Curriculum

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executive systems of the brain:
cognition
attention and language
sleep and consciousness
memory
emotion

==== Cognition ====

Piaget(1896-1980): development from child to adult
children are actively constructing their understanding of the world as they grow
0-2 years: sensorimotor, object permanence
2-6 years: preoperational: remember, pretend play, symbols, speech, egocentric
7-11 years: concrete operational: conservation: which glass holds more water, tall skinny, or short fat.  mathematics
12+ years: formal operational: abstract reasoning, think about consequences of potential actions, sophisticated moral reasoning

Hermann Ebbinghous (1850-1909): learning curve, forgetting curve
William James (1842-1910): perception, memory, reasoning, attention


Problem Solving
Trial and error
Algorithm
Heuristic
	Means-end analysis, big problem -> smaller problems
	Working backwards, start with the goal
	fixation - getting stuck on a wrong approach
	Insight (aha!)

Decision making
Decision making heuristics
	availability - which is more likely
	representativeness - matching prototypes
	conjunction fallacy
Biases
	overconfidence
	belief perseverance - ignore/rationalize disconfirming facts
	confirmation bias - seek out only confirming facts
Framing Effects

Semantic networks and spreading activation
Semantic networks
	nodes connected by links
	hierarchy plus polymorphism
Modified Semantic Network
	unique to each individual

Intelligence
IQ
learn from experience
solve problems
adapt to new situations
one general intelligence
multiple intelligences
	analytic, creative, practical
emotional intelligence
fluid vs crystallized
Binet: the first IQ test
nature vs Nurture, heritability
fixed vs growth

Aging and cognitive abilities
Stable
implicit memory, riding a bike
reognition memory, pick it out of a list
Improve
semantic memory improves until 60
crystallized IQ
reasoning in the face of personal and emotionally charged situations
Decline
recall
episodic memory
processing speed
divided attention

Attention
limited resource
divided attention
selective attention
	exogenous, external
	endogenous, internal
inattentional blindness
change blindness

Theories of Selective Attention
shadowing task, hear and repeat, undistracted
Broadbent: Early Selection theory, sensory register, selective filter, perceptual processes (meaning), other cognitive processes (how to respond)
Deutsch & Deutsch: Late Selection theory. move selective filter to the end, after assigning meaning
Treisman: attenuation theory, replace early selective filter with attenuator

==== Theories of Language and Cognition ====

cognition = thought

Universalism: Thought determines language
Piaget: Thought influences language
Vygotsky: Language & Thought are independent, developed simultaneously
Weak Linguistic Determinism: Language influences thought
Whorf: Strong Linguistic Determinism: language determines thought

Theories of Language Development
Noam Chomsky: Nativist/Innatist, Language Acquistion Device (LAD), all languages share a universal grammar.  Critical period, birth to 8 or 9.  The LAD only operates during this critical period.
Learning Theory: children not born with anything.  All learned through reinforcement. infant learns "mama" reinforced with hugs.
Vygotsky: Interactionist: children desire to communicate, motivates them to learn language.

Language and the brain
language usually on the left
Broca's area, helps us speak, in the frontal lobe.
Wernicke's area, helps us understand. In the Temporal Lobe. 
Arcuate Fasciculus, bundle of nerve fibers, connects Broca's area and Wernickes area.
Aphasia - language deficiency
Global aphasia - everything broken.
Broca's aphasia - means broken or slurred speech.
Wernicke's aphasia - speak words that make no sense.
Conduction aphasia, related to Arcuate Fasciculus, inability to conduct information between Broca and Wernicke, cannot repeat things even though they understand what's being said.
Many other types of aphasia. Inability to write, name things, reading, spelling, grammar, pronunciation, etc.

Brain in general.  Big tasks split into small tasks and spread around the brain areas.
Neural plasticity = the ability of the brain to move functions around in parts of the brain.  Helpful in recovery from stroke and other brain damage.

Corpus Collosum = nerve fibers that connect right and left hemispheres.  Cutting the cord was once a treatment for epilepsy, resulting in a split-brain patient.  Difficulty naming things.  Perceptions in the right brain, cannot be named or dealt with by the language center on the left.

Contra-lateral organization. Sensory and motor activity on the left of the body is processed by the right brain, and vice-versa.

==== Sleep and Consciousness ====

== States of Consciousness ==

consciousness = awareness of our self and our environment (consciousness = awareness?)

|Awake|Beta|12-30 Hz|
|Daydreaming (light meditation)|Alpha|8-13 Hz|
|Drowsy (deep meditation)|Theta|4-7 Hz|
|Sleep|||

|N1|theta|
|N2|theta + K-Complex + Sleep Spindles|
|N3|delta|.5-2 Hz|
|REM|