Things idk Flashcards
(46 cards)
Load Theory
Attention is a flexible pool of resources. If the primary task is demanding (high perceptual load), there are no resources left to do anything else. If the primary task is easy (low perceptual load) there is leftover capacity for distraction
Split Brain Lab experiment
Showing the object to the left visual field, it will be projected to the right side of the brain. Since only the left side can produce speech, the participants would say they saw nothing. However once asked to reach and pick up the shape they saw, the left hand could do that very accurately.
How does emotional value influence level of distraction
Presented people with positive, negative and neutral images in an experiment. People prioritised things with emotional value, with negative having some and positive having more. When reward on the line, people override distractions (top down modulation) and distraction lowered significantly.
ESPS (Excitatory post-synaptic potential) - Glutamate
When glutamate triggers opening of ligand gated channels lets Na+ and Ca2+ ions into postsynaptic cell.
The cell depolarises and becomes more excited, more likely to fire
ISPS (inhibitory postsynaptic potential) - GABA
When GABA triggers opening of ligand gated channels, they let Cl- flow into the cell. The cell hyperpolarises, becomes inhibited and is less likely to fire
Reuptake
- The pre-synaptic cell membrane has neurotransmitter-specific “transporter” proteins that transport neurotransmitters back into the presynaptic cell. Allows cell to reuse neurotransmitter to conserve energy and lower amount of neurotransmitter that needs to be made]
How does Alcohol affect neurons
Alcohol acts as an agonist (for GABA) and an antagonist (for glutamate). Binds to specific part of GABA receptors to make them even more inhibitory, Impact: More GABAergic inhibition leads to sedation (drowsy) and anxiolytic effects (anxiety reducing)
Also binds to glutamate receptors preventing the glutamate from exciting the cell.
Substantia Nigra
High level of dopamine gives this area its dark colour - in patients with parkinsons, its pale
Parietal Lobe
Spatial attention, Sensory integration, Object location (where objects are in space), Numerical cognition, quantities
Blind spot
All the axons the carry visual info to the brain leave the eye as a single bundle called the optic nerve. At the point where the optic nerve leaves the eye is your blind spot (no photoreceptors)
Place Cells
Place cells are neurons in the hippocampus that activate when an animal is in a specific location in its environment. They help form a mental map of space.
Grid Cells
Grid cells are neurons that fire in a triangular pattern, helping animals understand their position in space and navigate through their environment.
3 ways brain differs to computer
Brain is analog & digital, has billions of neurons that work in parallel, and is much slower, more approximate, and better at left algorithmic tasks.
Computer is only digital, has a single CPU where all processing happens, and is fast, accurate, and good at algorithmic tasks,
What is at the precentral gyrus
primary motor cortex
What is at the postcentral gyrus
primary somatosensory cortex
Selective attention
The ability to prioritise some information while ignoring other information
Bottom up
Take from the world and bring into our perceptual system
Top down
Use knowledge to guide our perceptual processes
Episodic buffer
Mental workspace that holds together all parts of our current perception or though. keep track of current set of events we’re involved in
Generation effect
When people generate their own answer, they do a much better job than the things they passively read
Bahrick et al (1975), Tested memory using yearbook photos
See that information can be retain over long period of times, just need retrieval cues to access it
War of Ghosts findings
With repeated reproduction, narrative gist remained the same as first report
The stories got shorter, with culturally unfamiliar details omitted.
Normalisations - Details changed to match participant culture;
Schema Theory
Memories are not reproduced, they are reconstructed. We use schemas to understand and remember the world
General Learning Capacity
Children have highly developed pattern recognition systems
Allow children to form language categories through picking up on regularities, without resorting to innate language categories
