Lecture 9: Cognitive Functions

Question 1

What is lateralization?

Answer 1

Division of labor between the two hemispheres

Question 2

Information is exchanged between hemispheres through which areas?

Answer 2

– The corpus callosum
– The anterior commissure
– The hippocampal commissure
– A few other small commissures

Question 3

What is the corpus callosum?

Answer 3

The corpus callosum allows each hemisphere of the brain access to information from both sides.

Question 4

What is the left hemisphere?

Answer 4

The left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex connects to skin re- ceptors and muscles mainly on the right side of the body

Question 5

What is the right hemisphere?

Answer 5

The right hemisphere connects to skin receptors and muscles mainly on the left side.

Question 6

In most humans, the left side is specialized for what?

Answer 6

Language

Question 7

What are the visual connections to the hemispheres?

Answer 7

■ Each hemisphere of the brain
gets input from the opposite half of the visual field.

Question 8

What are the auditory connections to the hemispheres?

Answer 8

■ Each ear sends the information to both sides of the brain
■ Brain areas must compare input from both ears for localization
■ Each hemisphere pays more attention to the contralateral ear

Question 9

What might happen if the corpus callum is damaged?

Answer 9

1. If language centers are on the left side, the right side (which controls the left hand) may struggle to name objects seen only by the left eye
2. Trouble integrating visual information from both fields of vision

Question 10

What is the anterior commissure?

Answer 10

The anterior commissure is a small but important bundle of nerve fibers in the brain that also helps with communication between the left and right sides

Question 11

What is the Hippocampal commissure?

Answer 11

This commissure allows for communication between the two hemispheres of the brain, specifically regarding the processing of memory-related information.

Question 12

What is Broca’s Area?

Answer 12

A region in the frontal lobe of the brain that is primarily involved in speech production and language comprehension. It is typically located in the left hemisphere.

Question 13

What is Wernicke’s Area?

Answer 13

This area plays a key role in understanding both spoken and written language.

Question 14

What is the Planum Temporale?

Answer 14

The Planum temporale is thought to play a role in auditory perception, language comprehension, and semantic processing. It is connected to other areas involved in language, such as Wernicke’s area.

Question 15

What is the Competition between the hemispheres?

Answer 15

There can be competition between them for control over certain cognitive tasks. This is most evident in split-brain patients, who have had the corpus callosum severed to treat severe epilepsy.

Question 16

How did language evolve?

Answer 16

■ Language may have evolved from communication by gestures.
– A child’s ability to communicate by gestures predicts the onset of spoken
language.

■ Brain-based language development theories
– By-product of overall brain development (unlikely)

Question 17

What are the Two Areas important for Language?

Answer 17

1. Broca’s area
2. Wernickes’s area

Question 18

What is Broca’s Aphasia?

Answer 18

■ Serious impairment in language production
– Damage limited solely Broca’s area results in only minor or brief language impairment

■ Slow and awkward with all forms of language communication.
– Includes sign language of the deaf

■ English speakers seldom use pronouns, prepositions, helping verbs, similar words.
■ May omit grammatical words and endings because speech is a struggle

Question 19

What is Wernicke’s Aphasia?

Answer 19

Characterized by impaired language comprehension and ability to remember object names.
– Recognition of items is often not impaired; ability to find words is impaired.
- Difficulty understanding speech, writing and sign language

Question 20

What was The Brain of Broca’s First Patient?

Answer 20

(1861)
– Victor Leborngne
– Chronic language impairment; only able to say “tan”
– Damage to left, posterior frontal lobe

■ Despite being limited to saying “tan”, Leborgne was able to effortlessly sing popular French anthems..

Question 21

Who is Charles Karsnur Mills (1904)?

Answer 21

Found early treatments for aphasia through singing. His work focused on the idea that music could serve as a bridge to help people with aphasia.

Question 22

What is Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT)?

Answer 22

The therapy uses singing and melody to help patients produce words and phrases when they have difficulty with normal speech.

–> Each target sentence is “composed” so that the
inflection pattern, rhythm, and stresses are similar to the speech prosody of that sentence

Question 23

What is the Multistep Process of MIT?

Answer 23

1. Humming while tapping hand
2. Intoning sentence while tapping hand
3. Unison intoning while tapping
4. Unison intoning while fading
5. Immediate repetition
6. Time delay repetition (6 seconds)
7. Time delay probe question

Question 24

What is the recycling hypothesis?

Answer 24

It suggests that the brain repurposes or “recycles” pre-existing neural circuits that were initially evolved for one function and adapts them for a new, culturally specific task, such as reading or writing.

Question 25

What are the 3 core areas in the reading brain?

Answer 25

1. Phonological processor - processes sound 2. Phonological assembly - connects letters to sounds 3. Orthographic processor - automatic word recognition

Question 26

What is Dyslexia?

Answer 26

Specific reading impairment – More common in boys – High heritability though no common genetic variant has a large effect – Occurs in all languages – Difficulty converting words into sounds

Question 27

What was Hoeo et al., findings?

Answer 27

For children with dyslexia: More activation during phonological awareness task predicted future reading gains.

Question 28

What is The Math Brain?

Answer 28

Similar to reading, math is a relatively recent cultural invention, so the brain didn’t evolve specifically to do math.

Question 29

What are the core regions in the math brain?

Answer 29

1. The frontal cortex is involved in calculating 2. The parietal cortex is involved in number processing 3. The temporal cortex is involved in learning math facts 4. The occipital and temporal cortex is involved in visual number forming

Question 30

What is Dyscalculia?

Answer 30

Specific Math Impairment.. from the dysfunction of parietal lobe – Intraparietal sulcus ■ Root cause – Magnitude Representation – Mapping Deficit

Question 31

What are the Overactivation of emotion regions in math anxiety?

Answer 31

– Amygdala (fear) – Insula (pain)

Question 32

What brain activity occurs during consciousness that does not occur during unconsciousness?

Answer 32

In deep sleep or under anesthesia, the brain still shows some activity (e.g., sensory input might reach the cortex), but: The information doesn’t get integrated or broadcast across the brain So, you’re not aware of it.

Question 33

What is Flash Suppression?

Answer 33

A method in measuring consciousness.. White dots are flashing in different orientations ■ Strong response to the flashing dots decreases awareness of the steady dot and the brain’s response to it.

Question 34

What is masking?

Answer 34

A brief visual stimulus is preceded, followed, or both by longer interfering stimuli.

Question 35

What is Binocular Rivalry?

Answer 35

Slow and gradual shifts of the eye sweeping from one side to another.. In this case, Brain activity corresponds to reports of which stimulus is salient.

Question 36

What is Consciousness in the Cerebral Cortex?

Answer 36

Cerebral cortex has long-range reciprocal connections enabling each area to influence many others and receive feedback from the others.

Question 37

What are the 2 forms of attention?

Answer 37

1. top down 2. bottom up

Question 38

What is Top Down?

Answer 38

A top-down process is intentional. You might be looking for someone you know in a crowd, and you check one face after another to find the one you want. ■ Prefrontal & Parietal Cortex

Question 39

What is bottom up?

Answer 39

A bottom-up process depends on the stimulus. If you are sitting on a park bench, gazing off into the distance, when suddenly a deer runs past you, it grabs your attention.

Question 40

What are the key brain areas in top down?

Answer 40

DLPFC (Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex) – involved in planning and goal-setting. Parietal Cortex – important for directing attention in space. Visual Cortex – receives feedback from these regions to focus visual processing.

Question 41

What are the key areas in bottom up?

Answer 41

Eyes detect a stimulus. Signal passes to the.. Thalamus – a relay station that filters incoming information. Then goes to the Primary Visual Cortex where conscious processing may begin.

Question 42

How can we study attention using stroop tasks?

Answer 42

When there is an incongruent mismatch between the word for a colour and the font colour it is printed in. So people say the colour of ink first.

Question 43

What is Anesthesia?

Answer 43

Loss of consciousness under anesthesia. – Marked by decreased overall brain activity – Decreased overall activity → decreased dopamine levels connectivity between cerebral cortex and thalamus – Initial recovery of consciousness involves reconnecting these areas ■ Later, increased activity in the cortex

Question 44

What are vegetative state individuals?

Answer 44

People in a vegetative state alternate between sleep and greater arousal, but even in their most aroused state they show no purposeful behaviours.

Question 45

What was the “Cyberball” game (Williams et al., 2000)?

Answer 45

The "Cyberball" game (Williams et al., 2000) is a psychological experiment designed to study social exclusion and its effects on the brain and behavior.

Question 46

Key findings of the “Cyberball” game?

Answer 46

1. Psychological Effects: Participants reported feelings of rejection, distress, and low self-esteem even though the game was simple and the exclusion was subtle. Showed how deeply humans crave social connection. 2. Neuroscience Findings (later fMRI studies): Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was activated during exclusion — a brain area also involved in processing physical pain. Suggests that social pain = physical pain at a neural level

Question 47

What is Oxytocin?

Answer 47

Both men and women release it during sexual activity.

Question 48

What happens when men were given oxytocin in a nasal spray?

Answer 48

– Men viewed photos of their significant other and other people. ■ Rated their significant other much higher when given oxytocin – Men in a relationship stood further away from an attractive woman when given oxytocin. ■ Enhances fidelity

Question 49

What does Oxytocin increase?

Answer 49

1. Conformity to the opinions of the in-group but not the out-group. 2. Trust between in-groups but not out-groups. 3. Attention to possible dangers 4. Heightens reactions to threats especially from strangers.

Question 50

What is the current hypothesis of oxytocin?

Answer 50

Oxytocin increases attention to social cues