Cognitive Neuroscience Flashcards
Cognitive neuroscience
Study of the neural mechanisms underlying cognition
• Overlaps with: Cognitive psych, neuroscience, psychiatry, neurobiology, neurology, etc.
• Studied via: Functional neuroimaging, electrophysiological studies, psychophysical experiments, cognitive genetics, and traditional clinical studies
Building the brain ideas
Nature vs. Nurture
Nature
Genetics
• Laying neural ground work
• “Neural Darwinism” and apoptosis
• Individual variability in genomic plan
Nurture
Experience
• Refinement of neural system
• Experience/stimuli → alteration of synapses
• “Wiring by firing”/ D. Hebb’s plasticity theory
Neuronal network
group of many neurons that tend to fire together
Why are synapses between neurons crucial?
They continuously and reversibly altering connectivity of the network
- Networks believed to underpin all cognitive processes
Theory of Neuronal Darwinism
Proposed by G. Edelman
- Explaining neurobiology of consciousness → brain is a somatic selection system that works similarly to evolution
Stages of Darwinism
Developmental selection
Experiential selection
Mapping
Developmental selection
Under genetic control
- Cell division and death occur
- Axon and cell migration taking place
What are the main players during developmental selection?
Growth factors
cytokines
Glutamate (GLU)
Experiential selection
Under experiential control
How are functioning circuits created? (experiential selection)
When somatosensory and other input is received
-These circuits are part of the anatomical network created during developmental selection that have been strengthened
Mapping
Numerous neural maps are formed by the brain
-These maps correspond to the processing of signals and stimuli from the body and environment
True/False: Brain maps can’t interact with each other?
False; maps can interact with each other resulting in further refinement
LTP and LTD?
long-term potentiation and long-term depression
