Neurocognition & Brain Imaging – Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing key brain-imaging terms, functional areas, and cognitive neuroscience concepts from the lecture.

Neural Portrait of the Human Mind

A view, highlighted by Dr. Nancy Kanwisher, that specific mental functions can be mapped to distinct brain areas rather than being evenly distributed.

Carl Lashley (Distributed Network Theory)

Early neuroscientist who argued that cognition and memory are spread across the brain with no single localized centers.

Localization of Function

The principle that particular brain regions are dedicated to specific cognitive or behavioral tasks.

Imaging Research (Correlational Nature)

Brain-imaging methods show patterns of activity that correlate with tasks but do not by themselves prove causation.

Fusiform Face Area (FFA)

A region in the right fusiform gyrus specialized for face recognition; damage leads to face-processing deficits.

Prosopagnosia

The inability to recognize faces despite intact vision, typically caused by injury to the FFA.

Broca’s Area

Left-frontal lobe region crucial for speech production; lesions produce expressive aphasia.

Primary Motor Cortex

Frontal-lobe strip that initiates voluntary muscle movements.

Hippocampus

Medial-temporal brain structure essential for forming new long-term memories.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Technique that records electrical activity of the brain via electrodes placed on the scalp.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

Imaging method that measures glucose metabolism to infer neural activity.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Scanner that produces detailed anatomical images; detects tissue via magnetic fields and radio waves.

Functional MRI (fMRI)

MRI variant that tracks changes in blood flow (BOLD signal) to monitor moment-to-moment brain activity.

Subtraction Technique

fMRI analysis method that compares a task condition with a baseline to isolate task-specific brain activation.

Neuroplasticity

The brain’s capacity to re-organize by forming new neural connections, e.g., recruiting the FFA for cow-face expertise.

Bottom-Up Processing

Information flow that starts with sensory input and builds upward to perception.

Top-Down Processing

Interpretive influence of knowledge, expectations, and experience on perception of sensory input.

Sensation Without Perception

Condition where sensory detection remains intact but conscious recognition fails, exemplified by prosopagnosia.