Neurons & Action Potential
Name the 5 parts of a neuron.
dendrite, cell body, axon, myelin sheath, synapse
Name the lobes that make up the cerebral cortex.
- frontal lobe
- temporal lobe
- parietal lobe
- occipital lobe
What 6 structures make up the anatomy of the eye?
- lens (focuses light to put image on retina)
- pupil (hole that light comes through)
- iris (controls how much light comes through)
- cornea (clear protective layer)
- retina (back layer of the eye that contains photoreceptors)
- fovea (focus point on the retina)
What is prosopagnosia?
“Face blindness” – can recognize a face as a face, but can’t recognize whose face it is.
- Caused by damage to the fusiform gyrus
- Impairs face recognition, but not object recognition
Explain the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
Fixed mindset: belief that intellectual abilities are fixed
Experiencing challenges and putting in effort implies one lacks talent and won’t succeed; goal is to look smart and avoid challenges
Growth mindset: belief that intellectual abilities aren’t fixed
Putting in effort, trying new strategies, seeking help when appropriate; goal is to learn
what is the name of elizabeth's dog?
Samsung
Localization of function: certain regions of the brain are more activated for certain functions
Lateralization of function: certain functions reside only in the left or right hemisphere of the brain
What is the path of visual information from the eye to the brain?
retina --> optic nerve --> thalamus --> occipital lobe --> ventral/dorsal pathway
what did the see?
my scrootnoo :(
What is a correlational study and what is one limitation of it?
Type of study that looks at the relationship between 2 or more variables.
Limitation: can't establish causality (directionality problem, 3rd variable problem)
- unidirectional
- needs to cross threshold to start
- consistent in magnitude (all-or-none)
- refractory period
Name the 4 subcortical structures that make up the limbic system.
- thalamus (relays incoming sensory info)
- amygdala (critical to emotion, also involved in memory)
- hypothalamus (behavior, serving biological needs)
- hippocampus (critical to learning and memory)
The dorsal pathway is the ___ pathway and it is occipital to _____ and the ventral pathway is the ___ pathway and it is occipital to ____.
"where"; parietal lobe; "what"; temporal lobe
Name 2 effects of experience on face recognition.
- Increased activation in FFA when experts are looking at what they are experts on
- We are born with ability to differentiate all faces but we then specialize in the faces we see most (other-race effect)
Indirectly measuring mental processes and representations
Experimental rigor of behaviorism + introspection of unobservable processes
Explain what "fire together, wire together" means.
Plasticity as a result of experience:
Frequently used neural connections get stronger and are more likely to reoccur. Connection between neurons strengthens at the synapse via long-term potentiation.
What is damaged in a patient with Capgras syndrome?
Amygdala, frontal lobe, connection between temporal lobe and amygdala
What is lateral inhibition?
When retinal cells are stimulated, they inhibit the activity of neighboring retinal cells.
- Retinal cells enhance abrupt changes in luminance which creates a contrast map, allowing for edge detection
What found in the Greeble Study?
(I feel like I can word that better but brain isn't working sorry)
Participants who were trained to recognize Greebles show activation in the fusiform face area when they look at both Greebles and faces.
What were the 4 observations that contributed to the cognitive revolution?
- Debate on language acquisition
- Mental maps in rats (Tolman’s study)
- Gestalt principles of perception
- Role of schema in memory
A class of drugs called "agonists" facilitate the activity of neurotransmitters. How might an agonist drug work?
- Increases the amount of receptor sites at the postsynaptic neuron
- Blocks the reuptake of neurotransmitters by the presynaptic neuron
- Increases the amount of neurotransmitters released into the synapse
What is severed in split brain patients and which hemisphere is associated with language abilities?
- corpus callosum
- left hemisphere
Damage of which pathway results in optic ataxia?
Bonus: How does optic ataxia effect an individuals recognition of objects?
Dorsal pathway
They can recognize objects, but can't act toward them
- Face recognition is viewpoint dependent
- Faces are processed as a whole rather than feature by feature
- Fusiform gyrus shows selective activity for face recognition
What are the 3 methods used to study the brain?
Lesion studies: studying individuals suffering from brain damage to understand the association between diff parts of the brain and diff functions
Neuroimaging: precise 3D pictures of the brain (structural & functional imaging)
Electrical recording: records electrochemical activity of neurons (EEG & single cell recording)