Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is cognitive psychology?
The scientific study of the processes and products of the human mind
Sensation/absorption is…
taking information in from the world around you
Processing/perception/computation/integration is…
Making sense of sensory information
Responding is…
decisions and action
What is information theory
Posits that the information provided by a particular message is inversely related to the probability of its occurrence; the less likely it is, the more information it conveys
Hick & Hyman experiment
Takes time to process neural signal into key press etc..
Two limitations of info theory
o Amount of time it takes for into to flow through the nervous system (and visual system)
o Nervous system has a capacity of how much info it can handle in a given time frame
Filter Model
A theory based on the idea that information processing is restricted by channel capacity
Channel Capacity
The maximum amount of information that can be transmitted by an information- processing device
Describe what the filter model looks like
o When 2+ signals enter at the same time, they enter the sensory buffer (sensory store) together.
o Buffer extracts characteristics.
o Filter selects messages that share basic physical characteristics and passes them on to the limited capacity system responsible for analysis of higher order stimulus attributes.
o Unselected messages are held in the sensory buffer.
What task did Broadbent use to test his model
o One of the ways Broadbent achieved this was by simultaneously sending one message (a 3-digit number) to a person’s right ear and a different message (a different 3-digit number) to their left ear. Participants were asked to listen to both messages at the same time and repeat what they heard - people made fewer mistakes repeating back ear by ear and would usually repeat back this way.
Waugh and Norman’s model of Information Processing
proved that participants ability to recall letters declined as the number of interfering items increased (not rehearsing the letters)
Brown Peterson Task
An experimental paradigm in which subjects are given a set of items and then a number. Subjects immediately begin counting backward by threes from the number and, after a specific interval, are asked to recall the original items
Ecological Approach
A form of psychological inquiry that reflects conditions in the real world
Primary Memory
What we are aware of in the “immediately present moment”; often termed “immediate memory” or “short-term memory”
Secondary Memory
Knowledge acquired at an earlier time that is stored indefinitely, and is absent from awareness; also called “long-term memory”
Information Pickup
Process whereby we perceive information directly
Neisser
Proposed cyclical model of cognition where the person possesses schema
Perceptual Cycle
the process whereby our schemas guide our expectations of the world and in turn are shaped by what we find there
Cognitive Ethology
links real world observations with laboratory-based studies
Metagocnition
the way that cognitive processes work; understanding our own cognitive processes
Instrospection & its limitations
Self-analyzing your mental processes or “Looking inward” to observe one’s own thoughts and feelings
Difficult to verify, you aren’t always aware, and you only see end products
Freudian Theory
The unconscious mind; dreams as a safe place; Mental processes that are going on that you can’t be aware of, but nonetheless affect you
Behaviourism
What goes on in the world and how you behave in response
If you can’t see it, you can’t study it
Cognitivism
Input (sensory) ->Processes (computations) ->Output (motor commands)
The pineal gland
only part of the brain he discovered that doesn’t exist on both sides – right in the core middle of the brain – Descartes thought it was special – said it is the place where the soul interacts with the brain, helping to produce behaviour
Undifferentiated Mass
no specialized areas; all areas do everything
Phrenology
The study of the shape, size, and protrusions of the cranium in an attempt to discover the relationships between parts of the brain and various mental activities and abilities
Alexander Luria
A hierarchical view of brain organization – certain parts of the brain are in charge, others follow commands – front part of the brain calls the shots
Agreed that different areas of the brain do different things but wanted to also know how the different areas communicate networks
Resection of the corpus callosum (callosotomy)
Eliminates cortical cross-hemispheric communication
