Cognitive Neuropsychology

SOW-PSB3BC15E 2022 / 2023

Course Introduction
Who’s who

Coordinator
§ Dr. Hanneke den Ouden,
Associate professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
Learning & Decision Lab, Donders Institute

Course assistant
§ Monica Wagner, PhD student, Bilingualism

Contact us:
§ Brightspace discussion boards
§ BC3@psych.ru.nl

2
Please read the course manual!

3
Getting to know each other

www.menti.com

4
Position in curriculum

§ General Introduction to Psychology

§ B1: Brain & Cognition 1: Introduction
§ B2: Clinical Neuropsychology

§ B3: Cognitive Neuropsychology

§ Master GZP: psychopathology en cognitive neuropsychiatry

§ Research Master (Cognitive Neuroscience, Behavioural Science, AI…)

5
Brains in clinical psychology and society

6
Brains in clinical psychology and society

7
Why Cognitive Neuropsychology? Mind vs. Brain

§ Descartes (1633): Inputs are passed on by the

sensory organs to the pineal gland in the brain
and from there to the immaterial spirit”

§ Gall (~1800) introduced the idea of

localisation of function, just like in the organs:
‘phrenology’

A definition of phrenology with chart from

Webster's Academic Dictionary, circa 1895
8
Why Cognitive Neuropsychology? Mind vs. Brain

§ Descartes (1633): Inputs are passed on by the

sensory organs to the pineal gland in the brain
and from there to the immaterial spirit”

§ Gall (~1800) introduced the idea of localisation

of function, just like in the organs: ‘phrenology’

9
Why Cognitive Neuropsychology? Mind vs. Brain

§ Descartes (1633): Inputs are passed on by the

sensory organs to the pineal gland in the brain
and from there to the immaterial spirit”

§ Gall (~1800) introduced the idea of localisation

of function, just like in the organs: ‘phrenology’

§ Broca (1864) found evidence for localisation

10
Why Cognitive Neuropsychology? Mind vs. Brain

Abnormal behaviour plus….

Neurology:
observable Psychiatry:
brain normal
abnormalities looking brain

11
Why Cognitive Neuropsychology? Mind vs. Brain

Abnormal behaviour plus….

NeurologyPsychiatry

Neuropsychiatry
Neuropsychology
Cognitive Neurology
12
 Behaviour arises from the brain

If you care about behaviour, you care about brains

13
Learning Objectives

1. Processes and mechanisms: You can describe psychological functions/phenomena such as

language, learning, memory, cognitive control, perception, attention, emotion and social
cognition, in terms of neurocognitive processes and mechanisms
2. Analysis and diagnostics: On the basis of theoretical insights in the psychological functions
mentioned in (1.), you can analyse and interpret disturbances in these functions in patients
3. Research methods: You can explain the advantages and caveats of different research methods
used in the general and clinical neuropsychology and cognitive neurosciences, and thus
evaluate the results from key experiments. You can select the appropriate research method for
a scientific or clinically relevant diagnostic question and base this choice on sound arguments
4. Neuroanatomical basis: For these psychological functions and associated neuropsychological
disorders, you can name the most important neuroanatomical structures/regions and argue
why these play an important role in this psychological function/disorder

Take home messages!

14
Course Themes Lecturers

Prof. Rob van Lier

1. Perception and Attention

2. Social Cognition
Dr. Inti Brazil

3. Learning and Memory

Me
4. Cognitive control

5. Emotion Dr. Ana Tyborowska

6. Language

Dr. Vitoria Piai

15
Lectures

§ Monday 8.30-10.15 SP2: Lecture

§ Wednesday 8.30-10.15 SP2: Lecture + Q&A

§ Friday Sept 15 15.30-16.15 MM 00.029: Q&A

§ Q&A session
§ discussion of things that are unclear
§ based on the take home messages of the chapters

§ Any other questions ask via Brightspace discussion boards, not via email!

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Exam
§ Digital (Cirrus), on-campus

§ Final exam: 31 October

§ Resit: 10 January
à make sure to register on time, 5 working days

§ Testing empirical findings, concepts, disorders, neural structures

edule
e s ch
§ Format: 72 Multiple Choice; 12 for each theme
sp ac
ight n ge !
k B r ch a
c hec ay
ay s te s m
Alw a
as d 17
Exams in Cirrus

§ Make sure you are registered for the exam! Registration closes 5 working days
before the exam, not including the day of the exam itself. Information regarding
registration for exams can be found in the Education and Examination
Regulations (EER) of your faculty.

§ Make sure you know your student number and corresponding password by
heart. Using a digital password locker is not possible since smartphone use is
not allowed in exam rooms.

§ Take the generic trial exam to prepare for a digital exam. This will familiarise
you with the Cirrus testing software

18
Tips!
§ 4th vs 5th edition of the book

§ Study the relevant chapter(s) BEFORE the lecture

§ Keep up with the reading and don’t wait until the last week as it’s a LOT

§ The lectures do not cover everything that is in the book, and the book does not
cover everything in the lectures.

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So, how hard is this course….?

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 nr of lectur
5
pass

0
pass fail

Ouch
pass = 9.4 ; fail = 4.8 pass = 74 ; fail = 69
60 250

50 200

nr of hours watched

minutes/lecture
40
150
30
pass rate = 62.7% 100 pass = 7.6 ; fail = 4.6
20 15
10 50

nr of lectures watched
0 0
fail
pass fail pass fail
10
pass rate = 62.7% pass = 7.6 ; fail = 4.6
15

nr of lectures watched
fail 5
pass 10

5
pass 0
pass fail
0
pass fail

pass = 9.4 ; fail = 4.8 pass = 74 ; fail = 69 21

60 pass = 9.4 ; fail = 4.8 250 pass = 74 ; fail = 69
60 250

50 50 200
ed

200
hed

re
e
 What about people who watched *every* lecture?

pass = 93 ; fail = 80
pass rate = 82.3%
250
fail

200
minutes/lecture

150

100

50

0 pass
pass fail

pass = 20.2 ; fail = 17.3 22

60 2

50 2
hed

e
Any organisational questions?

23
Cognitive Neuropsychology
PSB3BC15E 2021 / 2022

Tools of the Trade

Today’s learning objectives: you can explain…

§ Why we have so many different approaches in cognitive neuroscience, and

explain some of their limitations

§ The difference between a single and double dissociation, and why double
dissociations are more ‘powerful’

§ What we can(not) learn from patient lesion versus neuroimaging studies

§ Why correlation is not causation, and the need for intervention studies

§ Some of the limitations of intervention studies

§ The additive logic assumption in imaging studies

25
Our toolbox

§ Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

§ Patient studies
§ Manipulating the brain
§ Looking inside the brain

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Why so many methods?

§ Each approach has its strengths and limitations

§ Different methods answer different questions

§ To understand the brain and behaviour, we have to combine different methods

§ Converging evidence: conclusions are stronger when supported by different

approaches to the same question

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Our toolbox

§ Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

§ Patient studies
§ Manipulating the brain
§ Looking inside the brain

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Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

• We do not directly perceive the world, but rather

‘interpret’ incoming information.

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Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

• We do not directly perceive the world, but rather

‘interpret’ incoming information.

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Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

• We do not directly perceive the world, but rather

‘interpret’ incoming information.

• Mental processing as an information processing

problem:
• Information processing depends on pre-existing internal
representations (like beliefs, concepts, desires, perceptions)
• These mental representations undergo transformations

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Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

• We do not directly perceive the world, but rather

‘interpret’ incoming information.

• Mental processing as an information processing

problem:
• Information processing depends on pre-existing internal
representations (like beliefs, concepts, desires, perceptions)
• These mental representations undergo transformations

• Cognitive psychology uses behavioural experiments

to find out what these representations and
transformations are

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Cognitive psychology and behavioural research:

§ Limitations in information processing also inform us about mental

transformations

§ Stroop task: name the colour of the ink

§ RED à correct response = “Red”
§ RED à correct response = “Green”

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GROEN
ROOD
GROEN
Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

§ Incongruent Stroop trials show:

§ 2 representations are activated
§ ‘word’ representation is dominant when reporting verbally

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Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

§ Cognitive psychology uses behavioural tasks to study mental representations

and transformations
§ Useful to understand mental processes and their limitations

§ Limitations
§ cannot probe anything that is not expressed in behaviour
§ no insight in how these processes are implemented in the brain

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Our toolbox

§ Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

§ Patient studies
§ Manipulating the brain
§ Looking inside the brain

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Patient research

§ Study how ‘cognition’ breaks down may tell us about how it is organised

§ Study the cognitive function of brain regions through brain damage

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Cognition breaking down - Single vs. Double dissociation

§ Functions often have many components: what component leads to the disability
in the patient?

§ What could cause bad performance on an oral reading test?

§ www.menti.com

44
Single vs Double dissociation

§ Tasks often have many components: what component leads to the disability in
the patient?
§ Task sensitivity or selective impairment?

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Double dissociation in language understanding vs. production:

Broca’s patient:

….

Great course
this!

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Double dissociation in language understanding vs. production:

Broca’s patient: Wernicke’s patient

…. You know that

smoodle pinkered
Great course
this! ….

47
Patient lesion research

§ Study the functional role of brain regions through brain damage

§ Logic: If a part of the brain is important for a particular function, this function will
deteriorate after damage to this region

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Patient lesion research

§ Study the functional role of brain regions through brain damage

§ Logic: If a part of the brain is important for a particular function, this function will
deteriorate after damage to this region

§ Many forms of brain damage

§ Vascular
§ Tumors
§ Degenerative diseases (e.g. Parkinson, Alzheimer)
§ Brain damage following trauma
§ Epilepsy

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What can we learn from patient lesion studies?

§ www.menti.com

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Patient lesion studies

§ Patient studies tell us …

§ what regions are necessary
§ But not how a ’normal’ brain works

§ Limitations
§ Compensation mechanisms

§ Damage location may vary between patients

§ Specificity of damage

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Patient studies - Correlation vs. Causation

§ Tempting to conclude a causal link in the absence of a manipulation

§ Case study: relation PTSD and brain size (hippocampus)

stress

increased glucocorticoids

hippocampal atrophy

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Patient studies - Correlation vs Causation

§ Tempting to conclude a causal link in the absence of a manipulation

§ Case study: relation PTSD and brain size (hippocampus)

53
Patient studies - Correlation vs Causation

§ Tempting to conclude a causal link in the absence of a manipulation

§ Case study: relation PTSD and brain size (hippocampus)

54
Difficulty with patient studies:

§ compensatory mechanisms
§ cause and effect

To conclude causation, we need controlled interventions

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Interventions to assume causality

§ Lesion surgery
§ frontal lobotomy
§ split brain (epilepsy)
§ epilepsy source removal

§ Brain stimulation
§ Patients: deep brain stimulation, ECT
§ “Healthy”: Transcranial magnetic stimulation, Focussed Ultrasound Stimulation, TACS

§ Psychopharmacology
§ Patients
§ “Healthy”

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Deep Brain Stimulation example

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Patient studies - Neurosurgery

§ Patient is their own control

§ But… patients did not have ‘healthy’

brains prior to surgery

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Patient studies - Summary

§ Patient studies can show that a region is necessary

§ Limitations & Caveats

§ Double dissociations needed to show specificity (not only for lesion patients!)
§ Compensation mechanisms
§ Exact damage location may vary between patients (is uncontrolled)
§ Most patient studies show correlation, not causation
§ Surgical intervention in non-healthy patients only

59
Outline

§ Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

§ patient studies
§ manipulating the brain
§ looking inside the brain

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Manipulating the brain – Transcranial stimulation

§ Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

§ generate artificial reversible ‘lesions’ or activations
§ disturbing cognitive processes

§ Related to (neurological) patient lesion studies

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Manipulating the brain - Transcranial stimulation

§ High temporal precision!

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Manipulating the brain – Transcranial stimulation

§ Advantages
§ subject is their own control
§ safe and non-invasive
§ in healthy brains

§ Limitations
§ only superficial cortex
§ spatially non-specific
§ up/downstream effects

63
Manipulating the brain – Transcranial stimulation

§ Advantages
§ subject is their own control
§ safe and non-invasive
§ in healthy brains

§ Limitations
§ only superficial cortex
§ spatially non-specific
§ up/downstream effects

§ New!
§ focussed ultrasound
§ Verhagen Lab @ DCC

64
Manipulating the brain - pharmacology
§ Communication between neurons depends on neurotransmitters
§ e.g. dopamine, serotonin

65
Manipulating the brain - pharmacology
§ Communication between neurons depends on neurotransmitters
§ e.g. dopamine, serotonin

§ Related to many psychiatric disorders

66
Manipulating the brain - pharmacology
§ Communication between neurons depends on neurotransmitters

§ Related to many psychiatric disorders

§ Manipulate neural chemistry (neurotransmitters)

67
Manipulating the brain - pharmacology
§ Communication between neurons depends on neurotransmitters

§ Related to many psychiatric disorders

§ Manipulate neural chemistry (neurotransmitters)

§ Limitation:
§ regional specificity
§ temporal specificity
§ drug specificity

68
Manipulating the brain - Summary

§ Show causal roles in cognitive processes

§ for brain regions (stimulation)
§ for brain chemistry (neurotransmitters systems: pharmacology)

§ In humans, very limited range of manipulations possible

§ ethical considerations: non-invasive, reversible, safe
§ regional specificity
§ temporal specificity

69
Outline

§ Cognitive psychology and behavioural research

§ Patient studies
§ Manipulating the brain
§ Looking inside the brain
§ Aim: find neural basis of cognitive processes

70
Looking inside the brain

§ Many tools, each with their own

strengths and weaknesses
§ difference in spatial and temporal
resolution

§ Method determines which

conclusions you can draw!

§ Combining methods to complement

each other (‘converging evidence’)
and strengthen conclusions

71
Subtractive logic

“That scanner is loud! “

Keep breathing
Uncomfortable scanner bed
“What do I need to get from
AH still?” 72
Additive logic

minus

“That scanner is loud! “ “That scanner is loud! “

Keep breathing Keep breathing
Uncomfortable scanner bed Uncomfortable scanner bed
“What do I need to get from “What do I need to get from
AH still?” AH still?” 73
Looking inside – Functional Neuroimaging

§ Aim find neural correlates of cognitive processes

§ Additive logic
§ Use 2 tasks, that differ only in the function you want to study
(e.g. colour perception)
§ Assume that all else is equal
§ Assume that this function is ‘turned on’ in an additive fashion
§ Subtract activity on the 2 tasks. Assume that their difference is
the region that ‘codes’ for the function you are after

§ Is this assumption true?

74
Looking inside – An overview

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Looking Inside – fMRI

§ Wow, we can make a movie of what is happening inside someone’s head!

§ Considerations
§ ‘high’ spatial resolution (relatively speaking)
§ indirect measure of neural activity (BOLD)
§ Slow (1 measurement per 0.1-2 seconds)

76
Looking inside - single cell recordings

§ Very temporally and spatially specific

§ … but limited to only a few neurons!

77
What can we learn from neuroimaging vs. lesion studies?

§ www.menti.com

78
What can we learn from neuroimaging vs lesion studies?
For process X (e.g. working memory) this brain area is….

§ Necessary
§ Patient lesion studies

§ Involved in this process in a ‘normal’ brain

§ Neuroimaging studies

§ Sufficient
§ That’s a hard one. You’d basically need someone with only this brain region….

79
Today’s learning objectives: you can explain…

§ Why we have so many different approaches in cognitive neuroscience, and

explain some of their limitations

§ The difference between a single and double dissociation, and why double
dissociations are more ‘powerful’

§ What we can(not) learn from patient lesion versus neuroimaging studies

§ Why correlation is not causation, and the need for intervention studies

§ Some of the limitations of intervention studies

§ The additive logic assumption in imaging studies

80
Cognitive Neuropsychology
PSB3BC15E 2018 / 2019

Tools of the Trade