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Questions and Answers

What is literacy?

The ability to communicate face-to-face

A storage for how words are written

The ability to read and write (correct)

A core set of skills including visual recognition and learning

How do we process letter strings?

From top to bottom

From right to left

As whole strings (correct)

One letter at a time

What is the visual lexicon?

A storage for how words are spoken

A dedicated cognitive mechanism for visual objects

A mechanism for face-to-face communication

A storage for how words are written (correct)

What is the word superiority effect?

The ease of detecting a letter in a word or nonsense letter string Signup and view all the answers

Where is the Visual Word Form Area located?

In the left mid fusiform gyrus Signup and view all the answers

What else does the Visual Word Form Area respond to?

Visual objects and Braille reading Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of non-symbolic number processing?

Ability to process numbers exactly up to 4 items Signup and view all the answers

What is the distance effect in symbolic number processing?

Deciding which number is larger when the distance is large Signup and view all the answers

What is the size effect in symbolic number processing?

Easier to judge smaller numbers Signup and view all the answers

What type of quantities are processed by the number system?

Countable, continuous, and uncountable quantities Signup and view all the answers

What is Restle's theory of number processing?

Restle's MNL Signup and view all the answers

What is the SNARC effect?

Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes Signup and view all the answers

What is the Triple Code Model?

A model that includes abstract magnitude, verbal store, and visual representation Signup and view all the answers

What is common to infants, unschooled individuals, cavemen, and non-human animals?

Ability to process non-symbolic numbers Signup and view all the answers

What is the function of the proposed computational hub in the brain?

To link different brain regions, such as vision and speech Signup and view all the answers

Which type of dyslexia is characterized by reading nonwords and regularly spelled words better than irregularly spelled words?

Surface dyslexia Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the acquired difficulty in reading words that leads to letter-by-letter reading?

Pure alexia Signup and view all the answers

Which brain region is involved in verbal working memory and is often affected in reading disorders?

Inferior parietal lobe (Wernicke's and angular gyrus) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for difficulties in spelling?

Dysgraphia Signup and view all the answers

What is the characteristic of deep dysgraphia?

Real word spelling is prone to semantic error Signup and view all the answers

What is the scope of numeracy?

Includes estimation of quantity and basic calculations Signup and view all the answers

Which brain regions are predominantly involved in literacy?

Left-lateralized, with multiple areas involved Signup and view all the answers

Which brain region is specialized in problem solving?

Left lateral PFC Signup and view all the answers

What is the function of the dorsal ACC?

Cognitive division Signup and view all the answers

What is the function of the rostral ACC?

Affective division Signup and view all the answers

What is the function of the lateral PFC in task monitoring?

Relating information to the task requirements Signup and view all the answers

What happens to the trial immediately after an error in human reaction time experiments?

It becomes slower and more accurate Signup and view all the answers

What is unique about human brain lateralization compared to other primates?

It is more lateralized Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of executive functions in cognitive processes?

To oversee and control multiple cognitive processes Signup and view all the answers

Which cognitive process is often tested by giving an end point and a starting point, and participants must generate a solution of their own?

Problem-solving Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary role of the prefrontal cortex in executive functions?

To oversee and control multiple cognitive processes Signup and view all the answers

Which cognitive process is related to the medial PFC, specifically the anterior cingulate cortex and pre-SMA?

Overcoming habitual responses Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the slowing of response time due to discarding a previous schema and setting up a new one?

Switch cost Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test?

To test task switching abilities Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of damage to the prefrontal cortex in terms of task switching?

Impaired task switching abilities Signup and view all the answers

What is the main reason why switching from a harder task to an easier one is more costly?

Because it is related to inhibiting the old task Signup and view all the answers

Which brain region is particularly impaired in patients with lesions, leading to difficulties in multi-tasking?

Anterior prefrontal cortex Signup and view all the answers

Which cognitive process is related to the ability to generate a solution to a problem on one's own?

Problem-solving Signup and view all the answers

What affects decisions according to the framing or social justice perception?

ACC and OFC Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of somatic markers in the Somatic Marker Hypothesis?

To form a link between previous situations and emotions Signup and view all the answers

What is the main component of the Iowa Gambling Test?

Risk and reward evaluation Signup and view all the answers

Which brain region is involved in planning failure and impulsive behavior when damaged?

Orbitofrontal cortex Signup and view all the answers

What is involved in evaluating different rewards at two future points in time?

Lateral prefrontal cortex Signup and view all the answers

What is the name of the network involved in multiple tasks?

Multiple Demand Network Signup and view all the answers

What dimensions does the Feldman-Barrett theory claim organize the core affect system?

Pleasant-unpleasant and activation-deactivation Signup and view all the answers

Which neural substrate is involved in interoception and disgust perception?

Insula Signup and view all the answers

What is the function of the orbitofrontal cortex?

Computing current value of a stimulus Signup and view all the answers

Which neural substrate is involved in fear learning and recognizing fear?

Amygdala Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of lesions in the insula?

Impaired disgust perception Signup and view all the answers

What is the function of the anterior cingulate?

Error monitoring and empathy Signup and view all the answers

What is the function of the ventral striatum?

Reward-related processing Signup and view all the answers

What is the region responsible for facial identity recognition?

Fusiform face area Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the ability to represent the mental states of others?

Theory-of-mind Signup and view all the answers

Which theory claims a constructionist approach?

Rolls theory Signup and view all the answers

What is the name of the syndrome characterized by the conscious recognition of a person, but lack of emotional response?

Capgras syndrome Signup and view all the answers

What is the main function of eyes in one-to-one communication?

All of the above Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the ability to appreciate others' points of view and share their experiences?

Empathy Signup and view all the answers

What is the function of the superior temporal sulcus in facial processing?

Expression recognition and gaze processing Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of emotions in guiding social behavior?

To mentalize and mirror others' emotions and mental states Signup and view all the answers

Which theory of emotion suggests that bodily responses occur after the emotion itself?

Cannon-Bard Theory Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of the hypothalamus in the Cannon-Bard Theory?

It plays a central role in emotions Signup and view all the answers

What is the Papez Circuit composed of?

Cingulate cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and anterior nucleus of the thalamus Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of emotions in guiding behavior?

To recognize and respond to rewarding stimuli Signup and view all the answers

Which theory of emotion suggests that emotions come after expression?

James-Lange Theory Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of the limbic brain in emotions?

It is a network of brain regions involved in emotions, including the Papez Circuit Signup and view all the answers

According to Paul Ekman, what are the basic emotions?

Not specified in the content Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of language?

A social engagement to deduce what others know or believe Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the storage of spoken words in vocabulary?

Phonological lexicon Signup and view all the answers

What is the process of matching the acoustic form to a stored set of spoken words in vocabulary?

Lexical access Signup and view all the answers

What is the point at which the acoustic input unambiguously corresponds to only one known word?

Uniqueness point Signup and view all the answers

Which linguistic factor influences word recognition?

Frequency of a word Signup and view all the answers

What is the model that explains how a single word is recognized?

Cohort model Signup and view all the answers

What is the ability to produce, perceive, and comprehend speech?

Speech Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of an animal that learned sign language?

Washoe Signup and view all the answers

What is the N400 response related to in EEG studies?

Out of context words in a sentence Signup and view all the answers

Which area of the brain is responsible for language comprehension and is damaged in Wernicke's aphasia?

Wernicke's area Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary difficulty for individuals with Broca's aphasia?

Producing fluent speech Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the 'loss of grammar' in Broca's aphasia?

Agrammatism Signup and view all the answers

Which division of Broca's area is related to syntactic complexity?

Posterior division (BA44) Signup and view all the answers

What is the P600 response related to in EEG studies?

Grammatical errors in a sentence Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of Broca's area?

Integration of syntax and semantics Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is a characteristic of Wernicke's aphasia?

Difficulty with language comprehension Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary focus of lexicalization during speech production?

The meaning of the word to be conveyed Signup and view all the answers

What type of speech error involves the substitution of one word for another that reflects the speaker's hidden intentions?

Freudian slip Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the inability to retrieve the correct word even if a person knows conceptually what they want to say?

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon Signup and view all the answers

Damage to which brain region can result in apraxia for speech?

Insula Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the final stage of speech production?

Articulation Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for word-finding difficulties due to brain damage?

Anomia Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of damage to the basal ganglia in terms of speech production?

Dysarthria Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for severe difficulties in retrieving proper names?

Proper name anomia Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Literacy

Literacy is the ability to read and write, enabling communication without face-to-face contact.
It is an expert system derived from a core set of other skills such as visual recognition, manipulation of sounds, learning, and memory.
Visual word recognition involves processing letter strings as a whole, rather than one by one.
The visual lexicon is a storage for how words are written.
The word superiority effect states that it is easier to detect a letter in the context of a word or nonsense letter string than in a random letter string or in isolation.
The visual word form area is a dedicated cognitive mechanism for visual lexicon, located in the left mid-fusiform gyrus, and also responds to visual objects and Braille reading.

Acquired Reading Deficiencies

Central dyslexia: disruption of reading arising after computation of a visual word form.
- Surface dyslexia: reading nonwords and regularly spelled words better than irregularly spelled words.
- Phonological dyslexia: reading real words better than nonwords.
- Deep dyslexia: real word reading prone to semantic errors.
Peripheral dyslexia: disruption of reading arising up to the level of computation of a visual word form.
- Pure alexia: an acquired difficulty in reading words that leads to letter-by-letter reading.

fMRI Studies

Multiple areas involved in literacy, predominantly left-lateralized.
- Inferior frontal lobe (Broca's area).
- Inferior parietal lobe (Wernicke's and angular gyrus – verbal working memory).
- Anterior and mid-temporal lobes (semantic memory).
Reading uses similar brain regions across different languages, albeit to varying degrees.

Spelling and Writing

Dysgraphia: difficulties in spelling, with similar deficiencies as central dyslexia.
- Deep dysgraphia: real word spelling prone to semantic errors.
Dysgraphia is generally multimodal, with patients producing similar errors in writing, typing, or oral spelling.
Evidence suggests separate written versus oral letter name output codes in spelling, indicating involvement of motor codes in writing.

Numeracy

Universal Numeracy

Numeracy is not limited to math; humans and other species have numerical abilities that enable estimation of quantity and basic calculations.
Infants, unschooled, cavemen, and non-human animals all possess numerical abilities.
Fundamental sense of numeracy is universal, except for dyscalculia.

Numbers

Non-symbolic number processing is universal.
Ability to perform tasks becomes harder with increasing sets, even if the ratio remains the same.
We can subitize (enumerate an exact quantity of objects without counting them) up to 4 items.
Numbers above 4 can only be processed approximately rather than exactly in the absence of language.

Processing Symbolic Numbers

Distance effect: faster decision-making when the distance between two numbers is large.
Size effect: easier judgment of larger numbers when they are small.

Neural Subtrates

Number meaning: not only countable quantities but also continuous and uncountable quantities are processed by the number system.

Numbers and Space

SNARC effect (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes): cultural variations and other SNARC-like effects.

Triple Code Model

1. Abstract (semantic) magnitude.
1. Verbal store of numbers and operations.
1. Visual representation for numerals (digits) and workbench for certain calculations.

Executive Functions

Executive functions: complex processes that optimize performance in situations requiring multiple cognitive processes
Not tied to a specific domain (e.g., memory, language, perception) but have a meta-cognitive, supervisory, or controlling role
Related to prefrontal cortex (PFC)

Problem-Solving

Problem-solving involves generating a solution with a given endpoint (goal) and optional starting point (objects)
Tests: Tower of London, FAS test, Cognitive Estimates Test
PFC lesions often lead to poor problem-solving

Overcoming Habitual Responses

Inhibition: reducing the likelihood of a particular thought/action
Related to medial PFC, specifically anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and pre-SMA
Example: Stroop task (name the color of the ink and ignore reading the color name)

Overcoming Potent Responses

Inhibition: reducing the likelihood of a particular thought/action
Related to medial PFC, specifically ACC and pre-SMA
Example: Go/No-Go task (respond to frequent stimulus, but withhold response to another stimulus)

Task Switching

Requires PFC activation and discarding a previous schema and establishing a new one
PFC damage leads to perseveration (failure to shift)
Example: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (adjust responses to new rule)
Switch cost: slowing of response time due to discarding a previous schema and setting up a new one

Multi-Tasking

Carrying out several tasks in succession, requiring task switching and maintaining future goals
Patients with anterior prefrontal cortex lesions may be impaired at multi-tasking
Example: Six Element Test (patients with prefrontal lesions may fail to switch tasks)

Decision Making

Decisions are not solely based on rationality, even without brain damage
Framing or social justice perception can affect decisions
Involves ACC and OFC

Somatic Marker Hypothesis

Somatic markers link previous situations stored in the cortex and the "feeling" of those situations stored in emotional and bodily response regions
Located in vmPFC, influencing ongoing behavior in situations where feelings are critical

Iowa Gambling Test and Delay Discounting

Iowa Gambling Test: a decision-making task involving risks and rewards
Delay discounting: choosing between current and future rewards
OFC lesions lead to planning failure and impulsive behavior

Multiple Demand Network

Lateral PFC, ACC, and intraparietal sulcus are involved in cognitive control
Not separate subdivisions, but a single network
Fluid vs crystallized intelligence

Hemispheric Differences

Not found in other primates; humans have more lateralized brain function
Left lateral PFC: specialized in problem-solving, right lateral PFC: task monitoring

Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)

Considered part of limbic system
Functionally two different regions: dorsal ACC (cognitive division) and rostral ACC (affective division)
Involved in error detection and recalibration of task performance

Emotions

Emotions are states associated with stimuli that are rewarding or punishing, guiding behavior and social interactions.
Emotions tag stimuli with emotional states, even if they are not naturally affective.
Emotions are critical for guiding social behavior, including mentalizing and mirroring others' emotions and mental states.

Theories of Emotion

Darwin's theory: human emotions possess continuity with their animal counterparts, with conserved expressions across species.
James-Lange Theory: self-perception of bodily changes produces emotional experience, but contemporary views suggest bodily experiences modify emotional experiences.
Cannon-Bard Theory: bodily responses occur after the emotion itself, with emotions coming before expression.

Papez Circuit and Limbic Brain

Papez circuit: cingulate cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and anterior nucleus of the thalamus.
Limbic brain: Papez circuit + amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex.
Key regions are secondary to emotions, such as hippocampus and hypothalamus.

Paul Ekman's Basic Emotions

Dr. Paul Ekman's work on expression and gesture and their role in emotion and deception.

Other Contemporary Approaches

Feldman-Barrett theory: all emotions tap into a core affect system organized along two dimensions: pleasant-unpleasant and activation-deactivation.
Rolls theory: constructionist approach, concerned with dimensions of reward and punishment, their presence/absence, and intensity.

Neural Substrates

Amygdala: involved in memory, especially emotional content, fear learning, and recognizing fear.
Insula: involved in bodily perception, pain and taste perception, disgust, and interoception.
OFC (Orbitofrontal Cortex): computes current value of a stimulus, linked to subjective reports of pleasantness.
Anterior Cingulate: involved in error monitoring, bodily responses to emotions, and social aspect, empathy, and exclusion.
Ventral Striatum: reward-related, calculates difference between predicted and actual reward.

Reading Faces

Facial Identity: fusiform face area.
Expression Recognition & Gaze Processing: superior temporal sulcus.
Expressions: involve the extended system, including amygdala and insula.
Simulation Theory: we understand others by vicariously producing their current state in ourselves.

Reading Faces (continued)

Social Referencing: emotional response of another person may lead to avoidance or interaction with a previously neutral stimulus.
Capgras Syndrome: patients can consciously recognize the person but lack an emotional response to them, believing they were replaced with body doubles.

Eye Gaze Information

Eyes Inform About Emotions: important for one-to-one communication.
Eye Gaze: one can infer desire (next move) from eye gaze.

Reading Minds

Theory-of-Mind: the ability to represent the mental states of others (e.g., their beliefs, desires, intentions).
Empathy: the ability to appreciate others' points of view and share their experiences.
Mirror System: neural circuits or regions that disregard the distinction between self and other.

Speech and Language

Speech is a means of transferring ideas from one individual to another through the vibration of molecules in the air.
Language is a social engagement that involves deducting what others know or believe.
Animals may have language, as demonstrated by Washoe, Kanzi, and Golden seabrights.

Speech Production vs Comprehension

Speech production involves the production of spoken words, while comprehension involves perceiving and understanding spoken words.

Spoken Word Recognition

We match the acoustic form of spoken words to a stored set of words in our vocabulary, known as the phonological lexicon.
The process of matching is called lexical access, and it involves competition between similar sounding words.
The access units are debated, but the consensus is that speech recognition involves a cohort of words that are initially considered as candidates, with words getting eliminated as more evidence accumulates.

Cohort Model

In lexical access, many spoken words are initially considered as candidates, but words get eliminated as more evidence accumulates.
The uniqueness point is reached when the acoustic input unambiguously corresponds to only one known word.
The time taken to recognize a word depends on how early or late the uniqueness point occurs.
Linguistic factors that influence recognition include frequency of a word, imageability of a word, and contextual information.

Words in Context

The cohort model explains how a single word is recognized, but words are normally spoken in the context of a discourse.
EEG studies show that out-of-context words induce a N400 response, while grammatical errors induce a P600 response.

Aphasia

Aphasia is a disorder of language due to brain damage on the left hemisphere, causing problems in speech perception, speech production, and writing.

Language Specialization

Broca's area is located in the frontal lobe and is responsible for speech production, with damage causing Broca's aphasia.
Wernicke's area is located in the temporal lobe and is responsible for language comprehension, with damage causing Wernicke's aphasia.
Broca's aphasia patients have trouble with fluent speech, while Wernicke's aphasia patients have trouble with comprehending language.

Sentence Comprehension

Words have meaning (semantics) and syntactic roles (grammatical classes such as nouns and verbs).
Syntax enables the listener to figure out who is doing what to whom.
Broca's aphasia is related to agrammatism, or the loss of grammar.

Broca's Area

Broca's area has two functional sub-divisions: the posterior division (BA44) related to syntactic complexity, and the anterior division (BA45) related to working memory and meaning.
Syntax and semantics are separable but not completely independent, and Broca's area can be viewed as an integration site.

Retrieval of Spoken Words

When producing speech, three types of information need to be retrieved: lexicalization (the selection of a word based on meaning), grammatical properties, and form of the word (syllables, phonemes).

Speech Errors

Speech errors include Freudian slips, malapropisms, spoonerisms, and tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.
Anomia is a word-finding difficulty due to brain damage, resulting in a constant state of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.
Proper name anomia is a severe difficulty in retrieving proper names.

Articulation

Articulation is the final stage of speech, associated with the basal ganglia and insula.
Damage to the insula results in apraxia for speech, or difficulties in shaping the vocal tract.
Damage to the basal ganglia results in dysarthria, or impaired muscular contractions.

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Description

This quiz assesses understanding of literacy, including visual word recognition, letter manipulation, and the word superiority effect. Test your knowledge of the skills involved in reading and writing!