Ch 1 Flashcards
Cognition
a term that refers to the acquisition, storage, transfor- mation, and use of knowledge
cognitive psychology
(1) Sometimes it is a synonym for the word cognition, and so it refers to the variety of mental activities we just listed; (2) Sometimes it refers to a particular theoretical approach to psychology.
cognitive approach
a theoretical orientation that emphasizes peo- ple’s thought processes and their knowledge
empirical evidence
scientific evidence obtained by careful observation and experimentation
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundt lived in Leipzig, Germany. Introspection
Introspection
carefully trained observers would systematically analyze their own sensations and report them as objectively as possible, under standardized conditions
Mary Whiton Calkins
the recency effect /first female APA president
recency effect
refers to the observation that our recall is especially accurate for the final items in a series of stimuli (such as a list of words or numbers). In addition, Calkins emphasized that psychologists should study how real people use their cognitive processes in the real world, as opposed to in artificial laboratory tasks
william james
tip of the tounge phenomenon
Gestalt psychology
emphasizes that we humans have basic tendencies to actively organize what we see, and furthermore, that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
gestalt
or overall quality that transcends the individual elements
behaviorism
psychology must focus on objective, observable reac- tions to stimuli in the environment, rather than on introspection
operational definition
a precise definition that specifes exactly how a concept is to be measured
The Cognitive Revolution
disappointment with behaviorist approach •human memory research•children's thought processes; Jean Piaget •linguistics; Noam Chomsky •cognitive revolution birth in 1956 •Cognitive Psychology; Ulric Neisse
Cognitive science
an interdisciplinary field that tries to answer questions about the mind
Artificial intelligence (AI)
a branch of computer science. It seeks to explore human cognitive processes by creating computer models that show “intelligent behavior” and also accomplish the same tasks that humans do
Pure artificial intelligence (pure AI)
an approach that designs a program to accomplish a cognitive task as efficiently as possible, even if the computer’s processes are com- pletely different from the processes used by humans.
computer simulation or computer modeling
attempts to take human limita- tions into account
computer metaphor
our cognitive processes work like a computer. That is, computers and human minds are both examples of complex, multipurpose machinery that can process information quickly, accurately, and in a similar fashion
information-processing approach
argued that (a) our mental processes are similar to the operations of a computer, and (b) informa- tion progresses through our cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time
serial processing
the system must complete one step or processing stage before information can proceed to the next step in the flow- chart
connectionist approach
connectionist approach argues that cognitive processes can be understood in terms of networks that link together neuron-like processing units; in addition, many operations can proceed simultaneously—rather than one step at a time.
cerebral cortex
the outer layer of the brain that is essential for your cognitive processes
Cognitive neuroscience
combines the research techniques of cognitive psychology with various methods for assessing the structure and function of the brain
social cognitive neuroscience
neuroscience techniques to explore the kind of cognitive processes that we use in our interactions with other people
brain lesions
the destruction of an area in the brain, most often by strokes, tumors, blows to the head, and accidents.
positron emission tomography (PET) scan
researchers measure blood ow in the brain by injecting the participant with a low dose of a radio- active chemical just before this person works on a cognitive task
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
based on the principle that oxygen-rich blood is an index of brain activity. The research participant reclines with his or her head surrounded by a large, doughnut-shaped magnet. This magnetic field produces changes in the oxygen atoms. A scanning device takes a “photo” of these oxygen atoms while the participant performs a cognitive task. For exam- ple, researchers have used the fMRI method to examine regions of the brain that process visual information
event-related potential (ERP)
records the very brief uctuations in the brain’s electrical activity, in response to a stimulus such as an audi- tory tone or a visual word
The cognitive approach is a theoretical orientation that emphasizes a person’s:
mental processes and knowledge
Scientific study of psychology began with
Wundt
When scientific psychology arose in Germany in the late 1800s, Wundt and other researchers focused mainly on the study of:
mental processes, mainly using the method of introspection
Studies of human memory were first undertaken by
Ebbinghaus
Much of the earliest human memory research (such as that conducted by Ebbinghaus) used
nonsense syllables and other relatively meaningless stimuli.
During the first half of the twentieth century, some strict behaviorists
said that psychology should focus only on objective reactions to environmental stimuli
According to some psychologists, modern cognitive psychology was “born”:
at a symposium held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956
The rise of cognitive psychology was heavily influenced by
disenchantment with behaviorism and fascination with developments in linguistics, memory, and developmental psychology.
The information-processing approach to the study of cognition began in the
1960s.
In the information-processing approach:
a mental process can be understood by comparison with the operations of a computer.
A recent trend in cognitive psychology involves a heavier focus on studying:
real-life issues in natural settings.
A study investigating brain structures that are active when a person is judging whether someone’s face is trustworthy would be using the approach called:
social cognitive neuroscience.
__________ is a technique in which researchers inject a small amount of radiation into the subject’s blood to measure activity in the brain.
PET
__________ is a less-invasive way to study activity of the brain.
fMRI
Which of the following techniques are most likely to be used by cognitive neuroscientists?
PET, fMRI, and ERP
Computer programs that play the game of chess, such as “Hydra,” are programmed using the approach called:
pure AI.
The approach in which a computer is programmed to perform in a way that resembles the way humans perform a cognitive task is called:
computer simulation.
Another name for the connectionist approach is
parallel distributed processing.
The distinction between whether or not cognitive activities are performed as a sequence of separate operations or as a simultaneous processing of many signals involves the issues of:
serial processing and parallel processing.
Which of the following statements best describes cognitive science?
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of internal representations involved in thinking.
What did not contribute to the rise of cognitive psychology
the lack of interest in understanding how humans internally store (or represent)
information in their minds.
In the information-processing approach:
a mental process can be understood by comparison with the operations of a
computer.
what best describes cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of internal representations
involved in thinking.
A researcher wants to study how people’s attention shifts when they see a visual
stimulus in an unexpected portion of a screen that they are viewing; this attention
shift occurs in just a fraction of a second. Which of the following techniques is this
researcher most likely to use?
The event-related potential technique (ERP)
Which of the following statements is true about cognition, in connection with the
themes of this textbook?
Most cognitive theories propose that humans actively examine the world for
information.
Suppose that you are accustomed to a certain bus stopping on a specific corner near
your college campus. A bus stops, and you think that it’s your customary bus. You
fail to notice that the side of the bus has a totally different company name. The
process that led to your misidentifying the bus is called:
top-down processing.
The kind of processing that emphasizes how your sensory receptors register
information is called:
bottom-up processing.
One of the themes of your textbook focuses on bottom-up and top-down processing.
According to this theme:
) both top-down processing and bottom-up processing operate at the same time,
so that our cognitive processes can operate efficiently.
According to the discussion of individual differences in Chapter 1 of your
textbook:
cognitive psychologists now emphasize individual differences more than in earlier
decades.
