Cognitive Neuroscience
Summary
TLDRDr. Jung Shu Liu introduces cognitive neuroscience, a discipline bridging psychology and neurobiology, focusing on higher-order cognition and emotions at the brain region level. The course, Psych 400, with a prerequisite of introductory psychology, covers neural imaging methods like fMRI and EEG to study cognitive functions. It also explores topics like memory, attention, and language, preparing students for further studies or careers in academia and industry.
Takeaways
- 🎓 Jung Shu Liu is a psychology professor specializing in cognitive neuroscience at the Department of Behavioral Sciences.
- 📚 The course Psych 400: Cognitive Neuroscience has a prerequisite of introductory psychology and fulfills a major requirement for cognition concentration.
- 🧠 Cognitive neuroscience bridges the gap between psychology and neurobiology by focusing on higher-order cognitive functions like memory, attention, and language at the brain region level.
- 🔬 The course covers neural imaging methods such as fMRI, EEG, and MEG, which are used to visualize brain activity during cognitive tasks.
- 👨🔬 Research in cognitive neuroscience explores how different brain regions work together to support cognitive functions, using paradigms like face perception and memory encoding.
- 🏫 The course provides a foundation in neural anatomy, imaging methods, and cognitive functions, preparing students for further study or research in the field.
- 👩🔬 Students interested in cognitive neuroscience research can join the cognitive neuroscience lab at UM Dearborn, which is equipped with EEG and eye-tracking systems.
- 💡 Studying cognitive neuroscience can lead to a deeper understanding of the human mind, preparation for graduate studies, and skills in data analysis, programming, and imaging techniques.
- 🌟 The course is designed for undergraduates and is accessible for all students interested in the subject, regardless of their background.
- ❓ Professor Liu encourages students with questions about the course or research opportunities to reach out for further information.
Q & A
What is Jung Shu Liu's position at the university?
-Jung Shu Liu is a psychology professor at the department of behavioral sciences.
What is the course code for the cognitive neuroscience course taught by Professor Liu?
-The course code for the cognitive neuroscience course is Psych 400.
What is the prerequisite for Professor Liu's cognitive neuroscience course?
-The prerequisite for the cognitive neuroscience course is introductory psychology.
How does cognitive neuroscience bridge the gap between psychology and neurobiology?
-Cognitive neuroscience bridges the gap by focusing on higher-order cognition and emotions at the brain region level, rather than the cellular or subcellular levels.
What are some of the methods cognitive neuroscience relies on to study the brain?
-Cognitive neuroscience relies on neural imaging methods such as fMRI, avenir, EEG, and MEG, which provide insights into brain activity during cognitive processing.
What is an example of a simple task used in Professor Liu's research to study brain activity?
-An example of a simple task used in research is showing participants a face picture and observing the engagement of various brain regions.
What brain regions are typically engaged when participants look at a face picture in an fMRI study?
-Brain regions engaged include the occipital regions due to visual processing and the hippocampus due to memory formation.
How does cognitive neuroscience differ from other disciplines like biopsychology and behavioral neuroscience?
-While all these disciplines bridge biology and psychology, cognitive neuroscience specifically focuses on higher-level cognitive functions like memory, attention, and language, and often uses neural imaging methods.
What are some of the cognitive functions that will be studied in Professor Liu's course?
-The course will study cognitive functions such as sensation, attention, memory, emotion, and language.
What opportunities does Professor Liu offer for students interested in cognitive neuroscience research?
-Professor Liu offers opportunities for students to join her lab as research volunteers, independent study students, honor thesis students, or graduate students.
What are the potential benefits of studying cognitive neuroscience for students?
-Studying cognitive neuroscience can help students better understand the human mind and psychology, prepare for graduate studies, and acquire skills in data analysis, programming, and imaging techniques that can be useful for industrial jobs.
Outlines
🧠 Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
Dr. Jung Shu Liu, a psychology professor at the Department of Behavioral Sciences, introduces cognitive neuroscience as a discipline that bridges psychology and neurobiology. The course, Psych 400, is designed for students with a background in introductory psychology and aims to fulfill the cognition concentration requirement for psychology majors. Cognitive neuroscience focuses on higher-order cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and language, studying how different brain regions interact to support these functions. Dr. Liu explains the importance of understanding the biological basis of psychological phenomena and how neural imaging techniques like fMRI, EEG, and MEG are used to visualize brain activity during cognitive tasks. She provides an example of how fMRI can be used to study brain activity when participants view facial images, highlighting the engagement of various brain regions in memory and perception.
📚 Course Structure and Opportunities in Cognitive Neuroscience
The course will cover basic neural anatomy, neural imaging methods, and cognitive functions such as sensation, attention, memory, emotion, and language. Students will learn about psychological phenomena, research paradigms, theories, and the cognitive neuroscience perspective on these topics. Dr. Liu will present studies to demonstrate how brain mechanisms are studied and which brain parts are crucial for specific cognitive functions. The course is suitable for undergraduates and offers opportunities for students to participate in cognitive neuroscience research at the university's lab, which is equipped with advanced EEG and eye-tracking systems. Studying cognitive neuroscience can enhance understanding of the human mind, prepare students for graduate studies, and equip them with valuable skills in data analysis, programming, and imaging techniques, which can be beneficial for both academic and industrial careers. Dr. Liu encourages students with questions about the course or research to contact her.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Cognitive Neuroscience
💡Neural Imaging
💡Psychology Major
💡Cognitive Function
💡Neurobiology
💡Introductory Psychology
💡Cognition Concentration
💡EEG (Electroencephalography)
💡fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
💡Behavioral Neuroscience
💡Cognitive Neuroscience Lab
Highlights
Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience as a discipline bridging psychology and neurobiology.
Course Psych 400 with a prerequisite of introductory psychology.
Cognitive Neuroscience fulfills the psychology major cognition concentration requirement.
Definition of Cognitive Neuroscience and its focus on higher-order cognition and emotions.
Importance of understanding the nervous system for psychology.
Role of neurobiology in studying neuron function at cellular and subcellular levels.
Cognitive Neuroscience's focus on brain region level rather than cellular levels.
Study of brain regions working together to support cognitive functions.
Comparison of Cognitive Neuroscience with other disciplines like biopsychology and behavioral neuroscience.
Cognitive Neuroscience's reliance on neural imaging methods like fMRI and avenir.
Explanation of neural imaging and its ability to capture blood oxygen levels in the brain.
Use of neural imaging to study cognitive processing in real-time.
Example of using fMRI to study brain activity during face perception.
Discussion on the brain regions engaged during face perception and memory formation.
Cognitive Neuroscience's exploration of face processing, expression, and recognition.
Introduction to EEG as a method for measuring brain activity with high temporal resolution.
Overview of the course content covering neural anatomy, imaging methods, and cognitive functions.
Opportunity for students to join the Cognitive Neuroscience lab for research.
Benefits of studying Cognitive Neuroscience for understanding the human mind and preparing for graduate studies.
Practical applications of Cognitive Neuroscience skills in data analysis, programming, and imaging techniques for industrial jobs.
Invitation for questions and contact regarding the Cognitive Neuroscience course and research.
Transcripts
hi my name is jung shu liu i'm a
psychology professor at the department
of behavioral sciences
my research area is cognitive
neuroscience so the course i'm teaching
is
also called cognitive neuroscience and
this
course is psych 400 and this course only
has
one prerequisite which is introductory
psychology
and this course also fulfill a
psychology major
cognition concentration requirement now
you may wonder what is cognitive
neuroscience so i will give you a brief
introduction i know most of us
are interested in psychology how
we think how we feel you know the human
mind
behavior cognition emotion etc etc
but we know psychology is the product of
our nervous system
therefore to understand better
psychology we also need to understand
the biology so in neurobiology
scientists
are working hard trying to understand
how the neuron works
at the cellular and subcellular level
now
because psychological neurobiology
focuses on different things
different domains so to facilitate the
dialogue
between the two big different areas we
actually
need some intermediate layers or
disciplines
to bridge the two big areas cognitive
neuroscience
is one of those disciplines because
cognitive neuroscience directly
focus on those higher order cognition
emotions etc etc
but instead of focusing on the cellular
subcellular levels cognitive
neuroscience usually focus on the brain
region level
now we want to find out which brain
regions they work together and how they
work together to support
specific cognitive function now
there are other disciplines also play an
important role
bridging the basic biology and
psychology for example
biopsychology we have physio psychology
we have
effective neuroscience behavioral
neuroscience those different disciplines
these states brings have something
similar
but they also have their own focuses
and they may have different preferred
paradigms
research methods or preferred questions
now relative speaking cognitive
neuroscience
focuses more on higher level cognition
memory attention language etc etc
also from the methodological perspective
cognitive neuroscience more relies on
neural imaging
method what is neural imaging i guess
many of you have heard
the fmi avenir those machines can help
us to take a picture of the brain
so that we can know at the specific
moment
the blood oxygen level in different
brain regions
that can allow us to see which brain
regions
are engaged in a specific cognitive
processing
we also have other neural imaging
methods like eg and
meg which has a very good temporal
resolution
allows us to see at what time point in
millisecond a specific type of
processing may occur
i will give you an example how we can
use the new
image method to study human cognition
this is an fmi machine it can allow us
to know
the blood oxygen level in different
regions
when the brain is working so for example
we can give participant a face picture
let them to
look at the face picture this is from
one of my previous study
it's very simple task but in the brain
many brain regions are
engaged by this task so here i show you
the regions
that actually get engaged you see some
of the
occipital regions because we look at the
face picture
and also the region we call hippocampus
memory region
also engaged because we need to build
the memory for this phase
it's very simple but we use this kind of
paradigm
we can study many different things
related to faces
for example you know we have different
type of faces some are more dominant
some are more attractive some are more
trustworthy
how to bring support the precision of
these different faces
and we also know you can make different
face expression
now how the brain help us to perceive
those different type of
facial expression also think about
sometimes we may
process unknown faces sometimes we may
possess
familiar faces what's the difference how
the brain
works differently actually cognitive
neuroscientists
have done a lot of work on this research
topic
and they figure out many brain regions
actually play a role
in phase processing because face is a
very important social stimuli
you see these color regions those
regions are
important for phase processing and
probably also important for other things
another method we use is called eeg
which is electroencephalograph
and we can put electrode on the scalp to
measure
the brain activity it has very good
temporal resolution we can know
as specific time point which can the
processing get
engaged okay so this is just an
example in this class first we'll talk
about some basic
neural anatomy because we need to know
the brain parts
then we'll talk about some neural
imaging method you all can learn
it's very straightforward then we'll
talk about some cognitive functioning
like
sensational attention memory emotion
language etc
for each of the topics first we'll
discuss the phenomena
at the psychology level now what is the
paradigms we will use to study these
phenomena of the topics
and what are the theories etc etc
then we will start to study these topics
from the cognitive neuroscience
perspective
i will present you a couple of studies
to show
you how we can study the brain mechanism
and what part of the brain may play an
important role
in supporting those functions this is
undergraduate level course
and you can all learn the material now
if you are interested in cognitive
neuroscience research
at um dearborn we actually have a
cognitive neuroscience lab
we have a very good eg recording system
you can see we have many
sensors we also have a very good eye
tracking system
and we can present participant different
stimuli and study
their brain activity you can join my lab
as research volunteers
independent study students honor thesis
students
or as graduate students the benefit of
studying cognitive science
this can help you to understand better
human mind human psychology
also can prepare you for your graduate
study if you indeed want to be a
cognitive neuroscientist or in academia
also when you study cognitive
neuroscience you will
learn a lot of skills in data analysis
programming
or you can directly learn some new
imaging techniques
which can help you to find the
industrial job
finally if you have any questions
related to cognitive neuroscience course
or cognitive neuroscience research
please feel free to contact me thank you
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