Brain Foundations
The primary goal of cognitive neuroscience is this.
What is to understand how brain structure and activity give rise to cognition?
The myelin sheath around axons has this effect on signal transmission speed.
What is increasing/speeding up signal transmission?
These photoreceptors in the retina are responsible for color vision and high visual acuity.
What are cones?
This brain structure coordinates and refines voluntary movements but does NOT initiate them.
What is the cerebellum?
In most right-handed individuals, this hemisphere is typically dominant for language processing.
What is the left hemisphere?
This philosopher proposed that the pineal gland was the "seat of the soul."
A: Who is René Descartes?
Action potentials follow this principle, meaning they don't vary in amplitude with stimulus strength.
What is the all-or-nothing principle?
The fovea contains a high density of these photoreceptors, optimized for color vision and high acuity
What are cones?
This structure is primarily responsible for communicating between the two cerebral hemispheres
What is the corpus callosum?
This brain area, when damaged, results in non-fluent speech production but relatively preserved language comprehension.
What is Broca's area?
This famous patient, studied by Paul Broca, could only say the word "tan" after brain damage.
Who is Monsieur Tan? (A.K.A. Mr. Leborgne)
This glial cell type is responsible for myelination of axons in the CNS.
What are oligodendrocytes?
This phenomenon explains why we see edges and contrasts more clearly, as lateral connections in the retina enhance edges.
What is lateral inhibition?
Neural ________ describes the phase during development when excess synapses are eliminated.
What is (synaptic) pruning?
The arcuate fasciculus is a structure connecting these two brain regions.
What are Broca's area and Wernicke's area?
Wilder Penfield created the homunculus using this technique during surgery.
What is electrically stimulating the cortex?
These cells regulate the nutrient supply to neurons and help maintain the extracellular ion environment.
What are astrocytes? (glial cells)
This term refers to the frequency-based organization of auditory processing in the cochlea and auditory cortex.
What is tonotopy?
Together, these two structures make up the Central Nervous System (CNS).
What are the brain and the spinal cord?
This theoretical approach argues that cognitive processes are not confined to the brain but are shaped by bodily experiences and sensorimotor interactions.
What is embodied cognition?
This debate concerns whether mental processes can be reduced to brain activity.
What is dualism vs. materialism?
This learning principle states that neurons that are simultaneously active strengthen their synaptic connection through molecular mechanisms.
What is Hebbian learning?
Unlike all other senses, this sensory system bypasses the thalamus and projects directly to limbic structures.
What is olfaction?
Sensory input influences motor output in a continuous feedback cycle, creating which loop? (the _____ loop)
What is the sensorimotor loop?
Patient H.M. retained the ability to learn new skills like mirror drawing but couldn't remember learning them. This demonstrated intact memory of this type.
What is procedural (or implicti) memory?