Cognitive Psychology connecting mind, research, and
everyday experience
Ch:2
1. Cognitive Neuroscience: *the study of the psychological basis of cognition
2. Levels of analysis: *refers to the idea that a topic can be studied in a number
of different ways, with each approach contributing its own dimension to our understandings
*(Applying the idea to cognition, we consider measuring behavior that is analogous
to measuring the car's performance, and measuring the physiological process
behind the behavior as analogous to what is learned looking under the hood)
*we can study the whole brain, to structures within the brain, to chemicals that create
electrical signals within these structures
3. Gil talking to Mary: ******(example situation) Gil was talking to Mary in the park
and a few days later he passes the park and remembered what she was wearing
and what they talked about*****
Physiological level- Gil perceives Mary as he is talking with her - chemical processes
occur in Gils eyes and ears which -> electrical signals in neurons - individual
brain structures are activated -> all leading to his perception of Mary and what is
happening as they are talking
both during and after- electrical signals generated as Gil was talking to Marry trigger
electrical processes that result in the storage of Gils experience in his brain
passes the park again a few days later- another sequence of physiological events
is triggered that retrieves the information that was stored earlier -> enabling him to
remember the conversation with Mary
1
, 4. Neurons: ** cells are the building blocks and transmission lines of the nervous
system
*Small units that create and transmit information about what we experience and
know
5. Nerve net: * believed to be continuous (like a highway system in which one street
connects directly to another, but without stop signs or traffic lights)
**the nerve net provided a complex pathway for conducting signals uninterrupted
through the network
6. Ramon y Cajal: * Spanish psychologist who was interested in investigating the
nature of the nerve net
two techniques to achieve his goal:
(1) used Golgi stain- which only stained some of the cells in a slice of the brain tissue
(2)decided to study the tissue from the brains of newborn animals- because the
density of the cells in the newborn brain is small compared to the density in an adult
brain
**could clearly see that the nerve net was not continuous, but was instead made of
individual units connected together
7. Neuron doctrine: *individual units called neurons were the basic building blocks
of the brain was the centerpiece
*the idea that individual cells transmit signals in the nervous system
**these cells are not continuous with other cells as proposed by the nerve net theory
(Cajal)
8. Cell body: *is the metabolic center of the neuron
*it contains the mechanisms to keep the cell alive
9. Dendrites: *branch out from the cell body is to receive signals from other neurons
2
everyday experience
Ch:2
1. Cognitive Neuroscience: *the study of the psychological basis of cognition
2. Levels of analysis: *refers to the idea that a topic can be studied in a number
of different ways, with each approach contributing its own dimension to our understandings
*(Applying the idea to cognition, we consider measuring behavior that is analogous
to measuring the car's performance, and measuring the physiological process
behind the behavior as analogous to what is learned looking under the hood)
*we can study the whole brain, to structures within the brain, to chemicals that create
electrical signals within these structures
3. Gil talking to Mary: ******(example situation) Gil was talking to Mary in the park
and a few days later he passes the park and remembered what she was wearing
and what they talked about*****
Physiological level- Gil perceives Mary as he is talking with her - chemical processes
occur in Gils eyes and ears which -> electrical signals in neurons - individual
brain structures are activated -> all leading to his perception of Mary and what is
happening as they are talking
both during and after- electrical signals generated as Gil was talking to Marry trigger
electrical processes that result in the storage of Gils experience in his brain
passes the park again a few days later- another sequence of physiological events
is triggered that retrieves the information that was stored earlier -> enabling him to
remember the conversation with Mary
1
, 4. Neurons: ** cells are the building blocks and transmission lines of the nervous
system
*Small units that create and transmit information about what we experience and
know
5. Nerve net: * believed to be continuous (like a highway system in which one street
connects directly to another, but without stop signs or traffic lights)
**the nerve net provided a complex pathway for conducting signals uninterrupted
through the network
6. Ramon y Cajal: * Spanish psychologist who was interested in investigating the
nature of the nerve net
two techniques to achieve his goal:
(1) used Golgi stain- which only stained some of the cells in a slice of the brain tissue
(2)decided to study the tissue from the brains of newborn animals- because the
density of the cells in the newborn brain is small compared to the density in an adult
brain
**could clearly see that the nerve net was not continuous, but was instead made of
individual units connected together
7. Neuron doctrine: *individual units called neurons were the basic building blocks
of the brain was the centerpiece
*the idea that individual cells transmit signals in the nervous system
**these cells are not continuous with other cells as proposed by the nerve net theory
(Cajal)
8. Cell body: *is the metabolic center of the neuron
*it contains the mechanisms to keep the cell alive
9. Dendrites: *branch out from the cell body is to receive signals from other neurons
2
