Quiz 6

Question 1

what can neuroscience methods accomplish

Answer 1

• learn brain structure
• learn where brain functioning is
• learn when processes occur
• learn how brain regions are connected/work together
• learn consequences of brain damage and how brain adapts

Question 2

what are the classes/categories of methods

Answer 2

• anatomical imaging
• recording blood flow
• recording electrical activity
• observing behavior following lesion/disruption
• computational modeling of processes

Question 3

what is neuropsychology

Answer 3

• study of patients with lesions to the brain
• collect anatomical image of brain damage extent
• test patient on behavioral tasks
• infer that a region is typically involved in a task if behavior is impaired
• in humans we can only test natural lesions caused by accidents and disease (not so in animals)

Question 4

what are the two purposes of neuropsychology

Answer 4

1) functional specialization: knowing what area does what, “what functions are disrupted by damage to region X?”
2) distinguishing processes: knowing if two processes are different or the same, “can one function be impaired while another is spared and vice-versa? are these distinct building blocks of cognition?”

Question 5

what is disrupted when the hippocampus is damaged

Answer 5

• explicit/declarative memory (conscious)
• object memorization is affected not object perception
• therefore, the hippocampus is responsible for explicit/declarative memory

Question 6

explain is explicit memory different than implicit memory example

Answer 6

1) study “house” “dog” “truck”
2) view word stems “tr___”

explicit: say word from list
implicit: say word that comes to mind

hippocampus damage: perform same on implicit task as control group, but perform worse on explicit task

Question 7

what is single dissociation

Answer 7

• damage to region X -> impairment on task A
• patients vs. control patients
• damage to region X -> impairment on task A, but task B is spared
• functional specialization: region X is responsible for task A
• dissociating processes: task A represents a distinct process from task B

Question 8

what is a limitation of single dissociation

Answer 8

maybe explicit and implicit memory are part of same memory system, but explicit/conscious memory represents a very strong implicit memory

• perhaps intact implicit memory in the patient is just a ceiling effect
• maybe participants are just doing well on an easy task and not on a hard task (if the tasks aren’t the same)

Question 9

what is double dissociation

Answer 9

• damage to region X -> impairment on task A, damage to region Y -> impairment on task B (hippocampus: explicit memory, basal ganglia: implicit memory)
• damage to region X -> impairment on task A and task B is spared, damage to region Y -> impairment on task B and task A is spared
• functional specialization: region X is responsible for task A and region Y is responsible for task B
• dissociating processes: task A represents a distinct process from task B

Question 10

explain the “what” and “where” pathways (visual pathways)

Answer 10

• dorsal stream “where”: spatial processing
• ventral stream “what”: object recognition
• removal of the “what” pathway: intact landmark task, problematic object discrimination task (temporal lobe)
• removal of the “where” pathway: intact object discrimination task, impaired landmark task (parietal lobe)

Question 11

what are the limitations of lesion research

Answer 11

• lesions are different in each person and caused by different factors
• individuals sustaining injury/disease also differ on important factors
• not within-subject study (only know how patients behaves after injury)
• don’t know how region interacts with others in serving a task/behavior
• lesion studies may underestimate the effect of involvement of the region-patients compensate with different strategy or brain plasticity