Ch 1-3 Flashcards
Define “cognition.” Why is the study of cognitive psychology important?
cognition refers to the acquisition, storage, transformation, and use of knowledge. Cognitive psychology researches people’s thought process and knowledge, which has implications on everyday behaviors and actions, our judgments and decision making. Cognition is involved in every aspect of our mental life and understanding it contributes to better understanding of the human psyche and its health.
Briefly define “behaviorism” and the “Gestalt approach.” Describe the contributions of each to the emergence of cognitive psychology.
“behaviorism: A psychological approach which emphasizes the study of overt, visible behavior. Behaviorism assumes that behavior results from reactions of the subject to environmental stimuli and therefore can be modified by conditioning and learning. Behavioral psychology’s learning principles have been highly influential in psychotherapy, business, organizations, and education.
“Gestalt approach” holds that all humans have basic tendencies to actively organize experiences, see patterns, analyze objects and experiences to its components and have insight. Contrary to Behaviorism, the Gestalt approach assumes that humans are active and invested in their learning and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Meaning, human learning and thought create an output greater than its components(the stimuli).
Describe the cognitive revolution, or the emergence of cognitive psychology, and its impact on the field of psychology.
The emergence of cognitive psychology started in the 1930’s when researchers in psychology looked for ways to explain complex behavior. Significant influence was the contribution of Jean Piaget and his research on children’s cognitive strategies to developmental psychology. In 1957, Noam Chomsky’s linguistic research caused a shift in cognition research that started focusing on memory, attention and language. In 1967 Ulric Neisser published his book “Cognitive Psychology” and was the first person to name the field and the first to publish a comprehensive work on cognition.
Define “ecological validity” and how it has been used as a criticism in cognitive psychology.
Ecological validity examines whether the results of a study can be generalized to real-life settings. Since experiments are conducted in a controlled environment, it might influence results. For example, memorizing a list of words in a lab may not be applicable to real life scenarios of memorizing a list due to differences in context, knowing you are observed, content of the list, etc.
Define “cognitive science.” Describe the influence of computing science on cognitive psychology. What is the computer metaphor? Compare and contrast the information processing approach with the connectionist approach.
an interdisciplinary field that tries to answer questions about the mind. Cognitive science integrates findings from cognitive psychology, neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, and linguistics to explain, interpret and predict behavior.
The computer metaphor of the mind is used by the information processing approach to illustrate that our mind processes information similar to a computer’s operations, mainly the algorithm method. According to the information processing approach our senses receive information about a stimulus through a physical medium.
The information is then transferred and analyzed until it matches existing knowledge. For example, we perceive an object with our eyes as a result of the light reflection on our retina which causes the object to register( similar to input information and press “enter” in the computer). Our cognitive structures process the information(such as color, shape) and produce an interpretation( e.g., a chair) based on our knowledge. We then produce a motor response or ignore the item (output).
The connectionist approach (Parallel distributed processing) argues that cognitive processing happens in parallel operation of similar neurons linked together in a network which is localized in the cortex . The received information is distributed among those networks which process the information simultaneously .
Identify and describe the five themes of the textbook.
Theme 1: The cognitive processes are active, rather than passive- Our cognitive process actively seek and synthesize information and not just absorb information perceived passively .For example working memory both hold and manipulate information
Theme 2: The cognitive processes are efficient and accurate : We have the ability to absorb and analyze large amounts of information and at the same time exercise selective processes by focusing our attention on limited information that suits our goals. For example attention process allow us to discriminate stimuli and not get overwhelmed by the amount of perceived information
Theme 3: The cognitive processes handle positive information better than negative information. For example, research findings demonstrated we can find an object that has a certain feature faster than an object who doesn’t have a certain feature
Theme 4: The cognitive processes are interrelated with one another; they do not operate in isolation.For example, when we process new information we also involve previously learned information from our LTM to interpret and identify the new knowledge
Theme 5: Many cognitive processes rely on both bottom-up and top-down processing. When processing information, we use past knowledge and experience (deep level processing) and also form judgment based on event characteristics (information registered by our senses) to analyze and register the information (low level processing).
Define “perception,” and provide an original example of perception. Define “object recognition,” “distal stimulus,” and “proximal stimulus.” What is sensory memory and the primary visual cortex?
“perception”: is the use of previous knowledge to gather and interpret information registered by the senses. Perception requires both bottom-up and top-down processing and combines both inner and external aspects to interpret situations (Theme 5 of this book). Example of perception: Listening to a lecture- our auditory sense perceives sounds carried by sound waves, the sounds translate into familiar words based on previous lingual knowledge and to previously learned knowledge that we use to interpret the meaning of what we hear.
Object/ Pattern recognition allow us to separate individual object from its background based on the object’s specific physical properties (such as shape, color, and texture) The sensory process of object recognition organizes the perceived knowledge and compares it to information stored in the memory resulting in identification of the object.
The visual system’s Distal stimulus refers to the actual object in the environment, for example, a pen on a desk.
The visual system’s Proximal stimulus : the information registered on the sensory receptors—for example, the image on the retina created by a pen on a desk. Correct identification of the distal stimulus happens even if the image that registered missing items - For example Demonstration 1.2 most people would recognize the shape of a human face even though the face lacks a nose, mouth, and ears.
What is sensory memory and the primary visual cortex? Sensory memory is a large capacity, temporary storage system of information perceived by our senses. For example, our visual sensory memory preserves an image seen for a brief moment after it fades or when we close our eyes (iconic memory). The image that is registered in the retina goes through a neural pathway to the primary visual cortex located in the occipital lobe. The primary visual cortex combines information from both eyes and combined with several other regions produces object recognition.
Describe the ambiguous figure-ground illusion and the illusory contour effect. What do these illusions indicate about visual perception?
The ambiguous figure-ground illusion happens when the object and its environment are highly ambiguous and the visual perception struggles to discern which is which. For example, in the vase–faces effect we first see a white vase against a dark grey background, and later two dark grey faces against a white background are detected. The explanation for these figure–ground reversals seems to have two components: (1) The neurons in the visual cortex become adapted to one figure, such as the “faces” version o you are more likely to see the alternative or “vase” version; and (2) people try to solve the visual paradox by alternating between two reasonable solutions
The Illusory/ subjective contours refer to a situation when an item doesn’t have physical edges but still perceived as having it. In the case of illusory contours, our rational default tendency to fill in the blanks leads to a perceptual error on non existing edges.
Our visual system is designed to look for and create organization of perceived knowledge and locate patterns as argued by the Gestalt approach.
Describe the following theories of object recognition, and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each:
template matching theory
feature-analysis models
recognition-by-components model
Template matching theory- The visual system compares and matches a stimulus with pre-existing templates or stored in memory. Criticism: The ability to recognize objects even if they do not match their traditional form(recognizing the same letters in different handwriting examples).
Feature-analysis models propose that a visual stimulus is composed of a small number of shared critical components. For example, people have different handwriting,but for all of them the letter R will include the same critical features. Those distinctive features remain constant, whether the letter is handwritten, printed, or typed. These models can also explain how we perceive a wide variety of two-dimensional patterns, such as figures in a painting, designs on fabric, and illustrations in books. Critics: The shapes that occur in nature are much more complex than letters(e.g., a horse.)
Biederman’s recognition-by-components theory is essentially a feature-analysis theory that explains how we recognize three-dimensional objects. Basically it means that we perceive 3D objects in components called geons. The geons are combined together and form the full object as a collection of geons. One modification of the recognition-by-components theory is called the viewer-centered approach; this approach proposes that we store a small number of views of three-dimensional objects rather than just one view
Comment: Recognition-by-components and feature-analysis are closely related models with similar operations. The major difference lies in the unit of recognition (e.g., feature versus geons). These two models can also be described using the parallel distributed processing approach. Features (or geons) could exist as highly interconnected networks. The objects being recognized could be represented as the connection weights between the activated features (or geons).
Define and describe “bottom-up processing” and “top-down processing.” Give original examples of each type of perceptual processing.
bottom-up processing- The perceived information is passed on to higher levels in the perceptual system for interpretation. Example” registering the shape and size of a pen (an object features)
top-down processing emphasizes how a person’s concepts, expectations, and memory influence object recognition. Past expectations determine the recognition and guide the process. Example: Being familiar with the shape and size of a pen from past experience help identify it in a glance We rely on both process for our perception
Top-down processing and bottom-up processing are one of Matlin and Farmer’s five themes in the text. In the context of perception, these processes are used to describe how knowledge (input for top-down processes) and the external environment (input for bottom-up processes) are combined to recognize objects as old or new. The concepts of top-down and bottom-up processing are used in other cognitive domains, such as language comprehension. Note that, regardless of the domain, there are few instances in which top-down or bottom-up processing operate in isolation. However, in familiar contexts, top-down processing is more likely to dominate processing as we rely more on our knowledge and expectations, whereas in novel situations we are more likely to use bottom-up strategies. When you generate your examples of these processes, be sure that you can explain why top-down or bottom-up processing is the dominant process.
Do Demonstration 2.3. Briefly explain how top-down processing affects object recognition using this demonstration. What is “word superiority effect”? How is word superiority effect related to top-down processing?
(TAE MHN IN THE RHN) As Demonstration 2.3 shows, the same ambiguous letter is sometimes perceived as an H and sometimes as an A. The whole word “THE,” recognized using our tentative knowledge of that word which prompted identification of the second letter as an H. Similarly, your knowledge of the words “MAN” and “RAN” helped you identify that same ambiguous letter as an A in this different context
According to the word superiority effect, we can identify a single letter more accurately and more rapidly when it appears in a meaningful word than when it appears alone or in a meaningless string of letters. For example, research demonstrated that the letter s is quickly recognized in the word island, even though its salient. Researchers have also shown that the context of a sentence facilitates the recognition of a word in a sentence, and also the likelihood of words to appear together (for example zookeeper and bears).
Describe the phenomenon known as “change blindness.” Do Demonstration 2.4. Define “inattentional blindness,” and indicate how it differs from change blindness. What do these effects indicate about the role of top-down processes in visual object recognition?
change blindness occur when overusing the strategy of top-down processing ; we fail to detect a change in an object or a scene.( Detecting the Difference Between Two Pictures) When we look at a scene with numerous objects, we tend to not store a detailed representation of every item in that scene and assume they are identical, thus leading to difficulty noticing subtle changes immediately.
“inattentional blindness,”: Is a failure to recognize a new object, for example discern two strangers. when we are paying attention to some events in a scene, we may fail to notice when an unexpected but completely visible object suddenly appears.
how it differs from change blindness In both cases people are using top-down processing as they concentrate on specific objects in a scene. The bottom down processing assumes the object is consistent with our memory. When an object appears is not consistent people often fail to recognize either the change in scene (change blindness) or the introduction of a new object (inattentional blindness)
What do these effects indicate about the role of top-down processes in visual object recognition? Simons and Levin (1997a) emphasized that we actually function very well in our normal visual environment, contrary to function in experiment (does not have ecological validity. Our visual system is fairly accurate in creating general interpretation of a scene, focusing only on the main relevant information and you ignore unimportant details. Change blindness and inattentional blindness illustrate a point we made in connection with Theme 2: Our cognitive errors can often be traced to a rational strategy.
How is face perception different from normal object recognition? Define “prosopagnosia.” What does the neuroscience research on face recognition indicate? Summarize the applied research on face recognition. What do these findings reveal about our object recognition skills?
Unlike other objects, we recognize faces on a holistic (recognition) basis—based on their overall shape and structure( terms of its gestalt, or overall quality that transcends its individual elements).
Define “prosopagnosia.” What does the neuroscience research on face recognition indicate? People with prosopagnosia cannot recognize human faces like they recognize other objects. The specific location that some think to be specialized for face recognition is known as the fusiform face area. It exists in the lower portion of the temporal cortex .
According to fMRI fusiform face area is activated when an individual is exposed to images of faces and more quickly to faces presented in the normal, upright position, in comparison to faces presented upside-down (D’Esposito et al., 1999). Similarly, behavioral research shows that people are much more accurate in identifying upright faces compared to upside-down faces, a phenomenon called the face-inversion effect.
Summarize the applied research on face recognition. What do these findings reveal about our object recognition skills?
The applied research on face recognition focuses on real-life situations that assess our ability to recognize people’s faces(ecological validity). People are much more accurate in identifying familiar faces than unfamiliar faces (cashier’s and id’s of similar people 64% not accurate; recognizing professors in a clip by students and cops) .
Define “phonemes.” Describe the four characteristics of speech perception, including definitions for inter-speaker variability, coarticulation, phonemic restoration, and the McGurk effect. Do Demonstrations 2.5 and 2.6. What do these characteristics reveal about the complexity of speech perception?
A phoneme is the basic unit of spoken language, such as the sound of a.
Speech perception is the process by which the auditory system records sound vibrations that are generated by someone talking. The auditory system then translates these vibrations into a sequence of sounds that are perceived as speech.
Characteristics:
Word boundaries- an actual physical event—such as a pause—marks a word boundary less than 40% of the time. Research shows that our speech recognition system initially considers several different hypotheses about how to divide a phrase into words. This system immediately and effortlessly uses our knowledge about language in order to place the boundaries in appropriate locations.
(1) Variability in Phoneme Pronunciation- Inter-speaker variability is the term used to refer to the observation that different speakers of the same language produce the same sound differently. Factors such as the speaker’s gender, age, and regional dialect all contribute to inter speaker variability in phoneme pronunciation.
A second source of variability is that speakers often fail to produce phonemes in a precise fashion.
A third source of variability is called coarticulation: When you are pronouncing a particular phoneme, your mouth remains in somewhat the same shape it was when you pronounced the previous phoneme; in addition, your mouth is preparing to pronounce the next phoneme. As a result, the phoneme you produce varies slightly from time to time, depending upon the surrounding phonemes.
(4) Context and Speech Perception- People are active listeners (consistent with Theme 1) that can use context (top down process). Previous knowledge about language also helps to understand ambiguous words in a process called- phonemic restoration (Theme 5).
The top-down processing approach argues that we use our knowledge about language to facilitate recognition, whether we are looking at objects or listening to speech. Perceiving language involves active use of our knowledge about language to create expectations about what we might hear.
Visual Cues as an Aid to Speech Perception- visual cues such as watching the speaker’s lips and face helps to resolve ambiguities from the speech signal.
Describe the two theories of speech perception. Be sure that your answer includes a discussion of the phonetic module and categorical perception.
The special mechanism approach: Humans have a specialized device called phonetic module responsible for decoding speech quickly and accurately compared to other auditory stimuli such as music. The phonetic module is a neural mechanism specializing in receiving and interpreting speech even if it’s blurred or segmented. As a specialized unit, it does not rely on general cognitive functions of recognition or memory. Evidence supporting the existence of the module demonstrated in research about a phenomenon called categorical perception, in which people report hearing a specific phoneme (e.g., a clear-cut G) even though they actually heard an ambiguous sound.
The General mechanism approach: people use the same neural mechanisms to process all types of sounds including speech. Speech comprehension is a learned ability but not a product of a specialized function due to the fact it is influenced by visual cues, and developed according to the development of other cognitive processes such as feature recognition, learning, and decision making.
Do Demonstration 3.1 and 3.2. How do these demonstrations illustrate the role of selective attention in visual search? Describe the two effects reported by Triesman and colleagues using this task.
Demonstration 3.1 (look for the black X) The Isolated-Feature/Combined-Feature Effect based on the classic research by Treisman and Gelade (1980). According to their research, looking for an item that is different from its environment in features such as color or shape can be detected more quickly compared to a combined feature and is not affected by the number/quantity of items surrounding it.
Demonstration 3.2 (look for the circles with/without a line) The feature-present/feature-absent effect: demonstrated Theme 3 of the book that states that our cognitive processes handle positive information better than negative information. The research by Treisman and Souther (1985) -showed that locating a feature that is present is quicker than locating a feature that is missing. When looking for a “present” feature which is a bottom-up process the item “pops out” automatically. When searching for a missing feature the task required to examine each item individually which is a kind of attention that emphasizes both bottom-up processing and top-down processing.
Describe the two effects reported by Triesman and colleagues using this task: feature-integration theory: This theory of attention, developed by Anne Triesman, proposes two elements: (1) distributed attention, processing all parts of the scene at the same time, and (2) focused attention, processing each item in the scene, one at a time.
What are saccadic eye movements? Define “fixation” and “perceptual span.” What factors affect eye movement during reading?
Small changes in eye position during reading that places the retina over the words being read. Saccadic eye movements clearly help us become more active, flexible readers
fixation : Brief pauses that occur between saccadic eye movements in which the visual system acquires information that is useful for reading and other visual tasks.
Perceptual span: Refers to the number of letters and spaces perceived during a fixation.
What factors affect eye movement during reading? Four major cognitive systems are involved in eye movement during reading: language processing, attention, vision, and oculomotor control.
Describe the two attentional networks that have been identified by neuroscience researchers, and explain the role they play in attentional phenomenon.
The orienting attention network activates the attention required for visual tasks that involve switching focus between various spatial areas. According to neuroscience research on brain lesions, the areas involved are located in the parietal lobe. People with damage in the right parietal lobe struggle to notice visual stimuli on their left visual field, and people with damaged left-parietal lobe struggle to notice visual stimuli on their right visual field (called unilateral visual neglect). The orienting network develops during the first year of life.
The executive attention network- activated for the attention required for focusing on conflict, exercising inhibition of automatic responses and emotional regulation. This network begins to develop at about age 3 and plays a major role in academics and learning new things. It can also be enhanced and practiced and according to research located in the brain areas associated with general intelligence.
