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COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY:Brains of Dead People, The Neuron

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Cognitive Psychology ­ PSY 504
VU
Lesson 03
COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
Cognitive Neuro-psychology describes cognition at the hardware level to use the computer
metaphor. The neural architecture of cognition is the basis on which the edifice of the software
level is erected.
At this level it is possible to explain many visual and auditory phenomena. Higher level cognitions,
however, remain a mystery.
Neuropsychological Methods:
Brain-injured Humans
The study of brain injured humans has greatly enriched our understanding of human cognition. It
has allowed psychologists to design split brain experiments which made us aware of the
differences between the right and the left hemispheres of the brain.
Brains of Dead People
The study of brains of dead people has also added to understanding of cognition but to a limited
extent. The brains of people with certain brain disorders were studied to see if any traces of the
illness can shed light on normal brain functioning.
Neuro-imaging
X-Rays have also contributed to our understanding of brain processes. But even more revealing
have been Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and functional MRI (fMRI) scanning techniques.
The MRI technique is quite intrusive and yields relatively limited information. The fMRI, however,
allows live brain scans and is also less intrusive and radiation free. But it still remains a hardware
level understanding of the brain and can never substitute a software level description.
Animal Studies
A really controversial method of studying the neural processes is to study live animals. This
method is controversial because these animals are subjected, for example, to brain surgeries
where parts of the brain are removed to see how they would function. The conditions in which
these animals are kept have also come under question. No doubt, a lot of useful information has
been obtained by studying animals but the ethical controversy remains.
The Neuron
There are 70 billion neurons in the brain. A neuron is a specialized cell that transmits and stores
information of different kinds. The cell body contains a nucleus at its centre which governs the
functions of the neuron. There are tiny branches connected to the cell body called dendrites
which bring information to the neuron from other neurons. On the other side neuron has a branch
called the axon which transmits information from the neurons to the muscles.
The synapse
The neuron is not directly connected to other neurons. A fluid called the neurotransmitter moves
between the dendrites from one neuron and the axon of the other neuron. The gap between the
neuron which contains the neurotransmitter is called the synapse. It is the synapse which
transmits the electric impulse generated in one neuron to the other neurons.
Organization of the Brain
The brain can be divided into four lobes: Occipital lobe, frontal lobe, temporal lobe and parietal
lobe. In each lobe are performed certain specialized functions.
Several attached pictures describe different features of the neuron, synapses, and brain
organization. Study these pictures to get a broad idea of how the brain structure is organized.
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION:Historical Background
  2. THE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH
  3. COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY:Brains of Dead People, The Neuron
  4. COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY (CONTINUED):The Eye, The visual pathway
  5. COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY (CONTINUED):Hubel & Wiesel, Sensory Memory
  6. VISUAL SENSORY MEMORY EXPERIMENTS (CONTINUED):Psychological Time
  7. ATTENTION:Single-mindedness, In Shadowing Paradigm, Attention and meaning
  8. ATTENTION (continued):Implications, Treisman’s Model, Norman’s Model
  9. ATTENTION (continued):Capacity Models, Arousal, Multimode Theory
  10. ATTENTION:Subsidiary Task, Capacity Theory, Reaction Time & Accuracy, Implications
  11. RECAP OF LAST LESSONS:AUTOMATICITY, Automatic Processing
  12. AUTOMATICITY (continued):Experiment, Implications, Task interference
  13. AUTOMATICITY (continued):Predicting flight performance, Thought suppression
  14. PATTERN RECOGNITION:Template Matching Models, Human flexibility
  15. PATTERN RECOGNITION:Implications, Phonemes, Voicing, Place of articulation
  16. PATTERN RECOGNITION (continued):Adaptation paradigm
  17. PATTERN RECOGNITION (continued):Gestalt Theory of Perception
  18. PATTERN RECOGNITION (continued):Queen Elizabeth’s vase, Palmer (1977)
  19. OBJECT PERCEPTION (continued):Segmentation, Recognition of object
  20. ATTENTION & PATTERN RECOGNITION:Word Superiority Effect
  21. PATTERN RECOGNITION (CONTINUED):Neural Networks, Patterns of connections
  22. PATTERN RECOGNITION (CONTINUED):Effects of Sentence Context
  23. MEMORY:Short Term Working Memory, Atkinson & Shiffrin Model
  24. MEMORY:Rate of forgetting, Size of memory set
  25. Memory:Activation in a network, Magic number 7, Chunking
  26. Memory:Chunking, Individual differences in chunking
  27. MEMORY:THE NATURE OF FORGETTING, Release from PI, Central Executive
  28. Memory:Atkinson & Shiffrin Model, Long Term Memory, Different kinds of LTM
  29. Memory:Spread of Activation, Associative Priming, Implications, More Priming
  30. Memory:Interference, The Critical Assumption, Limited capacity
  31. Memory:Interference, Historical Memories, Recall versus Recognition
  32. Memory:Are forgotten memories lost forever?
  33. Memory:Recognition of lost memories, Representation of knowledge
  34. Memory:Benefits of Categorization, Levels of Categories
  35. Memory:Prototype, Rosch and Colleagues, Experiments of Stephen Read
  36. Memory:Schema Theory, A European Solution, Generalization hierarchies
  37. Memory:Superset Schemas, Part hierarchy, Slots Have More Schemas
  38. MEMORY:Representation of knowledge (continued), Memory for stories
  39. Memory:Representation of knowledge, PQ4R Method, Elaboration
  40. Memory:Study Methods, Analyze Story Structure, Use Multiple Modalities
  41. Memory:Mental Imagery, More evidence, Kosslyn yet again, Image Comparison
  42. Mental Imagery:Eidetic Imagery, Eidetic Psychotherapy, Hot and cold imagery
  43. Language and thought:Productivity & Regularity, Linguistic Intuition
  44. Cognitive development:Assimilation, Accommodation, Stage Theory
  45. Cognitive Development:Gender Identity, Learning Mathematics, Sensory Memory