Chapter 4: Cognition, Consciousness, and Language Flashcards
What lobe allows us to eschew instantaneous reward and to seek out delayed gratification?
Frontal lobe
What lobe controls the production of language which enables us to communicate with each other?
Frontal lobe
What lobe helps us coordinate our thinking by deciding which stimuli deserve our attention?
Frontal Lobe
What is cognition?
The study of cognition looks at how our brains process and react to information presented to us by the world.
What is cognitive development?
Cognitive development is the development of one’s ability to think and solve problems across the lifespan.
Piaget 4 Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
Piaget Theory
There are qualitative differences between the way that children and adults think.
How is early cognitive development characterized?
By mastering the physical environment. Early cognitive development includes learning control of one’s own body as well as learning how to interact with and manipulate the environment.
In developing children, once physical tasks are mastered what is the next challenge?
Abstract thinking.
Piaget theorized that new information is processed by?
Adaptation
Adaption to information comes about by what two complementary processes?
Assimilation and Accomodation
Assimilation
Assimilation is the process of classifying new information into existing schemata.
Accommodation
The process by which existing schemata are modified to encompass this new information.
Assimilation is the process of classifying new information into existing schemata. If the new information does not fit neatly into existing schemata, then accommodation occurs.
Between what ages does the sensorimotor stage occur? And what happens during this stage?
The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, starting at birth and lasting until about two years of age.
In this stage, a child learns to manipulate his or her environment in order to meet physical needs.
What are primary circular reactions?
The repetition of a body movement that originally occurred by chance, such as sucking the thumb; usually, the behavior is repeated because the child finds it soothing.
What are secondary circular reactions?
Occurs when manipulation is focused on something outside the body, such as repeatedly throwing toys from a high chair. These behaviors are often repeated because the child gets a response from the environment (such as a parent picking up the dropped toy).
What is the key milestone that ends the sensorimotor stage?
Object permanence, which is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view.
What ages does the preoperational stage occur? And what happens during this stage?
The preoperational stage lasts from about two to seven years of age, and is characterized by symbolic thinking (the ability to pretend), egocentrism (inability to imagine what another person may think or feel), and centration (same size pizzas one slice vs. two slices).
What ages does the concrete operational stage occur? And what happens during this stage?
The concrete operational stage lasts from about 7 to 11 years of age.
In this stage, children can understand conservation and consider the perspectives of others. Additionally, they are able to engage in logical thought as long as they are working with concrete objects or information that is directly available.
They still CANNOT think abstractly.
What age does the formal operational stage occur? And what happens during this stage?
The formal operational stage starts around 11 years of age, and is marked by the ability to think logically about abstract ideas and problem solve.
Role of Culture in Cognitive Development
One’s culture will determine what one is expected to learn. Some cultures will place a higher value on social learning, including cultural traditions and roles, while other cultures will value knowledge. In addition, one’s culture will also influence the rate of cognitive development as children are treated very differently from culture to culture.
Aging and Cognition
A mild level of cognitive decline while aging is normal; significant changes in cognition may signify an underlying disorder.
Fluid Intelligence
Consist of problem solving skills.
Crystallized Intelligence
The use of learned skills and knowledge.
Dementia
Dementia often begins with impaired memory, but later progresses to impaired judgment and confusion. Personality changes are also very common as dementia progresses.
What is the most common cause of dementia?
Alzheimer’s disease
What are some other factors that can affect cognition?
Heredity, Environment, and Biologic Factors.
What is Delirium?
Delirium is rapid fluctuation in cognitive function that is reversible and caused by medical (nonpsychological) causes such as: electrolyte and pH disturbances, malnutrition, low blood sugar, infection, a drug reaction, alcohol withdrawal, and pain.
What is mental set?
A mental set is a pattern of approach for a given problem. An inappropriate mental set may negatively impact problem-solving.
What is functional fixedness?
Functional fixedness is the tendency to use objects only in the way they are normally utilized, which may create barriers to problem-solving.
Types of problem-solving?
Trial-and-error (effective when there few possible solutions)
Algorithms (formula or procedure for solving a problem)
Deductive (top-down) reasoning (deriving conclusions from general rules)
Inductive (bottom-up) reasoning (deriving generalizations from evidence).
What is a limitation of using heuristics, biases, intuition, and emotion for assist with decision making?
They can lead to short-sighted or problematic decisions.
Heuristics
Shortcuts or rules of thumb used to make decisions.
Biases
Exist when an experimenter or decision-maker is unable to objectively evaluate information.
Disconfirmation Principle
the evidence obtained from testing demonstrated that the solution does not work.
Confirmation Bias
Is the tendency to focus on information that fits an individual’s beliefs, while rejecting information that goes against them.
Overconfidence
A tendency to erroneously interpret one’s decisions, knowledge, and beliefs as infallible.
Intuition
Can be defined as the ability to act on perceptions that may not be supported by available evidence. Utilizes “gut feeling”.
Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Has 7 different types of intelligence. Gardner argues that linguistic ability and logical-mathematical ability are the most valued in Western cultures. Hence, our IQ tests measures these.
Beta Waves
Have a high frequency and occur when the person is alert or attending to a mental task that requires concentration. Beta waves occur when neurons are randomly firing.
Alpha Waves
Occur when we are awake but relaxing with our eyes closed, and are somewhat slower than beta waves. Alpha waves are also more synchronized than beta waves.
What is the sequential order of brain waves?
beta, alpha, theta, delta (BAT-D)
What is the significance of REM sleep?
The mind appears close to awake on EEG, but the person is asleep.
Eye movements and body paralysis occur in this stage.
Dreaming in REM focuses on consolidating procedural memories.
Melatonin
Causes sleepiness.
Cortisol
Contributes to wakefulness.
When does most dreaming occur?
During REM sleep.
Dyssomnias
Disorders that make it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, or avoid sleep (ex: insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea).
Parasomnias
Abnormal movements or behaviors during sleep (ex: night terrors & sleep walking).
What stage of sleep does most sleep disorders occur?
NREM sleep
Hypnosis
A state of consciousness in which individuals appear to be in control of their normal faculties but are in a highly suggestible state.
Hypnosis is often used for pain control, psychological therapy, memory enhancement, weight loss, and smoking cessation.
Meditation
Involves a quieting of the mind and is often used for relief of anxiety. It has also played a role in many of the world’s religions.
Depressants
Reduce nervous system activity, resulting in a sense of relaxation and reduced anxiety.
They increase or mimic GABA activity in the brain.
What are some types of depressants?
Alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines.
Stimulants
Causes an increase in arousal in the nervous system. They increase dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin concentration at the synaptic cleft.
It increases their release and decreases their reuptake.
What are some examples of stimulants?
Amphetamines, cocaine, and ecstasy.
Opiates and Opioids
Causes a decreased reaction to pain and feelings of euphoria. They can cause death by respiratory depression.
What are some examples of opiates and opioids?
Heroin, morphine, opium, and prescription pain medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone.
Hallucinogens
Typically causes distortions of reality and fantasy, enhancement of sensory experiences, and introspection. Physiologic effects include increased heart rate and blood pressure, dilation of pupils, sweating, and increased body temperature.
What are some examples of hallucinogens?
LSD, peyote, mescaline, ketamine, and psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
Marijuana
Has depressant, stimulant, and hallucinogenic effects. Its active ingredient is tetrahydrocannabinol.
THC increases GABA and dopamine (causing pleasure) activity.
What classification of drugs does not increase GABA activity?
Hallucinogens
What pathway in the brain is drug addiction related to?
Mesolimbic reward pathway. Dopamine is the main neurotransmitter in this pathway/
Selective attention
Allows one to pay attention to a particular stimulus while determining if additional stimuli in the background require attention.
Cocktail Party Phenomenon
Allows us to determine if a background stimuli needs attention.
Divided Attention
Uses automatic processing to pay attention to multiple activities at one time.
Phonology
Refers to the actual sound of speech.
Morphology
Refers to the building blocks of words, such as rules for pluralization (–s in English), past tense (–ed ), and so forth.
Semantics
Refers to the meaning of words. ex: Young children struggle with this. They categorize all women as mommy.
Syntax
Refers to the rules dictating word order.
Pragmatics
Refers to the changes in language delivery depending on context.
ex: Asking a friend vs. stranger if you could sit next to them.
Nativist (biological) Theory
By Noam Chomsky. He explains language acquisition as being innate and controlled by the language acquisition device (LAD).
Learning (behaviorist) Theory
By B.F. Skinner. Explains language acquisition as being controlled by operant conditioning and reinforcement by parents and caregivers.
Social Interactionist Theory
Explains language acquisition as being caused by a motivation to communicate and interact with others.
“Whorfian (linguistic relativity) Hypothesis
States that the way we view and interpret the world is determined by language.
Where are speech areas in the brain normally found?
In the dominant hemisphere. Usually the left.
Broca’s Area
The motor function of speech is controlled by Broca’s area. Damage results in Broca’s aphasia, a nonfluent aphasia in which generating each word requires great effort.
Wernicke’s Area
Language comprehension is controlled by Wernicke’s area. Damage results in Wernicke’s aphasia, a fluent, nonsensical aphasia with lack of comprehension.
What connects Broca’s area to Wernicke’s area?
The arcuate fasciculus connects Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area. Damage results in conduction aphasia, marked by the inability to repeat words that have just been spoken despite intact speech generation and comprehension.
Base Rate Fallacy
Occurs when prototypical or stereotypical factors are used for analysis rather than actual data.
