Brief History Of Cognitive Neuroscience Flashcards

1
Q

What were the first big questions?

A
  1. In the human body, where is the seat of the soul?

2. what is the function of the brain?

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2
Q

Ancient Egypt: what was the belief about the mind (soul)?

A

That the mind (soul) is separated from the physical body - (dualism).

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3
Q

Ancient Egypt: Name the five bodies ?

A
  1. ka
  2. ba
  3. akn /shat
  4. the name
  5. the shadow
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4
Q

Ancient Egypt : What was the belief about ba during sleep and how was it represented in hieroglyphics?

A

ba could travel beyond the physical body during sleep as it was a representation of the soul. In hieroglyphics its been represented as a human - headed bird floating above the sleeping
body.

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5
Q

Ancient Egypt: what dose ka mean /symbolise?

A

Creative or divine power or the living physical body

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6
Q

What is “trepanning/trepanation” and what are some beliefs about what it was used for?

A

Trepanation, a hole with smooth edges made into the skull, the belief Is that It was used to treat the body, the mind, the spirit, or the soul.

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7
Q

What are some characteristics or effects of the soul?

A

growth, movement (animation) , breathing, warmth, blood, reason, emotion.

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8
Q

Name 2 things the soul is explained as?

A
  1. What makes a thing alive as opposed to dead.

2. What makes a thing to have a “mind”.

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9
Q

Ancient Greece: What was the belief about sleep and dreams?

A

The soul could leave the body during sleep. Every dream contained gods.

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10
Q

Ancient Greece: Who is Morpheus, and what is said about him?

A

Morpheus is the son of Somnus(Hypnos). Morpheus is believed to be a messenger of gods who imitate people during dreams to deliver messages.

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11
Q

Aristotle: What is the “cardiocentric view”, and why did he put his belief in it??

A

The cardiocentric view means that the heart is the center of intellectual and perceptual functions. Aristotle knew that touching the brain did not cause any sensation which leads him to believe that the heart is where the sensation happens.

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12
Q

Aristotle: What are some other arguments that underlined his belief about the cardiocentric view except the “no sensation in touching the brain”?

A
  • The heart is in the center of the body
  • It is beating throughout the life
  • It is warm.
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13
Q

Aristotel: What were his belief about the brain function?

A

The brains function like a radiator: to cool the blood and to regulate
the heart temperature.

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14
Q

Ancient Egypt: What was traditionally considered as a more important organ, and was preserved with the body afterlife??

A

The heart.

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15
Q

Hippocrate: what was his opinion and thoughts about the brain?

A

From nothing else than the brain come joys, delights, laughter and
sports, and sorrows, griefs… the brain exercises the greatest power in man.

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16
Q

Plato: What did he think about the soul?

A

He believed that the soul consisted of 3 parts.

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17
Q

Plato: What are the 3 parts of the soul and where are they located?

A
  1. Reason and perception - head
  2. Noble, passions (courage and pride) - Heart and lungs
  3. Base passions (greed and lust) - Liver and guts
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18
Q

Galenos: He wrote hundreds of studies using various techniques such as animal dissections, brain surgery, experimental lesions but what were some of
his discoveries?

A
  • The Speech does not come from the chest

- The brain does not cool the body.

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19
Q

Galenos; What was his belief about the nervous system in control of behavior and the seat of the soul?

A
  • The heart contains vital spirits, the brain ventricles contain higher animal spirits and the nerves are tubes where animal spirits flow (sensory and motor nerves).
  • The brain is the seat of the soul and the intellect.
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20
Q

Galenos: What are the 3 parts of the Intellectual soul according to him?

A

Imagination, cognition and memory.

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21
Q

Galenos: For how long did the ventricle theory persist in Europe?

A

For about 1500 years! - till after Galenos, Platonic and Christian dualism resigned

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22
Q

Andreas Vesalius: What is (Humani Corporis Fabrica) and what did it contain? also which theory did it reject?

A
  • a detailed anatomical description of the body based on dissections of the human body, including brain anatomy.
  • it rejected the ventricle theory
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23
Q

René Descartes: What did he say about the Seat of the soul?

A

“the soul has its principal seat in the little gland which exists in the middle of the brain…”

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24
Q

René Descartes: Explain Descartes’s metaphor about the brain and the nerves?

A

He looked at the brain and the nerves as a Hydraulic Mechanism. - water moving through pipes, worked by the pressure of the fluid.

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25
Q

(Roman) What does “a fish called woundecure” refer to? and how did it advance in
the mid 18th century (Galvanism)?

A

-Roman physicians used electric fishes to treat various conditions. the electricity in the fish was seen as a vital/life force transmitted from the fish to the human.

-As the technology of generators developed the electrical therapy became fashion once again, as the brain was thought of as an electric generator with
nerves as wires in which electrical fluid flowed.

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26
Q

What was Galvani’s, Du Bois Raymond’s and Helmholtz’s discoveries? (1 each)

A
  • Galvani - electricity causes muscle contraction.
  • Du bois Raymond - electrical activity recorded directly from frog’s nerve.
  • Helmholz - measurement of speed of neural conduction.
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27
Q

What is the difference in cognitive neuroscience when it comes to Atomism VS Holism?

A

Atomism means that the brain can be divided into anatomically (Structurally) and physiologically (functionally) defined part while the Holism means that the brain cannot be divided into parts, it’s one unified network
without any clearly defined “parts”.

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28
Q

Describe the cell theory?

A

Short:
Living organisms are made up of cells.

Extra:

  • all material objects → are atomic constitutions.
  • all living tissue → is cellular elements as discrete units.

But: Neural tissue: locked like a tangled net in the microscope

29
Q

What does the cell theory as applied to brain tissue mean?

A

Neurons are individual cells, physically discontinuous with each other.

30
Q

Golgi: Explain the “Reticular Theory” which Golgi held true?

A

Neural tissue is a vast, physically Continuous network (Syncytium).

31
Q

Explain “Localizationism”?

A

Mental functions can be localized Into different parts of the brain; the brain is a collection of specialized “mental organs”.

OR

The theory that different brain functions can be localized to different physical regions of the brain.

32
Q

Explain “Anti-Localizationism”?

A

Different mental functions cannot be localized in different parts of the brain. All of the brains participates in all kinds of mental functions, and each mental function activates the whole brain. - (Opposite of Localizationism)

33
Q

What does “Cartesian Dualism” say about the mind?

A

The mind or the nonphysical soul is beyond scientific studies. It belongs to the Church and religion.

34
Q

Explain Jean-Pierre Flourens View and how dose he explain it ?

A

Holism & Anti-Localizationism

“All sensations, all perceptions, and all volition occupy concurrently the same seat in these organs. The faculty of sensation, perception and volition is then essentially one faculty.”

35
Q

What was Karl Lashley’s belief and what kind of experiment did he conduct?

A

Holism: He conducted rat experiments doing simple labyrinth tasks with lesions in different parts of the rats brain.

36
Q

What are 3 things Karl Lashley´s experiments concluded?

A
  • Small lesions in any part did not affect performance.
  • Big lesions affected performance independently of lesion location.
  • The size of the lesion is critical, not the location.
37
Q

Karl Lashley: Explain the Equipotentiality of Brain Tissue? (Not accurate today)

A

Any brain tissue can carry out any function, Independently of its location in the brain. (Not accurate today)

38
Q

Karl Lashley: Describe his theory about mass action of brain tissue? (not accurate)

A
  • Brain tissue functions as one holistic network
  • All of the brain participates in every different function
  • The effect of brain lesions on functions is proportional only to the size of the damage not to its location.
39
Q

Localizationism: who gave birth to the modern cortical localization theory?

A

Emanuel Swedenborg.

40
Q

Swedenborg: What are some ideas/discoveries published in Swedenborg’s “ Oeconomia Regni Animalis”?

Hint:

  • The cerebrum was the source…
  • Different functions…
  • Localized the…
  • Identified the…
A
  • The cerebrum was the source of understanding, thinking, judging, and willing.
  • Different functions had to be represented in different anatomical Ioci at the level of the cortex.
  • Localized the motor cortex near the front of the brain and had an idea of its systematic (somatotopic) organization.
  • Identified the effects of frontal lobe lesions to higher cognitive functions.
41
Q

Explain what phrenology said about the mind in the early 19th century?

A

Mind is a biological phenomenon that can be studied empirically.

42
Q

Franta Joseph Gall: What is the name of the theory and from where did his theory originate?

A

Phrenology, his theory originated from when he was 9 years old when he observed his school mates.

43
Q

Krantz Joseph Gall: He had a theory about bulging eyes and connection between memory, true or false?

A

True, he also developed this idea, thinking that other physical traits could be connected to other faculties.

44
Q

Franta Joseph Gall: Is it true that Gall collected skulls and skull cast?

A

True, He had an big interest in extremes such as; writers, poets, statesmen criminals, and lunatics…

45
Q

Describe the term Phrenology coined by Gall?

A

The study of the physical shape of the human head, based on the belief that variations in the skull’s surface can reveal specific intellectual and personality traits.

Sidenote:
Today phrenology is understood to lack validity.

46
Q

What were some new ideas that were “on the right track” emerging from the phrenology? (5 ideas)

A
  • Denial of dualism
  • Atomism
  • Functional localization
  • Individual differences
  • Phycology is part of the biological sciences, not part of philosophy
47
Q

What are some questionable ideas in phrenology which led to racistic pseudoscientific arguments? (2 ideas + 3 arguments)

A
  1. The size and mass of brain tissue directly correlate with the “strength” of mental capacity.
    - Mass of brain tissue in a specific location = the strength of a specific capacity
    - Mass and size of the whole brain = level of general intelligence.
  2. The size and shape of the brain modify the size and shape of the skull.
    - by observing and measuring the skull we get information about the psychological capacities of the person.
48
Q

Phrenology became the pop-psychology of its own time -

True or False?

A

True, phrenological thinking became more popular after Gall passed and, phrenological head analyses became a popular fad.

49
Q

What was Pierre Paul Broca’s focus?

A

Language production -> Left frontal lobe

50
Q

What were Wernicke’s focus?

A

Language comperhension -> Left temporal lobe

51
Q

Explain Broca’s aphasia?

A

The person understands what is said, but speaks with difficulty, if at all.

52
Q

Explain Wernicke’s aphasia?

A

The person speaks fluently, but what the person says is mostly meaningless.
(But appears to have meaning to themselves)

53
Q

Where is Broca’s aphasic located?

A

Right next to the part of the motor cortex which controls moments of the lips, tongue, and vocal cords.

54
Q

Where is Wernicke’s aphasic located?

A

In an area in the temporal lobe, close to tissue involved in hearing (the auditory cortex).

55
Q

“The biscuit Thieves” is a valid test of language production that uses different pictures? -True or false

A

True, it’s a picture explanatory test.

Different pictures are used to reveal if people have damaged an area related to language production in the brain.

56
Q

Describe how Broca’s aphasic can be seen in “the biscuit thieves” test?

A
  • The speech lacks grammatical structure, and functional words such as “and”, “in” or “here”.
  • Consists almost entirely of concrete nouns and verbs.
  • Some patients may even lack verbs.
57
Q

Describe how Wernicke’s aphasic can be seen in “the biscuit thieves” test?

A
  • Speak fluently in well-formed and properly intoned sentences.
  • What they say lacks meaning.
  • Contains wrong words or even nonsense words.
58
Q

What is anomic aphasic?

A

Anomic aphasic a language disorder that leads to trouble naming objects when speaking and writing.

59
Q

Describe how Anomic aphasic can be seen in “the biscuit thieves” test?

A
  • Reasonably gramatical sentences.
  • Difficulty in finding words.
  • Hesitent and uses indefinite nouns such as “thing”
60
Q

Some anomics lose the names for particular categories, such as fruits, animals, or color. - True or False?

A

True, The ability to name objects and to recognize them seems to be located close to each other, Which sometimes seems to be a result in loss of certain categories.

61
Q

Describe Wernicke’s “model of language use”?

A

Thoughts -> Words -> Sound -> Muscle commands.

62
Q

Simplify the difference between Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia?

A

Broca’s aphasia= Can understand, but loss of speech.

Wernicke’s aphasia= Can speak but lacks connection between thoughts and language leading to mostly meaningless sentences.

63
Q

Wilder Penfield: What role did Wilder Penfield have to the “triumph of Localizationism”?

A

He used direct electrical stimulation of the human cortex to map out the brain during open brain surgeries while the patients were awake.

64
Q

Explain Localizationism

A

Localizationism: Mental functions can be localized into different parts of the brain; the brain is a collection of specialized ”mental organs”

65
Q

Explain Anti-localizationism?

A

Different mental functions cannot be localized in different parts of the brain. All of the brain participates in all kinds of mental functions, and each mental function activates the whole brain.

66
Q

What are the “localizationism” and “anti-localizationism” true about in thier respective views? (1 answer each)

A

Localizationism: True about highly specific mental functions
(Color, faces, words)

Anti-localizationism: True about complex general functions. (Memory, attention, perception, consciousness)

67
Q

Explain the “marriage” between “cognitive” and “neuroscience” in cognitive neuroscience and what it leads to?

A

Marriage means integration between the “Maps of the mind (from cognitive science)” and “Maps of the brain (from neuroscience)”. Leading to functional and structural localization via brain imaging.

68
Q

How have/is the cognitive neuroscience been/being criticized and what’s the argument?

A

As the new Phrenology - some mean there are limitation of localizing cognitive processes in the brain.

69
Q

What is “Dualism” ?

A

Dualism is the view that the mind and body both exist as separate entities.