PSYCH 258 First Quiz Content

What is one of the primary challenges in cognitive psychology?

How we can operationalize the mental processes we want to study

What is subtractive logic?

A method or system involving taking something away to understand or solve a problem.

Who pioneered the structuralist approach?

Wundt

What is the structuralist approach?

Combining fundamental elements of experience called sensations

What method did structuralists rely on?

Analytic introspection

Who pioneered functionalism?

William James

What is latent learning?

Learning that has taken place but is not necessarily evident from observable behaviour

What are the two kinds of models that are particularly common in cognitive psychology

a) Process Models

b) Structural models

What is a process model?

Representative of the processes that are involved in cognitive mechanisms

What are structural models

Representations of physical structures (ie. the brain)

Define Cognitive neuroscience

Involves the study of the physiological basis of cognition

What is Golgi Staining

The ability to stain (highlight) individual neurons

How do neurons communicate

Electrical and chemical signals

What do the axons do

Fluid-filled tube that transmits electrical signals to other neurons

What do dendrites do

Multiple branches reaching from the cell body, receiving information from other neurons

What is hyperpolarization

A period of time in which the neuron does not have the ability to gain an action potential to fire again

What is a synapse

Space between axon of one neuron and dendrite or cell body of another

What is a feature detector

Neurons that respond best to a specific low-level stimulus

In what fashion are feature detectors developed?

In a “use it or lose it” fashion, as they must be used and properly tuned

What is hierarchical processing

We perceive different objects in a specific order that moves from lower to higher areas of the brain

What are mirror neurons

Neurons specialized for emulating what are people are experiencing (doing/feeling)

What is specificity coding?

The representation of a specific stimulus by the firing of specifically tuned neurons specialized to respond to a specific stimulus.

What is population coding?

Representation of a specific object by the pattern of firing of a large number of neurons

What is Sparse Coding

When a particular object is represented by a pattern of firing of only a small group of neurons, with the majority of neurons remaining silent

Define Localization of Function

Refers to the idea that specific functions are served by particular areas of the brain

What is the Cerebral Cortex

A 3 mm thick layer that covers the brain, containing most our mechanisms for cognitive functions

What is the function of the occipital lobe?

vision

What is the function of the Parietal lobe?

Touch, Temperature, and pain

What is the function of the temporal lobe?

Hearing, taste, and smell W

What is the function of the frontal lobe

Involved in many higher order cognitive functions (ie. planning, problem solving, attention, etc)

Damage to what area impairs language production?

Broca’s Area

Damage to what area impairs language comprehension?

Wernicke’s area

What is a double dissociation?

Said to occur when damage to one part of the brain causes a particular function to be impaired while another is maintained, and vice versa.

What is prosopagnosia?

When people are unable to recognize faces

What is distributed representation

When a complex behaviour involves a coordinated activity across different parts of the brain

What is a semantic memory?

Referring to the memory of factual information ( what the capital of Alberta is)

What is an episodic memory

Refer to richer, more complex memories for events in a person’s life

What is a MRI?

A machine that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to generate anatomical images of body tissues

What is a fMRI?

A MRI application that measures changes in the BOLD signal (blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal) which is correlated with cognitive activity. As neurons become more active they require/ use oxygen

What is a PET scan?

Positron Emission Tomography, which involves the injection of radioactive tracers/dyes that are rapidly taken up and metabolized by particular cells

What does an EEG do?

Electroencephalography uses electrodes to measure fluctuations in electrical activity caused by neural firing. Has excellent temporal resolution.

What is a MEG?

Magnetoencephalography is very similar to EEG but more sensitive as it needs a magnetically shielded room

What is TMS?

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation uses a magnetic field and electrical current to modulate brain activity at specific sites (creating a Virtual Lesion)

What is NIRS?

Near-infrared spectroscopy estimates the changes in neural activity by measuring blood oxygenation levels

What does the PPA (Parahippocampal place area) respond to?

responds specifically to places (scenes)

What does the EBA (Extrastriate body area) respond to?

Responds to pictures/ parts of bodies

What are the three types of connectivity?

Structural (physical connections), Functional (Inferred based on the extent to which activity in multiple areas is correlated), and Resting-state functional (a specific procedure to determine whether two areas are functionally connected)

What is Track-weighted imaging (TWI)?

Uses MRI tech to map out major pathways, AKA diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)

What is the Default Mode Network

A network of brain regions that are active at rest, associated with mind wandering

Who is mind wandering seen in less frequently

Elderly people

What does the Somato-motor network control?

Movement and touch

What the Dorsal Attention network control?

Attention to visual stimuli and spatial locations

What does the Salience Network control?

Attending to survival-relevant events in the environment!

What is perception?

Experience resulting from stimulation of the senses

What is the inverse projection problem?

refers to the task of determining the object responsible for a particular image on the retina.

What is viewpoint variance?

Allows things to be recognized as equivalent from different perspectives

What is a Direct perception theory?

Focuses on bottom-up processing, parts are identified, put together, and then recognition occurs.

What is constructive perception theories

Focuses on top-down processing, people actively constructing perceptions using information based on expectations.

What is the McGurk Effect?

That visual input can change the perception of a sound

What is speech segementation

Involves dividing speech into the constituent words contained within the acoustic signal

What is transitional probability?

The chance that one sound will follow another in language

What is the likelihood principle

We perceive the world in the way that is “most likely” based on our past experiences

How did Gestalt scientists view perception?

As a product of the mind grouping patterns according to laws of perceptual organization

What is the Phi Phenomenon

When still images are perceived as being in continuous motion

What is the Principle of Good Continuation

Lines tend to be seen as following the smoothest path possible

What is the Law of Pragnanz

Every stimulus pattern is seen so the resulting structure is as simple as possible

What is the Principle of similarity?

Similar things tend to be grouped together

What is the principle of proximity?

Things that are close together in space tend to be grouped together