Week 6 revision content

Question 1

d’ (d-prime)

Answer 1

DISCRIMINATION - A measure of perceptual sensitivity, indicating how well an individual can distinguish between signal and noise. Higher values = better discrimination.

Question 2

c (criterion)

Answer 2

Reflects decision bias or strategy—whether someone tends to say “yes” or “no” when uncertain. Influenced by factors like expectations or consequences of errors.

Question 3

Hit

Answer 3

Correct identification of a present signal (True Positive).

Question 4

Miss

Answer 4

Failure to detect a present signal (False Negative).

Question 5

False Alarm

Answer 5

Incorrect identification of a signal when none is present (False Positive).

Question 6

Correct Rejection

Answer 6

Correct identification that no signal is present (True Negative).

Question 7

ROC Curve (Receiver Operating Characteristic

Answer 7

Graphs hit rate vs. false alarm rate to illustrate sensitivity.

Question 8

Corpus Callosum

Answer 8

A large bundle of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres, enabling interhemispheric communication.

Question 9

Left Hemisphere:

Answer 9

Controls motor and sensory functions of the right side

Dominant for language production (Broca’s area) and comprehension (Wernicke’s area)

Involved in logical, analytical, and verbal tasks

Question 10

Right Hemisphere:

Answer 10

Controls left side of body

Specializes in spatial awareness, facial recognition, musical ability, and emotional processing

Question 11

Split-brain patients:

Answer 11

Result from surgical severing of the corpus callosum (often for epilepsy treatment)

Exhibit unique behaviour (e.g., inability to name objects in left visual field)

Question 12

Single Dissociation:

Answer 12

Damage impairs function A but not B; may suggest—but not confirm—functional independence.

Question 13

Double Dissociation:

Answer 13

Stronger evidence—proves that two functions rely on different neural systems.

Question 14

Primary Visual Cortex (V1):

Answer 14

Lesions cause cortical blindness; may retain blindsight, i.e., ability to detect motion or emotion without awareness.

Question 15

V4

Answer 15

Responsible for color perception. Damage causes achromatopsia (color vision loss).

Question 16

V5/MT:

Answer 16

Involved in motion perception. Damage results in akinetopsia—difficulty seeing objects in motion.

Question 17

Ventral Stream (“What Pathway”):

Answer 17

Passes from occipital to temporal lobes

Associated disorders:
- Apperceptive Agnosia: Impaired object perception
- Associative Agnosia: Impaired object recognition
- Prosopagnosia: Face blindness (often linked to fusiform gyrus)

Question 18

Dorsal Stream (“Where/How Pathway”):

Answer 18

Projects to parietal lobe
Related impairments:

• Optic Ataxia: Poor hand-eye coordination
• Simultanagnosia: Inability to perceive more than one object at a time

Question 19

Biased Competition Model of Attention

Answer 19

Basic Idea: Attention selects stimuli through competition—resources are finite.

Question 20

Bottom-Up (Exogenous) Factors:

Answer 20

Driven by stimulus features: brightness, contrast, movement, novelty

Question 21

Top-Down (Endogenous) Factors:

Answer 21

Influenced by task goals, expectations, and memory

Question 22

Neural Basis of Biased Competition Model of Attention

Answer 22

Attention enhances neural activity for selected stimuli and suppresses others (e.g., in visual cortex)

Question 23

Central Executive

Answer 23

Directs attention, integrates info, and manages the other subsystems

Question 24

Working Memory:

Answer 24

Temporary, limited-capacity storage for active processing

Question 25

Phonological Loop:

Answer 25

Verbal/auditory info (Broca’s area, left parietal)

Question 26

Visuospatial Sketchpad:

Answer 26

Visual/spatial imagery (right hemisphere)

Question 27

Episodic Buffer:

Answer 27

Multimodal integration; links to episodic LTM

Question 28

Episodic memory

Answer 28

Personal events; hippocampus-dependent

Question 29

Semantic

Answer 29

Facts/concepts; stored in anterior temporal lobe

Question 30

Procedural

Answer 30

Motor skills; relies on basal ganglia/striatum

Question 31

Classical Conditioning:

Answer 31

Emotional/physiological associations; cerebellum and amygdala

Question 32

Phoneme

Answer 32

Smallest sound unit that changes word meaning (e.g., /b vs. /p/)

Question 33

Morpheme

Answer 33

Smallest meaningful unit in language (e.g., "un-," "cat")

Question 34

Syntax

Answer 34

Rules governing sentence structure

Question 35

Rule-based Learning:

Answer 35

Conscious use of grammatical rules; depends on hippocampus and prefrontal cortex

Question 36

Statistical Learning:

Answer 36

Unconscious tracking of input patterns; striatum and other basal ganglia structures

Question 37

Sensitive/Critical Periods

Answer 37

Biological windows for optimal learning (e.g., early childhood for phoneme discrimination)

Question 38

ionotropic receptors

Answer 38

(fast, direct ion flow)

Question 39

metabotropic receptors

Answer 39

(slow, involves second messengers like cAMP)

Question 40

FATE:

Answer 40

Formation: Neurotransmitter synthesis Action: Triggered by AP and Ca²⁺ influx Transmission: NT crosses synapse Elimination: Via reuptake (e.g., serotonin) or enzymatic breakdown (e.g., acetylcholine)

Question 41

Hebb’s Rule:

Answer 41

Cells that fire together wire together"