2011 Spring HIP Lecture03 CognitiveNeuroscience

7/29/2019 2011 Spring HIP Lecture03 CognitiveNeuroscience

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2011-spring-hip-lecture03-cognitiveneuroscience 1/30

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 2

Chapter 2: Cognitive

Neuroscience




Basic Unit of Brain: Neuron




Neurotransmitters




Methods to Study the Brain

• Postmortem studies• Animal Studies

•Electrical Recordings

• Static Imaging Techniques

• Metabolic Imaging




Postmortem Studies

• Identify disorder and then examine after death

– Young, Holcomb, Yazdani, Hicks & German

(2004)• Found depression is associated with a greater

number of nerve cells in the Thalamus being

devoted to emotional regulation• Supported idea that structural abnormality maylead to depression




Animal Studies: In Vivo

• Monitor activity of a single neuron




Animal Study: Single NeuronMonitoring

• Disterhoft & Matthew (2003) – Young versus old rabbits compared in learning of eyeblink conditioning

– Hippocampal pyramidal neurons were monitored

– Typically aging animals cannot learn the task – Metrifonate, galanthamine, and CI-1017 injected

into the aging rabbits

– This led aged rabbits to learn as quickly as youngcontrols




EEG-Human Studies

Dehaene-Lambertz, Pena,

M., Christophe, & Landrieu

(2004)

Examined the languageabilities of infants using EEG

Electroencephalograph Research Example




Positron Emission Tomography(PET)

• Radioactive material is injected or inhaled

• Participant is then scanned to producean image of the brain’s activity




Magnetic Resonance Imaging

• Strong magnetic field passed through the skull

• Uses the detection of radio frequency signals produced by displaced radio waves in a magnetic

field

• Creates a detailed anatomical image of the brain




Functional magnetic resonanceimaging (fMRI)

• fMRI imaging takes a series of images of the brain in quick succession and thenstatistically analyzes the images for

differences among them• Brain areas with more blood flow have beenshown to have better visibility on MRI

images• Better visibility is thought to be correlated with brain activation




Anatomy of the Brain




Anatomy of the Brain

• Forebrain – Cerebral cortex

– Basal ganglia

• Motor movement

– Limbic system

– Thalamus – Hypothalamus




Anatomy of Limbic System

• Amygdala

– Involved in anger, &

fear

• Hippocampus – Is important in the

formation of memories – Korsakoff’s syndrome




Anatomy of Limbic System• Thalamus

– Relay sensoryinformation to thecerebral cortex

• Hypothalamus – Important to

metabolic behaviors,

eating, drinking,sexual behaviors, and regulating emotions




Function of Limbic System

• Controls Mood and attitude

• Stores highly

charged emotional

memories

• Controls appetiteand sleep cycles




Midbrain

• Location

– The midbrain extends from the pons to the lower portion of thalamus

• Reticular activating system

– Controls respiration, cardiovascular function,digestion, alertness, and sleep

• Brain Stem

– Vital in basic attention, arousal, and consciousness




Hindbrain

• Medulla Oblongata

– Breathing, swallowingand digestion

• Pons

– Relay station

• Cerebellum

– Motor co-ordination, posture, and maintaining balance.




Cerebral Cortex Principles

• Contralaterality

– Right side of brain controls left side of body

– Left side of brain controls right side of body

• Corpus Callosum – Neural fibers connecting left and right lobes

– Allows communication between right and left sides of the brain




Cerebral Cortex Principles

•Localization of function

– Specific mental processes are correlated

with discrete regions of the brain

• Hemispheric Specialization

– Each lobe of the brain has specialized functions




Evidence for Specialization of Left lobe

• Wernicke’s area

– Speaks fluently but nonsensically

– Not coherent, contains lexical and

grammatical errors• Broca’s area

– Can understand everything said

– Patient can only respond in monosyllabic

words




Split Brain Studies

• Sperry (1960 - 1998)

– First to study patients with a split corpus

callosum

– Two lobes function independently• Gazzaniga (1980’s- current)

– Two lobes function complimentarily




Split Brain Methodology

• Corpus callosum severed

• Techniques used test each half-brain




Hemispheric Specialization

• Left Lobe – Language functions (speech, song)

– Logical thought (writing, logic)• Right Lobe

– Spatial-relation functions

– Perception of rhythm, abstract or intuitive

thought




Split Brain Demonstration

What would a split brain patient say they saw?

What would a split brain patient point to with their left

hand?




Lobes of the Cerebral Cortex




Lobes of the Cerebral Cortex•Frontal

– Reasoning & Planning

•Parietal

– Touch, Temperature, Pain, & Pressure

•Temporal

– Auditory & Perceptual processing

•Occipital – Visual processing




Brain Disorders

• Stroke

– Flow of blood to brain is disrupted – Damage depends on severity and location




Brain Disorders

• Brain Tumors

– Benign versus Malignant – Detected by CAT scan or MRIs




Brain Disorder

• Head Injuries

– Closed head versus Open head injuries – Loss of consciousness is a primary

symptom

Documents

2011 Spring HIP Lecture03 CognitiveNeuroscience