Cognitive Neuroscience Key Terms

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  • Created by: Psych951
  • Created on: 26-04-19 19:00
Sensation
Process by which sense organs picks up sensory stimuli and transmits them to the brain
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Perception
Process by which sensory information is actively organised and interpreted in the brain
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Absolute threshold
Smallest quantity of physical energy/stimulus that can reliably be detected
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Difference threshold
Smallest difference in stimulation that can be reliably detected when comparing two stimuli
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Signal detection theory
Divides detection of sensory signals and differences in signals into sensory process and decision process
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Retina
Neural tissue at the back of the eye containing receptors called rods and cones
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Blind spot
Lack of receptors at the optic nerve preventing sensory signal detection
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Cochlea
Contains basilar membrane on which hair cells are located which respond to sound pressure and transduce vibration into neural signal
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Bottom-up processing
Individual components are combined to form complete perception
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Gibson's theory of perception
Sensory information is sufficient to perceive the world, and perception is for acting on the world
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Top-down processing
Application of previous experience and conceptual knowledge (use cognition) to create perception
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Law of Prägnanz in perception
Individuals organise their experience in as simple, concise, symmetrical and complete manner as possible
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Relative perception
Senses respond to the environment around the stimulus we perceive
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Object recognition
Unconscious process of comparing perception with internal representation; Link features to form a whole percept that triggers a memory to aid recognition/identification of the object
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Ventral pathway for recognition
Occipito-temporal pathway specialised for object perception and recognition
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Dorsal pathway for recognition
Occipto-parietal pathway specialised for spatial perception and configurations between objects
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Visual agnosia
Object recognition deficit impairing ability to identify and grasp objects and make form judgements
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Apperceptive agnosia
Poor recognition for unusual views or part-separated objects, usually associated with right-sided parietal lesions which prevents integration of spatial information
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Integrative agnosia
Unable to integrate features into parts or parts into whole object due to damage to ventral and temporal areas
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Associative agnosia
Unable to recognise objects or assign meaning/function to them
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Prosopagnosia
Facial recognition deficits associated with fusiform gyrus lesions
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Fusiform gyrus
Area in temporal lobe showing a preference for faces, and includes a further specialised face identification area called the fusiform face area
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Perceptual environmental distraction
Changes to the environment that changes the sensory information received about two identical objects
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Template matching
Compare sensory input to copies stored in memory and find a match
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Prototype matching
General features are represented in memory for comparison to incoming percept
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Feature analysis
Deconstruct an object into features which are represented in the brain, and are activated individually by incoming information to form comparison template
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Recognition by components
Objects are composed of volumetric primitives (geons) which have a unique configuration of viewpoint-invariant properties
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Gestalt principles
Laws of perceptual grouping within perceptual system are robust to aid recognition
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Image-based object recognition
Objects are represented as a collection of viewpoint-specific local features (view-dependent frame of reference)
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Structural-description model of recognition
Represents objects as configurations of 3D parts (view-invariant frame whereby structural information is extracted about components)
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Structural encoding of faces (Bruce & Young 1986)
Facial features are processed in isolation and then put together, thus facial recognition relies on configuration
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Holistic processing
: Faces are recognised through spatial configuration of facial features, whereas inverted faces or objects are recognised by parts
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Valentine's multidimensional face space
Many axes of facial properties and each place can be placed at precise point along continuum, and so the centre of the axis is a prototype to compare other faces for recognition
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Facial adaptation
Exposure biases facial perception by fatiguing one set of neurons and activating the opposing neurons, supporting idea of prototype in ‘face space’
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Normative decision theories
Decisions aim to make the ideal choice e.g. utility maximisation
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Descriptive decision theories
Explains reasons for actual choices e.g. subjective utility theory focuses on subjective not absolute valuations
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Prospect theory of decisions
A descriptive theory that proposes decisions are made based on unequal weightings of gains and losses
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Decision framing effect
Framing the question or outcomes involved in decisions can impact the final choice
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Asymmetric decisions
Providing an option that nobody wants shows the appeal of other decisions
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Affective/intuitive decision system
Fast, effortless system which uses cognitive heuristics and emotions to make context and platform dependent decisions (mesolyombic system e.g. striatum and reward areas)
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Analytic reasoning decision system
Slow, effortful system that uses attentional resources to make logical and rational judgements to reach decisions (temporo-parietal system i.e. executive function)
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Heuristics
Cognitive shortcuts that use information such as availability, representativeness and stereotypes to come to make fast judgements
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Group polarisation
People are likely to become more extreme in their judgements when in a group
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Groupthink
Make decision based on value of group cohesiveness about logic
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Persuasion
Attempt to change people’s judgements to affect their decisions
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Nudge theory
Small features in environment build on cognitive shortcuts and social influences to shape behaviour
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Goal-orientated behaviour
Behaviour we expect to offer a reward, and thus requires valuation of stimuli and outcome
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Cognitive control
Use perception, knowledge and goals to bias selection of actions by overriding automatic responses
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Valuation
Assign subjective value to stimulus or action by computing values on comparable scales (uses ventromedial pre-frontal cortex e.g. orbitofrontal cortex)
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Primary reward
Valuable due to direct benefits for survival (purely affective/primitive response e.g. uses amygdala)
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Secondary reward
Valuable due to association with primary gains (value shaped by subjective experience)
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Dimensions of value
Internal and external components of value to inform subjective worth e.g. pay-off, context, preference, temporal discounting
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Dopamine prediction error
Dopamine signal represents difference between obtained and expected reward
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Making a choice
Integrate valuations to make a final choice, using lateral PFC and parietal cortex, and any other task-specific areas
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Model-based vs. model-free decisions
Agent may have internal representation of worlds and uses it to evaluate actions, or may use input-output mapping
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Reasoning
Process to make a decision
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Damasio's somatic markers
Changes in physiological arousal are a manifestation of an emotional reaction (marker) which guide decisions
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Cognitive control deficits
Patients with frontal lobe damage show disruption to normal cognitive and executive function e.g. unable to plan and consider consequences
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Selective attention
Mechanisms that enable processing of relevant information out of many
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Covert attention
Direct visual attention without moving eyes
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Biased competition model (Desimone & Duncan 1995)
Information in same receptive field of a neuron competes for control of the firing of that neuron, and so attention reduces this load on the brain by selecting information
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Attention as a distraction
Reduce processing of information by decreasing attention to it
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Reflexive spatial attention
Efficient processing of stimulus following exogenous cues are followed by inhibitory aftereffect poor reaction time to ensure attention is not always distracted
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Visual search
Mechanisms to help search efficiency due to fighting control of reflexive and voluntary attention
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Features integration theory of visual search
Single search is faster than conjunctional search because elementary features can be analysed preattentively and in parallel, whereas conjunction requires feature integration and so must be done sequentially
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Neglect
Attention deficit that leads to reduced processing speed and arousal, with an attention bias to contralesional visual field and thus only perceive half of visual field (linked to right inferior parietal lobe)
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Extinction (in neglect)
Fail to perceive or act on stimulus in contralateral visual field when stimuli are presented on both sides
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Attentional bias model of neglect
Left and right hemisphere naturally bias to opposite visual field and inhibitory connections keep attention in balance, however lesion causes opposite bias to dominate
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Balint's syndrome
Posterior parietal and occipital bilateral damage leads to deficit to perceive multiple objects in space
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Attentional control network
Suggests top-down network for attention whereby goal-directed activity controls attention (sources of attention e.g. frontal, temporal and parietal cortex) – Site areas are bottom-up processes involved in sensory and perceptual processing where modul
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Dorsal attention network (spatial)
Goal-directed signals from frontoparietal network primes visual system to prefer one spatial location over another
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Ventral attention network (non-spatial)
Temporoparietal junction produces warning signal to unexpected events by interrupting attentional state when novel information is received from dorsal system
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Process by which sensory information is actively organised and interpreted in the brain

Back

Perception

Card 3

Front

Smallest quantity of physical energy/stimulus that can reliably be detected

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Smallest difference in stimulation that can be reliably detected when comparing two stimuli

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Divides detection of sensory signals and differences in signals into sensory process and decision process

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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