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Biological and Cognitive Psychology College Notes (P_BBIOCOG)
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Notes from lectures of Biological and Cognitive Psychology.
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Uitwerking hoorcollege BioCog 2022-2023 | Anouk WiersmaBiologische en cognitieve
psychologie
Uitwerkingen hoorcolleges 2022-2023
Lecture 1: Introduction
- 19th century
o 1860: Weber / Fechner’s law
Psychophysics: study of the mind without the modern techniques.
Relation physical energy to sensation.
Change a stimulus; focus on perception & sensation.
o 1867: Hermann von Helmholtz proposes perception as process of unconscious
inferences about the world.
o 1879: Wundt opened the first psychology lab.
o Physiological chronometry
How long does it take to notice something?
Johannes Müller (first half 1850): nerve conduction velocity is infinitely fast
spiritual “Lebenskraft” not true
Von Helmholtz (1850): nerve conduction velocity = 30 m/s (frog) and 60 m/s
(human).
Donder’s idea: nerve conduction velocity is not infinite
Mental processes take time; we can measure time
Donder’s subtraction method
o Goal: estimate duration of postulated mental process, X
o Method:
Create two identical tasks, except for involvement of
X
Measure RT in both tasks
Subtract RTs
Duration of X
o Choice reaction time task (go/ no-go task) vs. simple RT task
RT (go/no-go) – RT (simple) = stimulus discrimination
time
o Problems:
Depends on assumptions about stages
Strong assumption about stages being independent.
o 1885: Ebbinghaus’ memory research
Used himself as subject
Learn a list of nonsense syllables to perfection. Register
the time this takes.
Wait a certain time (minutes, day, several days)
Test phase: register how long it takes to relearn the list
Calculate percentage of savings
Memory loss over time
Era of behaviorism
- John B. Watson (1913)
o Discard the mind; exclusive focus on behavior forget about the mind; focus on
environment.
, Uitwerking hoorcollege BioCog 2022-2023 | Anouk Wiersma
o Stimulus – response psychology
o Focus on learning
o Dominant paradigms
Classical conditioning (Pavlov)
Operant conditioning (Skinner)
o Still alive in modern research; but interpretation has changed: S-O-R (O=organism;
towards a cognitive interpretation)
- Tolman: wat the rat learns is
o NOT a behavioral response
o But a “cognitive map”
- Core: human as information processor
The brain: from stimulus to response
- Visual perception task:
o Retina thalamus occipital lobe two ways:
Dorsal stream: where/how
Ventral stream: what
o Reaction: premotor cortex supplementary motor area primary motor cortex
spinal column movement
- How do we know?
o Neuropsychological studies with patients
Single vs. double dissociation
Double dissociation: damage to one brain area affects function A but
not function B. Damage to another brain area affects function B not
function A
o these findings combined constitute the double
dissociation evidence for localization of function:
functions A and B are served by different brain areas.
o Brain imaging techniques
Direct measurement of neural activity
Electroencephalography: measuring electrical activity
Magnetoencephalography
Indirect measurement of neural activity
Positron emission tomography
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): measuring brain
activity
o Brain part active? more oxygen needed more blood
flow change in magnetic properties
Temporal vs. spatial resolution
Temporal: accurate in showing when something happens
Spatial: accurate in showing where the activation is coming from
EEG: high temporal; low spatial
fMRI: low temporal; high spatial
o Single cell recordings: measures activation of a few neurons in behaving animals or
patients under surgery: highest spatial & temporal resolution
- Representation by neurons:
o Specificity coding: one neuron, one person
o Population coding: a large number of neurons code for each person. Each unique
person is represented by a pattern of activation
o Sparse coding: small group of neurons represent a person
, Uitwerking hoorcollege BioCog 2022-2023 | Anouk Wiersma
Similar to population coding, more efficient.
, Uitwerking hoorcollege BioCog 2022-2023 | Anouk Wiersma
Lecture 2: Structure and function of nerve cells
From chemical elements to cell membrane
- Bonding between elements to make molecules:
o Ionic bond (electrostatic force)
+ attracts –
o Covalent bond (sharing of electrons to form molecules)
Atomen bevatten ringen met elektronen. De binnenste ring bevat 2 atomen,
de daarop volgende ringen 8.
Atomen willen hun buitenste ring maximaal gevuld hebben en dit
doen ze door elektronen te delen met andere atomen.
Voorbeeld: een wateratoom heeft 1 elektron in de buitenste ring
(optimaal is 2), een zuurstofatoom heeft 6 elektronen in de
buitenste ring (optimaal is 8). Wanneer twee wateratomen hun
elektron delen met één zuurstofatoom, zijn alle ringen optimaal
gevuld en is er H2O gevormd.
o Carbon chains; ketens van meerdere C-atomen met zij-groepen
Glucose: C6H12O6
Aminozuur: C-atoom met variërende zij-groep R, met een nitrogen (-NH 2) en
een carboxylgroep (-COOH).
Proteïne: keten van aminozuren eiwit keten
Peptide: korte eiwitketen
Lipiden: vet; lange koolstofketen.
o Phospholipids
Carbon chain connected by an extra phosphate (P) group.
Phosphate has a static negative charge and is consequently
hydrophilic (loves water)
Lipids (fats) are hydrophobic (fear water)
When phospholipids are put in a watery environment the will form a
double layer; with the heads (phosphate) pointing towards the
water, and the tails (lipids) point towards each other cell
membrane.
Nerve cells
- Global structure
o 1. Cell nucleus: contains the DNA / chromosomes, with pores in
it for the transport of mRNA
o 2. Endoplasmatic reticulum: production, storage, and transport
of proteins
o 3. Golgi apparatus: post office for packing (packing of
neurotransmitter in vesicles)
o 4: Mitochondria: power plant (providing ATP (energy))
o 5. Lysosomes: waste processing
o 6. Microtubuli: road system for transportation of neurotransmitter through the axon.
axoplasmic transport; transport of neurotransmitter through the axon.
With kinesin: anterograde transport from the cell body to the
terminal buttons.
With dynein: retrograde transport from the terminal buttons to the
cell body.
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