Cognitive Psychology (Ch.2)

Front 1

part of neuron that contains mechanisms to keep cell alive

Back 1

cell body

Front 2

cells specialized to receive and transmit information in the nervous system

Back 2

neuron

Front 3

tube filled with fluid that transmits electrical signal to other neurons

Back 3

axon

Front 4

multiple braches reaching from the cell body, which receives information from other neurons

Back 4

dendrite

Front 5

specialized to respond to information received from the senses

Back 5

sensory receptors

Front 6

neuron receives a signal from the environment, then info travels down the axon of that neuron to the dendrites of another neuron

Back 6

action potentials

Front 7

space between axon of one neuron and dendrite of another

Back 7

synapse

Front 8

chemicals that affect the electrical signal of the receiving neuron

Back 8

neurotransmitters

Front 9

type of neurotransmitter that increases chance neuron will fire

Back 9

excitatory

Front 10

type of neurotransmitter that decreases chance neuron will fire

Back 10

inhibitory

Front 11

do all signals leal to an action potential?

Back 11

-no, the cell membrane processes the number of impulses received
-An action potential results only if the threshold level is reached

Front 12

contains mechanisms responsible for most of our cognitive functions

Back 12

cerebral cortex

Front 13

responsible for reasoning and planning; language, thought, memory, motor functioning “central executive”
(gathers and makes sense of info)

Back 13

frontal lobe

Front 14

responsible for touch, temp, pain, pressure

Back 14

parietal lobe

Front 15

responsible for auditory and perceptual processing; language, hearing, memory, perceiving forms

Back 15

temporal lobe

Front 16

responsible for visual processing

Back 16

occipital lobe

Front 17

responsible for forming memories

Back 17

hippocampus

Front 18

responsible for emotions and emotional memories

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amygdala

Front 19

processing info from vison, hearing, and touch senses

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thalamus

Front 20

responsible for coordination of information received from all senses

Back 20

frontal lobe

Front 21

what are the primary receiving areas for the senses?

Back 21

-occipital lobe
-temporal lobe
-parietal lobe

Front 22

what is the organization of the nervous system?

Back 22

-sensation
-movement
-association (attention, perception, memory)

Front 23

neurons communicate via...

Back 23

electro-chemical impulses (excitatory and inhibitory)

Front 24

side of the brain responsible for language functions and analytical processing

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left hemisphere

Front 25

side of the brain responsible for faces, holistic processing, spatial relations

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right hemisphere

Front 26

where and what are mental representations?

Back 26

-They are patterns of neural activation
-Sometimes they are localized in particular brain regions
-Yet, for any one mental representation, many different parts of the brain may be involved

Front 27

the behavioral approach to researching the brain includes...

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-Behavioral measures-> reaction time and proportion of errors
-Verbal protocols-> concurrent, think aloud protocols or other verbal reports

Front 28

the physiological approach to researching the brain includes...

Back 28

neural methods-> EEG, ERP, PET, fMRI

Front 29

what are two electrophysiology tests of the brain?

Back 29

EEG and ERP

Front 30

what are two neuroimaging tests of the brain?

Back 30

PET and fMRI

Front 31

what was the first non invasive way of observing brain activity?

Back 31

EEG- electroencephalograph

Front 32

what are the drawbacks of an EEG?

Back 32

-Can’t tell us too much about underlying cognitive processes
-Cognitive process of interest will get lost in the background “noise” of the brain

Front 33

what test has good temporal resolution?

Back 33

EEG

Front 34

what are three uses of an EEG?

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-Allows researchers to follow electrical impulses over time (with msec precision)
-Can show what state a person is in: Asleep, awake, anaesthetized
-A tool for diagnosing brain disorders

Front 35

how does an EEG work?

Back 35

-Electrical activity from the brain is measured at the scalp through electrodes

Front 36

neurons that respond best to a specific stimulus

Back 36

feature detectors

Front 37

representation of a specific stimulus by firing of specifically tuned neurons specialized to just respond to a specific stimulus

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specificity coding

Front 38

representation by a pattern of firing across a number of neurons

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distributed coding

Front 39

Person X can do Task A but not Task B, and Person Y can do Task B but not Task A (able to somewhat pinpoint what certain areas of the brain are used for)

Back 39

double dissociation

Front 40

-Hubel & Wiesel (1965) looked at feature detectors and noticed two types of cells: simple and complex. what does each cell respond best to?

Back 40

-Simple cells: neurons that respond best to bars of light of a particular orientation
-Complex cells: neurons that respond best to an oriented bar of light with a specific length

Front 41

what brain tests detect changes in blood flow, and indirectly shows changes in brain activity?

Back 41

PET and fMRI

Front 42

what are some advantages of the ERP compared to other physiological measures?

Back 42

-Excellent temporal resolution
-Cheap
-Noninvasive

Front 43

what are the ERP advantages over behavioral measures?

Back 43

-Behavioral responses reflect the culmination of many individual cognitive/neural processes, ERP shows responses as they occur
-It is possible to use ERP without an overt behavioral response (i.e., attended vs. ignored stimuli)

Front 44

which brain measure gives good temporal resolution but poor spatial resolution?

Back 44

ERP

Front 45

which brain measure give good spatial resolution but poor temporal resolution?

Back 45

PET and fMRI

Front 46

what is cognitive subtraction?

Back 46

-Technique measures brain activity before and during stimulation presentation
-Used to isolate the properties of a single stage of processing

Front 47

-Difference between activation determines what areas of the brain are active during manipulation -> leads to the location of the singled-out cognitive operation

Back 47

cognitive subtraction

Front 48

what are three behavioral/cognitive methodologies used to calculate an ERP?

Back 48

-Exp.1-Detection-> As soon as you see something pop up on the screen: press button
-Exp.2-Recognition-> For an X (but not an O): press button
-Exp.3-Response Selection-> For an X: press right button; For an O: press left button

Front 49

what is the difference of an EEG and ERP?

Back 49

ERP is the measured electrical activity in the brain, that occur during behavioral/cognitive methodology tests, averaged over a number of trials

Front 50

damage to this area of the brain causes language production to be impaired

Back 50

broca's area

Front 51

damage to this area of the brain causes language comprehension to be impaired

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wernicke's area

Front 52

where is broca's area?

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frontal lobe

Front 53

where is wernicke's area?

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temporal lobe

Front 54

Damage to temporal lobe in certain area that causes a person to be unable to recognize faces

Back 54

prosopagnosia

Front 55

damage to this area causes a person to be unable to recognize themselves or irregularities in face

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fusiform face area

Front 56

which neurological test measures blood flow through magnetic properties of blood using a subtraction technique

Back 56

fMRI

Front 57

which brain imaging test is invasive and which is not invasive?

Back 57

PET; fMRI

Front 58

brain imaging test that uses a radioactive tracer to measure blood flow in activated areas of brain (blood flow is higher where cognitive task is being processed)

Back 58

PET