Cognitive Neuroscience Exam 1 Study Guide PDF

Cognitive Neuroscience a. How brain gives rise to the mind i. Neural explanations for cognitive processes b. History ii. Philosophical beginnings (mind/body) 1. The "mind-body" problem a. Dualism: mind and body are separate i. Rene Descartes...

Cognitive Neuroscience a. How brain gives rise to the mind i. Neural explanations for cognitive processes b. History ii. Philosophical beginnings (mind/body) 1. The "mind-body" problem a. Dualism: mind and body are separate i. Rene Descartes ii. Body: physical and mortal iii. Mind: non-physical and immortal iv. Interact in the pineal gland A diagram of the brain Description automatically generated 1. Sense organs cause vibrations and are picked up by the pineal gland 2. Pineal gland: endocrine system involved with sleep regulation (it has no metaphysical properties) b. Dual-aspect theory: mind and body are two sides of the same coin v. Barusch Spinoza vi. Mind and body are not different but different levels of explanations for the same thing 3. Comprised of both psychical and non-physical properties vii. Emergent properties: mind based concepts are used to describe brain based processes c. Reductionism: the mind can be reduced to the parts of the brain viii. Mind-based concepts replaced by purely biological concepts iii. Historical background 2. Classical antiquity d. "finding" the brain e. Aristotle ix. Believed cognition came from the heart x. More intelligent have bigger brains xi. Brain is the cooling system of the heart f. Galen of Pergamon xii. Mental experiences come from the ventricles 4. Ventricles: hollow, filled chambers in the brain a. Cells produce cerebrospinal fluid b. Critical for mental processes  3. 19^th^ century: phrenology g. Early 1800s xiii. Franz Joseph Gall xiv. Johann Spurzheim 5. Provided realistic drawings of the brain A close-up of a brain Description automatically generated h. 3 key assumptions: xv. Different brain regions= different functions xvi. Regional brain size produce distortions on skull xvii. Sizes and distortion correlated with differences in psychological abilities and personality xviii. 1 and 3: functional specialization A diagram of the human brain Description automatically generated 4. 19^th^ century: cognitive neuropsychology i. Functional localization without phrenology xix. Not a 1:1 relationship between brain region and cognitive function xx. Some specialization for neural processing for a particular region 5. 19^th^ century: patients with brain damage j. Paul Broca xxi. Trouble producing speech but not comprehending speech xxii. Region in the frontal lobe k. Carl Wernicke xxiii. Trouble comprehending speech, not producing speech xxiv. Temporal lobe area l. Aphasia xxv. Inferred by empirical observations 6. Contrast with phrenology 7. Became cognitive neuropsychology: studying patients with natural brain damage to inform theories about the brain 6. 20^th^ century: psychology and the cognitive revolution m. Psychology without the brain n. Brain agnostic xxvi. The black box of behaviorism  o. Cognitive revolution xxvii. Influenced by what technology was not available to them xxviii. Information-processing models: 8. Computer analogy for the mind c. Processing stages A blue rectangle with black text Description automatically generated i. Box and arrow models ii. Bottom-up processing: the passage of information from simpler to more complex stages iii. Top-down processing: when more complex processing stages influence information processing in simpler stages  iv. Parallel vs serial processing: multiple inputs processed one at time (serial) or are they processed simultaneously (parallel) A diagram of a memory Description automatically generated  7. Late 20^th^ century: birth of modern cognitive neuroscience 8. Criticism and challenges: neuroskepticism p. It is possible to study the mind without studying the brain q. Brain scans tell us where cognition occurs not how r. Cognitive neuroscience is just a new form of phrenology s. Cognitive neuroscience progress will inform cognitive neuroscience (and vice versa) t. Neuroskepticism versus necromania: xxix. Caution critical thinking II. Neuroanatomy c. Directions: A diagram of a brain Description automatically generatedA diagram of a skeleton Description automatically generated d. Sections:  e. Overview: A diagram of the brain Description automatically generated f. Organization of the cerebral cortex: iv. Cortical surface features 9. Gyrus/gyri: raised surfaces; ridges 10. Sulcus/sulci: depressed grooves; furrows (fissures) v. Brodmann Areas 11. 52 regions of the cortex based on distribution of cells 12. Cytoarchitecture is structure vi. Functional subdivisions  vii. Macroscopic features 13. Ventricles A diagram of the brain Description automatically generated u. Enlarged=neurodegeneration  14. Gary matter: neurons layered and dense 15. White matter: long-range connections between regions A close-up of a brain Description automatically generated g. Subdivisions of the brain viii. Basal ganglia 16. Controls action and movements; reward and skill learning 17. Interacts with frontal lobe: excitatory and inhibitory v. inhibition issues: Huntington disease w. activation issues: Parkinson disease ix. Limbic system: memory and emotion 18. Hippocampus: learning and memory 19. Amygdala: processing threatening/ emotionally-salient stimuli 20. Olfactory bulbs: smell and smell-like based learning/emotions x. Diencephalon- thalamus/hypothalamus 21. Thalamus: processing relay between all the sensory organs (except smell) and cortex 22. Hypothalamus: regulate body functions/status such as activity level, eating, drinking, and sexual activity 23. Four F's: flighting, fleeing, feeding, and mating h. Midbrain and hindbrain xi. Midbrain 24. Superior colliculus: involved in quick, reflexive eye movements in response to stimuli x. Ex. bottom up processing xii. Hindbrain: cerebellum and medulla oblongata 25. Cerebellum: important for coordination and smooth execution of movements; motor learning; more cog. Processing 26. Medulla: connects to spinal cord; regulates low-level functions like breathing, swallowing, and heart rate  III. The neuron and neurotransmitters i. Basic structure xiii. Cell+dendrites+axons 27. Cell body: contains mechanisms to keep cell alive 28. Dendrites: receive information from other neurons 29. Axon: transmits information to other neurons through synapses Diagram of a nervous system Description automatically generated xiv. Number, size, and configuration can change depending on the neuron, but they all have the same basic structure xv. Gray matter: neurons densely packed/ layered connections 30. Neuron cell bodies xvi. White matter: connections between regions 31. Axons and support cells (glia) xvii.  j. Electrical and chemical signaling xviii. Action potentials: electrical pulses that allow neurons to communicate 32. Axon hillock: integrates electrical signal (up to threshold) 33. They travel from cell body down axon into another neuron 34. What happens after AP? y. Neurotransmitters release into synaptic cleft z. They bind to receptors on postsynaptic dendrites xxx. Creates a postsynaptic potential (PSP) in receiving dendrites 9. Two types: d. Excitatory: more likely to fire v. Ex. glutamate e. Inhibitory: less likely to fire vi. Ex. GABA IV. Electrophysiology and neural coding k. Electrophysiology: single/ multi cell recordings measure electrical activity of the brain (neurophysiology) xix. Used on nonhuman primates (invasive) xx. Cognitive/mental representation: the sense in which aspects of the external world are manifested in the mind 35. Stimulus response xxi. Neural representation: the way in which response properties of neurons and brain regions correspond to aspects of the world and mental representations 36. Stimulus neuron activation response xxii. Mechanisms for neural coding a. Rate coding: the greater rate f responses (AP) per unit time is used to code information xxxi. A graph of a number of objects Description automatically generated with medium confidence b. Temporal coding: greater synchrony of responses (AP) among neurons over time xxxii.  xxiii. Types of representations: 37. Local: all info about stimulus can be conveyed via one neuron c. A graph with red and white bars Description automatically generated 38. Fully distributed: all info about a stimulus is carried by all neurons d.  39. Sparse distributed: all info about a stimulus carried by a subset f neurons e. A graph of a graph showing the number of neurosurgeons Description automatically generated V. EEG and mental chronometry l. Electroencephalography (EEG): measurement of electrical fielding generated by the brain xxiv. Use electrodes on the scalp xxv. Non-invasive xxvi. Plotted using event related potentials xxvii. Physiological basis: relationship b/w EEG and neural activity 40. Measuring post-synaptic potentials 41. Dipole pair of positive/negative electrical charges over a short distance (has direction) 42. Scalp recordings cannot measure activity of one neuron f. Population of neurons generate an electrical field xxxiii. Parallel orientation  g. Measures gray matter 43. Positioning and localization of EEG on the scalp h. 10-20 system: electrodes with consistent names are placed at consistent locations on the skull i. EEG measures voltage at electrodes relative to reference electrode j. A diagram of a human head Description automatically generated k. EEG can localize brain activity on the scalp but not in the underlying cortex (poor spatial resolution, fast temporal resolution) 44. ERP waveform can be linked to cognition via the timing and amplitude of various peaks (troughs) that occur l. positive/negative direction is based on vertical axis (P/N) m. corresponding number is based on order or timing xxxiv. P1,2,3 xxxv.  n. Early/exogenous vs. late/endogenous components xxxvi. Early: \ 50. Functional: changes in brain activity q. Maps of dynamic brain activity based on assumption that neural activity produces localized and transient physiological changes in the brain xlii. Positron emission tomography (PET) 16. Radioactive tracer compound is injected for use as an exogenous contrast agent to measure a change in blood flow xliii. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) 17. Hemoglobin in blood has a small influence on magnetic properties that serves as endogenous marker of blood flow xliv. Both are hemodynamic methods 18. Measure dynamic changes in blood flow (an indirect measure of brain function) r. strengths of fMRI methods xlv. safe and non-invasive: no radiation or exogenous contrast required (can have multiple scans) xlvi. better tissue contrast: discrimination between white and gray matter clinical diagnosis xlvii. much better spatial resolution and whole-brain coverage xlviii. widely accessible and relatively inexpensive (clinical and research purposes) xlix. allows for both structural and functional imaging: 19. blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal can study brain r. Basic physics of MRI signal xxx. Extremely strong magnet xxxi. Targeted radio waves 51. Excite hydrogen protons xxxii. Sensitive antenna 52. Can track slight changes in protons after excitation wave which leads to MRI signal xxxiii. Computer and statistical software s. fMRI is collected from one slice of the brain at a time 53. each slice is composed of voxel (volumetric pixels)(each is 3D) s. voxel: fundamental unit of data within an fMRI 54. we can localize signal to a specific voxel (size about 3mm) t. physiological basis of fMRI xxxiv. blood hemoglobin and oxygen are the key to fMRI 55. neural activity increases the metabolic demands of neurons which requires oxygen 56. fMRI measures changes in blood flow 57. deoxygenated is paramagnetic distortions in magnetic field (BOLD contrast) 58. takes advantage of a stereotypical pattern that emerge with increased blood flow to an area: hemodynamic response function