Neuro Intro

Front 1

cognition

Back 1

higher mental processes such as thinking, perceiving, imagining, speaking, planning and acting

Front 2

cognitive neuroscience aims to

Back 2

explain cognitive processes in terms of brain-based mechanisms

Front 3

Wilder Penfield experimented on epilepsy patients

Back 3

applied electricity to stimulate areas of the brain

Front 4

mind-body problem

Back 4

how does the brain (physical) give rise to feelings, thoughts etc (our mind)

Front 5

dualism

Back 5

belief that mind and brain are made up of different kinds of substance

Front 6

dual-aspect theory

Back 6

mind and brain two levels of description of the same thing

Front 7

reductionism

Back 7

belief that mind-based concepts will eventually be replaced by neuroscientific concepts (biology)

Front 8

phrenology

Back 8

ind diff in cognition can be mapped on to differences in skull shape

Front 9

functional specialisation

Back 9

different regions of the brain are specialised for different functions

Front 10

cognitive neuropsychology

Back 10

study of brain-damaged patients to inform theories of normal cognition

Front 11

information processing

Back 11

approach that describes behaviour in terms of a sequence of cognitive stages

Front 12

interactivity

Back 12

later stages of processing can begin before earlier stages are complete

Front 13

top-down processing

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influence of later stages on the processing of earlier ones (such as memory influences on perception)

Front 14

parallel processing

Back 14

different information processed at same time

Front 15

neural network models

Back 15

computational model - information processing occurs using many interconnected nodes

Front 16

nodes

Back 16

basic units of neural network models that are activated in response to activity in other parts of the network

Front 17

temporal resolution

Back 17

the accuracy with which we can measure when an event occurs (EEG, MEG, TMS have milllisecond resolution)

Front 18

spatial resolution

Back 18

accuracy with which we can measure where an event is occurring (fMRI)

Front 19

modularity

Back 19

theory that certain cognitive processes (or areas of the brain) are restricted in the type of information they process

Front 20

domain specificity

Back 20

idea that a cognitive process (or brain region) is dedicated solely to one particular type of infomration (eg colour, faces)

Front 21

mind-body problem

Back 21

refers to question of how physical matter can produce mental experiences. This remains an enduring issue.

Front 22

specialisation

Back 22

to some extent, the different regions of the brain are specialised for different functions

Front 23

is the brain modular?

Back 23

not supported by empirical evidence, but extent to which brain contains regions of functional specialisation and domain specificity still debated

Front 24

functional neuroimaging

Back 24

biology - shows where cognitive functions occur, but doesn't provide understanding of how they work

Front 25

cognitive psychology

Back 25

can be informed by biology - the where and when