,
,
,
,
,Lecture 1 – Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
- Aims to explain cognitive processes in terms of brain-based mechanisms
- A bridging discipline between cognitive science and cognitive psychology
- Driven by methodological advances (functional neuroimaging) enabling the study of the human
brain safely in the laboratory
o 1970: structural imaging methods (CT, MRI) enabling precise images of the brain
o 1980s: PET adapted to models of cognition developed my psychologists
o 1985: first TMS used
o 1990: level of oxygen in blood used as a measure of cognitive function (principle behind fMRI)
- Neural representations
o The way in which properties of the outside world manifest themselves in the neural signal
▪ E.g. different brain regions specialized for different processes
- Cognitive neuroscience tells us where but not how
o Cognitive psychological theories can inform theories and experiments in neuroscience
and vice versa
o There is a danger in merely using functional neuroimaging methods to localize cognitive
functions without understanding how they work
- Classical Neuropsychology
o Investigates what functions are disrupted by damage to region X and addresses
questions of functional specialization
Terms and Definitions
Cognitive
neuropsychology
- The study of brain damaged patients to inform theories of normal
cognition Neo-phrenology
- Phrenology: the failed idea that individual differences in cognition can be mapped onto
differences in skull shape
Cognition
- A variety of higher mental processes such as thinking, perceiving, imagining, speaking,
acting and planning
Information processing
- An approach which behaviour is described in terms of a sequence of cognitive
stages Mind-body problem
- The problem of how a physical substance (the brain) can give rise to our feelings,
thoughts and emotions (our mind) – an enduring issue in cognitive neuroscience
Dualism
- The belief that mind and brain are made up of different kinds of substance
- It is possible to study the mind without studying the brain
- The brain provides causal constraints on the nature of cognition (not truly
independent) Dual-aspect theory
- The belief that mind and brain are two levels of description of the same
thing Reductionism
- The belief that mind-based concepts will eventually be replaced by neuro-scientific
concepts Functional specialization
- Different regions of the brain are specialized for different functions
Domain specificity
- The idea that a cognitive process (or brain region) is dedicated solely to one particular
type of information
- Faces are special
o Innateness – infants are born with an innate representation of the structure of a face
o Processing is unique to faces – holistic processing
o Face-specific neural representations
▪ Lesions
▪ fMRI
▪ Timing of face-sensitive processes
, Expertise hypothesis
- Argues faces are not special because we have a lot of experience making individual level
discriminations of faces
o Therefore if we have experience processing other objects then they should be processed like
faces
- Mechanisms and neural areas that are used to process faces are recruited to make within-
class discriminations when the person is an expert at recognizing exemplars of the non-face
object category
-
Lecture 2 - Introduction to the Brain
Human Brain
- Contains about 100 billion neurons – each connecting with potentially 10,000 others
- Grey matter – primarily neuronal cell bodies
- White matter – primarily of axons, myelin and glia cells
o Axon tracts occur within hemispheres, between hemispheres and between cortical and sub-
cortical regions
- Corpus callosum – massive white matter tract linking the two hemispheres
Structure and Function of the Neuron
- A type of call that makes up the nervous system and supports amongst other things cognitive function
- The basic cell type that supports cognition
- Code information in terms of response rate – they only respond in certain situations determined
from the input they received from elsewhere
o Spiking rate: the number of action potentials propagated per second – varies along a
continuum
o Some neurons have high spiking rate (speech), others lower (vision)
o Neurons respond to similar types of information and tend to be group together –
regional functional specialization
Neuron Structure
- Cell body (soma):
o Part of the neuron that contains the nucleus and other organelles
- Axon:
o Branching structure that actively carries electrical signals to other neurons and
transmits an action potential
- Dendrite:
o Branching structure that receive electrical signals via passive conduction from other
neurons and chemical signals from the synaptic cleft
- Action potential: a sudden change (depolarization and repolarization) in the electrical properties
of the neuron membrane in an axon
- Synapse: the small gap between neurons in which neurotransmitters are released, permitting
signaling between neurons
- Neurotransmitters: chemical signals that are released by one neuron and affect the properties
of other neurons
o Inhibitory effects: make the action potential less likely to fire (postsynaptic neuron more
negative) – GABA
o Excitatory effects: more likely to fire, acetylcholine
Chemical Signaling
- When the action potential reaches the axon
- The electrical signal initiates a sequence of events and the release of neurotransmitters into the
synaptic cleft
- Protein receptors in the dendritic membrane of the postsynaptic neurons bind to the neurotransmitters
- Create a postsynaptic potential in the dendrites – different from an action potential
The Cerebral Cortex
- Consists of two folded sheets of grey matter organized into two hemispheres
- The lateral surface is made up of four lobes, each with a characteristic set of gyri and sulci
,
,
,
,Lecture 1 – Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
- Aims to explain cognitive processes in terms of brain-based mechanisms
- A bridging discipline between cognitive science and cognitive psychology
- Driven by methodological advances (functional neuroimaging) enabling the study of the human
brain safely in the laboratory
o 1970: structural imaging methods (CT, MRI) enabling precise images of the brain
o 1980s: PET adapted to models of cognition developed my psychologists
o 1985: first TMS used
o 1990: level of oxygen in blood used as a measure of cognitive function (principle behind fMRI)
- Neural representations
o The way in which properties of the outside world manifest themselves in the neural signal
▪ E.g. different brain regions specialized for different processes
- Cognitive neuroscience tells us where but not how
o Cognitive psychological theories can inform theories and experiments in neuroscience
and vice versa
o There is a danger in merely using functional neuroimaging methods to localize cognitive
functions without understanding how they work
- Classical Neuropsychology
o Investigates what functions are disrupted by damage to region X and addresses
questions of functional specialization
Terms and Definitions
Cognitive
neuropsychology
- The study of brain damaged patients to inform theories of normal
cognition Neo-phrenology
- Phrenology: the failed idea that individual differences in cognition can be mapped onto
differences in skull shape
Cognition
- A variety of higher mental processes such as thinking, perceiving, imagining, speaking,
acting and planning
Information processing
- An approach which behaviour is described in terms of a sequence of cognitive
stages Mind-body problem
- The problem of how a physical substance (the brain) can give rise to our feelings,
thoughts and emotions (our mind) – an enduring issue in cognitive neuroscience
Dualism
- The belief that mind and brain are made up of different kinds of substance
- It is possible to study the mind without studying the brain
- The brain provides causal constraints on the nature of cognition (not truly
independent) Dual-aspect theory
- The belief that mind and brain are two levels of description of the same
thing Reductionism
- The belief that mind-based concepts will eventually be replaced by neuro-scientific
concepts Functional specialization
- Different regions of the brain are specialized for different functions
Domain specificity
- The idea that a cognitive process (or brain region) is dedicated solely to one particular
type of information
- Faces are special
o Innateness – infants are born with an innate representation of the structure of a face
o Processing is unique to faces – holistic processing
o Face-specific neural representations
▪ Lesions
▪ fMRI
▪ Timing of face-sensitive processes
, Expertise hypothesis
- Argues faces are not special because we have a lot of experience making individual level
discriminations of faces
o Therefore if we have experience processing other objects then they should be processed like
faces
- Mechanisms and neural areas that are used to process faces are recruited to make within-
class discriminations when the person is an expert at recognizing exemplars of the non-face
object category
-
Lecture 2 - Introduction to the Brain
Human Brain
- Contains about 100 billion neurons – each connecting with potentially 10,000 others
- Grey matter – primarily neuronal cell bodies
- White matter – primarily of axons, myelin and glia cells
o Axon tracts occur within hemispheres, between hemispheres and between cortical and sub-
cortical regions
- Corpus callosum – massive white matter tract linking the two hemispheres
Structure and Function of the Neuron
- A type of call that makes up the nervous system and supports amongst other things cognitive function
- The basic cell type that supports cognition
- Code information in terms of response rate – they only respond in certain situations determined
from the input they received from elsewhere
o Spiking rate: the number of action potentials propagated per second – varies along a
continuum
o Some neurons have high spiking rate (speech), others lower (vision)
o Neurons respond to similar types of information and tend to be group together –
regional functional specialization
Neuron Structure
- Cell body (soma):
o Part of the neuron that contains the nucleus and other organelles
- Axon:
o Branching structure that actively carries electrical signals to other neurons and
transmits an action potential
- Dendrite:
o Branching structure that receive electrical signals via passive conduction from other
neurons and chemical signals from the synaptic cleft
- Action potential: a sudden change (depolarization and repolarization) in the electrical properties
of the neuron membrane in an axon
- Synapse: the small gap between neurons in which neurotransmitters are released, permitting
signaling between neurons
- Neurotransmitters: chemical signals that are released by one neuron and affect the properties
of other neurons
o Inhibitory effects: make the action potential less likely to fire (postsynaptic neuron more
negative) – GABA
o Excitatory effects: more likely to fire, acetylcholine
Chemical Signaling
- When the action potential reaches the axon
- The electrical signal initiates a sequence of events and the release of neurotransmitters into the
synaptic cleft
- Protein receptors in the dendritic membrane of the postsynaptic neurons bind to the neurotransmitters
- Create a postsynaptic potential in the dendrites – different from an action potential
The Cerebral Cortex
- Consists of two folded sheets of grey matter organized into two hemispheres
- The lateral surface is made up of four lobes, each with a characteristic set of gyri and sulci
