Cog Psych Chpt 2

Front 1

Receptors ( sensory neurons )

Back 1

neuronsthat pick up information from the environment

Front 2

Association or inter-neurons

Back 2

receivemessages from ( many) other neurons, combine the signals and "decide"on the response

Excitatory signals: make the post-synaptic neuron more likely to fire

Inhibitory signals: make it less likely to fire

Front 3

Principle of neural representation

Back 3

Everythingwe experience is the result of our personal representation through neuronsfiring

Front 4

Feature detectors

Back 4

fire when a specific feature is present in aspecific area of the visual field

eg. vertical lines

Front 5

Hierarchical processing:

Back 5

neuronsin the visual cortex that respond to simple stimuli send their axons to higherlevels of the visual system where signals from many neurons combine andinteract

Front 6

Specificity coding:

Back 6

Onlyone neuron will fire to one type of stimulus

problem - too many things in the world t each get their own neuron

Front 7

Population coding:

Back 7

representationof a particular object by the pattern offiring of a large number of neurons

Front 8

sparse coding

Back 8

objectis represented by a pattern if firing of a small group of neurons

Front 9

ablation

Back 9

removea portion of the animals brain

Front 10

lesions

Back 10

use an micro electrode to kill brain cells in a specific spot of the brain

Front 11

stimulation

Back 11

mildelectrical current stimulates specific brain areas

Front 12

Neuropsychological tests:

Back 12

testverbal and non-verbal behaviours known to be affected by brain damage tospecific areas

used after car crash

Front 13

EEG

Back 13

hairnet that measures the activity of groupsof neurons

- Verytime specific however not precise in where the activity is happening

Front 14

CAT or CT scans

Back 14

takes pictures of narrow slices of the brain

- Tells you if there is brain damage in a specific area Cant tell you what areas are for certain functions

Front 15

PET scan

Back 15

inject a harmless form of radioactive glucoseinto the person and measure the emitted and from where

Tells you which areas are being used during specific tasks

Poor time and spatial data

Front 16

fMRI

Back 16

magneticproperties of the brain

Allowsus to see what areas are using up the oxygen during specific cognitive tasks

best spatial and temporal resolution

Front 17

medulla

Back 17

involved in heart rate and respiration

Front 18

pons

Back 18

Bridge( lower and higher layers) sleeping breathing

Front 19

cerebellum

Back 19

balance, coordination, fine motor movements, muscle memory

Does not initiate movement just helps coordinate timing

Front 20

midbrain

Back 20

connects sensory and motor pathways

really centre for visual and auditory info

eye movement

Front 21

reticular formation

Back 21

sleepwake cycles and gate keeper of attention

Front 22

frorebrain

Back 22

higher level thoughts occur

Front 23

thalamus

Back 23

relaystation for sensory input ( visual, auditory, and body senses)

associated with alszhimers

Front 24

basal ganglia

Back 24

initiating voluntary movements

Parkinson's disease: slow jerky movements

Front 25

hypothalamus

Back 25

basic biological urges

Front 26

limbic system

Back 26

reward and motivation

sex drugs and food activate and release dopamine

Front 27

amygdala

Back 27

emotionalresponse - mainly aggression and fear

Unconscious fears

Front 28

hippocampus

Back 28

forming and retrieving memories

Front 29

cerebral cortex

Back 29

consciousness

contains 80% of neurones in the brain

Front 30

homuncular

Back 30

areasof the body have more sensitivity then others and have more cortical spacedevoted to them

Front 31

broca's area

Back 31

speech production

Frontal lobe

Front 32

Wernicke's area

Back 32

comprehendinglanguage

Temporallobe

Front 33

temporal lobe

Back 33

auditorysignals go first.

Front 34

parietal lobe

Back 34

perception of touch pressure and pain

Front 35

frontal lobe

Back 35

speech production and skeletal musclemovements

Front 36

motor cortex

Back 36

voluntary movement

frontal lobe

Front 37

prefrontal lobe

Back 37

veryfront on the frontal lobe responsible for planning ahead, setting goals, andthinking things through

Front 38

occipital lobe

Back 38

visualsignals go first.

Front 39

association cortex

Back 39

notdirectly involved in receiving specific types of sensory information

Combinesmultiple pieces of information

Found in all 4 lobes 75% of the human cortex

Front 40

prosopagnosia

Back 40

inabilityto recognize faces

Front 41

Double dissociation

Back 41

occurs if damage to one area of the braincauses function A to be absent while function B is present and damage toanother area causes function B to be absent while function A is present

Wayto know what parts of the brain are specialized for a certain task

Front 42

left side of the brain

Back 42

language and math

Front 43

right side of the brain

Back 43

arts and spatial relations

Front 44

Cortical interference:

Back 44

unusedhemisphere tries to help out and makes the task more difficult