Week 5 Flashcards
Neuropsychology
Study of the relationship between behaviour, emotion and cognition on one hand and brain function on the other hand
Clinical neuropsychology
Assessing and cognitive, emotional and behavioural function after suspecting brain damage for diagnosis and potential treatment
=> diagnosis and treatment
Imperfect index of brain function
Different diagnosis
Brain damage after trauma, vascular accidents, tumors, toxicity, infections (also neurodegenerative diseases or just aging)
Physical differences brain
No brains are the same.
Brain plasticity can be affected by specialised SKILL acquisition, Enrichment, deprivation.
Cultural: education, stress, health
Correlates on differing cognitive mechanisms
Experience more generally
Cultural neuroscience
Field with focus on factors that affect biological and psychological processes that reciprocally shape beliefs and norms shared by groups of individuals
Physical differences: GENETICS
Core of nature/nurture interactions.
- heredity: passing on characteristics from parents to children based on genetic material.
- although 99% is fixed, 1% differ across individuals
- genes can have effects that depend on external variables
(cat with darker spots due to different heat patterns)
Epigenetics
Environmental factors cause genes to switch on or off without modification of the dna sequence.
- chemical tags can control genes in specific cells
- epigenetic tags can result from lifestyle choices or specific experiences
- some epigenetic tags are hereditary
Different approaches physical differences
1) how can thr same physiological characteristics lead to different outcomes depending on one’s culture?
2) how can the same culture lead to different outcomes depending on one’s physiological characteristics?
Relationship between biology and behavior
May depend on the cultural meanings of behaviour, rather than on the actual behaviour
Normative data (NP Assessment)
Is based on very limited subsample (WEIRD patients!)
=> partial and biased
Cultural affect on NP Assessment
1) values and meaning
- no general agreement on verdiensten van reacties. =>Attitude speelt hierin een rol
2) modes of knowing
- individuele taak vs collectivistisch streven
=> why would it matter what i know if i am part if a collective?
3) conventions of communication
- interaction: one way questions, authority
- type of questions: both in content and way of asking
Patterns of abilities
Culture prescribes what should be learned at what age and by what genders.
Results in culture- specific clusters.
Tests need to be appropriate for subjects learning opportunities and contextual experiences.
Cultural values
Culture dictates what is or is not situationally relevant and significant or even appropriate.
Specific testing (cultural values)
Vb. 1 op 1 testing relationship with stranger
=> best performace: why try to get a high score?
=> background authority: why follow orders?
=> isolated environment: unusual social situations
=> specific type of communication: unusual language
=> speed: why trade off speed for accuracy?
=> private embarrassing or subjective issues
=> specific materials and strategies
Based on values that are not necessarily shared!
Familiarity (during testing)
1) testing situation (part of school culture)
2) attitudes that facilitate good performance (motivation and purpose)
3) elements (vb. objects, situations, stories, animals, plants, foods)
4) strategies needed to solve task (vb. spelling met het alfabet en windrichtingen)
Whorfian hypothesis
Language influences thoughts
Language
The use and meaning differs with cultural and subcultural background. Correlates with educational level, testing language often formal.
Make sure test instructions are understandable and appropriate
Education
Accounts for 50% of variance in IQ tests, 38% in NP tests.
Schooling increases test performance, smaller increases with each year of schooling
Double role for education
1) increases knowledge of the test content
2) increases familiarity with testing setting and strstegies
Illiteracy
Not being able to read or write.
2/3 of illeterates are women
Literacy is closely tied to poverty in Europe, North America and Australia
Functional iliteracy
Reading and writing is inadequate “to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level”
Can be high in specific groups.
Vb. document reading, reading a book from a to z. This is associated with poorer health (difficulty navigate the health care system)
Illiteracy and cognition
Learning to read reinforces certain cognitive abilities, such as verbal memory, phonological awareness, and visuospatial discrimination.
Illiterate individuals shows lower scores on:
Naming tasks, verbal fluency, verbal memory, visuo-perceptual abilities, conceptual functions, numerical abilities.
More difficulty with copying nonsense figures or words -> concrete real life situations much easier to process.
Minorities within a culture
Different ethnic groups in one country, after migration (especially first generation), groups with no country.
These groups have more difficulties with fitting in the health care system and test system.
