nervous system Flashcards
(40 cards)
perception
emphasises beginning and endings
- because we read it first and last
- primacy and recency
Relevance
Matters
It is how important it is to your life
Depends on preferences, habits, etc.
Easier to form memory with something you connect with
False memories
when you bring back memory it always changes
Subjectivity
Memory is subjective
It’s how an individual’s brain changes in response to experience
Memory palace
Ancient technique to improve memorisation by ‘placing’ memories into imagined rooms
Synaptic Plasticity
Brain is a network of neurons connected through synapses
Most forms of memories are changes in connections between brain cells
- The ability of synapses to change - synaptic plasticity
- How memory is stored - synaptic plasticity
- Each neuron forms thousands of synapses (incoming, outgoing)
- Each synapse can become stronger or weaker, depending on its past history - synaptic plasticity
- Why brain’s configuration stays in the past (we remember past to remember future) - synaptic plasticity
Episodic Memories
Connection between simultaneous parts of experience
- connections in hippocampus
Skills, Habits, Addiction
Connection between action and result
Synapses
Physical manifestations of ‘connections’ that underlie different types of memory
- changes in synaptic configuration and strength account for most forms of memory
if synapses are not used they are lost, esp during sleep
- During REM sleep, brain is operating at full capacity but disconnected from reality = dreaming
- Dreams are stimulations of experience that strengthen useful connections and associate newly acquired memories with new contexts
- if not REM sleep it is deep sleep
Language
Connection between sound and meaning and connection betweem ,eamomg
Experience
The flow of signals between input and output
During experience: some synapses strengthened
During deep sleep: all synapses weakened - enables memories to be stored without saturating the storage capacity of the brain
Function of sleeo
memory processing
Memory
How experience changes the routing of flow
Signals
Strength changes between synapses so signals change directions and move through strongest ones
In most brains
Only bottom up stream of information
Behaviour
↑
Brain
↑
Senses
In human brains
Both bottom up stream of information and top down stream
Top Down Flow Functions
- Interpretations based on incomplete information
e.g. seeing face when seeing : 。 - Filling in the blanks
e.g. peripheral vision - Keeping perception steady
e.g. adjusting colour balance - Filtering out distractions
e.g. cocktail effects - Binding different senses
e.g. spiderman always dancing on the boat
Human perception/consciousness
bottom up stream + top down stream
Mind
Data ↑ ↓ Prediction
External World
2 streams of information that together form our perception
bottom up stream
data, sensory input
top down stream
prediction, interpretation
daylight
white and gold dress
artificial light
blue and black dress
Cerebral cortex
Gray matter/Surface of rain
Most of what we know about cortex is from: Wilder Penfield
Penfield’s experiment
- Penfield stimulates the patients cortex in specific points
- Patient describes their sensation
- A map. of representations (correlations with reality) is established
- Bigger area in cortex = bigger area inbody
cortex = map of representations of reality
- abstract concepts also map to specific locations
