Neuroscience & Cognitive Psychology – Key Words

Exam 2 - MCQ Key Words

Static Magnetic Field (MRI)

Primary field that provides a strong, homogeneous magnetic environment in which MR signals are generated.

Gradient Coils (MRI)

Three sets of coils that create small, varying magnetic fields used to encode spatial information for image formation.

Radio-Frequency (RF) Coils

MRI hardware that transmits RF pulses and receives the returning MR signal from tissue.

BOLD fMRI

Functional MRI method sensitive to changes in de-oxygenated haemoglobin, providing an indirect index of neural activity.

Habituation

Learned decrease in response to a repeatedly presented, non-threatening stimulus.

Sensitisation

Increase in behavioural response to a previously habituated stimulus when it is paired with an aversive event.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

Persistent increase in synaptic strength following high-frequency stimulation of afferent fibres.

Long-Term Depression (LTD)

Activity-dependent, long-lasting reduction of synaptic efficacy, often induced by low-frequency stimulation.

NMDA Receptor

Glutamate receptor that permits calcium influx when postsynaptic depolarisation removes the Mg²⁺ block, essential for LTP induction.

AMPA Receptor

Ionotropic glutamate receptor that mediates fast synaptic transmission via sodium influx; its insertion/number changes during plasticity.

Hebb’s Rule

‘Cells that fire together, wire together; cells that fire out of sync, fail to link,’ describing activity-dependent synaptic strengthening.

Engram

Physical and biological substrate of stored memory within neural circuits.

Anterograde Amnesia

Inability to form new memories after brain injury or trauma.

Patient H.M.

Famous case with bilateral medial temporal lobe resection resulting in profound anterograde amnesia.

Primacy Effect

Enhanced recall for items presented at the beginning of a list.

Encoding (Memory)

Process of transforming sensory input into a storable neural representation.

Declarative Memory

Conscious memory system encompassing semantic, episodic, and autobiographical information.

Procedural Memory

Implicit memory for motor and cognitive skills such as riding a bike.

Replay (Memory)

Reactivation of neuronal firing sequences during rest or sleep that supports memory consolidation.

Static vs. Gradient Fields

Static field aligns proton spins; gradient fields add spatial variation enabling slice selection and localisation.

EEG

Non-invasive recording of summed postsynaptic potentials from cortical pyramidal cells via scalp electrodes.

ERP (Event-Related Potential)

Time-locked EEG waveform reflecting brain responses to specific sensory, cognitive, or motor events.

P300

Positive ERP component (~300 ms) linked to attentional engagement with task-relevant stimuli.

Oddball Paradigm

Task in which infrequent ‘oddball’ stimuli appear amid repetitive standards, eliciting robust ERP differences.

tDCS

Transcranial direct-current stimulation delivering weak electrical current through scalp electrodes to modulate cortical excitability.

TMS

Transcranial magnetic stimulation that uses magnetic pulses to induce focal electric currents and modulate neural activity.

Figure-of-Eight Coil

TMS coil design providing better spatial resolution than circular coils.

Motor Threshold (TMS)

Minimal TMS intensity required to elicit a measurable muscle twitch; used to calibrate stimulation levels.

Functional Localisation (TMS)

Targeting brain sites using functional imaging or behavioural mapping, often combined with anatomical guidance.

Excitatory vs. Inhibitory TMS Protocols

High-frequency (>5 Hz) pulses generally increase excitability; low-frequency (≤1 Hz) pulses often decrease it.

Transhumanism

Philosophical view that humans should use technology to transcend current biological limits.

Bioconservatism

Viewpoint opposing enhancement biotechnologies, emphasising preservation of unaltered human capacities.

Utilitarian Argument (Neuroethics)

Ethical reasoning that focuses on maximising overall benefit when evaluating neurotechnologies.

Deontological Argument (Neuroethics)

Ethical stance based on duties and rights, sometimes supporting enhancements to promote fairness.

McGurk Effect

Perceptual phenomenon where incongruent visual speech alters auditory perception of phonemes.

Dorsal Laryngeal Motor Cortex

Frontal cortical region controlling pitch and voicing in speech and song.

Wernicke’s Area

Posterior superior temporal cortex critical for language comprehension; lesions cause receptive aphasia.

Broca’s Area

Inferior frontal gyrus region essential for speech production; lesions produce expressive aphasia.

Arcuate Fasciculus

White-matter tract connecting frontal and temporal language areas; damage causes conduction aphasia.

Critical Period (Language)

Developmental window during which language acquisition is easier, though learning remains possible later.

Transpose-Letter Effect

Greater reading difficulty when letter transpositions are internal rather than at word edges.

Executive Function

Set of cognitive processes for planning, working memory, inhibition, and flexible goal-directed behaviour.

Prefrontal Cortex

Frontal lobe region central to executive control, decision-making, and attentional regulation.

Contention Scheduling

Learned, automatic schema system that resolves routine action conflicts with minimal top-down input.

Supervisory Attentional System

Top-down control mechanism engaged for novel, difficult, or conflicting tasks requiring effortful regulation.

Environmental Dependency Syndrome

Behavioural tendency in frontal-lobe patients to act reflexively to environmental cues, even irrationally.

Perseveration

Pathological repetition of responses or strategies despite changed task demands.

Multiple Demand System

Fronto-parietal network activated across diverse cognitive tasks, supporting domain-general executive processing.

Goal-Centred Processing

Hierarchical executive model where goals decompose into sub-goals guiding behaviour.

Selective Attention

Cognitive process of focusing on relevant stimuli while ignoring distractors.

Endogenous Attention

Voluntary, goal-directed attention guided by internal cues.

Exogenous Attention

Automatic, stimulus-driven attention captured by salient external events.

Saccade

Rapid eye movement redirecting the fovea to a new visual location.

Signal-to-Noise Ratio (Neural)

Measure of how well neuronal activity representing a stimulus stands out from background activity.

Posner Cueing Task

Experimental paradigm assessing attentional shifts using spatial cues and measuring response times.

Orienting Stage (Attention)

Phase in which attentional focus is shifted toward a cued spatial location.

Dorsal Attention Network

Fronto-parietal system supporting goal-directed, voluntary attention and spatial orienting.

Ventral Attention Network

Right-lateralised network detecting salient or unexpected stimuli and reorienting attention.

Default Mode Network (DMN)

Medial cortical network active at rest and suppressed during externally focused attention tasks.

Joint Attention

Shared focus of two individuals on an object or event, requiring coordinated gaze and attention.

Fusiform Face Area (FFA)

Ventral temporal region specialised for face perception; shows reduced activation in autism.

Amygdala (Autism)

Limbic structure implicated in emotional processing; exhibits atypical activity patterns in autistic individuals.

Synaptic Pruning (Autism)

Developmental process of eliminating excess synapses; may be delayed or reduced, increasing early cortical thickness.

SHANK3

Gene coding for synaptic scaffolding protein; mutations are linked to autism spectrum disorder.

Delayed Diagnosis in Females (Autism)

Later identification due to subtler traits and compensatory behaviours compared with autistic males.

Attention-Related Gamma Oscillations

High-frequency brain rhythms associated with sustained, goal-directed attention.

Theta Oscillations (Attention)

Mid-range oscillations supporting sustained attentional control and working memory.

Superior Colliculus

Midbrain structure involved in eye movements and orienting visual attention.

Prefrontal Focus (Attention)

Role of prefrontal cortex in maintaining task goals and filtering distractions.

London Taxi Driver Study

Research showing larger posterior hippocampi and smaller anterior hippocampi in drivers with extensive spatial navigation experience.

Retrograde Amnesia

Loss of pre-injury memories while new memory formation may remain intact.

Semantic Memory

Declarative memory subsystem for facts and general knowledge.

Episodic Memory

Declarative memory for personally experienced events bound to a specific time and place.

Consolidation (Memory)

Stabilisation of newly encoded memories into long-term storage over time.

Utilisation Behaviour

Form of environmental dependency where patients automatically use objects within view.

Oddball Effect

Enhanced neural response (e.g., P300) when an infrequent stimulus appears among frequent standards, influenced by repetition length.

Theta-Burst Stimulation (TMS)

Short bursts of high-frequency pulses delivered at theta rate, capable of inducing lasting excitatory or inhibitory effects.

tDCS Spatial Resolution

Lower focal precision compared to TMS, as current spreads broadly through scalp and brain tissue.

Temporal Lobe (Memory)

Brain region containing hippocampus and medial temporal structures critical for declarative memory formation.

Selective Attention Prefrontal Role

Prefrontal cortex modulates sensory areas to enhance processing of attended stimuli.

Task-Positive Network

Brain regions that increase activation during attention-demanding tasks