Cognitive Psychology - Cognitive Neuroscience

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Modules

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Sections of the brain, each of which is responsible for particular cognitive operations.

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Phrenology

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Study of the shape and bumps of the cranium to judge one's personality and abilities.
Phrenology is now discredited although it did pave the way to thinking that the human brain was divided in modules.

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Histology

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Microscopic analysis of tissue structure (used on rats who's brain were lesioned. Post-mortuary histology showed where the lesion was)

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Law of mass action

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Learning and memory depend on the total mass of brain tissue remaining rather than the properties of individual cells.

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Law of equipotentiality

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Even though some of the cortex may become specialized for certain tasks, within limits any part can do the job of any other part of that area.

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Interactionism

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Mind and brain are separate substances than influence and interact with each other. (Descartes, early XVII)

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Epiphenominalism

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'Mind' is a superfluous by-product of bodily functions. (Huxley, XIX)
Many XX psychologists agreed with Huxley in that consciousness was irrelevant in understanding behavior (Skinner)

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Parallelism

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Mind and brain are two aspects of the same reality and flow in parallel. (Fechner, XIX)

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Isomorphism

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Mental events and neural events share the same structure. (Gestalt psych'ists, Köhler, XIX-XX)

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P/C Animal studies

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P: The human brain is not as accessible as the animal brain. Helps us learn what part of the brain does what.
C: There is no animal brain that resembles exactly that of a human.

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P/C Behavioural studies

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P: Gives us insight on how the subconscious works.
C: No particular cons :)

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P/C Studies of brain injuries

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P: Gives us very good insight on what parts of the brain do what.
C: They can't be controlled.

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Broca's aphasia

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A deficit in the ability to produce speech as a result of damage to Broca's area.
Speech is not related to expression or understanding of spoken words.

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Broca's area

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Area of the left hemisphere that is responsible for how words are spoken.

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Wernicke's aphasia

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A deficit in the ability to comprehend speech as a result of damage to Wenicke's area.
The ability to comprehend speech is its own part of the brain.

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Wernicke's area

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Area of the left hemisphere that is responsible for processing the meaning of words.

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Interhemispheric transfer

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Communication between the brain's hemisphere is enabled in large part by the corpus callosum.
(corPLUS calloSUM)

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Split brain

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A condition created by the ablation of the corpus callosum in which the cat (usually) behaves as if it had two brains.

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Emergent property (mind/brain problem)

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According to Sperry, the mind is a result of the brain but isn't one of its components.

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Emergent causation

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According to Sperry, once the mind emerges from the brain, it has the power to influence lower-level processes.

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Supervenient

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According to Sperry, mental states may influence neuronal events while being influenced by them.

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Event-related potential (ERP)

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Electric signals recorded from the brain that occur after the onset of a stimulus.
OOOOO

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Positron emission tomography (PET)

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An imaging technique in which the partcpt is injected with a radioactive substance into his blood streem to be detected by scan.
Shows what part of the brain is using oxygen and therefore drawing blood during a task.

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Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

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BOLD: Blood Oxygenation Level Dependant (Uses magnetism to track blood oxygenation in the brain)

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Connectivism

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Cognitive processes are regulated by complex systems consisting of a large number of interconnected elements. (a model of neural networks)

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Neural networks

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The theory that, in the brain, the idea of all things make a network where ideas that relate to one another have a connection.

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Hebb rule

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The assumption that the repetitive triggering of a neuron A by a neuron B will lead to an enhancement of the synapse (inter-neuron bond) between A and B.

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Convergent methods

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The use of different methods to get the same results

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The 5 classes of method to study the brain

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1. Neuroanatomy
2.Neurophysiology
3. Lesion studies
4. Functional neuroimaging
5. Behavioural methods

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Single dissociation

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If a lesion in area A leads to a deficit in ability X and not Y, we can conclude that X and Y are independent of each other.

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Double dissociation

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If a lesion in area B spares function X but not Y, we can infere than area B and function Y are independent of each other.

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Sham lesions

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Operations done on control groups in which no part of the brain is removed.

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CAT

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Computerized Axial Tomography (=X-ray). Best thing at the time - not used that much anymore.

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EEG

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ElectroEncephaloGram (measures the electric activity at the electrodes put on your brain)

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MEG

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Magnetic EncephaloGraphy (uses magnetism in the brain) (EEG except it has better spatial resolution - technology is not quite practical yet)

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TMS

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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (uses electromagnetic induction)