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Cognitive Psychology
PSYC231
Cognition and the Brain:
Basic Principles 1
Dr. Jan Lauwereyns,
EA619, ext. 5042
The mind’s computer
• The most mysterious thing in the world
• The Brain
Cerebral cortex
Primary
Somatosensory
cortex
Primary
Motor
cortex
Parietal lobe
Frontal lobe
Primary
Visual cortex
Primary
Auditory
cortex
Temporal
Medulla
lobe
Spinal cord
Occipital
lobe
Cerebellum
Limbic cortex
Corpus
callosum
(largest
Hippocampus
commissure,
connecting the two
hemispheres)
Pituitary gland
Cerebellum
Amygdala
Pons
Medulla
Spinal cord
Neurons are the Building Blocks
Ramon y Cajal
The prototypical neuron
The electrical
message
sent down
the axon
is called
the ‘action
potential’
Figure 2.8a (p. 31)
(a) Action potentials are recorded from neurons with tiny microelectrodes that are
positioned inside or right next to the neuron’s axon. These potentials are
displayed on the screen of an oscilloscope and are also sent to a computer for
analysis.
The axon and its terminal
Figure 2.10 (p. 33)
(a) The axon of the neuron with the receptor reaches the cell body of another
neuron. (b) The synapse is the space between the end of one neuron (the
presynaptic neuron) and the next neuron (the postsynaptic neuron). Neurotransmitter molecules are released when an action potential reaches the synaptic
vesicles of the presynaptic neuron.
Following an
action potential:
Neurotransmitters
will be released in
the synaptic cleft
and influence the
post-synaptic
neuron…
Need to get
through the
membrane
The synaptic cleft
Two types of potential can cancel each other out…
the process of adding up all incoming potentials
is called synaptic integration
Figure 2.12 (p. 35)
(a) A particular experience causes a neuron to fire and transmitter to be released.
The record indicates the rate of nerve firing measured in the postsynaptic neuron
due to this initial experience. (b) After continued firing occurs due to repetitions of
the experience, structural changes at the synapse occur that result in increased
firing to the same stimulus. These changes in the neuron’s firing rate provide a
neural record of the experience. The record for a particular experience would
involve many neurons.
Simple reflex
• Action potentials (or nerve impulses) form the language
of the brain, like computer bits or morse code
The advantage of inhibitory control…