Lecture 19, 20, & 21 - Social Cognition, Technology, Education

Question 1

Which networks are critical for social cognition?

Answer 1

Default mode network and limbic network

Question 2

What is the anatomy of social cognition?

Answer 2

• TPJ (tempoparietal junction)
• Insula
• mPFC
• OFC (limbic)

Question 3

What does the TPJ do for social cognition?

Answer 3

Mentalizing

Question 4

What does the insula do for social cognition?

Answer 4

Interoception & empathy

Question 5

What does the mPFC do for social cognition?

Answer 5

Sense of self

Question 6

What does the OFC (limbic) do for social cognition?

Answer 6

Emotional processing

Question 7

What network of the brain lights up when thinking about self?

Answer 7

“Me”-dial prefrontal cortex which is in the DMN

Question 8

What area of the brain is engaged for judgements about similar people (ex. Liberals thinking of liberals)?

Answer 8

DMN mPFC

Question 9

What network in the brain lights up when thinking of dissimilar others (ex. Liberals thinking of conservatives)?

Answer 9

Control DMPFC

Question 10

What are mental states?

Answer 10

Beliefs, feelings, desires, intentions, knowledge

Question 11

What is the theory of mind?

Answer 11

The ability to understand and take into account other individual’s mental state or of “mind-reading”

Question 12

What area of the brain is involved in the theory of mind?

Answer 12

TPJ

Question 13

What is the Sally-Anne Theory of Mind task?

Answer 13

Sally puts a marble in a bucket, sally leaves, Anne transfers the marble to a drawer, sally reenters, sally will look in the bucket for the marble

Question 14

How do you non-human primates display ToM?

Answer 14

They understand other’s false beliefs & other’s goals, shown by the experiment where the human would expect something to be under a box but it was switched and the primate points it to the right box

Question 15

What has increased activity in non-human primates during social prediction?

Answer 15

Medial Superior temporal sulcus

Question 16

What does an inhibitory TMS to the right TPJ do?

Answer 16

Alters moral judgements

Question 17

What are symptoms of autism?

Answer 17

• qualitative impairments in social interaction
• qualitative impairments in communication
• restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities

Question 18

What are some neural differences in people with autism?

Answer 18

• RTPJ is not selective for theory of mind judgements
• In youth, decreased lateralization is correlated with increased ASD severity
• People with autism have smaller corpus callosums

Question 19

What is higher in neurotypical men than in men with autism?

Answer 19

Fractional anisotropy

Question 20

What is believed to mediate empathy?

Answer 20

Mirror neurons

Question 21

How does vision of disgust and a disgusting odorant relate?

Answer 21

The activation of the brain in the insula overlaps

Question 22

What does empathy for pain involve?

Answer 22

The affective but not sensory components of pain

Question 23

How does expertise affect empathy?

Answer 23

Experts have a much lower reaction to seeing a needle than controls do

Question 24

What is associated with antisocial behavior/psychopathy?

Answer 24

Low empathy

Question 25

How much activation is there in the Amygdala and insula in psychopaths when thinking of others’ perspective?

Answer 25

Very low or even negative

Question 26

What does orbitofrontal damage lead to?

Answer 26

Deficits in social awareness, hypersexuality, rudeness, boring-ness

Question 27

What is TMS FDA approved to treat by quieting certain brain areas?

Answer 27

- MD - migraine pain - OCD - smoking cessation

Question 28

What is Neurofeedback?

Answer 28

A technique that allows you to manipulate your own brain signals and you get a feedback signal

Question 29

How is neurofeedback commonly done?

Answer 29

With EEG and fMRI

Question 30

What are the ethical problems with neurotech?

Answer 30

- effectiveness (many are Mickey Mouse) - safety - privacy (should our thoughts be available to everyone?) - personhood ( what does it mean to be a person?) - distributive justice (who is able to access this tech?) - agency (losing agency of life due to neurotech) - coercion

Question 31

What are the two domains that have been studied for cognitive enhancement?

Answer 31

Memory and cognitive control

Question 32

What are some of the methods for cognitive enhancement?

Answer 32

- pharmacology - cognitive training - neurofeedback - stimulation

Question 33

What do pharmacological enhancements usually modulate?

Answer 33

Neurotransmitters

Question 34

What did the halo experiment show?

Answer 34

Video game training participants had much better attention

Question 35

What did training with neurofeedback (trying to increase your BOLD signal) do for training cyber defense tasks?

Answer 35

Neurofeedback group improved much more

Question 36

What does entorhinal stimulation do to Spatial memory?

Answer 36

IMPROVES spatial memory

Question 37

What does hippocampal stimulation do to spatial memory?

Answer 37

Nothing for spatial memory

Question 38

We only use 10% of our brains: T or F?

Answer 38

F, we use 100% 100% of the time

Question 39

We are either left brained or right brained: T or F?

Answer 39

F

Question 40

Listening to music makes you smarter: T or F?

Answer 40

F, it doesn’t do anything for stress however it can improve mood and reduce stress, also learning to play an instrument has wide amounts of benefits

Question 41

We learn best when instruction matches our “preferred learning styles”: T or F?

Answer 41

F, studies show everyone learns better from visual information

Question 42

It is possible to become fluent in a language even after a “critical period”: T or F?

Answer 42

T, younger makes it easier but its still possible for adults to learn a language

Question 43

What do perineural nets do?

Answer 43

Prevent connections between neurons, constant brain stimulation can support microglia to remove these

Question 44

What is the nACC critical for?

Answer 44

Reward

Question 45

What does stress do to brain cells in the hippocampus?

Answer 45

Prevents formation of new brain cells in the hippocampus and reduce their size and reduce learning

Question 46

What does stress do to brain cells in the amygdala?

Answer 46

Increase cell size in the amygdala and increases fear

Question 47

What are the impacts of stress on the brain (in short term)?

Answer 47

- impaired emotion regulation (MPFC & amygdala) - impaired motivation circuitry (MPFC & VTA) - impaired attention network (LPFC and Parietal lobe)

Question 48

What can protect against stress?

Answer 48

Meditation, it improves attention, and improves connectivity between many parts of the brain

Question 49

What does sleep loss do when it comes to emotion?

Answer 49

Impairs emotional regulation, it increases irritability as it weakens the connections between amygdala and PFC

Question 50

What is sleep important for? Two things

Answer 50

Memory and creativity

Question 51

How can you improve your sleep?

Answer 51

- consistent sleep schedule - restrict caffeine - limit media use at bedtime - reduce noise

Question 52

What can exercise do to hippocampal growth?

Answer 52

Increases it

Question 53

What thing increases in the brain when you exercise?

Answer 53

BDNF (brain derived neutrophic factor)

Question 54

What does regular exercise do for attention in kids?

Answer 54

Increases attention

Question 55

What does dopamine boost?

Answer 55

Brain plasticity

Question 56

Boosting motivation boosts ___

Answer 56

Brain plasticity