REFLEXES
SPINAL CORD - reflexes,
BRAIN STEM - breathing
blood pressure)
very quick stereotypic reactions
“brain of the snake”
EMOTIONS
PALEOCORTEX
SUBCORTICAL NUCLEI - life and
species preservation, survival
“brain of the horse”
COGNITIVE
Neocortex – the highest level of
brain functions – learning and
memory
cognition – homo sapiens
“brain of a man”
ASSOCIATION AREAS OF THE BRAIN
CORTEX
Primary sensory cortex
Primary motor
cortex
Association sensory
cortex
Association motor
cortex
Polymodal association
cortex
Primary auditory cortex
Association auditory cortex
Prefrontal cortex
Limbic cortex
Association visual cortex
MOTOR DIVISION OF THE CNS
PRIMARY MOTOR CORTEX
(gyrus praecentralis
In frontal lobe)
SENSORY DIVISION OF THE CN
PRIMARY SENSORY CORTEX
(gyrus postcentralis
In parietal lobe)
Cognition
• Mental activity or acquisition, storage,
transformation, and use of knowledge
• Levels of cognition
Perception
Memory
Reasoning
Attention
Organization of
Knowledge
Problem Solving
Pattern
Recognition
Decision Making
Language
Learning
Learning
• Hebb rule
– repeated neural activity will produce physical
changes in the nervous system
– neurons that fire together, wire together
• Long term potentiation
– LTP
– gradual increase in postsynpatic potential
– function and structure
Memory
• Encoding
– Semnatical
– Visual
– Acoustic
LEARNING
– the aquisition of new information
or knowledge
MEMORY– the retention
of learned information
IMPRINTING
PROCEDURAL LEARNING – „HOW“ (cerebellum, hippocampus, neocortex)
-FOR SKILLS OR BEHAVIOUR
-MORE LIKE A HABBIT
-REQUIRE REPETITION AND PRACTICE OVER A LONG TIME
-LESS LIKELY TO BE FORGOTTEN
DECLARATIVE LEARNING – „WHAT“ (association areas, temporal lobes,
hippocampus, diencephalon)
FOR FACTS AND EVENTS (SEMANTIC, EPISODIC)
CAN BE ACCESSED FOR CONSCIOUS RECOLLECTION
EASY TO FORM MEMORY TRACES
EASY TO BE FORGOTTEN
Emotions
• Consciously experienced subjective feelings
and resulting actions
• William James & Carl Lange (1887)
– experiencing emotion by interpreting body
response
– „We feel sorry because we cry“
James-Lange theory of emotions
Stimuli
(pain, win, lose)
Physiological responses
(cry, aroused, smile)
Emotions
(sad, happy)
Cannon-Bard theory of emotions
Stimuli
(pain, win, lose)
Emotions
(sad, happy)
Physiological responses
(cry, aroused, smile)
THEORIES OF EMOTION
JAMES – LANGE (1884)
“...I am sad, because I cry...“
Emotions are percieved as a consequence of emotional expressions
CANNON – BARD (1927)
„...I need not to cry, to be sad...“
Emotions are experienced undependently of emotional expressions
6 basic universal emotions
•
•
•
•
•
•
Anger
Fear
Disgust
Happiness
Sadness
Surprise
Emotions
• Functions of emotions
– Motivation
– Communication
– Information
• How to measure emotions?
• Emotional intelligence...
Intelligence
• The ability to profit from experience, acquire
knowledge, think abstractly, act purposefully,
or adapt to changes in the environment
• Universal, Context-dependent
• 3A
– Ability, Achievement, Aptitude
• Multiple intelligences
• „Life is a series of poorly defined intelligence
tests“
Intelligence
• Francis Galton
– Inheritance of eminence
• Not the analyzed parameter
• Bias from SES
• Anthropometry – physical traits?
•
•
•
•
IQ = (mental age / chronological age)*100
IQ mean = 100, SD = 15
Mental retardation (IQ<70)
Intellectual giftedness (IQ>130)
Intelligence
• Charles Edward Spearman
– g – general variance
– s – specific variance
– e – error variance
– “g” is the variance shared by all tests of
intelligence
• Binet, Wechsler tests and subtests
– Reliability – reproducible and consistent results
– Validity – Measuring what is intended to be
measured.
r voc-arith = .55 r voc-memory = .50
r arith-memory = .39
G-factor
.80
Vocabulary
.60
V specific
.60
.70
Arithmetic
Memory
.70
.80
A specific
M specific
Intelligence
• Fluid intelligence (gf)
– Abilities to think, reason, and acquire new
knowledge
• Crystalized intelligence (gc)
– Knowledge and understanding that a person has
acquired
Neuroscience techniques
• Brain Lessions
• Brain Imaging Techniques
– PET
– MRI
– fMRI
• Event-related Potential
• Single-cell Recording Technique
COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE AND GENDER DIFFERENCES
FEMALES
Object
comparison
Object
search
Verbal
fluency
Fine motor
skills
Simple
arithmetics
MALES
Mental
rotation
Spatial
visualization
Targeting
Searching
Embeded
figures
Logical
mathematics
Psychopathology
•
•
•
•
•
Autism
Schizophrenia
Alzheimer
Depression
Bipolar disorder
Autism
• Kanner triad
– Deficits in reciprocal social interaction
– Impairments in verbal and nonverbal
communication
– Restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behaviors
and interests
• Neurodevelopmental disorder
• Increase in prevalence (1:200)
• Male:female ratio = 4:1
ASD
• Heritability = 0,9 (10% syndrome-related)
• Myths (Nutrition, vaccination)
• Five specific spectrum diagnoses used by
DSM-IV:
– Autistic disorder
– Asperger disorder
– Rett disorder
– Childhood disintegrative disorder
– Pervasive developmental disorder-NOS
ASD
• Individual must demonstrate at least 6 of the
12 symptoms
– At least 2 symptoms from the social domain
– At least 1 symptom from communication domain
– At least 1 symptom from the restricted
behaviors/interest domain
– At least 1 symptom must have been present
before 36 months of age
Coexistence with other
neurodevelopmental disorders
OCD
Social Behavior
AUTISM
Rare
disorders
10%
epilepsy
in 30%
Language
“Endophenotypes”
Alzheimer
• Neurodegeneration
– Extracellular senile plaques (beta amyloid)
– Intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (tau proteins)
– Increasing prevalence (1% at 60 years)
Schizophrenia
•
•
•
•
•
•
Disruption in cognition and emotion
Positive and negative (anhedonia) symptoms
Hallucinations
Delusions
Decline in social and occupational functioning
Prevalence 1%
Bipolar disorder
•
•
•
•
•
Manic-depressive illness
Disruption of neurotransmitter signalling
Prevalence 1%
Bipolar I (manic) a II (depressive)
Suicide risk
Bipolar I Disorder
One or more
manic episode
Manic
or Mixed
Episode
OR
OR
Depressed and
manic episodes
Major
Depressive
Episode
Manic
or Mixed
Episode
Bipolar II Disorder
One or more
hypomanic episode
OR
OR
Hypomanic
Episode
Depressed and
hypomanic episodes
Major
Depressive
Episode
Hypomanic
Episode
Unipolar vs. Bipolar Disorder
Elevated
Mood
Bipolar
Depressed
Mood
Elevated
Mood
Unipolar
Depressed
Mood
Alzheimer – DSM IV
• Development of multiple cognitive deficits manifested by
both memory impairment and 1 or more of the following
cognitive disturbances: aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, or
disturbance in executive functioning
• Cognitive deficits cause significant impairment in social
functioning and represent a significant decline from a
previous level of functioning
• Course is gradual in onset with continuing
cognitive decline
• Deficits are not due to any other CNS disorder, systemic
illness, or substance-induced condition