Intro to Cognition & Neuroscience

Atkinson & Shiffrin

model of memory (1968) - sensory, short-term & long-term.

Broca, Paul

identified speech production impaired when certain region of the brain was damaged (1861).

Chomsky, Noam

saw language as developing due to inborn biological program, not through reinforcement (1959).

Cognitive psychology

the study of mental processes, which includes determining the characteristics and properties of the mind and how it operates.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)

Measures diffusion of water across the brain, allowing mapping of the white matter tracts throughout the brain

Distributed representation

occurs when a specific cognition activates many areas of the brain.

Donders, Franciscus

conducted first cognitive science experiment (1868), studying reaction time (simple and choice).

Double dissociation

occurs if damage to one region of the brain causes function A to be absent while function B is present, and damage to another region causes function B to be absent while function A is present.

Ebbinghaus, Herman

Coined the term “savings curve”. Investigated memory/forgetting - how rapidly info is learned and lost over time (1985/1913)

Electroencephalography (EEG)

uses electrodes placed on the scalp to measure and record brain activity.

Extrastriate body area (EBA)

activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies (but not by faces)

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

a non-invasive brain scan that maps neural activity by tracking changes in blood flow, by measuring the magnetic differences between oxygen-rich and oxygen-depleted blood to identify active brain regions.

Fusiform face area (FFA)

involved with face identification. Part of the fusiform gyrus, located on the underside of the temporal lobe. Damage to this brain region can result in prosopagnosia.

Huth, Alex

Identified the brain areas that were activated in different scenes of a movie using fMRI (2012).

James, William

first psychology textbook, Principles of Psychology (1890). Stated paying attention to one thing involves withdrawing from other things

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Measures and record the magnetic fields generated by neural activity.

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS)

Measures and records changes in blood oxygenation in the brain by projecting near-infrared light through the scalp and skull.

Parahippocampal place area (PPA)

processes information about spatial layout.

Positron emission tomography (PET)

measures neural activity through measuring blood flow by following the activity of radioactive isotopes injected into the body.

Skinner, B.F.

founded Operant Conditioning (1938) - behaviour strengthened by positive reinforcement or withdrawal of negative reinforcement.

Tolman, Edward

one of first cognitive psychologists. Measured behaviour to infer mental process, i.e. rat in maze experiment (1938).

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Uses magnetic coils orientated over specific brain regions to induce electrical currents that temporarily lesion the area.

Watson, John

founded Behaviourism (1913) - due to dissatisfaction with analytical introspection. "Little Albert" 1920 - rat and loud noise – associations.

Wernicke, Carl

identified speech comprehension impaired when certain region of temporal lobe was damaged (1879).

Wundt, Wulhelm

"father of experimental psychology". Founded first lab of scientific psychology (1879)