Chapter 1

Question 1

Cognitive Psychology

Answer 1

The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind.

Question 2

Mind

Answer 2

Creates and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning.

Creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals.

Question 3

2 Types of Reaction Tests

Answer 3

1. Simple: See light, press key to signal perception.

2. Choice: Involved choosing whether light was perceived on left or right.

Question 4

Results of Reaction Test Experiments

Answer 4

Choice takes longer since decision making is also involved.

Question 5

Mental responses cannot be…

Answer 5

…measured directly, must be inferred from behaviour.

Question 6

Wilhelm Wundt / Structuralism

Answer 6

Structuralism: Approach to psychology which defined perception (overall experience) in terms of units called sensations.

Analytic Technique: Trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli.

Question 7

John Watson / Behaviourism

Answer 7

Behaviourism: Observable behaviour provides the only valid data.

Main Experiment: Little Albert and the rat
- Ideas associated with classical conditioning

Question 8

BF Skinner

Answer 8

Behaviourist, came up with operant conditioning. Idea that everything is done for reinforcement.

Question 9

Tolman

Answer 9

Cognitive Map: Mental conception of a spatial layout.

Rat learned where food was in terms of the room as a whole, didn’t memorize sequence of turns.

Question 10

Chomsky

Answer 10

Argued against Skinner’s idea that children learn speech through imitation.

Children say sentences that are not rewarded (I hate you Mommy) and use incorrect grammar.

Claims that language development is an inborn biological process.

Question 11

Cognitive Revolution

Answer 11

Shift from behaviourist’s stimulus-response to an approach in which the operation of the mind is also considered.

Question 12

Information - Processing Approach

Answer 12

Traces the sequence of mental operations involved in cognition.

Question 13

Colin Cherry / Selective Attention Experiment

Answer 13

When a number of auditory messages are presented at once, can a person focus on one?

Participants presented with one message in each ear, told to focus on one. Found that they were aware of little of the other message.

Question 14

Mind depicted as processing info in a sequence of stages… Stages?

Answer 14

Input –> Filter –> Detector –> Memory

Question 15

Artificial Intelligence + Info Theory

Answer 15

Approach making a machine behave in a way that would be called intelligent if a human were behaving that way.

Herb Simon and Alan Newell: Logic Theorist - mathematical proofs and human-like reasoning to solve problems.

George Miller: Limits to how much the human brain can process info and remember (7±2 is the magical number)

Question 16

Memory Consolidation

Answer 16

Process by which experiences or info that has entered the memory system becomes strengthened.

Question 17

George Miller and Pilzecked 2 Groups

Answer 17

Had 2 groups listen to a list of nonsense syllables.

The first group heard a second list immediately after the first, and the second group had a 6 minute waiting period.

Delayed group remembered more than the immediate group.

Question 18

Consolidation

Answer 18

Act of forming a stable memory.

Question 19

Experiment for English - German Vocab

Answer 19

One group went to sleep within 3 hours of studying, 0.5% forgetting rate.

Second group went to sleep within 10 hours of studying, forgetting rate was 16%.

Question 20

Models of the Mind

Answer 20

Representation of something or an illustration of how something works.

Used to represent how info is processed by the mind.

Question 21

William James used …

Answer 21

… his worn behaviour as the basis of his textbook.