to discriminate screen 1 and 2
OR
2. The infant finds 1 and 2 equally interesting (boring)

32
Q

What are modern uses of the habituation paradigm?

A
  • make infants bored with one stimulus (A)
  • then pair it with another (B)
  • should the infant look more at the new
    stimulus (as they are not bored of it yet),
    then they have discriminated the two
    stimuli from each other
  • overcome the problem of preferential
    looking paradigm
33
Q

What are functional neuroscience methods?

A

temporary changes in brain physiology associated with cognitive processing (e.g. fMRI

34
Q

What is a problem with functional neuroscience methods for infants?

A
  • Usually, we ask participants to perform some kind of task (categorisation, counting) or to sit/lay still and look at images
  • Infants won’t perform tasks and they won’t even stay still
35
Q

What are functional neuroscience methods that can be used with infants and young children?

A

Electrophysiological response (electromagnetic fields generated in the brain)
- EEG (Electroencephalography)/ERPs

Haemodynamic response (brain blood supply)
- fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
- fNIRS (functional Near InfraRed Spectroscopy)

36
Q

What is an infant EEG?

A
  • Infant friendly EEG systems/solutions that allow quick installation
  • Infant friendly stimuli
  • More breaks during the study
37
Q

What are infant ERPs?

A
  • Some adult ERP peaks are present in infants, but delayed: e.g. visual ERPs
  • N290 in infants = N1 or N170 in adults:
  • Perceptual and/or face specific
    component
38
Q

We can compare visual processes in adults and infants

If processes are similar (similar ERP patterns) then what can we assume?

A

that the underlying brain networks and/or processing mechanisms are also similar

39
Q

Some ERP components are only presents in infants and toddlers

Give an example

A

Nc – Negative Central peak
- Typically peaks between 300-700 ms after stimulus onset
- Reflect attention
- Larger peak reflect higher attention

40
Q

What do Ncs (ERPs) suggest about whether infants recognise their mother’s face?

A
  • Larger Nc for mother’s face compared to a stranger’s face
  • Larger Nc = more attention
  • Infants recognize their mother’s face
41
Q

Is fMRI ideal to use with infants?

A
  • Not ideal to use with infant participants
  • Highly sensitive to motion artifacts
  • Loud, restrictive environment
  • But there are some attempts
42
Q

Can fNRIS be an appropriate for fMRI for studying brain activity related to cognitive
tasks?

A

No:
- fNIRS has lower spatial resolution
- Only the surface of the cortex can be imaged
- Often only a few sensors are used above a certain brain area

Yes:
- Portable
- More tolerant of movement

Cog neuro (y2s2) (11 decks)

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