Key Terms Cognitive Neuroscience action potential the impulse when the fiber reverse course and starts becoming negative until it returns to resting potential axon transmits signals to other neurons aka nerve fibers brain imaging a technique use by research that supports the idea that our perception of faces is associate with a specific area of the brain which makes it possible to determine which area of the brains of humans are activated by different cognitions broca s area area in the left frontal lobe specialized in speech cell body the metabolic center of the neuron that contains mechanisms to keep the cell alive cerebral cortex where most cognitive functions are served a layer of tissue about 3 mm thick that covers the brain cognitive neuroscience the study of physiological basis of cognition dendrites receives signals from other neurons diffusion tensor imaging DTI a technique based on detection of how water diffuses along the length of nerve fibers distributed representation the idea that specific cognitive functions activate many areas of the brain double dissociation occurs if damage to one area of the brain causes function A to be absent while function B is present and damage to another area causes function B to be absent while function A is present extrastriate body area EBA other area of the brain that is activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies but not by faces feature detectors feature detectors that respond to specific stimulus features such as orientation movement and length frontal lobe receives signals from all the senses and is responsible for coordination of the sense as well as higher cognitive functioning such as thinking and problem solving functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI a technique that has enabled researchers to determine how various types of cognition activate different areas of the brain fusiform face area FFA a specific area in the brain that is activated by looking at faces hierarchical processing the progression from the lower to the higher area of the brain level of analysis a topic can be studied in a number of different ways with each approach contributing its own dimension to our understanding localization of function specific functions are served by specific areas of the brain magnetic resonance imaging MRI a technique that made it possible to create images of structures within the brain to detect tumors and other brain abnormalities microelectrode small shafts of hollow glass filled with conductive salt solution that can pick up electrical signals at the electrode tip and conduct these signals back to a recording device were used to record electrical signals from single neurons nerve fiber aka axons nerve impulse this is what is transmitted down the axon when the neurons receptor s is stimulated nerve net a network or neurons neural circuit groups of interconnected neurons neural network groups of neurons or structures that are connected together neural representation principle of everything a person experiences is based not on direct contact with stimuli but on representations in the person s nervous system neuron small units that create and transmit info about what we experience and know neuron doctrine the idea that individual cells transmit signal in the nervous system and that these cells are not continuous with other cells as proposed by nerve net theory neuropsychology the study of the behavior of people with brain damage neurotransmitter a chemical released when the signals reach the end of the axon occipital lobe where the visual cortex is located parahippocampal place area PPA a part of the brain that is activated by perceiving pictures representing indoor and outdoor scenes parietal lobe where the somatosensory cortex is responsible for perceptions of touch pressure and pain population coding the representation of a particular object but the pattern of firing of a large number of neurons prosopagnosia caused by damage to the temporal lobe on the lower right side of the brain difficulty recognizing faces receptors neurons that are specialized to pick up info from the environment neurons in the nose eyes ears etc recording electrode shown with its recording top inside the neuron reference electrode located some distance away so it isn t affected by the electrical signals resting potential when the axon or nerve fiber is at rest the meter records a difference in potential between the tips of the two electrodes this value which stays the same as long as there are no signals in the neuron retina the layer of neurons that lines the back of the eye sensory code refers to how neurons represent various characteristics of the environment sparse coding occurs when a particular object is represented by a patterns of firing of only a small group or neurons with the majority of neurons remaining silent specificity coding the idea that an object could be represented by the firing of a specialized neuron that responds only to that object synapse the small gap between the end of a neuron s axon and the dendrites or cell body of another neuron temporal lobe where the auditory cortex is responsible for hearing visual cortex the area at the back of the brain that receives signals from the eye voxel small units of analysis created an fMRI scanner to record brain activity wernicke s area area in the temporal lobe people with damage to this area can speak grammatically correct and fluent speech but the content is nonsensical