Ch. 1 : Origins of Cognitive Neuroscience and Information Processing

Question 1

Definition of Cognition

Answer 1

The study of the act of thinking - thinking about thinking

Question 2

Rationalism

Answer 2

• knowledge comes from observation, logical steps

- there is an innate nature to our minds

Question 3

Plato

Answer 3

• earliest philosopher to consider the human mind

- rationalism

Question 4

Empiricism

Answer 4

• All knowledge comes from experience and observation

- thought is associations based on observation

Question 5

Aristotle

Answer 5

• combined philosophical and scientific approaches

- empiricism

Question 6

Structuralism

Answer 6

• identify building blocks of consciousness through analytical introspection
• Wundt and Tichener
• emphasized controlled observation
• linked to empiricism

Question 7

Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 7

• first psychology lab
• focused on introspection
• structuralist

Question 8

Edward Titchener

Answer 8

• established american experimental psychology

- structuralist, used empirical methods

Question 9

Functionalism

Answer 9

• why does the mind work

- how are the functions of the mind adaptive

Question 10

William James

Answer 10

• Functionalist
• consciousness is personal and changing
• promoted experimentation

Question 11

contribution of functionalism to cog psych

Answer 11

emphasis on functions applications and experimentations

Question 12

behaviorism

Answer 12

• shifted focus from mind to behavior
• focus on the observable
• shifted to animal research

Question 13

B.F. Skinner

Answer 13

• behaviorist
• thought behavior is contingent on reinforcement (rewards/punishments)
• OPERANT CONDITIONING

Question 14

Operant Conditioning

Answer 14

Skinner; shows how behavior is determined thru reinforcement of rewards/punishments

Question 15

Problems with behaviorism

Answer 15

• poverty of stimulus

- if we learn language through operant conditioning, how do we produce phrases we never heard

Question 16

Ulric Neisser

Answer 16

father of cognitive psych

-internal mental processes could be studied and measured

Question 17

tenants of cognitive revolution

Answer 17

-break cognition into information processing steps

Question 18

assumptions of cognitive psychology

Answer 18

• the mind is a processing system, performs specific computations
• information flows from 1 step to the next
• processing takes resources and time

Question 19

information theory

Answer 19

-function of info is to reduce uncertainty
-amount of info is inversely related to its probability of occurance
(less likely, more info)

Question 20

William Hick

Answer 20

-established relationship btwn reaction time and information content

Question 21

Hick’s experiment

Answer 21

display of ten lamps. more lamp possibilites = slower reaction time

Question 22

Hick’s Law

Answer 22

equation showing that the more information contained in a signal, the longer it takes to make a correct response

Question 23

Ray Hyman

Answer 23

similar to Hick’s light experiment. manipulated sequential probabilities.

• with more stimulus uncertainty, there was a slower reaction time
• lower sequential probability, slower reaction time

Question 24

Decision Fatigue

Answer 24

too many options = bad choices

• the more choices, the more energy expended in choosing
• making a choice btwn lots of options has a cognitive energy depletion

Question 25

Webster and Thompson

Answer 25

info processing has limits

• air traffic controllers, simultaneous messages, binaural messages
• could identify both call signals, only one of the other messages

Question 26

information processing

Answer 26

actively select the info to process

Question 27

Parts of the Broadbent Filter Model

Answer 27

1. Senses
2. Short term memory
3. FILTER (selected on physical basis)
4. Final input

Question 28

channel capacity

Answer 28

refers to the maximum amount of information that can be processed.

Question 29

Main idea of Broadbent filter model

Answer 29

• processing takes time and resources
• channel capacity; there is a maximum amount of into that can be processed
• ∆ must be stages and buffers before final selection

Question 30

How does Broadbent filter model select information for processing?

What happens to the information not selected?

Answer 30

• selects based on physical characteristics

- information not selected by the buffer decays over time

Question 31

Broadbent’s Dichotic listening test

• description
• results

Answer 31

• pairs of digits presented binaurally
• participants asked to repeat numbers back
• repeating binaural pairs much harder than mono
• ears are separate channels
• switching between ears consumes energy, decays information in buffer faster

Question 32

Description of Waugh Norman Model

Answer 32

-informations and processed in stages

Primary memory: environmental stimulus

Secondary Memory: where rehearsed info from primary is sent

everything else forgotten

related to BROWN PETERSON

Question 33

Brown Peterson task

Answer 33

related to Waugh Norman model of info processing, rehearsal is key

• given a set of nouns to remember, given intervening distractor task,
• without rehearsal, recall is much worse

Question 34

Ecological Validity

Answer 34

• cannot study cognition in a laboratory. too many stimuli in the real world
• reaction against earlier info processing studies
• context affords what we can do/perceive
• J.J. Gibson

Question 35

Schemas

Answer 35

Neisser again

• we have schemas of situations that direct our exploration of the environment
• unexpected outcomes are then incorporated into the schema

Question 36

Perceptual Cycle

Answer 36

schemas guid exploration of world, and are in turn shaped by what is found

Question 37

Cognitive Ethology

Answer 37

cognitive processes depend on specific situational context of the thinker
-environment matters