ch 2 cognitive psych

capgras syndrome

you feel like your loved ones have been replaced by imposters
because of prefrontal cortex damage → can’t debunk illogical thought

damage to factual (looks like mom) or emotional (warm familiarity) just one will lead to capgras

hind brain

spinal cord
basic rhythms, alertness
cerebellum => movements and balance (sensory and cognitive roles)

mid brain

movement and eye movement
regulates pain
includes parts of auditory pathway 

forebrain 

cortex, convolutions (wrinkles in brain)
subcortical structures (inside cortex)
left - right longitudinal fissure → connected by corpus callosum 

fore brain

thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system

commissures

connect the hemispheres

thalamus 

relay center 

hypothalamus

fucking, fleeing, feeding and fighting

amygdala (limbic system)

emotion processing especially fear

hippocampus (limbic system)

short term memory

split brain

severing the corpus callosum
used to treat epilepsy

left brain functions

speaking and seeks to explain things

right brain functions

drawing and helps w/ facial recognition

CT scan

-good for anatomy
-hard to observe brain activity
-cheap 

PET

-can see location and brain activity measuring glucose consumption
-not always on time 
-invasive because uses radioactive material 

fMRI

-looks at oxygen consumption to observe activity
-very expensive
-good resolution, specific but can lag a little
-small movements will ruin whole image 

EEG

-observes brain signals and tries to use patterns to predict behavior 
-can only sense exterior patterns
-time sensitive not location 

fusiform face area

active when you look at a face (only in one side)

parahippocampal place area

active when viewing things that aren’t faces (in both sides)

prosopagnosia

don’t know faces at all (face blindness)

cerebral cortex 

primary projection area 
sensory → input 
motor → output
rest of cortex → association area
main input is from the opposite side

visual and auditory projection areas

input from both is contralateral

association areas

create associations between simple ideas and sensations
75 % of the brain 

apraxia 

can initiate movement 

agnosia

can’t identify objects

Wernicke’s aphasia

can’t generate meaningful language (saying clear gibberish)

Broca’s aphasia

can’t generate words (can’t get a word out)

neglect syndrome 

ignoring half the visual world 

prefrontal damage 

trouble with planning, strategic thinking and inhibition 

cornea

-gathers light and directs light into right place
-more nerve endings
-astigmatism 
-membrane over eye 

iris

-colored part

-muscle controlling size of the pupil 

pupil

-opening in the iris
-light let in depends on size 

retina

-where light will shine to 
-made of photoreceptors 
-rods and cones 

path to visual cortex

photoreceptors → bipolar cells → ganglion cells → optic nerve → thalamus → visual cortex

rods

peripheral and night vision
high sensitivity to light and motion 

cones

sensitive to color and visual acuity

optical illusions

cells are connected and they will try to inhibit cells nearby which can brighten or dim certain stimulus

on off cells

at the center there will be faster firing surrounding are slower

parvocellular cells (patterns)

-smaller receptive fields
-continues firing as long as stimulus is present 
-specialized for spatial analysis and detailed analysis 

magnocellular cells (motion)

-large receptive fields
-fire more when there is change in stimulation 
-motion and depth perception 

occipital temporal pathway

helps with object shape and identity ‘what’

occipital parietal pathway 

helps with object location and guiding responses ‘where’

frontal lobe

motor control, executive function, language, personality and emotion regulation, reward and motivation 

temporal lobe

mostly for hearing and some emotional function

parietal lobe

senses and sensation, spatial awareness and body awareness, numerical information

occipital lobe

mostly processes visual information