Chapter 4: Cognition, Consciousness, and Language

Question 1

What are the 4 key components of the information processing model?

Answer 1

1. Thinking requires sensation, encoding, and storage of stimuli
2. Stimuli must be analyzed by the brain to be useful in decision-making
3. Decisions made in one situation can be extrapolated and adjusted to help solve new problems
4. Problem-solving is dependent not only on the person’s cognitive level, but also on the context and complexity of the problem

Question 2

What is cognitive development?

Answer 2

The development of one’s ability to think and solve problems across the lifespan. Early cognitive development is characterized by mastering the physical environment. After mastering the physical environment, abstract thinking is next.

Question 3

List Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development.

Answer 3

Sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational

Question 4

What are schema?

Answer 4

Piaget referred to organized patterns of behavior and thought as schemata. A schema can include a concept, behavior, or a sequence of events. As a child proceeds through the stages of cognitive development, new information has to be placed in different schemata.

Question 5

What is adaptation?

Answer 5

Processing of new information. This is divided into assimilation and accommodation.

Question 6

What is assimilation?

Answer 6

The process of classifying new information into existing schemata.

Question 7

What is accommodation?

Answer 7

The process by which existing schemata are modified to encompass new information.

Question 8

Describe the sensorimotor stage of Piaget’s cognitive development.

Answer 8

• Birth to 2 years
• A child learns to manipulate their environment in order to meet physical needs.
• Primary circular motions: repetition of a body movement that originally occurred by chance (ex. sucking the thumb)
• Secondary circular motions: manipulation is focused on something outside the body to get a response from the environment (ex. repeatedly throwing toys from high chair)
• Development of object permanence ends the sensorimotor stage

Question 9

Describe the pre-operational stage of Piaget’s cognitive development.

Answer 9

• 2 to 7 years old
• Characterized by symbolic thinking, egocentrism, and centration.
• Symbolic thinking: ability to pretend, play make-believe, and have an imagination
• Egocentrism: inability to imagine what another person may think or feel
• Centration: tendency to focus on only one aspect of a phenomenon, inability to understand the concept of conservation

Question 10

Describe the concrete operational stage of Piaget’s cognitive development.

Answer 10

• 7 to 11 years old
• Children can understand conservation and consider the perspectives of others
• Cannot think abstractly yet

Question 11

Describe the formal operational stage of Piaget’s cognitive development.

Answer 11

• 11 years on
• Ability to think logically about abstract ideas
• Ability to reason about abstract concepts and problem-solve

Question 12

What is fluid intelligence?

Answer 12

Consists of problem-solving skills. Peaks during adulthood. Shown to decline with age.

Question 13

What is crystallized intelligence?

Answer 13

Related to use of learned skills and knowledge. Peaks in middle adulthood. Shown to decline with age.

Question 14

What is a mental set?

Answer 14

The tendency to approach similar problems in the same way. May cause functional fixedness.

Question 15

What is functional fixedness?

Answer 15

The inability to consider how to use an object in a nontraditional manner.

Question 16

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 16

The tendency to focus on information that fits an individual’s beliefs, while rejecting information that goes against them. This can lead to overconfidence.

Question 17

What is overconfidence?

Answer 17

Tendency to erroneously interpret one’s decisions, knowledge, and beliefs as infallible.

Question 18

What is belief perseverance?

Answer 18

The inability to reject a particular belief despite clear evidence to the contrary.

Question 19

What is the original formula for calculating IQ?

Answer 19

IQ = 100 x (mental age/chronological age)

Question 20

What is the role of the reticular formation?

Answer 20

It is a neural structure located in the brainstem that play a role in consciousness and alertness.

Question 21

What is an EEG?

Answer 21

Electroencephalography: records an average of the electrical patterns within different portions of the brain. Patterns correlate with different stages of waking and sleeping (beta, alpha, theta, delta waves).

Question 22

How long does one complete sleep cycle last?

Answer 22

90 min

Question 23

What are the 4 stages of the sleep cycle? Which waves correspond to each?

Answer 23

Stage 1: light sleep dominated by theta waves
Stage 2: slightly deeper sleep and includes theta waves, sleep spindles, and K complexes
Stage 3 and 4: deep, slow-wave-sleep dominated by delta waves.
Stages 1-4 are all part of non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM)

Question 24

What is REM sleep?

Answer 24

Rapid eye movement: arousal levels reach that of wakefulness but the muscles are paralyzed. This is when most dreaming and procedural memory consolidation occurs.

Question 25

What are circadian rhythms?

Answer 25

These internally generated rhythms regular our daily cycle of waking and sleeping.

Question 26

Which two hormones are related to sleep and circadian rhythms?

Answer 26

Melatonin: sleepiness, higher levels in the dark, serotonin-derived hormone from pineal gland.
Cortisol: wakefulness, higheer levels in light, steroid hormone produced in the adrenal cortex, levels increase during early morning because light increases release of CRF->ATCH->Cortisol

Question 27

What is the difference between dyssomnias and parasomnias?

Answer 27

Dyssomnias: disorders that make it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, or avoid sleep (insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea)
Parasomnias: abnormal movements or behaviors during sleep (night terrors, sleep walking)

Question 28

What is narcolepsy?

Answer 28

Condition characterized by lack of voluntary control over the onset of sleep. Symptoms include loss of muscle control, sudden intrusion of REM sleep during waking hours, sleep paralysis, and hallucinations. Type of dyssomnia.

Question 29

What is sleep apnea?

Answer 29

Inability to breath during sleep. Can be obstructive (physical blockage in the pharynx or trachea prevents airflow) or central (brain fails to send signals to the diaphragm to breath). Type of dyssomnia.

Question 30

What are 4 types of problem solving strategies?

Answer 30

Trail-and-Error, Algorithms, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning

Question 31

What is deductive (top-down) reasoning?

Answer 31

Start from a set of general rules and draws conclusions from the information given (ex. logic puzzle)

Question 32

What is inductive (bottom-up) reasoning?

Answer 32

Seeks to create a theory via generalizations; this type of reasoning starts with specific instances and then draws a conclusion from them.

Question 33

What is a heuristic?

Answer 33

Simplified principles used to make decisions, “rules of thumb”. This is divided into the availability and representativeness heuristic.

Question 34

What is the difference between the availability heuristic and representativeness heuristic?

Answer 34

Availability heuristic: used when we try to decide how likely something is.

Representativeness heuristic: involves categorizing items on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical, stereotypical, or representative image of the category.

Both can lead to base rate fallacy.

Question 35

What is base rate fallacy?

Answer 35

Using stereotypical or prototypical factors while ignoring actual numerical information.

Question 36

What depressants? Examples?

Answer 36

Reduce nervous system activity resulting in a sense of relaxation and reduced anxiety. Examples include alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines.

Question 37

What effects does alcohol have on the brain and behavior?

Answer 37

Increased activity of GABA receptor causing generalized brain inhibition. Increased dopamine levels causing a sense of mild euphoria. Logical reasoning and motor skills are affected and fatigue may result. May cause alcohol myopia: inability to recognize consequences of actions. Alcoholism tends to run in families.

Question 38

What are the long term consequences of alcoholism?

Answer 38

Cirrhosis and liver failure, pancreatic damage, gastric ulcers, GI cancer, brain disorders such as Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (deficiency of vitamin B1, severe memory impairment, loss of motor skills)

Question 39

What is the difference between barbiturates and benzodiazepines? What are their effects?

Answer 39

Barbiturates were used as anxiety reducing and sleep medications but have been replaced by benzodiazepines because they are less prone to overdose. Both are very addictive. Effects include increased GABA activity, causing sense of relaxation.

Question 40

What are stimulants? Examples?

Answer 40

Cause an increase in arousal in the nervous system, increases frequency of action potentials. Examples include amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy (MDMA).

Question 41

What are the physiological and psychological effects of amphetamine?

Answer 41

Increase release of dopamine, NE, and serotonin at the synapse and decrease reuptake. Physiological effects include increased arousal, reduction in appetite, decreased need for sleep, increased heart rate and blood pressure. Psychological effects include euphoria, hyper vigilance, anxiety, paranoia.

Question 42

What are the effects of cocaine?

Answer 42

Decreases reuptake of dopamine, NE, and serotonie. Cocaine has anesthetic and vasoconstrictive properties and thus is sometimes used in surgeries.

Question 43

What is ecstasy and its effects?

Answer 43

A hallucinogen combined with an amphetamine. Physiological effects include increased heart rate and blood pressure, blurry vision, nausea, and hyperthermia. Psychological effects include feelings of euphoria, increased alertness, and overwhelming sense of well-being and connectedness.

Question 44

What are opiate and opioids? Examples?

Answer 44

Naturally occurring forms of opium are opiates which include morphine and codeine. Semisynthetic derivaties called opioids include oxycodone, hydrocodone, and heroin. These compounds bind to opioid receptors in the PNS and CNS, causing decreased reaction to pain and euphoria.

Question 45

What are hallucinogens? Examples?

Answer 45

Cause a complex interaction with neurotransmitters and typically distort reality and fantasy, enhance sensory experiences, and introspection. An example is LSD.

Question 46

What are the effects of dat yung kush mary J?

Answer 46

Active chemical in marijuana is THC which inhibits GABA activity and indirectly increases dopamine activity. Falls under the categories of stimulant, depressant, and hallucinogen.

Question 47

What are 5 basic components of language?

Answer 47

Phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics.

Question 48

What is the difference between phonology and morphology?

Answer 48

Phonology refers to the actual sound of language, speech sounds are called phonemes.
Morphology refers to the structure of words. Many words are composed of multiple building blocks called morphemes, each which connotes a particular meaning (ex. re-design-ed, 3 morphemes).

Question 49

What is the difference between semantics and syntax?

Answer 49

Semantics refers to the association of meaning with a word. Syntax refers to how words are put together to from sentences (the order of words is important).

Question 50

What is pragmatics?

Answer 50

Refers to the dependence of language on context and pre-existing knowledge. The manner in which we speak may differ depending on the audience and our relationship to them.

Question 51

What is the timeline of language acquisition from 9months to 5 years old?

Answer 51

9-12months: babbling
12-18months: learn about one word per month
18-20months: explosion of language, combining of words
2-3 years: longer sentences, 3 words or more
5 years: language rules largely mastered

Question 52

What is the nativist (biological) theory of language development?

Answer 52

Advocates for the existence of some innate capacity for language. This innate ability is called the language acquisition device (LAD), a theoretical pathway in the brain that allows infants to process and absorb language rules. They believe in a critical period of language acquisition between 2-puberty.

Question 53

What is the learning (behaviorist) theory of language development?

Answer 53

Language acquisition explained by operant conditioning and reinforcement. The infant learns from the people around them which phonemes are used and reinforced.. This theory does not explain the explosion of language during early childhood.

Question 54

What is the social interactionist theory of language development?

Answer 54

Focuses on the interplay between biological and social processes. Language acquisition is driven by the child’s desire to communicate and behave in a social manner, such as interacting with caretakers and other children.

Question 55

What is the whorfian hypothesis (linguistic relativity hypothesis)?

Answer 55

Our perception of reality (the way we think about the world) is determined by the content of language. Language affects the way we think.

Question 56

What are the functions of the broca’s and wernicke’s areas?

Answer 56

Broca’s area: speech production

Wernicke’s area: language comprehension