Cognitive NeuroScience
Building Blocks of Nervous System Localization of Function
•Neurons •Specific functions are served by specific areas of
– cells specialized to receive and transmit the brain
information in the nervous system •Cognitive functioning breaks down in specific
:Each neuron has a cell body,axon, & dendrites ways when areas of the brain are damaged
•Cell body •Cerebral cortex (3-mm thick layer that covers the
– contains mechanisms to keep cell alive brain) contains mechanisms responsible for most
•Axon of our cognitive functions
– tube filled with fluid that transmits electrical
signal to other neurons Lobes of the Cerebral Cortex
•Dendrites •Frontal
– multiple branches reaching from the cell –Reasoning and planning
body, receives information from other neurons –Language, thought, memory, motor functioning
Sensory receptors: specialized to respond to •Parietal
information received from the senses –Touch, temperature, pain, and pressure
•Temporal
–Auditory and perceptual processing
–Language, hearing, memory, perceiving forms
•Occipital
–Visual processing
How neurons Communicate Limbic System
•Action potential •Hippocampus: forming memories
–Neuron receives signal from environment •Amygdala: emotions and emotional memories
–Information travels down the axon of that •Thalamus: processing information from vision,
neuron to the dendrites of another neuron hearing, and touch senses
•Measuring action potentials
–Microelectrodes pick up electrical signal
Perception
–Placed near axon •Primary receiving areas for the senses
–Active for ~1 second –Occipital lobe: vision
–The size is not measured; size remains consistent –Parietal lobe: touch, temperature, pain
–The rate of firing is measured –Temporal lobe: hearing, taste, smell
:Low intensities: slow firing •Coordination of information received from all
:High intensities: fast firing senses
•Synapse –Frontal lobe
– space between axon of one neuron and dendrite •Fusiform face area (FFA) responds specifically to
of another faces
•When the action potential reaches the end of the –Temporal lobe
axon, synaptic vesicles open and release chemical –Damage to this area causes prosopagnosia
neurotransmitters (inability to recognize faces)
•Neurotransmitters •Parahippocampal place area (PPA) responds
– cross the synapse and bind with the receiving specifically to places (indoor/outdoor scenes)
dendrites –Temporal lobe
– chemicals that affect the electrical signal of the •Extrastriate body area (EBA) responds
receiving neuron specifically to pictures of bodies and parts of
:Excitatory: increases chance neuron will fire bodies
:Inhibitory: decreases chance neuron will fire
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