Cog 6-10 Flashcards
Three Frameworks in Cognitive Psychology
1950s-80s: INFORMATION PROCESSING: we need to break down, reflect how people process information
1980s-now: CONNECTIONIST FRAMEWORK: the mind is a network of inter-connected processing units
1990s-now: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE: many cognitive functions can be localised to particular neural regions
What are the 4 methods for testing cognitive processes?
Experimental Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Neuropsychology
Computational Modelling
Cognitive Neuroscience
Limitations of Atkinson & Shriffrin’s Multi-store Model of memory
Processing is not entirely ‘bottom-up’; memory as a function of type of processing, not where it is stored; can use chunking
What is the working memory?
The system in which incoming information is processed and integrated with existing declarative and procedural memories (central executive)
Rather than a passive short-term store, working memory consists of multiple specialist components: central executive, phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad
Positives of Baddeley’s Working Memory Model
Highly influential and heuristically useful for ‘diagnosing’ source of memory problems
Limitations of Baddeley’s Working Memory Model
“Slave” systems may reflect task-specific strategies
Episodic buffer blurs distinctions between working memory and long term memory
Are those with low or high working memory more vulnerable to ‘seductive details’ effect?
People with higher working memory are better at ignoring those high seductive images, whereas those with low are more distracted by seductive images meaning they don’t focus on the text as well
Are those with higher in working memory less vulnerable to mind wandering and able to better sustain their attention in more demanding and challenging tasks?
YES
What does a valid measure of the role of working memory capacity in real world tasks need to assess simultaneous?
BOTH storage and processing
What is prospective memory?
A form of memory that involves remembering to perform a planned action or intention at some future point in time; future memory; involves retrieving information form LTM (the intention and then the intended action)
What is retrospective memory?
Refers to memory of people, words and events encountered or experienced in the past
Three theories of prospective memory
Preparatory attention and memory processes (PAM)
Multi-process theory
Dynamic multi-process framework
Tips for improving prospective memory
Overcoming interruptions: form explicit intention to resume task after interruption
Place distinctive reminder cues where they will be seen at the appropriate time
Two subtypes of explicit (declarative) memory
Episodic memory (one’s own experiences)
Semantic memory (facts, general knowledge)
Is explicit memory conscious or unconscious?
Conscious
Is implicit memory conscious or unconscious?
Unconscious
What happens to both explicit and implicit memory of those with amnesia?
Amnesics show impaired explicit memory but preserved implicit memory.
They can acquire new procedural skills.
Evidence that explicit and implicit memory rely on different memory systems
Amnesia: affects explicit but not implicit memory performance
Depth of processing at encoding: explicit memory better following deeper encoding & implicit memory better are shallow processing
Are explicit and implicit memory different memory systems? And why?
They are NOT different memory systems
Explicit and implicit memory tasks involve different memory retrieval processes: recollection vs familiarity
What is semantic dementia
Hierarchical loss of information; general knowledge is lost
Comparison of Alzheimer’s and Semantic Dementia
Performance in semantic tasks more impaired in semantic dementia than Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease associated with impairments in episodic memory.
What is Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) models?
Networks that are based on gradual learning of ‘semantic memory’
Connected by sets of interconnected nodes that activate other nodes; the models are computer programs that are meant to stimulate how neurons fire and fire onto the next associated networks.
Fundamental assumptions of PDP models of memory
Knowledge is distributed through the system rather than localised in a single node
Knowledge is learned gradually adjusting connection weights until the network can reproduce the correct output for all trained inputs (learning must be gradual)
No clear distinction between structure and processes
Advantages of PRP
Spontaneous generalisation (e.g. category learning)
Graceful degradation (e.g. semantic dementia)
