Finish: History of Cognitive Psychology Physiological Measures in Cognitive Neuroscience Psychology 355: Cognitive Psychology Instructor: John Miyamoto 03/31/2016: Lecture 01-4 Note: This Powerpoint presentation may contain macros that I wrote to help me create the slides. The macros aren’t needed to view the slides. You can disable or delete the macros without any change to the presentation.

Outline History of cognitive psychology Physiological measures in cognitive neuroscience Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr ‘16 2 Overview of the History of Cognitive Psychology

Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 3 Overview of the History of Cognitive Psychology Precursors to cognitive psychology ♦ Aristotle, Plato – epistemology, theory of ideas and their relation to human action Experimental psychology begins in 19th century Germany ♦ Franciscus Donders (response time analysis, method of subtraction) ♦ Hermann von Helmholtz (perception, unconscious inference) ♦ Hermann Ebbinghaus (experimental study of memory) ♦ Wilhelm Wundt (analytic introspection, analysis of conscious experience) Behaviorist hiatus in America: roughly 1920 – 1960 ♦ During the behaviorist period ( ), cognitive psychology continued to be studied in Europe. Revival of cognitive psychology in America (1950 – 1970) 1970 – present: Cognitive psychology plays a major role in psychology pretty much everywhere in the world Behaviorist Hiatus in America Done!

Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 4 Behaviorist Hiatus – Roughly John Watson ♦ Influenced by positivist philosophy. The goal of science is to predict whatever is observable. ♦ Science should eliminate assumptions about whatever is not observable. (Questionable) ♦ Consciousness is not observable. Eliminate it from psychological theory. Anti-introspectionist. ♦ Opposed to theories that postulated unobserved psychological processes Clark Hull – Stimulus/Response (S/R) learning model. Edwin Guthrie B. F. Skinner – Reinforcement theory Behaviorism was an American approach to psychology – not so influential in Europe and elsewhere. Cognitive Psychology During the Behaviorist Period

William James (1842 – 1910; cognitive psychology) Jean Piaget – genetic epistemology Lev Vygotsky – cognitive development and education Sir Frederick Bartlett (constructive memory processes) Gestalt psychology – Kurt Lewin, Wolfgang Kohler The beginnings of the computer revolution. Alan Turing, Norbert Wiener, John von Neumann Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 5 Behaviorism Loses Its Grip on Psychology

Behaviorism lost its grip on American psychology during the 1960's. Why did this happen? Problematic results ♦ Learning without responding: Rats that are temporarily paralyzed with atropine can learn the layout of a maze from being wheeled around the maze on a stretcher. ♦ Learning without reinforcement: Rats that explore a maze with no reinforcements show learning of the maze when they are later rewarded for running the maze. Deficiencies of behaviorism: Behaviorist theories could not provide insightful explanations or a productive research strategy for studying obvious important behaviors such as: ♦ Human language production and comprehension; also, language learning. ♦ Human problem solving; human decision making. ♦ Human attention and perception. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 6 Why Behaviorism Lost Its Grip on Psych - Continuation of this Slide

Early Cognitive Research Strategies that Seemed Promising Structural models like transformational grammar in linguistics, or genetic epistemology in cognitive development. Computer models like the General Problem Solver of Newell and Simon. Behavioral studies of human information processing. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 7 Revival of Cognitive Psychology – Information Processing Is it unscientific to postulate unobserved psychological processes in a psychological theory? Behaviorists "Yes" Cognitivists "No"

Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 8 Dramatic & Interesting Examples of Early Cognitive: Alan Newell & Herbert Simon: Computer models of problem solving Noam Chomsky - Grammar of natural language Lashley – Neuroscience Hubel & Wiesel – Receptive fields in the visual cortex Cognitive Psychology Since 1960

Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 9 Cognitive Psychology Since 1960 Experimental cognitive psychology – Emphasizes the behavioral approach ♦ Perception & Attention, Memory, Language, Reasoning & problem solving, Cognitive development Computer modeling of cognitive processes – Usually a mixture of the behavioral and computational approach Physiological Approach ♦ Single-cell recordings ♦ PET, fMRI, ERP ♦ Study effects of drugs Summary of History Behavioral Approach: All dependent measures in a study are observed behavior. Physiological Approach: All dependent measures in a study are measures of physiological states or physiological responses. Hybrid Approach (Cognitive Neuroscience) : The study attempts to explain behavioral responses, physiological responses, and may include computational modeling of behavior. Slide Marker

The Emergence of Cognitive Neuroscience Circa 1955: Single-cell electrical recording in cat visual system. Circa 1970: Event-related potentials (ERP) in the study of language Circa 1995: fMRI in studies of perception, attention, and memory Circa 2005: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in psychology Psych 355,, Miyamoto, Spr '16 10 Review of Neural Information Processing:. Start with Diagram of Nerve Cell & Info Transmission

Summary 19 th Century European origins of cognitive research Some research during the first half of the 20 th century 1955 – 1965: Beginning of modern cognitive psychology 1960 – present: Extensive behavioral research 1990 – present: Cognitive neuroscience stimulated by new imaging techniques. Present: Combination of behavioral, neuroscience and computational approaches. Psych 355,, Miyamoto, Spr '16 11 Review of Neural Information Processing:. Start with Diagram of Nerve Cell & Info Transmission

The Parts of a Neuron (Nerve Cell) Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 12 Cell body or soma – main body of the neuron. Dendrites –brushy projections that receive stimulation from other cells. Axon – long projection that carries stimulation to other cells. Terminal buttons (a.k.a. axon terminals or synaptic terminals) – End of axon where a neurochemical signal is passed to other nerve cells. Same Slide without the Red Ovals Next Slide

The Parts of a Neuron (Nerve Cell) Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 13 Cell body or soma – main body of the neuron. Dendrites –brushy projections that receive stimulation from other cells. Axon – long projection that carries stimulation to other cells. Terminal buttons (a.k.a. axon terminals or synaptic terminals) – End of axon where a neurochemical signal is passed to other nerve cells. Enlargement of Synapse

The Synapse – Point of Contact Between Two Nerve Cells Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 14 Nice pictures of a synapse are available at: and Image downloaded from Wikipedia (1/9/07): Information Transfer at the Synapse Goldstein (2014), Figure 2.5, p. 30.

Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 15 Information Transmission at the Synapse Neurotransmitters (chemicals) are transferred from one neuron to the next at a synapse. At any synapse, the transmission is in only one direction. ♦ One neuron is the sending neuron. ♦ The other neuron is the receiving neuron. Neurons can either excite or inhibit the neural actions of other neurons. Nice pictures of a synapse are available at: and Image downloaded from Wikipedia (1/9/07): Action Potentials are All-of-None

Action Potentials: Electrochemical waves that pass down the axon of a neuron. Action potentials are all-or-nothing. The rate of action potentials matters. The resting rate is not zero. The size is the same for all action potentials. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 16 Neural Information Processing: Time of Occurrence of an Action Potential (Spike) Time  Summary re Neural Signals

Information is carried by the firing rate of a neuron, not the size of an action potential (all are of equal size). Inputs to a neuron can increase (excite) or decrease (inhibit) the firing rate of the neuron. The signal is transmitted from one neuron to the next by means of neurotransmitter chemicals that are passed from one neuron to another at the synapse. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 17 Single Cell Recordings

The firing rate of individual neurons is measured by means of single cell recordings. Today it is possible to record simultaneously from a number of of individual cells. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 18 Strengths and Weaknesses of Single Cell Recordings

Strengths and Weaknesses of Single Cell Recording Methods Strengths Excellent spatial information – the scientist has a very good idea where the recording is located in the brain. Excellent temporal information – the scientist knows when the neuron fires to a high level of precision. Drawbacks Practically difficult to record from more than a small number of cells at a given time, e.g., 15 to 20 cells simultaneously. The method is very invasive. In humans, single-cell recordings are restricted to patients who have other reasons for undergoing brain surgery. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 19 Event-Related Potentials (ERP’s)

Measures electrical potentials on the scalp while processing a stimulus. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 20 Strengths and Weaknesses of ERP’s

Event-Related Potentials (ERP’s) Strengths and weaknesses of ERP’s as research tool. ♦ Poor spatial resolution. ♦ Excellent temporal resolution. ♦ Relatively non-invasive. ♦ Sketchy understanding of the brain processes that are producing the EEG signal. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 21 Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) The graph shows the electrical recording at one location. Similar graphs can be made for every recording location.

Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 22 fMRI Uses a Big Magnet This images is used with permission of the author, J. J. B. Allen at the University of Arizona. Graphic Showing BOLD Contrast

Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 23 Control Condition Test Condition Measuring Activation – A Subtraction Measure Brain Activity =Oxygen Concentration in Test Condition MINUS Oxygen Concentration in Control Condition Details of fMRI Measurement Oxygenated Blood Deoxygenated Blood

How Does fMRI Measure Brain Activity Local neuronal activity  Increased local metabolic rate  Increased blood flow  Increased oxygenated hemoglobin  Uptake of O 2 less than supply  Decreased concentrations of deoxyhemoglobin  Increased local fMRI T2* signal (electromagnetic signal) BOLD response – Blood Oxygenated Level-Dependent response (the response is dependent on the level of oxygenated blood) A.k.a. hemodynamic response (response observed in the blood over time) Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 24 Control Condition Test Condition Strengths and Weaknesses of fMRI

Strengths and Weaknesses of fMRI Measures of Brain Activity Excellent spatial resolution ♦ Magnetic changes can be measured at a resolution of 1 - 3mm³. Temporal resolution is poor. ♦ In the 1990’s the temporal resolution was about 4 seconds. ♦ Today the temporal resolution is about 2 seconds. MRI machines impose physical limitations on the subjects. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 25 Localization of Function

Specific functions are served by specific areas of the brain Cognitive functioning breaks down in specific ways when areas of the brain are damaged Brain imaging can identify areas of the brain that serve specific functions. Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16 26 Localization of Function in FFA and PPA