PSY246 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Agnosia, Occipital Lobe, Herpesviral Encephalitis
2 Jun 2018
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Cognitive Neuropsychology – Week 12
Outline of lecture:
• What is cognitive neuropsychology?
• Approach and methods
• Example case studies
o Divisions of vision
o Semantic knowledge
o Letter representations
o Letter position coding
Studying abnormal or atypical conditions to learn about normal conditions in other
fields:
• Supernovae (astronomy)
• Mutations (genetics)
• Diseases (medicine)
• Earthquakes, volcanoes (geology)
Types of deficits:
• Developmental → failed to develop normally e.g. dyslexia
• Acquired → result of brain injury later in life e.g. amnesia
• Examples
o Amnesia (memory)
o Aphasia (spoken language)
o Dyslexia (Reading)
Possible reasons to study cognitive deficits:
• Understand normal cognition
• Understand the deficit
• Theorize effective cognitive-based treatments
• Understand where cognitive functions are localized in the brain (THIS IS
NOT COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY – this is neuroscience)
Modularity –
• Idea that any cognitive functioning involves the orchestrated activity of
multiple cognitive processors or modules
• Key properties of modules:
o Informationally encapsulated → does its work in ignorance of, and
isolated from, other things going on in the mind (works independently)
o Domain specific → can only accept one type of input
o Mandatory → cannot be turned on or off
Cognitive model –
• Reading
o What cognitive processes translate between print and speech?
• Dual-Route model (each box in the diagram is a module e.g. semantic
meaning, spoken word production, visual word recognition)
• How can the processes be disrupted? (this is neuropsychological question)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Aims:
1. Use data from studies of people with cognitive impairments after brain
damage to test, extend or develop theories about normal cognitive processing
o Patients (those with impairments) → model (leads us to this)
2. Use models of normal cognitive functioning to better understand and explain
the patterns of cognitive impairment seen in brain injured patients
o Models (help us to see) → patients (diagnose/explain impairments)
3. Use detailed theories and models of cognitive processes to guide assessment
and diagnosis, and also the development of evaluation and treatment programs
o Models → patients
CNP Assessment & Rehab –
• If one has a theory about the set of processes by which we normally
accomplish a particular cognitive task, this provides ideas about how to assess
impairments of the ability to perform this task
• One approach to rehabilitation, the restoration approach, seeks to reinstate the
particular component processes that have been lost after brain damage
Developmental Cognitive Neuropsych –
• Concerns developmental, rather than acquired disorders of cognition
o i.e. failures to acquire a particular cognitive ability normally, rather
than loss of the ability after brain damage
o here, the theories that are used are theories about how cognitive
abilities are normally learned
Methods –
• Study any aspect of cognition (vision, language, audition, attention, memory
etc.)
• Individual case studies (and case series)
o Dissociations
o Errors
• Case study: intensive scientific study of a single individual with a cognitive
deficit
o Why study single cases rather than groups?
o 5 modules + 8 processes = 13 possible places where damage could
happen in the cog system
o Which means there is 4095 types of dyslexia
• Case series: multiple case studies, presented and discussed together in one
paper
• [Single] dissociation: pattern of results in which one cognitive ability shows
impairment, while another ability is intact or much less impaired
• Double dissociation (two people): two complementary single dissociations
across individuals
Differing methods from cognitive psychology:
• Focus on single case studies or small groups
• Do not combine data across participants
• Tend to use accuracy measures rather than reaction time/speed
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Outline of lecture: what is cognitive neuropsychology, approach and methods, example case studies, divisions of vision, semantic knowledge, letter representations, letter position coding. Studying abnormal or atypical conditions to learn about normal conditions in other fields: supernovae (astronomy, mutations (genetics, diseases (medicine, earthquakes, volcanoes (geology) Types of deficits: developmental failed to develop normally e. g. dyslexia, acquired result of brain injury later in life e. g. amnesia, examples, amnesia (memory, aphasia (spoken language, dyslexia (reading) Possible reasons to study cognitive deficits: understand normal cognition, understand the deficit, theorize effective cognitive-based treatments, understand where cognitive functions are localized in the brain (this is. Methods : study any aspect of cognition (vision, language, audition, attention, memory etc. ) [single] dissociation: pattern of results in which one cognitive ability shows impairment, while another ability is intact or much less impaired: double dissociation (two people): two complementary single dissociations across individuals.
