- •Chapter 2 Cognitive Neuroscience
- •1. A Working Neuron in the Classroom
- •2. Group Reaction Time and Neural Speed
- •3. Hemispheric Activity Interferes with Ability to Work a Counter
- •Outline for Chapter 2
- •Supplemental Activities
- •1. A Working Neuron in the Classroom
- •Written by Nancy Jo Melucci, Santa Monica College
- •2. Group Reaction Time and Neural Speed
- •Written by Nancy Jo Melucci, Santa Monica College
- •3. Hemispheric Activity Interferes With Ability to Work a Counter
- •1. Neurogenesis Alcohol
- •2. Doogie mice
- •CogLab - Brain Asymmetry -
- •1. Does your data provide evidence that you have an asymmetric brain? Explain your answer. Do the same for the global results.
- •2. Describe another experiment that would test for brain asymmetry. It should be different from this experiment and the split-brain language experiment already described.
- •3. What skills/processes are primarily associated with the left hemisphere? What about the right hemisphere?
- •Advanced Questions
- •1. What types of professions might benefit from using what we know about brain asymmetry?
- •2. Describe a task that might be more difficult for a split-brain patient than a normal individual.
- •3. The interpretation of the experimental results relies on a comparison between the data from right-handed participants as well as left-handed participants. Why is this the case?
- •Discussion Question
- •1. Why might it be advantageous for us to have a brain in which some processes are specific to one hemisphere?
- •**It is not clear why the brain is set up in an asymmetrical way, so a broad array of student responses could be appropriate here. This question can be used as a creative thinking exercise.
- •Useful Websites
- •The Whole Brain Atlas
- •Test Bank Multiple Choice
- •Korsakoff’s syndrome.
- •Midbrain.
- •Localization of function
- •Hemispheric specialization.
- •Static Imaging Techniques
- •Metabolic Imaging
- •Static Imaging Techniques
CogLab - Brain Asymmetry -
Student Manual Answers
Basic Questions
1. Does your data provide evidence that you have an asymmetric brain? Explain your answer. Do the same for the global results.
If you chose the younger chimeric face as the photo with the younger half-face on the left side of the image more than fifty percent of the time, this provides evidence that you have an asymmetric brain. A similar judgment can be made when using the global data.
The global data can also be used to see whether a left to right bias (possibly created by our culture i.e. reading) can explain the results of the experiment. If left-handed participants chose the younger chimeric face as the photo with the younger half-face on the left side of the image more than fifty percent of the time, but to a lesser extent than right-handed participants, then that would be further evidence for an asymmetric brain.
This conclusion relies on the finding that right-handed individuals show more brain asymmetry than left-handed individuals.
2. Describe another experiment that would test for brain asymmetry. It should be different from this experiment and the split-brain language experiment already described.
One could show participants a series of images on a computer monitor. The images could consist of a photo, a happy or a sad face, a printed word, a noun or a verb. Participants would then be asked to center their eyes on a fixation point in the middle of the screen. The participant’s task would be to make a key press that corresponded to the image that they saw (happy face, sad face, noun or verb). Results showing faster reaction times to faces and parts of speech when they were presented to the right visual field as compared to the left visual field would be evidence for an asymmetric brain.
It is important for the student to indicate the variables and performance measure to be used, as well as what the results would look like if one does in fact have an asymmetric brain.
3. What skills/processes are primarily associated with the left hemisphere? What about the right hemisphere?
The left hemisphere is typically associated with analytical and logical thinking. It deals with language, mathematics, and rationality. The right hemisphere is associated with emotion, holistic thinking, music, dance, and artistic creativity.
Advanced Questions
1. What types of professions might benefit from using what we know about brain asymmetry?
An artist or someone in advertising could benefit from knowing that when people make judgments about another person (age, emotional state), say on a billboard or in a painting, they tend to use information from the left side of the person’s face more so than the right side.
Plastic surgeons, cosmetologists, or actors could, in some cases, also benefit from being informed about brain asymmetry. As long as an appropriate justification is given, many occupations could be identified when answering this question.