Neurophysiology of cognition

Question 1

components of cognition

Answer 1

• language
• executive fxning (fwd planning, anticipation, reasoning)
• social cognition
• decision-making
• memory
• visuospatial perception

Question 2

language

Answer 2

• language conceptional system
• language mediational system
• language implementation system
• spoken language

Question 3

language implementation system- involves?

Answer 3

(for speaking)

• wernicke’s area
• arcuate fasciculus
• broca’s area
• facial area of motor cortex

Question 4

mediational system

Answer 4

• temporal ,parietal, frontal assoc areas

- relays info to the language implementation system

Question 5

conceptional system

Question 6

language- babies

Answer 6

• <6 months- “language universalists”- recognize all sounds
• 6-9 months- recognize specific language sounds of their native language- “drop” the use of phenomes that dont occur in their language
• complete by 1 yr- babbling starts to convert to true spoken language

Question 7

prefrontal cortex- 2 fxns

Answer 7

• planning of complex motor actions- interacts w parieto-temporal-occipital assoc area and all levels of motor cortex
• carrying out of thought processes- hippocampus (working memory); judgment- mult areas (limbic)

Question 8

pre-frontal cortex- 3 roles in integrating the inputs

Answer 8

• reward processing (orbitofrontal)- w the amygdala- link new stimulus to a reward
• integration of bodily signals
• top down regulation (esp delayed gratification)

Question 9

Social cognition- 2 components

Answer 9

-emotion comprehension (recognition)
-theory of mind
(ability to fxn in interpersonal and social situations)

Question 10

Emotion comprehension

Answer 10

• ability to infer the emotional state of another from observable info, such as facial expression
• we look at eye, nose, mouth (triangle)

Question 11

Emotion comprehension- step 1- perception of facial expressions

Answer 11

-superior temporal sulcus and fusiform gyrus

Question 12

Emotion comprehension- step 2- bring in emotional component

Answer 12

• ant cingulate cortex
• prefrontal cortex
• amygdala

Question 13

damage to amygdala

Answer 13

(directs the gaze to the triangle when looking at human faces)
-spends very little time looking at the eyes of another, and doesnt scan the face

Question 14

mirror neuron system

Answer 14

• ability of recognize emotion in another’s face

- neurons fire both when you do something and when you see someone else do that same action

Question 15

mirror neurons

Answer 15

• post sector of superior temporal sulcus- provides visual input
• post mirror neuron system- identifies the motor action
• ant mirror neuron system- identifies the goal of the action

Question 16

circuit for imitating interacts with limbic structures via?

Answer 16

-insula

Question 17

perception of prosody- steps

Answer 17

• perception of prosody
• primary auditory cortex- required for sound processing- pitch, loudness, and other characteristics of sound
• info sent to right post superior temporal sulcus- begin to piece together the meaning of loudness, pitch, etc
• judgment of emotional stimulus is then determined in frontal cortex

Question 18

Theory of mind

Answer 18

-ability to understand the mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions) of others and to appreciate how these differ from our own

Question 19

theory of mind- pathways

Answer 19

• core- amygdala and connections to medial temporal lobes and orbitofrontal areas
• accessory:
• language- scaffold for ToM (in younger ppl)
• executive fxning (frontal lobes)

Question 20

decision making- stimulus encoding system

Answer 20

• evaluates the evidence available in making the decision- predicts the consequences of actions
• orbitofrontal cortex
• ventromedial prefrontal cortex
• striatum

Question 21

decision making- action selection system

Answer 21

• learns and encodes the subjective value of the results

- anterior cingulate cortex

Question 22

decision making- expected reward system

Answer 22

• predicts the expected reward
• basal ganglia
• amygdala
• insular cortex
• intraparietal cortex

Question 23

decisions w explicit (known) risks

Answer 23

-relies on stimulus encoding system!!

Question 24

decisions w ambiguous risks

Answer 24

-relies on the expected reward system!! and eventually on the action selection system!!