Cognitive Neuroscience

Question 1

What does single cell recording measure?

Answer 1

The electrical activity of individual neurons or small clusters of neurons.

Question 2

Why is single cell recording used?

Answer 2

For high precision, clinical problem detection (e.g., tumors), and direct insight into neuronal responses.

Question 3

Why is single cell recording not commonly used?

Answer 3

It is highly invasive, poses ethical concerns, and has limited generalisability due to few participants.

Question 4

What does “cerebral gymnastics” refer to?

Answer 4

Increasing brain capacity by enhancing neuronal connections.

Question 5

What is a key advantage of MRI?

Answer 5

It is non-invasive, painless, and does not use ionising radiation.

Question 6

What kind of resolution does MRI have?

Answer 6

High spatial resolution, very low temporal resolution (~2 seconds).

Question 7

What happens when the MRI magnetic field aligns hydrogen protons?

Answer 7

The protons line up in the same direction.

Question 8

What does the radiofrequency pulse do in MRI?

Answer 8

It gives protons extra energy and knocks them out of alignment.

Question 9

What happens when protons realign in MRI?

Answer 9

They release energy, which is detected and used to build an image.

Question 10

How does MRI detect different tissues?

Answer 10

Tissues release different signals based on water content and proton behavior.

Question 11

What does mental activity lead to in fMRI?

And what is BOLD

Answer 11

Increased blood flow and changes in oxygenation levels (BOLD signal).

BOLD = blodd oxygen level dependent - is change in level of blood and oxygen in response to neural activity

Question 12

What does BOLD stand for

Answer 12

Blood Oxygen Level Detection

Question 13

Top Spinning analogy

Answer 13

explains how protons in a magnetic field behave

Question 14

explain the 4 steps of the top spinning analogy

Answer 14

1.Hydrogen atoms align in a magnetic field.
2. Radio waves cause the atoms to wobble.
3. Removing the radio waves allows atoms to realign and emit signals.
4. A computer maps these signals into an image.

Question 15

What does subtraction logic in fMRI involve?

Answer 15

Statistically subtracting rest condition from task condition to assess activation.

Question 16

What does fMRI measure?

Answer 16

Brain activity over time via BOLD (blood oxygen level-dependent) signals.

Question 17

How does fMRI resolution compare to MRI?

Answer 17

fMRI has good spatial but poor temporal resolution.

Question 18

What does EEG measure?

Answer 18

Electrical activity from the scalp.

Question 19

What is EEG’s strength and weakness?

Answer 19

High temporal resolution, poor spatial resolution.

Question 20

What are the EEG frequency bands?

Answer 20

Delta (1–3 Hz), Theta (4–7 Hz), Alpha (8–12 Hz).

Question 21

What is Hz

Answer 21

Hertz
- measured as cycles per second

Question 22

How are EEG electrodes laid out?

Answer 22

Odd numbers = left side
Even numbers = right
Z = center/midline.

Question 23

What do EEG letters stand for?

Answer 23

F = Frontal, C = Central, P = Parietal, T = Temporal, O = Occipital.

Question 24

What is an ERP?

Answer 24

Event related potentials

An averaged EEG response time-locked to a specific stimulus.

Question 25

What does the “P”, “N” and "#" indicate in ERP?

Answer 25

P = Positive peak, N = Negative peak, # = the number = time in ms.

Question 26

example: What is N2 in ERP?

Answer 26

A negative peak occurring ~200ms after the stimulus.

Question 27

What happens to novelty in ERP with more learning?

Answer 27

The novelty response diminishes.

Question 28

What does DTI measure?

Answer 28

Diffusion of hydrogen in water molecules to infer brain structure.

Question 29

What is fractional anisotropy (FA)?

Answer 29

Fractional anisotropy (FA) is a measure in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) that quantifies the degree of directional diffusion of water molecules in a tissue A measure (0–1) of water diffusion directionality in white matter.

Question 30

What does FA = 0 indicate?

Answer 30

Isotropic diffusion (unrestricted, all directions). Lower FA values indicate that water molecules are diffusing more randomly, potentially suggesting disorganization or damage to fiber tracts.

Question 31

What does FA = 1 indicate?

Answer 31

Anisotropic diffusion (restricted, one direction). High FA values indicate that water molecules are more likely to move along a specific axis, suggesting well-organized fiber tracts

Question 32

What does DTI not directly measure?

Answer 32

White matter tracts; it infers their presence via water diffusion.

Question 33

What did the Braille study show? and what do the findings indicate?

Answer 33

FA increases in left SI/SII and thalamus after Braille learning. indicates that there is neuroplasticity in the brain - brain changes with learning

Question 34

What do simple cells in the visual cortex respond to?

Answer 34

Lines at specific angles.

Question 35

What do complex cells respond to?

Answer 35

Lines moving in particular directions.