Cognitive Neuroscience

• Brain


  the organ that most directly controls everything we do.
• Cognitive neuroscience


  the field of study linking the brain (the nervous system) to cognitive processing and, ultimately, to behavior.
• Localization of function


  specific areas of the brain that control specific skills or behaviors.
• Nervous System


  the system that basis our ability to perceive, adapt to, and interact with the world around us.
• Forebrain


  • It comprises the cerebral cortex, the basal ganglia, the limbic system, the thalamus, and the hypothalamus.
  • located on top and front of the brain.
• Cerebral Cortex


  the outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres and plays a vital role in our thinking and other mental process.
• Basal ganglia


  collections of neurons crucial to motor function.
• Corpus callosum


  relays information between the two cerebral hemispheres
• Hippocampus


  essential for flexible learning and for seeing the relations among items learned as well as for spatial memory
• Pituitary gland 


  master gland of the endocrine system
• Amygdala 


  influences anger and aggression
• Septum 


  influences anger and fear
• Thalamus 


  relays sensory information to cerebral cortex
• Hypothalamus 


  regulates temperature, eating, sleeping, and endocrine system
• Midbrain

  • helps to control eye movement and coordination.
  • reticular activating system: carries messages about sleep and arousal
• Pons 


  relays information between cerebral cortex and cerebellum
• Cerebellum 


  coordinates fine muscle movement, balance
• Medulla ( medulla oblongata)


  regulates heartbeat, breathing
• Spinal cord 


  relays nerve impulses between brain and body, controls simple reflexes
• Limbic System

  • important to emotion, motivation, memory, and learning.
  • allows us to suppress instinctive responses
  • help us to adapt our behaviors flexibly in response to our changing environment.
• BRAINSTEM

  • connects the forebrain to the spinal cord.
  • This region seems to be essential for certain kinds of adaptive behaviors.
• HINDBRAIN


  comprises the medulla oblongata, the pons, and the cerebellum.
• Contralateral


  On opposite sides of the body
• Ipsilateral


  On the same side of the body
• Broca’s area - Speech (left hemisphere of the brain)
• Wernicke’s area - language (left hemisphere of the brain)
• Split-brain patients


  people who have undergone operations severing the corpus callosum (conflicting information in the two halves of the picture)
• Frontal lobe


  motor processing and higher thought processes, such as abstract reasoning, problem solving, planning, and judgment
• Parietal lobe


  receives inputs from the neurons regarding touch, pain, temperature sense, and limb position when you are perceiving space
• Temporal lobe


  directly under your temples, is associated with auditory processing and comprehending language
• Occipital lobe


  associated with visual processing.
• Neurons


  cells of the nervous system that transmit electrical signals.
• Postmortem


  study where the behavior of people who show signs of brain damage while they’re alive.
• Karl Spencer Lashley


  father of neuropsychology, started localization in 1915.
• Electroencephalograms


  recordings of the electrical frequencies, of the living brain in a long period.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging


  images of the structure of the living brain by computing and analyzing magnetic changes in the energy in the molecules of the body.