Week 2 - Sensation

Question 1

What does ‘levels of analysis’ refer to

Answer 1

the idea that a topic can be studies in multiple ways

Question 2

What did the Nerve net theory propose?

Answer 2

that signals could be transmitted throughout the net in all direction

Question 3

What is a Neuron?

Answer 3

A network of continuously interconnected nerve fibres (as contracted with neural networks, in which fibers are connected by synapses)
Considered to be continuous - like a highway without stops or traffic lights

Question 4

What did Camillo Golgi discover?

Answer 4

Golgi is also credited with the discovery of two types of sensory receptors in muscle tendons

Question 5

What is Ramon y Cajal known for?

Answer 5

He was the first to report with precision the fine anatomy of the nervous system

Question 6

What is a Cell body?

Answer 6

Part of a cell that contains mechanisms that keep the cell alive. In some neurons, the cell body and the dendrites associated with it receive information from other neurons

Question 7

What is a dendrite?

Answer 7

Structures that branch out from the cell body to receive electrical signals from other neurons

Question 8

What is another name for an Axon?

Answer 8

Nerve fibres

Question 9

What are nerve fibres known as?

Answer 9

Axons

Question 10

What is an axon (nerve fibre)?

Answer 10

Part of the neuron that transmits signals from the cell body to the synapse at the end of the axon

Question 11

What is a synapse?

Answer 11

The space between the end of an axon and the cell body or dendrite of the next axon

Question 12

What are neural circuits?

Answer 12

Group of interconnected neurons that are responsible for neural processing

Question 13

What is the role of a receptor?

Answer 13

Specifialized neural structures that respond to environmental stimuli, such as light, mechanical stimulation, or chemical stimuli

Question 14

What are Microelectrodes?

Answer 14

Small wires that are used to record electrical signals from single neurons

Question 15

What is a Recording electrode?

Answer 15

a very thin glass or metal probe that can pick up electrical signals from single neurons

Question 16

Used with a recording electrode, what is a Reference electrode?

Answer 16

Used to measure the difference in charge between the two

Question 17

What is Resting potential?

Answer 17

The difference in charge between the inside and outside of a nerve fiber when the fiber is at rest and no other electrical signals are present

Question 18

What is a Nerve impulse?

Answer 18

When an electrical response is propagated down the length of an axon (nerve fiber)

Question 19

What is an action potential also known as?

Answer 19

A Nerve impulse

Question 20

What is a Neurotransmitter?

Answer 20

A chemical that is released at the synapse in response to incoming action potentials

Question 21

Define ‘The Mind’

Answer 21

A system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals

Question 22

What is the ‘Principle of neural representation’?

Answer 22

Everything a person experiences is based on representations in the persons nervous system

Question 23

What is the ‘Principle of neural representation’?

Answer 23

Everything a person experiences is based on representations in the persons nervous system

Question 24

What are Feature detectors?

Answer 24

Neurons that respond to specific visual features, such as orientation, size, or the more complex features that make up environmental stimuli

Question 25

What is the role of the Experience-dependent plasticity mechanism?

Answer 25

A mechanism that causes an organism's neurons to develop so they respond best to the type of stimulation to which the organism has been exposed

Question 26

What is the Visual cortex?

Answer 26

An area in the occipital lobe (lower back part of the brain) that receives signals from the eyes

Question 27

What is the role of the Temporal lobe?

Answer 27

The lobe on the side of the brain that contains mechanisms responsible for language, memory, hearing and vision

Question 28

What is Hierarchical processing?

Answer 28

Processing that occurs in a progression from lower to higher areas of the brain

Question 29

What does a Sensory Code refer to?

Answer 29

How neural firing represents various characteristics of the environment

Question 30

Define Specificity coding

Answer 30

The representation of a specific stimulus by the firing of neurons that respond only to that stimulus

Question 31

What is an example of specifity coding?

Answer 31

the signaling of a person's face by the firing of a neuron that responds only to that person's face

Question 32

What is Population coding? Key word - population

Answer 32

Neural representation of a stimulus by the pattern of firing a large number of neurons

Question 33

What is sparse coding? Key word - sparse

Answer 33

Neural representation of a stimulus by the pattern of firing a large number of neurons

Question 34

What is the 'Localisation of function'?

Answer 34

Location of specific function in specific areas of the brain. For example. Areas have been identified that are specialized to process information involved in the perception of movement, form, speech and different aspects of memory

Question 35

What is the Brocas area?

Answer 35

An area in the frontal lobe associated with the production of language. Damage to this area causes Brocas aphasia (speech issues - slow, laboured, ungrammatical)

Question 36

What is the Wernicke's area?

Answer 36

Area in the temporal lobe associated with understanding language. Damage to this area causes wernicke's aphasia (difficulty understanding language, and fluent, grammatically correct but incoherent speech)

Question 37

What is the Parietal lobe?

Answer 37

The lobe at the top of the brain that contains mechanisms responsible for sensations caused by stimulation od the skin and also some aspects of visual information

Question 38

What is the condition Prosopagnosia?

Answer 38

Condition caused by damage to the temporal lobe that is characterized by an inability to recognize faces

Question 39

What is the Fusiform face area (FFA)?

Answer 39

An area in the temporal lobe that contains many neurons that respond selectively to faces