CH1-3 Flashcards
Introspection
technique for learning about mental processes
Behavioursim
focus on observable, objective reactions to timuli in the env
contributions to modern research methods
Gestalt psyo
humans have basic tendences to organize what we see
whole is greater than the sum
Cog rev - 3 parts of more popularity
linguistics - couldn’t be explained by behaviourism
memory
dev psyo
Information processing approach
1) our mental processes are similar to computer
2) info progresses through a series of stages
atkinson schiffer
atkinson schiffer
sensory memory - ST - LT
cognitive neuropsyo
how the brain works and contribs to thinking and cognition
Mental chronometry
measurement of mental processing through reaction times and accuracies
computer simulation
model like human thinking. Same process and errors
AI
better than human thinking
critical assumption of cognitive neuro
the mind depends fundamentally on the brain so if you want to inderstand the mind you have to understand the brain.
Brain lesions
Map damage to functions
Assumes modularity, generalizability
Trancranial mag stim
hyperpolarize regions of neurons - temporary lesion - using applied magnetic force
Positron Emission Tomography
positrons emitted from radioactive decay
radioactive tracer goes with blood and find blood flow with the decay.
FUNCTIONAL IMAGE - not structural. Shows bloodflow correlated with activity
High spatial res
Radioactivity :(
Poor temporal res and interpertational issue of excitation/inhibition
FMRI
Like PET - no radioactivity and faster and precise
Better temporal resolution.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI
works on blood. Oxygenated blood has more iron and more mag properties
High spatial res, non-intrusive, humans and animals
Expensive, poor temporal
Interpretational problem: brain is active in excitation and inhibition
Event related potentials
Measure gross electrical changes when people are doing mental activities.
ELectrodes all over scalp see electrical activity in groups of neurons
Great temporal res, non-intrusive, used on infants, inexpensive
Not structural, poor spatial, only scalp activity, multi-trial filtering
Magneto-encephalography
measures the magnetic fields generated by neural activity
functional image
spatial and temporal res
direct measure of brain function, non-invasive, no applied magnetic field
magnetic fields are weak tho and dhielding can happen
Single cell recording
measuring indv neuron’s response to a stimulus
Highest spatial res, on-line measurement of behaviour so high temporal too
BUT highly invasive - surgery involved
The conectionist approach
Parallel distrib processing
argues that cog processes can be understood in terms of a network. Computer models are too simple
serial processing
one step at a time (used in computer models)
convergence
seek evidence that similar results ca be observed across different measurements of mental activity
Increases generalizability
Sensation vs perception
sensation = transformation of physical or mechanical energy into a neural signal that the brain can understand. Bottom up
Perception = the mental outcome (interpretation) of sensory transformation. Our experience and interp of a sensory experience. Depends on bottom up and top down
Figure-ground reversals
illusions where we fluctuate bt what thing we choose to be int he forground and what thing in the background
Two explanations for figure ground reversals
1- neurons bcm accustomed to one way and are more likely to see the reverse
2- trying to solve visual paradox by offering two reasonable solutions
Distance illusions
Demonstrate top down influence on perception. Brain automatically accounts for distance and integrates that into interp
Colour constancy
brain automatically adjusts for effects of lighting
distal stimulus
the object out there in the environment
proximal stim
the information registored on your sensory receptors
iconic memory
visual sensory memory
preserves an image of visual stim for a brief period after the stim disappears
the primary visual cortex
in the occipital lobe
information registered on the retina makes its way there
Law of Pragnance
Gestalt theory
We interepret stimuli in the simplest possible way
Group parts so they belong together. Impart order
Principles of gestalt
proximity similarity good continuation closure common fate
illusory contours
we see edges even if they aren’t visually present
represent closure in gestalt theory
common fate
gestalt theory
things that move together belong together
recognition depends on
bottom up and top down processing
template matching
an old theory of recognition that was debunked
template stored as a model
We can recognize new objects (like new penmanship)
we recognize the canonical view fastest
canonical
the most common view of an object
feature analysis/detection
objects are comprised of distinct features;
good for explaining reading;
good neural plausibility because of cells responding to different features independently;
Criticisms: too bottom-up ; items in nature have really complex features
recognition by components
geons make up objects
feature analysis that allows us to recognize 3D objects;
1. find edges
2. examine intersections
3. compare/rotate (to our stored representation)
Theories of recognition (4)
Template matching
Feature detection/analysis
Recognition by components
Conceptually driven recognition
view-centred approach
used in recognition by components;
we mentally rotate the object until it matches a stored representation
testing the recognition by components theory
we assume that intersections are more important that continuous edges;
remove 65% of info in drawings from each of these and find that people can detect what the images are more often if info from the continuous lines are taken away rather than the intersections;
conceptually driven recognition
recognition depends on bottom-up and top-down processing;
Categorization - the way we categorize info influences the speed at which we recognize things
(fastest) BASIC: dog/cat
SUPERORDINATE: animal
SUBORDINATE: breed
categorization of objects
basic - dog/cat
superordinate - animal
suordinate - breed
basic is fastest
word superiority effect
evidence for the role of knowledge in recognition
We recognize a single letter more rapidly in a familiar words than in a string of nonsense latters
Easier to recognize a word in a sentence than on its own
interpreting chicken scratch
people are more likely to rely on top down processing when reading penmanship and rely more heavily on bottom-up processing when printing is neat.
change blindness
we rely too heavily on top-down processing and fail to recognize a change in object or scene
we recognize a change more readily when it is meaningful to the situation rather than subtle or random
intattentional blindness
when people are paying attention to some events in a scene, they pay fail to notice an unexpected but completely visible object
face perception depends on…
holistic processing / view faces in terms of gestalt
face inversion effect
we are much less proficient at processing faces that are upside down
face recognition brain parts
specialized cells for face recognition in the INFEROTEMPORAL CORTEX in the lower part of the TEMPORAL LOBE
cells here getmost excited for whole faces. They fire less and less as pieces of the face go missing
Prosopagnosia
lesion in the FUSIFORM FACE AREA
lose ability to recognize faces, not objects
See voice, height, smile etc but not who that person is
face identification in schizophrenia
demonstrates an example of individual differences
more difficulty percieving faces so slower, but no less accurate
phoneme
basic unit of language (sound)
40-45 in english
speech perception survives…
changes in:
- pitch, tone
- rate of prod
- coarticulation
coarticulation
when we make a sound it is influences byt the sound before it and the sound that we know we are about to make.
phonemic restoration
overcoming masking by other sounds.
filling in the blanks
allows us to deal with sloppy pronunciation
word boundaries
words being spoken actually run seamlessly together but we interpret spaces
speech recognition system considres different options and then immediately and effortlessly uses our knowledge about language in order to place boundaries in appropriate locations
influence of visual cues on speech merception
THE MCGURK EFFECT
the influence of visual information on speech perception. People integrate auditory and visual information (gag vs bab)
integration occurs in the superior temporal sulcus
the special mechanism approach
theory of speech perception
humans are born with a specialized device - phonetic module - that allows us to decode speech stimuli
as a result we process speech sounds more quickly and accurately than other sound stimuli
doesn’t fit with other types of cognition because the rest in interconnected;
phonetic module
the specialized device in our brain that allows us to percieve speech so well according to the special device approach
the general mechanism approach to understanding speech perception
we perceive speech without any special module;
people use the same neural mechanisms to interpret non-speech sounds;
speech uses visual cues so its perception isn’t independent;
two reasons why speech is special
1 - it is learned by almost everyone (kids, intellectually challenged, there must be some kind of phonetic module)
2 - Categorical percpeption
categorical perception
speech sounds are expanded between categories and compressed within.
- voice onset time
- happens for colour too
define attention
a concentration of mental activity that allows you to take in a limited portion of informaiton available from sensory world and memory
selecting items for further processing involves…
filtering out distracters
resolving response conflict (choosing which notable stimuli to attend to)
divided attention task
hear two messages and respond to both
pace and accuracy suffer
task-switching
related to multitasking. It’s what you’re really doing. Multitasking or being continually interrputed have the same effects on performance. Go more slowly and make more errors
a selective attention task
requires people to pay attention to certain kinds of stimuli while ignoring other ongoing information
dichotic listening
they don’t note much information from the side they are ignoring - not even language switches
do notice when the voice switches genders
people are more likely to process the unattended message in dichotic listening if…
the messages are presented more slowly
the task isn’t challenging
the meaning of the unattended message is immediately relevant
if the message is split, the listener will still complete the true messge even though they were ignoring the same ear the whole time
the cocktail part effect
people will notice their name at a party even if they aren’t paying attention to that source.
you are more likely to hear your name more often if you have a smaller working memory
stroop task
YELLOW written in red
the congruency effect when YELLOW is written in yellow (you go faster)
emotional stroop task - go slower when the owrd is triggering
stroop task brain areas
the test activates the executive attention network (anterior cingulate cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)
these areas pop up when there is information competing for a response
flanker task
shows the limits in our abilities to solve conflict
congruent condition: all things are doing the same thing. rxn times fast
when the target is different from all of the flankers, reaction times are much slower
feature search
faster
easier to find positive features rather than negative features
conjunction search
requires serial serching. As the feild gets more cluttered it takes longer for yu to do the task
feature present vs feature absent
feature present is mostly bottom up and feature absent requires both / serial search
eye movements in reading
saccadic eye movements so that important part registered by fovea
each saccade about 7-9 letters
size of saccade smaller if there is a difficult word or a spelling error
fixations every 2 saccades
perceptual span, 4 letters to left and 15 to right
less regression for good readers
orienting attention network
responsible for the kind of attention required for a visual search/spatial task.
Parietal lobe active.
left parietal lobe damage -> right unilateral spatial neglect
executive attention network
responsible for the kind of attention needed for tasks that focus on conflict (stroop task)/
Need to inhibit one response to produce another one.
Activity in prefrontal cortex. Related to areas that are good for general intelligence.
Involved in top-down control of attention
bottleneck theories
inaccurate. Limit on the amount of information that can get through to the brain at one time.
Underestimates the flexibility of human attention.
feature integration theory
feature search happens without attention
there is a bridge between distributed and focused attention to help us best perceive scenes.
distributed attentio
allowsyou to register features automatically and simultaneously using parallel distrib. Low level processing.
focused attention
slow, serial processing. Necessary when objects are more complex.
illusory conjection
an inappropriate combination of features. Shows that the visual system processes features individually (eg green M and blue U)
covert orienting
when your attention isn’t where your eyes are pointed
exogenous attention
attention controlled by things out int he world (something grabs your attention)
endogenous attention
we decide what to pay attention to. What we want to know. Top down control.
Explains why you are more likely to see something if you are expecting to see it.
mindless reading
wind wandering during reading. eye movements change
mind wandering
a shift from external env to favor internal processing
validity of introspection
not v good.
Not a good way to research because we aren’t always right about how we are thinking and we don’t always know how it happened at all
blindsight
vision without awareness
seen inpeople with damage to visual cortex
overt orienting
orienting when we move our eyes
smooth pursuit / saccades
eye tracking
saccadic reaction time
chronometric analysis. How long it takes to initiate a saccadic eye movement
scene analysis
eye movements reflect the way we process things
alternating saccades and fixation
mapping eye movements when we look at a face
motivated scan paths
trajectory
path of an eye movement
number and duration of fixations.
tells us how we process info
voluntarily orienting attention
moving window technique
determining perceptual span
