Lecture 31- Calculation, estimation, prediction

Question 1

What else apart from social cognition does our brain do? (3)

Answer 1

-much of our conscious mental activity relates to abstraction 1. analysis how things work 2. calculation and estimation 3. planning -we are good at calculation and estimation in comparison to other animals -we relentlessly plan (daydreaming or detailed plans on how much you’re spending for lunch etc.)

Question 2

What are the three divisions of the prefrontal cortex?

Answer 2

1. Medial
2. Orbital
3. Dorsolateral

Question 3

What are the general functions of the three divisions of the prefrontal cortex?

Answer 3

1. medial and orbital (phineas damage)= more social cognition and empowering them through the connection to the amygdala and hypothalamus 2.dorsolateral not so much social

Question 4

What are the clinical tests to check for damage to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex?

Answer 4

1. Working memory: Remembering a phone number, remembering and applying rules (count backwards from 100 in steps of 7) 2. Memory of the future: delayed gratification, plans, goals. Temporal structuring of behaviour,prefrontal cortex gives us memory of the future, goals we want to do

Question 5

What happens to a person with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex damage?

Answer 5

-Distractability, impulsivness, perseverative errors

Question 6

Does the damage to prefrontal cortex affect language?

Answer 6

-“language is the servant of the intellect” -we are not talking about the capacity of language -broca’s and Wernicke’s -also does not include frontal eye fields= it directs what we want to look at

Question 7

What was the experiment with eye tracking and attention?

Answer 7

-the eye tracking of what you look at -the search with people with prefrontal damage= they don’t focus on anything much= salience -we learn people’s emotional state by looking at their eyes and mouth

Question 8

What are the higher order inferences? (4)

Answer 8

1. catgorization, multiple regression, principle components 2. the meaning of proverbs 3. word similarity, word meaning definition 4. estimates

Question 9

What are the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex functions?

Answer 9

-delayed gratification -suppression -the stroop test is indicative of dorsolateral prefrontal function

Question 10

What is perseveration?

Answer 10

-the repetition of a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence or cessation of a stimulus, usually caused by brain injury or other organic disorder

Question 11

What are some other functions of the prefrontal cortex?

Answer 11

1: Problem solving 2: Rule following 3: Flexibility 4: Perseveration-indication of prefrontal damage

Question 12

What does the cart test show?

Answer 12

-test the ability to change categorisation strategy -have the ability to shift the rule -simple test of the ability of prefrontal cortex= to re-evaluate the strategy if not working etc.

Question 13

What does the frontal pole do?

Answer 13

• temporal structuring
• have to have interim solution
• the ability to plan for an end product
• not just for the next step
• associated with = frontal pole!!!
• this is where the temporal planning happens
• 10 is the pole

Question 14

Are the subtle architectural changes in the prefrontal cortex indicative of functional regions?

Answer 14

-the subtle changes of architecture but in prefrontal not functional divide according it -only the medial and ventral and the dorsolateral part of the prefrontal cortex division, not more

Question 15

What is self-reference and which animals have it?

Answer 15

-humans, chimps, dolphins -the ability to recognise oneself as oneself (e.g. in the mirror)

Question 16

What is the Theory of Mind?

Answer 16

-but one thing not demonstrated in any other animal apart from us -theory of mind, putting yourself in someone’s shoes -to know what another person knows -Has the evolution of advanced social competencies – such as conceptualising the motivations of others - given rise to uniquely human brain functions? -No compelling evidence of “Theory of Mind”.= the capacity to know what someone else will know

Question 17

How do we think?

Answer 17

-what do we think about? - lot of it about what we want, understanding how things work, prediction and control -curiosity is a defining characteristic of complex animals, seen to an extraordinary degree in humans

Question 18

What drives exploration and innovation? (theories)

Answer 18

• is it the need to find an advantage in the grim struggle for survival or is it the bounty of excess -commonly assumed that competition drives innovation, the reverse may be true: competition produces stasis, only complacency drives change

Question 19

What is SIRT1 and what does it do?

Answer 19

• a metabolically regulated enzyme sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) -modulates monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) levels to link mood and behaviour to energy comsumption -variability in the SIRT1 gene contributes to human susceptibility to anxiety disorders -monoamines (adrenaline, dopamine…)

Question 20

What are the functions of SIRT1?

Answer 20

1: Improves healthy ageing and protects from metabolic-syndrome associated cancer 2:Activates MAO-A in the brain to mediate anxiety and exploratory drive 3:SIRT 1 also control the levels of monoamines= these only modulate, slightly (the adrenaline, dopamine) alsomt endocrine change in the brain

Question 21

What happens when SIRT goes up/down?

Answer 21

• more sirt1 then less exploratory, cautious, etc. -you will not explore = when underfed
• if well fed= should be exploratory, and procreation etc. -makes sense as animals which are heavily predated should not be exploring etc.

Question 22

What is our most influential way of thinking?

Answer 22

-Science -modeling= what we do when we plan and analyze, model of how things work in our head -we model when just looking - adjust the information how do we think collectively=science -it resists the authority of the individual, advocacy of individual’s appliance of common sense

Question 23

What is the purpose and mechanism of thinking?

Answer 23

-understanding and problem solving

Question 24

How do we think?

Answer 24

1: Empirical methods 2: Deductive methods 3: Strategies, restrategising- in the minds eye -scientific thinking: empirical thinking (observe, search for patterns, rules) -deductive= how we interpret things -science is an evolving model of how things work, restrategising constantly, model and remodel