Language & Cognition

PSY 511.003

2024-03-28

Prelude

Last time…

  • Action

In what way are muscles sensory organs?

Why is the monosynaptic stretch (myotatic) reflex important?

What role does Ca++ play in muscle contraction?

Which brain area(s) are most responsible for voluntary motor control?

Main

Today’s topics

Main points

  • Cognition has multiple facets
    • Core questions
      • What to do next?
      • How to do it?
    • Perception, attention, memory, problem solving, etc.
    • Computational/algorithmic approaches ascendant
  • Forms of cognition seen across species and development
  • Cerebral cortex critical (in humans and closely related animals)
  • Mapping brain states to cognitive processes
  • Language as a behavior
    • Multiple modalities
    • Symbolic
  • Wernicke-Geschwind model
    • Anatomically separable streams for input/output
    • Oversimplifies
  • Top-down/bottom-up + feedback

Next time…

  • Learning & memory

Resources

References