PSYC 108 Cognitive Neuroscience Midterm 2 Study Guide

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and definitions related to cognitive neuroscience as discussed in the PSYC 108 lecture.

Attention

The mental process of focusing on specific stimuli while ignoring others.

Orienting

The act of directing attention toward a specific location or object.

Bottom-up processing

An approach that begins with sensory input and builds up to perception.

Top-down processing

An approach that starts with the perceptual system's expectations and knowledge, influencing perception.

Overt attention

Attention that is evident through observable behavior, such as eye movements.

Covert attention

Attention that occurs without outwardly changing one's focus or behaviors.

Exogenous attention

Attention that is captured by external stimuli.

Endogenous attention

Attention that is guided by internal goals or expectations.

Salient

Stimuli that stand out and capture attention.

Inattentional blindness

Failure to notice a fully visible but unexpected object due to a lack of attention.

Change blindness

Failure to notice large changes in a visual scene.

Saliency map

A representation that highlights the most attention-grabbing areas in a visual field.

Feature integration theory

Theory suggesting that visual perception involves integrating features into a cohesive whole.

Early selection model

Information processing theory where filtering occurs before perception.

Late selection model

Information processing theory where filtering occurs after perception.

Hemispatial neglect

Inability to respond to stimuli on one side of space, often due to right parietal damage.

Lateral intraparietal area (LIP)

A region involved in the control of attention and eye movements.

Dorsal pathway

The brain pathway associated with 'where' information, including spatial awareness.

Ventral pathway

The brain pathway associated with 'what' information, including object identification.

Frontal and parietal areas

Brain regions involved in attention and higher cognitive functions.

ADHD

A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Go and no-go pathways

Neural pathways involved in action initiation and inhibition.

Substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc)

A crucial brain area involved in the modulation of movement and reward.

Parkinson’s disease

A neurodegenerative disorder affecting movement and coordination.

Short term memory

The capacity for holding a small amount of information in an active, readily available state.

Long term memory

The ongoing storage of information, potentially for a lifetime.

Declarative memory

Types of memory that can be consciously recalled, such as facts and events.

Episodic memory

A subtype of declarative memory that involves personal experiences.

Semantic memory

A subtype of declarative memory that includes general knowledge and facts.

Non-declarative memory

Implicit memory that does not require conscious thought, such as skills.

Procedural memory

A type of non-declarative memory for shown skills and tasks.

Amnesia

Memory loss, which can be retrograde or anterograde.

Ribot’s law

The principle that newer memories are more vulnerable to disruption than older memories.

Patient HM

A famous patient known for his profound amnesia after hippocampal removal.

Memory consolidation

The process by which recent memories become stable.

Standard consolidation model

Theory that explains how memories are transferred from the hippocampus to the cortex.

Basal ganglia

A group of nuclei involved in motor control and procedural learning.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in speech.

Morpheme

The smallest grammatical unit in a language.

Syntax

The arrangement of words to create meaningful sentences.

Semantics

The study of meaning in language.

Mental lexicon

The mental dictionary of words and their meanings.

Aphasia

A condition characterized by impairment in language due to brain damage.

Broca's Aphasia

A type of aphasia marked by non-fluent speech and difficulty in production.

Wernicke's Aphasia

A type of aphasia characterized by fluent but nonsensical speech.

Dual stream model

A model explaining how speech is processed in two pathways: dorsal and ventral.

N400

An event-related potential that indicates semantic processing and is elicited by unexpected words.

Visual word form area (VWFA)

A specialized brain area involved in recognizing written words.