Chapter 1

Question 1

What is cognitive psychology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of the processes and products of the human mind

Question 2

Sensation/absorption is…

Answer 2

taking information in from the world around you

Question 3

Processing/perception/computation/integration is…

Answer 3

Making sense of sensory information

Question 4

Responding is…

Answer 4

decisions and action

Question 5

What is information theory

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Hick & Hyman experiment

Answer 6

Takes time to process neural signal into key press etc..

Question 7

Two limitations of info theory

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Filter Model

Answer 8

A theory based on the idea that information processing is restricted by channel capacity

Question 9

Channel Capacity

Answer 9

The maximum amount of information that can be transmitted by an information- processing device

Question 10

Describe what the filter model looks like

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

What task did Broadbent use to test his model

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Waugh and Norman’s model of Information Processing

Answer 12

proved that participants ability to recall letters declined as the number of interfering items increased (not rehearsing the letters)

Question 13

Brown Peterson Task

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Ecological Approach

Answer 14

A form of psychological inquiry that reflects conditions in the real world

Question 15

Primary Memory

Answer 15

What we are aware of in the “immediately present moment”; often termed “immediate memory” or “short-term memory”

Question 16

Secondary Memory

Answer 16

Knowledge acquired at an earlier time that is stored indefinitely, and is absent from awareness; also called “long-term memory”

Question 17

Information Pickup

Answer 17

Process whereby we perceive information directly

Question 18

Neisser

Answer 18

Proposed cyclical model of cognition where the person possesses schema

Question 19

Perceptual Cycle

Answer 19

the process whereby our schemas guide our expectations of the world and in turn are shaped by what we find there

Question 20

Cognitive Ethology

Answer 20

links real world observations with laboratory-based studies

Question 21

Metagocnition

Answer 21

the way that cognitive processes work; understanding our own cognitive processes

Question 22

Instrospection & its limitations

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Freudian Theory

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Behaviourism

Answer 24

What goes on in the world and how you behave in response

If you can’t see it, you can’t study it

Question 25

Cognitivism

Answer 25

Input (sensory) ->Processes (computations) ->Output (motor commands)

Question 26

The pineal gland

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Undifferentiated Mass

Answer 27

no specialized areas; all areas do everything

Question 28

Phrenology

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Alexander Luria

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Resection of the corpus callosum (callosotomy)

Answer 30

Eliminates cortical cross-hemispheric communication