Chapter 1, Introduction Flashcards
different approaches to the study of cognitive psychology, overwiew of the brain structure and processes involved in perception, learning and memory storage.
Definition of cognitive psychology
psychology of mental processes, specifically the way in which the brain processes information
What is cognition?
Cognition includes the way we gather, make sense and use information ( how we process it)
What triggers the internal mental processes
External or internal stimulus
Stages of cognitive processing
Input - perception - learning and memory storage - retrieval - thinking
What are the approaches to the study of cognition and what do they entail?
- Experimental psychology - not looking into the brain. conducting experiments, looking at behavior and making conclusions
- Computational cognitive science - making a computer simulation based on the results of conducted experiments with humans, and seeing if the computer acts like humans
- Cognitive neuropsychology - (behavior focused) studying people with brain lesions, disorders and deficits and comparing with behavior of healthy people
- Cognitive neuroscience - using brain imaging on healthy (and not) brains to relate behavior to a specific brain area
Who and in what year opened the first official psychology labaratory? Why?
Wilhelm Wundt
He decided that for psychology experiments are necessary just like for other sciences
What did Wundt research?
- response time for responding to a stimulus (pendulum hits a bell and a person has to alert of the bell sound
- visual illusions (earliest studies)
- perception
Who is Herman Ebbinghaus?
The publisher of the first experimental research on memory (1885), that made a foundation for the forgetting curve
Who is William James?
The author of “Principles of Psychology”, 1890. He was one of the first to distinguish between long-term memory and short-term memory
What is behaviorism
An approach developed by experimental psychologists. Focuses on only working with and investigating just the externally observable behavior. It was an important step to establishing psychology as a true science.
Who is Watson (1913)? What were his thoughts on the study of psychology?
- founder of behaviorism.
- psychologists should only consider observable events
- inner mental processes should not be considered as they cannot be directly observed
What kind of studies did B. F. Skinner (1938) conduct?
put rats into boxes (now called skinner boxes) and trained then to press levers when specific lights came on in order to obtain food as a reward (“reinforcement”). When lever was pressed incorrectly, rats would be shocked by an electric current
What is Gestalt psychology?
An approach to psychology which emphasized the way in which components of perceptual input became grouped and integrated into patterns and whole figures
Core concepts of Gestalt psychology and what is pragnanz?
- perception is influenced by our previous knowledge and experience
- perception of a whole object will be something more than just the sum of its components
-perception of a figure depends on its pragnanz (its meaningful content, the info to give the simplest explanation) (Koffka, 1935)
Who is the author of the Schema theory and what is it about? What is a schema?
- Bartlett (1932)
- we do not directly interpret what we see but rather use previous knowledge, certain sensory patterns and experiences
- Schema - mental pattern, usually derived from experience, which is used for interpreting of subsequent cognitions, for example by identifying familiar shapes and sounds in a new perceptual input
Implications of the Schema theory
- our perception and memory of an input may sometimes be changed or distorted to fit our existing schemas
- schemas may make you act in a way that you expect from experience, when in a particular situation you should be acting differently
- “perception lies in the brain pf a perceiver”
What is bottom-up processing?
(stimulus-driven) processing which is directed by information contained within the stimulus. It is initiated at the “bottom end” of the nervous system (sense organs) and goes up towards higher cortical areas
What is top-down processing?
(schema-driven) processing which makes use of stored knowledge and schemas to interpret incoming stimulus eg: driving, something automatic, easy and already in the brain
How do top-down and bottom-up relate to each other? and difference
Without one there cant be another. Top-down is always there for things we do automatically. Bottom-up can be or not be there. In most cases information analysis will involve a combination of the two
Strengths of cognitive psychology
- First systematic approach to the study
- Led to numerous theories adopted by other approaches
- Very flexible: can be applied to any part of cognition
Limitations of cognitive psychology
-Most cognitive tasks and experiments are impure and lack ecological validity (very hard to simulate and control all surroundings and get a precise answer about the real world)
- The evidence of underlying processes is indirect
- Theories are often vague and hard to test
- Findings are often paradigm-specific
- Lack of overarching theoretical framework
Benefits for using computer models to study cognitive processes
- can simulate computer processes
- can provide possible explanations for the processing mechanisms within the human brain
- can be used as a “test bed” for trying out possible human cognitive functions, providing a means of “modeling” and testing the feasibility of a particular processing mechanism
What is the difference between computational modeling and AI
Computational modeling:
- programming computers to model or mimic some aspects of human functioning
AI:
constructing computer systems that produce intelligent outcomes often using very different processes to humans
Computational cognitive science strengths:
- Theoretical assumptions spelled out with precision (the programs had to be very precise to do exactly what was needed)
- New models work on strengths and weaknesses of previous models
Computational cognitive science limitations:
- Many models fail to make new theoretical predictions
- de - emphasizes emotional and motivational factors
- as models get more complex, they get harder to understand
What are feature detectors?
mechanisms in information processing device (such as brain and computer) which respond to specific features in a pattern of simulation, such as lines or corners
What have Haynes and Rees discover in 2005 through functional imaging techniques?
Feature-detector cells in the human brain
From these results more advanced theories of perception have been developed
Who was the author of selective attention theory?
Broadbent
What is the limited capacity processor model?
The brain is seen as an information processor faced with a large array of incoming information (from both inside and outside). Many inputs are competing with one another for limited precessing resources, and the inputs must be prioritized and selectively processed if an information overload is to be avoided
What is the outer shell of the brain?
Cerebral cortex (grey matter)
What is the cerebral cortex responsible for?
higher cognitive processes
