Chapter 1 class notes

Question 1

Cognitive Science

Answer 1

Information
- We can study how the mind works by studying how information is processed
- Mental representations

Encoding of sensory information –> Information manipulation (mental processes) –> Output (e.g behaviour, emotion)

Question 2

Dualism

Answer 2

Mind and body are made of two different substances

problem for dualism is how do the mind and body interact?

Question 3

Substance dualism

Answer 3

the mind is a different (nonphysical) substance together distinct from the brain

Question 4

Monism

Answer 4

only one substance exists

Question 5

Materialism

Answer 5

only matter exits

Question 6

Idealism

Answer 6

only mind exits

Question 7

Philosophy

Rationalism (Decartes, leibniz, kant )

Answer 7

Reason is the source of knowledge
- Reality has an intrinsically logical structure
- Some, perhaps most, knowledge is innate

Question 8

Philosophy

Empiricism (Aristotle, Locke, Hume)

Answer 8

All knowledge is attained and justified through experience
- Knowlege is subject to revision & falsification
- Science method

Question 9

Early Neuroscience
Brain damage studies
Phineas Gage (1823 -1860)

Answer 9

Survived a traumatic injury in the frontal lope
- John martyn Harlow - Was the doctor who treated him noted drastic changes in personality

Question 10

Early Neuroscience
Hippocrates (460 -370 BC)

Answer 10

argued that the brain is the seat of thought

Question 11

Early Neuroscience
Cytoarchitecture

Answer 11

Structure and organization of cells in the brain
Brodmann (1868 - 1918) - mapped their cerebral cortex & identifies 52 unique regions
Postulated that areas with different structures perform different functions

Question 12

1800s - Birth of Psychology
Psychophysics -
1875-
1890s -

Answer 12

Relationships between perception and stimuli

75s -Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory
- Ebbinghaus did some of the first experiments in memory
90s - Freud and the case-study technique

Question 13

Introspection

Answer 13

• Technique involved training people to carefully & objectively as possible to analyze the content of their thoughts
• an experimental approach developed by Wilhelm Wundt
• Highly trained observers were presented with carefully controlled
  sensory events
• Asked to describe their mental experiences of these events

Problems
- Results vary from person to person
- results can not be verified
- Can’t tell us anything about unconscious events

Question 14

Behaviorism

Answer 14

Psychology is just the study of behavior
- Only explained behavior in terms of stimulus
- Didn’t really care about information processing

Question 15

Behaviorism on learning

Answer 15

Assumption 1: All learning is a result of conditioning
Assumption 2: Conditioning depends on processes of association and reinforcement

Question 16

Conditioning

Answer 16

Repeated pairing of stimulus and response

Question 17

Reinforcement

Answer 17

reward is used to strengthen the assiciation between stimulus & response

Question 18

Classical conditioning

Answer 18

• Depends upon an association between stimulus & response

Question 19

Certain stimulus

Answer 19

Response pairing are inborn and reflexive.
- Certain types of stimuli unconditionally elicit primary reflex responses ( e.g. salivation on presentation of food)
- These basic responses can be elicited by other stimuli through conditioning

Question 20

Example of Classical Conditioning

Answer 20

Uncoditioned stimulus - Allergy
Response - Nausea

Conditioned response
- Feeling nauseous when you hear the doorbell

Question 21

Operant conditioning

Answer 21

• reinforcing voluntary behavior through reward or punishment
• Learning refers to changes in behavior as a result of experiences that occur after a response ( pressing lever)

Question 22

Skinner box - Tolman & Honzik (1930)

Answer 22

• The rat is reinforced (receives a reward) every time it behaves in a certain way
• Reward reinforces the behavior
• Association is strengthened
• Rat is more likely to keep pressing button

Question 23

Behaviorist approach goal

Answer 23

Complete explantion of all behavior in terms of conditioned responses
example - spatial movement ( playing tennis)
Each movement is a link in a sequence of responses

Question 24

Problems with behaviorism
Tolman & Honzik (1930)

Answer 24

3 groups of rats
1. group one received a reward every time they completed the maze
- Learned the maze
2. Group two received no reward
- Wandered aimlessly
3. Group three received no reward for the first ten days, then after ten days in the maze has passed, they were rewarded.
- Wandered aimlessly