PSY2014/L01/01^ Mon Sep 30 09:05:00 BST 2024

What is the key distinction between cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience?

Cognitive psychology studies mental processes and representations, while cognitive neuroscience investigates the underlying mechanisms and substrates of these processes.

What type of task was Posner's letter matching task designed to study?

How individuals process and categorize letters based on various identities.

What does stimulus onset asynchrony refer to?

The time gap introduced between the presentations of stimuli in an experiment.

What is single-cell electrophysiology?

A technique used to study individual neuron activity by inserting microelectrodes into the brain or peripheral nervous system.

What is the principle behind EEG (electroencephalography)?

Recording the electrical activity of the brain through electrodes attached to the scalp.

What is a significant ethical concern surrounding animal research?

The debate over the morality of using animals for research purposes.

What is the purpose of using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)?

To activate or deactivate specific areas of the brain to study their functions.

What is the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response measured in fMRI?

Changes in blood oxygen levels in the brain related to neural activity, indicating which areas are engaged during tasks.

What is a single dissociation in clinical research?

A situation where a particular brain lesion affects one cognitive function but not another, indicating the area’s involvement in that specific function.

What does a double dissociation allow researchers to infer?

Stronger evidence of specific brain functions by showing that different brain lesions affect different cognitive tasks.

How do optogenetics work?

By injecting a genetic construct that allows specific neurons to be activated with light.

What role does the visual cortex play in haptic perception, according to recent findings?

The visual cortex is involved in identifying objects by touch, suggesting cross-modal processing.