Random Cognitive Neuroscience Vocabulary

A well-established pattern of thought or behavior.

A cognitive model positing that there are two basic components that determine the allocation of attention during visual search : a component driven by stimulus (bottom-up) information and one driven by top-down influences based on high-level factors and behavioral goals.

The perception elicited by a soluble chemical that interacts with olfactory receptors.

Following a stimulus or event, a process in which neural activity is fed back to the same brain region activated earlier in the processing sequence.

The ventral portion of the prefrontal cortex surrounding the hemispheric midline; plays a key role in the control of emotions and social behavior.

The incorporation of new information into a memory store, which requires the

An emotional reaction elicited in cats by electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus, characterized by hissing, growling, and attack behaviors directed randomly toward innocuous targets.

A working memory test in which the subject is asked to immediately recall a random string of numbers, which is gradually increased until recall fails.

In functional neuroimaging studies, greater study-phase activity for items that are remembered rather than forgotten in a later memory test.

The ventricular space that lies between the pons and the cerebellum.

The study of the neural basis of interpersonal and intergroup processes.

A region of the fusiform gyrus that shows enhanced responses to faces relative to other objects.

Memory of one’s personal experience.

The focusing of attention on stimulus information across multiple modalities at the same time.

Cortical regions in the frontal lobe that are anterior to the primary motor and premotor cortices; thought to be involved in planning complex cognitive behaviors and in the expression of personality and appropriate social behavior.

A partially segregated visual processing pathway passing from primary visual cortex through extrastriate areas to the higher-order association cortices of the parietal cortex; thought to be concerned primarily with spatial aspects of visual processing.

Technically, the apparent intensity of a source of light; more generally, a sense of the effective overall intensity of a light stimulus.

A network of the brain that includes the posterior cingulate cortex, the ventral anterior cingulate cortex, and the medial inferior prefrontal cortex and that has been proposed to be engaged when the brain is either “idling,” not engaged in any specific cognitive task, or directing attention inwardly.

A normally clear and cell-free fluid that fills the ventricular system of the central nervous system; produced by the choroid plexus in the lateral ventricles.

The superficial gray matter of the cerebellum.