Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Neuroscience –  PNS – (Peripheral

The field of study linking the Nervous System)
brain and other aspects of the Connects CNS to the
nervous system to cognitive other organs.
processing and to behavior.
Three Major Regions
Localization of Function –
1. Forebrain
refers to the specific areas of
2. Midbrain
the brain that control specific
3. Hindbrain
skills or behaviors.
Brain – Directly controls our
thoughts, emotions, and
motivations.

FOREBRAIN

located toward the top of

the brain.

 Cerebral cortex, basal

Cognition in the Brain:
ganglia, limbic
The Anatomy and system, thalamus,
Mechanism of the Brain and the
hypothalamus.
 Vital role in thinking
Nervous System - Governed and other mental
by the brain. process.
Main Parts
 CNS –Brain and
Spinal Cord
 Basal Ganglia – “seahorse”; its
(singular: ganglion) approx. shape.
Korsakoff’s Syndrome –
Diseases that produce loss of
memory functions.

 Thalamus – relays
are collections of incoming sensory
neurons crucial to information through
motor function. groups of neurons
 Limbic system – that project to the
emotion, motivation, appropriate region in
memory, and the cortex. Approx in
learning. Allows the center of the brain
suppress instinctive  Hypothalamus –
responses. Helps to survival; fighting,
adapt behavior. feeding, feeling,
 Limbic system three sleep, and mating.
central Regulating emotions
interconnected and reaction to stress.
structures: septum, From Greek hypo
amygdala, “under”; located at
hippocampus. the base of the
 Septum – anger and forebrain beneath
fear thalamus.
 Amygdala – anger
and aggression MIDBRAIN
(palpitations, fearful helps control eye movement
hallucinations, and coordination.
frightening flashback.
 RAS (Reticular
 Hippocampus –
Activating System)
memory formation
and spatial memory. – control
consciousness (sleep
From Greek word
arousal), attention,
cardiorespiratory
 function, and elongated interior
movement. structure located at
 Brainstem – the point where
connects the spinal cord enters the
forebrain to the skull and joins with
spinal cord. It the brain.
comprises  Pons – relay station,
hypothalamus, pass signals from one
thalamus, midbrain, part of the brain to
and hindbrain. another. From Latin
“bridge”.
 Cerebellum – (Latin
“little brain”)
Controls bodily
coordination, balance
and muscle tone, and
memory related to
movement.

Cerebral Cortex &

Localization of Function
HINDBRAIN
located at the back part of Cerebral Cortex – outermost
the brain. layer of our brain.

- Oldest and primitive - Surface has many

part of the brain.
- Comprises medulla
oblongata, pons, and
cerebellum.
 Medulla Oblongata
– controls heart
activity and largely
controls breathing,
swallowing and - Cortex compromises
digestion. It is
folds, giving it a
wrinkled appearance.
The folds consist of
many deep groves
called SULCI and
raised areas GYRI
and FISSURES are
large grooves.
80% of the brain.
 - Enables us to think,
the surface of the
cerebral cortex is
grayish, it is
sometimes referred to
as gray matter.
Cerebral Hemispheres
Right Hemisphere –
“intuitive” is the avatar of
emotion and creativity.
Left Hemisphere –
“logical”, analytical, and
intellectual.
Corpus Callosum – dense
aggregate of neural fibers
connecting the two cerebral
hemispheres.
Cerebral Asymmetry –
structural and functional
differences between the two
brain hemispheres.
Aphasia – loss of speech
because of brain damage.
Four Lobes
Frontal Lobe – Behind the
forehead, abstract reasoning,
problem solving, planning
and judgement.
 contains the Primary
Motor Cortex –
specializes in the
planning, control and
execution of
movement and
movement involving
any kind of delayed
response.
Parietal Lobe – Upper back
portion, receives inputs from
the neurons regarding touch,
pain, temperature.
Temporal Lobe – Under
temples, auditory and
comprehending language.
Occipital Lobe – At the back
of the head, visual perception.
 Somatosensory
Cortex – receives
information from the
senses about
pressure, texture,
temperature, and
pain.
Projection areas – areas in
the lobes in which sensory
processing occurs.
Neuronal Structure and
Functions
Neurons – transmit electrical
signals from one location to
another in nervous system.
Soma – contains the nucleus
and hold all the general parts
of the cell.
Dendrites – receive
communication from the cell.
Axon – transmit info to
different parts of the body.
Myelin – white, fatty
substance that surrounds
some of the axons.
Nodes of Ranvier – small
gaps in the myelin coating
along the axon
Terminal buttons – small
knobs found at the ends of the
branches of an axon that do
not directly touch the
dendrites of the next neuron.
Synapse – Serve as a
juncture between terminal
buttons of one or more
neurons.
Neurotransmitters –
chemical messengers for
transmission of info across
the synaptic gap.
Receptors and Drugs
Naloxone – designed to
rapidly reverse opioid
overdose.
Methadone – Medication
used to treat Opioid Use
Disorder.
Paul Broca – Famous patient
whose brain was examined to
learn more about the physical
brain while he was still alive.
Electronic Recordings –
Through EEGs, it is possible
to study brain wave activity
indicative of changing mental
states such as deep sleep or
dreaming.

Electroencephalograms –
Resonance Imaging
recordings of the electrical
scans (MRI)
frequencies and intensities of
the living brain, recorded Structural MRI – provide
over long periods. images of the brain’s size and
shape, while Functional
ERP – (Event- related
MRIs visualize the parts of
potential) record of a small
the brain that are activated
change in the brain’s
when a person’s is engaged in
electrical activity in response
a particular task. Provides
to a stimulating event.
clearer picture than CT scans.
Static Imaging Technique –
Metabolic Imaging
Allow observation of large
abnormalities of the brain. P.E.T SCAN (Position
emission tomography) –
- Angiograms (blood
imaging test than can help
flow in the brain),
reveal the metabolic or
Computed
biochemical function of your
Tomography CT
tissues and organs.
scans (2-dimensional
view), Magnetic FMRI – Shows images of the
brain in action: more precise
than PET. Creates magnetic
field that induces changes in
the particles of oxygen atoms.
Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation (TMS) – brain
stimulation therapy mainly
used to treat depression.
Involves placing coil on a
person’s head then allowing
an electrical current pass
through it.
Magnetoencephalography
(MEG) – allows to measure
the magnetic field produced
by electrical activity in the
brain.
BRAIN DISORDERS
Stroke – occur when the
blood flow to the brain
suddenly disrupted.
 Vascular Disorder –
brain disorder caused
by a stroke.
 Two kinds of stroke;
Ischemic and
Hemorrhagic
Brain Tumor – also called
neoplasms.
 Occur either the gray
or the white matter of
the brain.
 Primary Brain
Tumors – begin in
your brain.
 Secondary Brain
Tumors – begin in
different part of the
body and spread to
brain.
 Two types of Brain
Tumors: Benign
(noncancerous) and
Malignant
(cancerous)
Head Injuries – result from
many causes, such as
accident, contact with a hard
object or a bullet wound.
 Two types of head
injuries; Close-head
and Open-head.
Intelligence and
Neuroscience
Intelligence and Brain Size
– amount of gray matter is
correlated with IQ.
Intelligence and
Metabolism – Higher
intelligence correlates with
reduced levels of glucose
metabolism during problem
solving.
Visual Perception
Perception – is the sensory
experience of the world.
- It involves both
recognizing Light – electromagnetic
environmental
Visual System
stimuli and actions in
response to these radiation that can be
stimuli. described in terms of
wavelength.
Basic Concepts of
Perception Vision begins when light
passes through the protective
James Gibson – Concept of
covering of the eye, cornea.
distal (external) object,
informational medium, Cornea – clear dome that
proximal stimulation, and protects the eye.
perceptual object.
Pupil – the opening in the
 The distal (far) center of iris.
object – object in the
external world. Crystalline lens
 Informational Vitreous Humor – gel-like
medium could be a substance that compromises
sound waves, sound most of the eye.
of falling trees.
 Proximal (near) Eventually the light focuses
Stimulation on Retina.

Perceptual Illusions – Retina – where

suggest that what we sense electromagnetic light energy
(in our sensory organ) is not is transduced – that is
necessarily what we perceive converted into a neutral
(In our minds) electrochemical impulse.
Vision is most acute in the Each eye contains roughly
Fovea – small/thin region of contains 120 million rods and
the retina. 8 million cones.
Rods – long thin
Retina’s Neuronal Tissue Photoreceptors, responsible
for night vision and sensitive
light and dark stimuli.
Ganglion cells – first layer of
neuronal tissue – closest to Cones – short and thick
the front, outward – facing Photoreceptors and allow
surface of the eye, whose perception of color.
axon constitute the optic
nerve.
 Interneuron cells –
second layer consist
of three (3) kinds of
cells; Amacrine cells
and Horizontal cells
make a connection
among adjacent areas
of the retina.
 Bipolar cells – make
dual connection
forward and outward The neurochemical
to ganglion cells and messages processed by the
photoreceptors. rods and cones of the retina
 Photoreceptors – travel via the bipolar cells
third layer of the to the ganglion cells. The
retina that convert axons of the ganglion cells
light energy to in the eye collectively form
electrochemical the optic nerve for that eye.
energy. The optic nerves of the two
eyes join at the base of the
brain to form the optic
chiasma.
After being routed via the
optic chiasma, about 90% of
the ganglion cells then go to
the lateral geniculate
nucleus of the thalamus.
From the thalamus,
neurons carry information
to the primary visual cortex
in the occipital lobe of the
Approaches to Perception
brain.
Bottom-up Theories
 Where perception
starts with the stimuli
whose appearance
you take in through
your eye
 Stimulus driven.
Top-down Theories
 Which perception is
driven by high – level
cognitive process,
existing knowledge,
and prior
expectations.
BOTTOM – UP THEORIES
Direct Perception – the
information in sensory
receptors, is all we need to
perceive. Sometimes called
ecological perception.
Template Theory – suggest
that we have stored in minds
countless sets of templates.
 Templates are
highly detailed
models for patterns
we potentially might
recognize. We
recognize a pattern
by comparing it
with our set of
templates.
Feature – Matching
Theories We attempt to
match features of a pattern to
features stored in memory
rather than to match a whole
pattern to a template or a
prototype.
Pandemonium Model –
pandemonium refers to a very
noisy, chaotic place and hell;
demons with specific duties
receive and analyze the
features of a stimulus.
 Four Kinds of Demons
Image demons – receives
retinal image.
Feature demons – calls out
when there are matches
between stimuli and feature.
Cognitive (Thinking)
demons – shout out possible
patterns stored in memory.
Decision demons- decided
on what has been seen based
on cognitive demon is
shouting frequently.
Recognition-by-
Components Theory –
explains the ability to
perceive 3D objects with the
help of simple geometric
shapes.
*/ – we quickly recognize
objects by observing the
edges of them and then
decomposing the objects into
geons (geometrical ions).