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Summary of "Introduction to Mind and Brain", Brain part
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BRAINChapters
- 4: Brain and behaviour
- 5. Sensation and perception
- 6. Consciousness
- 8. Memory
- 11. Emotion
Lecture 1: Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience: study of mind and behaviour
- Behaviour: Any form of action in a living organism
- Directly observable actions and responses: including blushing, sweating, etc.
- Mind: Internal states and processes that are not directly observable
- Must be inferred from observable, measurable responses
- E.g. Loneliness - we are unable to see feelings of loneliness. We must infer how
others feel from behaviour and verbal statements
Neuroscientists study mental functions that we use everyday such as perception, thinking,
decision making, action, language, attention, emotion, motivation, learning and memory.
- How can we study the brain and its functions?
- Correlational research
- Measures associations between two variables
- Results can be put in a scatterplot: a graph that shows the correlation
between to variables
- Direction of relationship: positive or negative
- Strength of relationship: the closer the correlation coefficient gets
to ±1 the stronger the relationship
- Problems
- Correlation does not equal causation
- The relationship between two variables might be coincidental
- The relationship between two variables may be influenced by
other variables which are lurking in the background
- Experimental research
- Unlike correlational research, it provides information about causality
- The researcher manipulates just one aspect of the situation while the rest
stays the same. The effect of this manipulation on behaviour is then
measured to infer causality.
- The experimenter designs a task for the subject and manipulates
one aspect
- The behaviour and/or brain activity of the subject are measured
- The behaviour and brain activity are related to the external
manipulation
- Between subjects design: each subject participates in only one condition
, - Within subjects design: each subject receives all conditions
- Stroop effect: delay in reaction time between congruent and incongruent
stimuli.
- Tendency to experience difficulty naming a physical color when it
is used to spell the name of a different color.
- Tools and strategies to measure brain function and cognition
- Behavioural level
- Reaction times
- Eye tracking - used a lot in marketing
- Neuronal level
- fMRI: Functional magnetic resonance imaging
- Blood flow is slow so the reaction time is unclear
- High spatial resolution, poor temporal resolution
- EEG: Electroencephalography
- Differences, times and processes are clear, but not the
location in the brain
- High temporal resolution, poor spatial resolution
- ECoG: Electrocorticography
- Hard to find volunteers as it requires surgery
- Good spatial and temporal resolution
- MEG: Magnetoencephalography
- Brain cells not only emit electrical signals, but also
magnetic activity, which can be traced down
- Good spatial and temporal resolution
- Heart rate variability
- The variability declines during mental effort - the heart beats more
regularly
- EMG: Electromyography (muscle activity)
- Emotions are measured via sensors on the face
- SCR: Skin conductance response
- Measures sweat response and arousal
- These last three are often used in lie detection
- Single cell recording in animals
, - Animal lesion studies
- Logic of lesion studies: damaged area plays a role in
accomplishing whatever task is deficient after the lesion
- Human lesion studies: Brain injury or surgery in patients
- Broca’s area destroyed: patient cannot talk
- Frontal brain damage: Different personality
- TMS: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
- Magnetic pulse induces a focal and temporary virtual
lesion
- The emergence of cognitive neuroscience in the 19th century
- Do psychological processes take time?
- Hermann von Helmholtz (1852): measured speed of nervous transmission
- Cut out nerve and muscle from frog leg
- Stimulation of the nerve at various distances from the muscle
- Measure the time between stimulation and muscle contraction
- Time was shorter when stimulation was closer to the
muscle
- Speed of nerve impulse > 27.4 m/s
- In humans: stimulation of the leg and button push when subject
feels the stimulation
- Reaction time was slower when the toe was stimulated
rather than the thigh
- Speed of nerve impulse in human > 50-100 m/s
- Franciscus Donders introduced Mental Chronometry in 1868
- Traffic light turns yellow - How much time does it take you to
decide whether to brake or accelerate?
- Stages
- Stimulus detection
- Stimulus discrimination
- Choice
- Response
, - Additive factors logic
- Simple reaction time task: subject sees only one light, A
button is pushed as fast as possible (detection of the light)
- Reaction time: 197 ms
- Go/No Go task: subject sees red or green light. Respond
only when red light is on but not green (detection +
discrimination)
- Reaction time: 243 ms
- Choice reaction time task: subject sees red or green light.
Respond only with left hand to green and with right hand to
red (Detection + discrimination + choice)
- Reaction time: 285 ms
- Time for decision making: 42 ms
- Early attempts to map the functions of the brain
- Paul Broca treated a man who had suffered from stroke
- The patient could understand language but could not speak
- The patient’s left frontal lobe was damaged > Broca’s area
- Carl Wernicke in 1876 reported a stroke victim who could talk freely but
made little sense (word salad)
- Patient could not understand spoken or written language
- Left upper temporal lobe was damaged > Wernicke’s area
- Korbinian Brodmann (1909) analysed the cellular organisation (density,
shape and size of the brain cells) of the cortex and characterized 52
distinct regions
- It was later discovered that the cytoarchitecturally described brain
areas were correlated closely to diverse cortical functions
- Behaviourism
- Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental psychology laboratory
(1879)
- Structuralism: the analysis of the mind in terms of its basic
elements
- Used introspection to study the details of sensation
- Introspection is unreliable and subjective
- Consciousness cannot be observed and is not
suitable for scientific research
- Focus should be on just behaviour, which is
observable
- Psychology should be reduced to description of the
association between stimulus and response
- Behaviourist Model (only study observable / external behaviour)
- Stimulus in the environment > black box cant be studied >
response behaviour
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