Franz Joseph Gall suggested that surface of the head depends on mental skills. He is one of the firsts linking the brain to cognition. Can modern phrenology be seen as modern cognitive neuroscience?Yes:Functional differentiation of the brainNo:Functions are defined by thorough experimentationMultidisciplinary researchNot just size of brain areasBrodmann was the first to map the cortex based on cell types. More detailed maps followed later. The structure of the brain has a reason: function. You can measure brain activity using Action potentials (electrophysiology)local field potentials (electrophysiology)Electromagnetic field at scalp (EEG/MEG)Manipulating neural activity (TMS/tDCS)Blood oxygenation (fmri)Brain elements: neurotransmitter & hormones. You can add pharmacology and food supplements. Brain computation: making models of the brain to improve applications (facebook, google).Cognitive neuroscience defines steps/networks in information processes by using neuroscientific methods. EEG (ElectroEncephaloGraphy):Measures the differences in voltage across the scalpReflects post-synaptic potentials (PSP): difference in voltage along axons. Both inhibitory and excitatory pspReflects local field potential  not a single action potential but a summation of many neuronsWhen is the measurement good?:Mass activitySynchronized activityClose to the scalp32-64 electrodes are enough to measure time effects. Advantages EEG:Temporal characteristics ERP’sEEG measures the voltage potentials and MEG measures the magnetic field. MEG is similar to EEG, but better localization and most sensitive to activity originating from sulci. EEG = relatively cheap, measures more neurons. MEG = expensive, better localizationEEG & MEG same temporal resolution, MEG better spatial resolution. So slow waves = low arousalFast waves = high arousalGamma (32Hz>) = superlearningBeta (16-31Hz) =...

Single unit recording: record action potentials from individual neuronsDifferences with EEG: AP are much more localized and the AP are the output activity from the neuronTwo types of recording:Intracellular recording: the electrode is placed within the actual cell+ you can see what an individual cell is doing, - it is challengingExtracellular recording: electrode in outer cellular spaceHow do we study unit activity with respect to a stimulus or cognitive task?Record raw electrical field inside brainSignal conditioning (filtering)‘Spike sorting’Analyze ‘event’ epochs (stimulus or behavior) create raster plots for analyses per unitRasterplot + peristimulus time histogram (PSTH): Multielectrode recordings: many recordings. Includes high density multi-electrode recordingPurpose: more data (reduction of # of experimental animals) and better data (because parallel recording of multiple units tell you something about how they function in a system). So you can study local circuits. Local waves are related: they travel across the cortex. Many start frontally and end up in the medial temporal lobe. Sound is compressed air. Single harmonic sounds = pure tone, single frequency, sinusoidal. Complex harmonic sounds: Outer ear: amplifies sound, particularly at the frequency range between 2-5 kHz, a range that is important for speech perception. Helps in front-back localization. Middle ear: transduces air sound waves in outer ear to fluid sound waves in inner ear. Inner ear: Transduction of sound into neural activityBasilar membrane: vibrates, properties change along the length so the resonance differs. So every spot will prefer to vibrate at a specific frequency. Cochleogram: excitation of basilar membrane by sound as a function of time and place. There are ion channels in the hair tips  are sensitive to movement. When the hair moves the gate will open and will depolarize and a neurotransmitter will be released...

Attention is selective. Selective attention refers to the allocation of processing resources, generally at the expense of resources allocated to other stimuli. Neuroscientific concept: attention is the manipulation of activity of population of cells that process sensory information. Advantages of attention:Detailed representation of stimuliFaster and more accurate response to stimuliBetter memory of stimuli, better decision-making, etc. Disadvantage: opposite effect for unattended stimuli. Arousal is not attention. Arousal modulates all sensory signals  baseline effectAttention selects and modulates specific sensory signals  selection effectTwo forms of attention:Overt attention: you look at what you want to attendCovert attention: you attend something that is outside your gazeInternal manipulation of attention: you decide yourself what you attend. This is endogenous, top-down or controlled attention. External manipulation of attention: sensory stimulus characteristics decide what you attend. This exogenous, bottom-up, reflexive attention. The sensory area is shaped by experience over years. It responses to most relevant things due to experience. --> Salience models: models that predict what you attend automatically. Attentional blindnessYou cannot process everything at the same time: loss of information. Can be measured using the change blindness paradigmAttentional blinkTry to detect the white target As you are busy with target 1, target 2 is missedAttentional cueingPosner’s cueing taskRecognition of target is better and faster for congruent cue, and worse for the incongruent cueSame applies to exogenous cueCocktail partyPeople prefer one auditory stream of information over anotherIgnoring one stream is called shadowingVisual searchQuickly finding an item in a clustered environmentNeural mechanisms are strengthened when attention is given to it. Question 1 can be answered using EEG:...

Representations: somehow the world is represented in the mind and the brain. Churchland & Sejnowski: the defining function of nervous systems is representational. Stored representations are believed to depend on the configuration of weights between units. In neural terms, these weights are the strength of synaptic connections between neurons. Some memory functions are intact in amnesic patients. The declarative memory is impaired --> specific eventsProcedural memory often intact --> skills Non-declarative (implicit) memory: memory without awareness. Skill learning, priming, classical conditioning. Priming tests consist of:Free recallCued recallCompletionClassical conditioning: before conditioning, the animal responds to the US, but not to the CS. At this stage, this is called the unconditioned response or UCR. During the conditioning the CS and the US are paired repeatedly. Conditioning leads to a conditioned response. Delay vs trace conditioning in amnesic patientsDelay: involve procedural memory, is not impaired in amnesic patientsTrace: declarative memory; awareness, is impaired in amnesic patientsAnterograde amnesia: amnesia for events after the traumaRetrograde amnesia: amnesia for events before trauma Hebb: there is simultaneous activity in two neurons. Changes in the effectiveness of synaptic transmission take place as a result of simultaneous pre- and postsynaptic activity. There are two research strategies for neurobiology of learning and memory:Top-down: presupposing a certain principleBottom-up: no presuppositions about the mechanism, but attempts at localization. Top-down approach of LTP (long term potentiation) and memory. LTP: single stimulation of perforant path fibres to dentate gyrus results in an EPSP. After a brief tetanus (high frequent pulse; 250 Hz) the characteristics of the EPSP have changed. NMDA receptor: neurotransmitter can bind to this. But there is a (...

Emotion has a signaling function, for example for a threat to integrity. Emotions trigger adaptive responses. From evolutionary perspective: we use it for responses that are adaptive. Emotions are universal, the basic emotions are: happiness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust and sadness. Primary reinforcers: satisfy for example hunger, thirst and safetySecondary reinforcers: money, social recognition 3 biosystems from evolutionary perspective:Reptilian brain: life support system, reflexive behaviorPaleomammalian: motivation / emotionNeomammalian: higher level controlLimbic system = the emotional brain. ANS controls the involuntary muscles. When you encounter a threat, your autonomic nervous system responds:Sympathetic: fight / flightParasympathetic: rest & digestHormones: HPA-axis. Releases glucocorticoids, which regulates stress. Fear response: LeDoux model. The amygdala is the important structure. He proposed there are different routes, a fast route and a slow route. The information enters the BLA (basolateral) amygdala. Then projections are sent to the central amygdala, from where the projections run to the (hypo)thalamus. ‘Emotion’ areas of PFC:Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)Subgenual subdivision of ACC (vmPFC)Orbitofrontal cortex Amygdala is involved in fear conditioning. The CS will elict conditioned (fear) response:Yes, with intact amygdala + startleWith skin conductance: only if learning takes placeThe ACC and the anterior insula are consistently activated in response to threat. In a study, no constant amygdala activation was found during fear. Why?FMRI resolution too low (amygdala contains different, quite small areas)FMRI time course (typically modelled as same response to each trial, whereas conditioning is a learning process that develops over time)Human fear conditioning is only mild threat A fearful expression will slow down the reaction time in a stroop task. Also when the face...

Phonology: the study of the abstract sound patterns of a particular language, usually according to some system of rules. Syntax: the rules for arranging items into their possible permissible combinations in a language. Semantics: the analysis of the meaning of a language. Language is a system of discrete infinity. There is a finite number of elements, but unbounded use of those elements. Human language is grounded on a particular computational mechanism, realized neurally. Each expression is assigned an interpretation at two interfaces. There is a sensitive period for learning a 2nd language: Language wars:Language involves Universal GrammerLanguage acquisition is usage-based through statistical learning. Language has a hierarchical structure. Aphasia: an impairment in language understanding and/or production that is caused by brain injury. Damage to Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area is different and expresses itself differently. The damage is always on the left side of the brain, because language is lateralized. Late 20th century view:Broca’s area: syntaxWernicke’s area: lexiconContemporary view: There are two networks; in the frontal and temporal lobes. They interact all the time. There are interactions through dorsal and to ventral pathways. Neural mechanisms for syntax and hierarchical structuresAssembly of hierarchical structures involves Broca’s areaComplex sentence proceeding involves VA 44 and STC via their dorsal connectionSTC supports integration of syntactic and semantic information to achieve sentence interpretationSTS-PMC connection is present at birth and supports auditory-based phonological learning, but NOT complex syntaxNewborn’s Wernicke’s area is not yet connected to Broca’s area. But it is connected to the premotor cortex. So there is a sensory-to-motor mapping system. And there is a dorsal system (syntax, hierarchical structures) and ventral system (processing of semantic information....

Utility: psychological value assigned to an outcome.

Prospect theory

Prospect: option whose future rewards and probabilities are known or can be estimated. It is a descriptive theory: it describes what people will choose instead of should do. It differs from the expected-utility theory in two ways:Reference dependence: current state is a reference point Reference pointDiminished sensitivityLoss aversionProbability weighting: subjective perception of probabilitiesPossibility effect: a chance is better than no chanceCertainty effect: no risk is better than some risk Primary reinforcer: rewards that have a direct benefit for fitnessSecondary reinforcer: neutral outcome that has been turned into a positive one Substantial nigra and ventral tegmental area are the dopamine nuclei. In rats, the dopaminergic system was removed, and the rats still liked certain tastes. This indicates wanting instead of liking: motivation to pursue a reward. Nucleus accumbens: activated by wide range of motivationally relevant stimuli. Reinforcement of a desirable association. DA neurons signal changes in information: Reward prediction error (RPE): the actual outcome differs from what was expected.Actor-critic models: the brain has 2 systemsCritic: evaluation, are rewards better or worse than expected?  ventral striatum (RPE)Actor: updates values of potential courses of action  dorsal striatumDamage to reward pathways:Motor: Parkinson’s, Huntington’sPsychiatric: schizophrenia, depression, ADHDPathological gamblers’ brains ‘learn’ from near-misses. Males 14-22 years old, prefrontal cortex not fully developed yet. Salience can lead to dopaminergic increase. Uncertainty: psychological state of having a lack of information. Risk: decision has multiple potential outcomes with known probabilitiesBrain regions risk taking: Ambiguity: probabilities of the outcomes cannot be known. OFC and PFC are involved. Dual...