wk6: perception & action

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key concepts from the Cognitive Neuroscience lecture focused on motor control, neural mechanisms, and understanding through observation.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The study of how the brain influences cognitive functions such as perception, memory, and action.

Voluntary Motor Control

The ability to consciously control muscle movement, proposed to originate in the brain.

Motor Hierarchy

A hierarchical organization of neural control involving the spinal cord, brainstem, and cortex for executing motor behavior.

Alpha Motor Neurons

The final common pathway for motor output, responsible for the contraction of muscle fibers.

Reflex Action

An involuntary movement response to a stimulus occurring via alpha motor neurons without requiring higher brain processing.

Cerebellum

A brain structure involved in the coordination of voluntary movements and balance, significantly affected by alcohol.

Pyramidal Tract

The pathway from the primary motor cortex to the spinal cord involved in voluntary motor control.

Extrapyramidal Tract

A pathway that coordinates involuntary movements and posture, involving subcortical nuclei.

Somatotopic Organization

The mapping of various body parts in the brain that corresponds to the amount of motor control required for those parts.

Population Vector

The combined activity of a group of neurons coding for a movement direction, indicating preferred movement direction.

Optimal Feedback Control

A theory that suggests the brain uses predictions of movement outcomes to quickly adapt motor commands based on sensory input.

Mirror Neurons

Neurons that activate during both the execution and observation of an action, linked to understanding others' actions.

Embodied Cognition

The theory that cognition is deeply rooted in the body's interactions with the world and that our understanding is influenced by our physical experiences.

Embodied Simulation

The internal simulation of observed actions to understand the intentions behind them, linked to social cognition.

Associative Learning

A learning process in which a connection is formed between two stimuli or actions, suggesting mirror neuron activity could be a learned response.

Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs)

Electrical signals recorded from muscles following stimulation of motor pathways, used to measure motor system activation.