Cog Psych Final Flashcards
1
Q
Hippocampus
A
Medial temporal lobe
Close to amygdala which is involved with emotions
Receives highly processed information from cortex
2
Q
Memory formation
A
See visual experience and info makes it to frontal lobe. Links all these features of the memory together so everything is linked in the episode
3
Q
Event Retrieval: Reconstructing Past Neural Patterns
A
Vivid remembering reactivates sensory-specific cortex
4
Q
Hippocampus & memory consolidation [memory transfer]
A
Hippocampus transfers information to get consolidated in cerebral cortex and becomes less critical for memory
5
Q
Hippocampus: importance of sleep
A
Sleep consolidates memory. Play experience throughout days during sleep so it replays memories from hippocampus to cerebral cortex. You wake up so cortical modules have strengthened connections within or between them so hippocampus is now less important for memory
6
Q
Anterograde amnesia (common)
A
Unable to recall events after an accident. Improper transfer from short term memory to long term memory
the inability to remember events you experience (episodic memory) and facts you encounter (semantic memory) after the brain injury without hippocampus.
7
Q
Retrograde amnesia
A
Unable to recall events prior to accident
MTL damage impairs not only new learning, but also disrupts memories acquired before the injury. Gradient over time. More likely to lose memories closer to damage such as days before compared to years ago
MTL = medial temporal lobe
8
Q
Ribot’s Law & ‘time graded’ amnesia
A
The vulnerability of a given memory is inversely related to the time of its initial formation.
9
Q
Patient Henry Molaison (H.M.) & the Amnesic Syndrome
A
First major seizure at age 16. Had epiliepsy develop in teen years. Seizures coming from medial temporal love
Bilateral medial-temporal lobe resection (hippocampus & nearby structures) to stop these seizures.
Recovered from neurosurgery. Seizures stopped but something different about him. First report of pervasive & profound amnesia.
Neuropsychological examinations characterizing the amnesic syndrome
Recollections of HM’s distant past are still available. Retained all memories up until time of surgery. Anything that not yet been consolidated by hippocampus was lost including any new memories made past the surgery
10
Q
Hippocampus ‘teaching’ cortical
A
Play experience throughout days during sleep so it replays memories from hippocampus to cerebral cortex. You wake up so cortical modules have strengthened connections within or between them so hippocampus is now less important for memory
Hippocampus “teaches” the cortex during sleep
11
Q
Double dissociation between episodic
memory (hippocampus-dependent) and
procedural memory (e.g.,
cerebellar-dependent in mirror tracing task)
A
Patients with damage to the cerebellum are impaired at mirror-tracing (but perform normally on declarative memory tasks)
Patient H.M. could learn new skills (procedural memory) despite amnesia
12
Q
Precision of human memory (e.g. recall a
penny/apple logo)
A
13
Q
Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm
A
Participants presented with lists following common theme. 90% of participants were likely to recall these words but also likely to recall words that were the list theme
14
Q
Memory
A
We often remember only the ‘gist’ of what we experience rather than the veridical details
Memory is a reconstructive process
15
Q
memory errors
A
We take whatever comes back to mind and fill in the gaps with best guesses. Often, we get details right but sometimes it is wrong or you can switch details. Retrieving a past event engages the same brain mechanisms as imagining a future event. Overlapping brain regions, almost indistinguishable
16
Q
Hippocampus damage + future
A
Patients with hippocampal damage show an impaired ability to envision the future
17
Q
Source monitoring error
A
Subjects must commit a source monitoring error, wrongly attributing their memory construction to personal experience
Type of memory error where the source of a memory is incorrectly attributed to some specific recollected experience
18
Q
Misinformation effects
A
The tendency for postevent information, especially misleading information, to interfere with the memory of the original event
Misleading information can affect memory for the actual event.
19
Q
Misinformation effects: Car accident studies
A
Loftus & Palmer (1974): Subjects watch a film on traffic safety that contained an accident.
Subjects later answer questions about the accident.
On one question, subjects asked: About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?
Other subjects given same question, but with “hit” replaced by: contacted or smashed.
Did the question affect memory for other aspects of the accident?
If the word was more intense, then subjects thought car was going faster
Subjects given misleading information after encoding had more false memories for the details of the visual scene
20
Q
Misinformation effects: Planted memories (e.g., lost in the mall study)
A
Loftus & Pickrell (1995): Lost in a Shopping Mall
Participants read one-paragraph stories about three events that actually happened to them and one that did not (lost in a shopping mall)
Then interviewed about each of these memories.
6 of 24 subjects developed false memories for the mall scenario by the third interview.
Hyman, Husband, & Billings (1995): Accident at a family wedding. Spilling punch on somebody’s dress
3% of participants provided false recall in 1st interview
27% of participants provided false recall in 2nd interview
Porter et al. (1999)
Planted memory study: Viscous animal attack
26% of participants “recovered” a complete memory for the false experience, and an additional 30% of participants recalled some aspects of the experience
Wade et al. (2002) Doctored photos of hot air balloon ride
After 3 interviews, 50% of participants created completely false or partial false memories
Braun, Ellis, and Loftus (2002): Met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland
Not even a disney character
20
Q
Misinformation effects: Implications
A
False memories can even lead to confessions to a crime one didn’t commit
Rapport-building, social pressure, guilt-presumptive questioning, leading questions, presenting suspects false evidence, typically intermixed with true details, memory retrieval techniques associated with memory distortion (e.g., guided imagery)
21
Q
Categorization/category
A
Categorization is the process through which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, classified, and understood
Category: a set of items that are grouped together on the basis of something*
You see a slide of cats and dogs. Can group them based on animal type, color of fur, etc.
21
Q
Concepts
A
Concepts are our mental representations of categories
22
Q
Natural categories
A
groupings that occur naturally (birds, trees)
23
Artifact categories
designed/invented (computers, sports cars)
24
Stable categories
natural/artifact are typically stable
people generally agree on what goes into them, and what are the criteria of inclusion
25
Ad-hoc categories
unstable categories defined for a special purpose or within a specific context
e.g., “things to write on”, “things to take with you in a fire”
26
Basic level of categorization (Eleanor Rosch)
Eleanor Rosch argued that there is a basic level of categorization
Neither too general nor too specific
Tends to be used in speaking and reasoning about categories
Here, “chair” is the basic-level category, as opposed to “furniture” (more general, or superordinate) or “wooden desk chair” (more specific, or subordinate). Picture was of wooden desk chair
Naming an airplane “airplane” vs aircraft or specific airplane model type
Naming a dog “dog” rather than mammal or poodle
It is easier to explain what features are common to members of basic-level categories than for other levels
27
Superordinate levels of categorization
“chair” is the basic-level category, as opposed to “furniture” (more general, or superordinate)
28
Subordinate levels of categorization
"wooden desk chair” (more specific, or subordinate)
29
Classical theory of categorization
Explicit rules for category membership
A category is defined in terms of necessary and sufficient features
Necessary: has to be there
Sufficient: all that you need
These features define the category. Such as describing geometric shapes
This representation is abstract
It does not store any information about specific exemplars
30
Classical theory of categorization criticism
Defining features often can’t be found for example with cat.
You can often remove any particular feature and some object will still be a category member
Non-necessary features affect categorization
Asking people about parallelograms but they pick one specific shape despite there being more examples
For many categories there are no clear defining features
31
Prototype theory of categorization
Prototypes (mental average of all category members)
The prototype is an ideal category member or average of the various category members. The category representation is abstract.
Some categories are highly variable
Assumes that information about individual instances is not stored, or at least is not used to guide categorization
However, people do seem to store information about individual exemplars, and can sometimes be influenced by these specific exemplars
Also, prototype theory doesn’t have a way of taking into account the variance of a given category
32
Prototype theory of categorization criticism
Also, prototype theory doesn’t have a way of taking into account the variance of a given category
Prototype Theory Problem: Assumes that information about individual instances is not stored, or at least is not used to guide categorization
33
Prototypes and Graded Membership
Objects closer to a prototype are “better” members of the category than objects further from the prototype.
Example: Some birds are “birdier” than other birds
34
Exemplar theory of categorization
Individual instances
Category judgments are made by comparing a new exemplar to all the old exemplars of a category or to the exemplar that most readily comes to mind
Concepts are represented by all of the exemplars that have been experienced
When we categorize something, we compare it one or more exemplars retrieved from memory, and decide the category based on the most similar exemplars
The category representation is concrete: There is not necessarily a summary of the category
35
Exemplar theory of categorization criticism
Problem: Assumes that many individual exemplars are stored in memory without “blending”
Problem: Has trouble accounting for people’s ability to extract general properties of categories to allow classification of new instances
36
Problems with both prototype and exemplar views
Both rely heavily on the idea of similarity & Similarity is always relative: There are an infinite number of ways in which two things can be similar and We require some way of knowing what features are being compared
When there is high variability within a category, a new potential category member may have both: Low similarity with all instances of that category (Exemplar model) or Low similarity with the averaged prototype of that category (Prototype model)
37
Theory-based categorization
We know much more about categories than a list of their features or their values in dimensional space. Categories provide explanations for how things work in the world
The same way that theories provide explanations for scientific phenomena
They center on causal relations between entities in the world
Theories guide perception by leading us to believe that particular features are interesting and others are not
38
Theory-based Theory
Center on causal relationship between things. Categories provide explanations of how things work. Categories include causal explanations!
39
Family resemblance + Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein proposed that members of a category have a family resemblance to each other
Dark hair, glasses, a mustache, and a big nose are typical for this family but do not define the family.
Cloud of features that tend to be there but not always
40
Typicality effects
Some members of a category are more “typical” than others
They are verified more quickly (sentence verification task)
But, these differences are related to non-necessary features (e.g., ability to fly), which are not included in the classical theory
Typicality ratings may be based on the total number of typical features
41
Typicality effect: Malt & Smith, 1984
reated typicality scale with higher number correlating to more typicality
Production task: How many examples of fruit can you name in the next 30 seconds?
More likely to name apple and orange vs kiwi, tomato, olive, avocado
Graded membership: some fruits are “fruitier” than others”
42
sentence verification task
a procedure in which participants are briefly presented with simple sentences and asked to make quick judgments about them
43
Levels of Language: Phonology (phonemes)
the smallest unit of speech that can be used to distinguish an utterance from another (in a given language).
In English, phonemes are made of a consonant or a vowel
Different languages employ different sets of phonemes (and different types, such as “clicks”)
Phonemes are produced by modulating the flow of air from the lungs to the mouth and nose.
Phonemes can be classified according to specific features
44
Coarticulation
the pronunciation of a phoneme is changed by the following phoneme
Between phonemes in a word: truth vs. tooth
Between phonemes in different words: “can’t handle”
45
Sequences of Phonemes
Only some are acceptable in a given language.
For example, the sequence [tl] is not acceptable in English
Adjustments for certain phoneme sequences
For example, the [s] sound becomes a [z] in words like “bags”
46
Voice onset time (VOT)
The time between the beginning of the pronunciation of the word and the onset of the vibration of the vocal chords
“ba” your vocal chords vibrate right from the start
“pa” your vocal chords do not vibrate until after a short delay
Continuous = Actual sounds
Discrete = Actual perception
47
segmentation errors
A major challenge for speech recognition is phoneme/word segmentation
Word segmentation, also known as decompounding, is the process of splitting a word into its constituent parts
48
Categorical perception of phonemes
(voice onset time (VOT))
Liberman et al. (1957) manipulated the VOT, in systematic increments
Our categorization of phonemes shows abrupt boundaries, even when there is no corresponding abrupt change in the stimuli themselves.
This phenomenon is referred to as categorical perception
49
McGurk Effect
an auditory-visual illusion that illustrates how perceivers merge information for speech sounds across the senses. For example, when we hear the sound “ba” while seeing the face of a person articulate “ga,” many adults perceive the sound “da,” a third sound which is a blend of the two.
50
Properties of Language: Symbolic
make us of arbitrary relation between sounds and meaning
A referent is the actual object, action, or event in the world that a word refers to.
We even use different words to refer to the same thing within the English language (dialects)
Association between the sound “dog” and the object is arbitrary. Could be any other sound (e.g., perro). We often use different words to refer to the same thing
51
Properties of Language: Discrete Infinity (generativity)
the capacity to create an endless series of new combinations, all built from the same fundamental units (words in dictionary)
finite set of elements can generate a (potentially) infinite set of ‘meanings’
(generativity)
It really bothered me that Professor Rissman spent way too much of his lecture talking about how I was amazed that it disturbed Mary when I told her that my roommate heard a rumor that John hates cheese
52
Properties of Language: Structure dependence
meaning is conferred through a specific arrangement of symbols
Language is governed by rules that impart meaning and define which combinations of elements are acceptable and which are not
John kissed Mary
Mary kissed John
Kissed John Mary*
John Mary kissed*
* indicates grammatically incorrect
53
Properties of Language: Displacement
Language allows us to think of and communicate about things that are beyond what is currently being sensed (or things that may not exist)
language allows referring to ideas/elements that are not “there”
Language allows us to think of, and communicate about, ‘things’ beyond what is immediately ‘sensed’
“On Sunday night, your next quiz will be due.”
“Dark matter is a type of matter which neither emits nor scatters light or other electromagnetic radiation and is estimated to constitute 83% of matter in the universe”
“Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people. Sharing all the world...”
54
Properties of Language: Organized at multiple levels
sounds, words, sentences, paragraphs, and text
55
Morphemes
Morpheme: smallest unit of meaning within a language
Morphemes can be divided into: root words and affixes (i.e., prefix, suffix)
“dog” single morpheme (dog)
“dogs” 2 morphemes (dog & -s [number])
“studied” 2 morphemes (study & -ed [tense])
“restudied” 3 morphemes
“related” only 2 morphemes
Dog (single) vs. Dogs 2 morphemes (dog & -s [number])
56
Syntax
the systematic way in which (categories of) words can be combined and sequenced to generate meaningful phrases and sentences
Rules apply to grammatical categories (nouns, verbs, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs)
One kind of syntactic rule is a phrase-structure rule, a constraint that governs the pattern of branching in a phrase-structure tree.
One such rule specifies that a sentence must contain a noun phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP).
57
Transformational grammar
a sentence can be rearranged to express new meanings (relates to structure dependence)
E.g. “Mark drank a cup of tea” vs. “a cup of tea drank Mark?”
58
Recursion
sentence = noun + verb + sentence
E.g. Sentence: “He went to the park” * Recursive sentence: “I thought that he went to the park”
59
Syntax first approach
the theory that the parsing of a sentence is first derived based on principles of grammar alone, without regard to the meaning of the words but experiments show that we do not rely on grammar alone to parse sentences
60
Late Closure - garden path sentences
as long as it makes sense, we keep attaching the incoming words to the phrase we are processing
When we perceive a sentence, we must parse the sentence’s syntactic structure
A garden-path sentence initially suggests one interpretation, which turns out to be wrong.
61
Syntax Ambiguity
a sentence may be interpreted in multiple ways due to ambiguous sentence structure. Extralinguistic context can help with understanding of sentence. Factors outside of language itself can affect sentence understanding/comprehension
Ex: “Squad helps dog bite victim”
The girl looked at the boy with the telescope
62
Context [extralinguistic]
Extralinguistic context: factors outside of language itself can affect sentence parsing
The extralinguistic context refers to factors outside of language itself
The sentence “Put the apple on the towel into the box” is a garden-path sentence, unless the sentence is uttered with the appropriate visual context.
63
Prosody
patterns of pauses or pitch changes that characterize speech production. Used for emphasis, highlighting sentence’s intended structure, assert question/statement. Ex: I never said she stole my money.
Signal the difference between a question and an assertion
64
Pragmatics
how we use words, context in which we say them, and what’s left unsaid
65
Syntax v. Semantics
“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” (Noam Chomsky)
compare with “Furiously sleep ideas green colorless.”*
“Twas brillig and the shlithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe” (L. Carroll ‘Jabberwocky’)
Illustrates that sentences can be syntactically correct, even when meaningless
66
Descriptive rules
characterize the language as it is ordinarily used by fluent speakers
Linguistics aims to provide a descriptive grammar of language
67
Prescriptive rules
standards for how language “ought” to be used
For example:
Don’t start a sentence with And or Because
Don’t end a sentence with a preposition
Don’t split an infinitive
We should keep a healthy dose of skepticism about prescriptive rules
This type of English I just can’t put up with
Up with this type of English I just cannot put.
68
Language acquisition & development
ages 2-11
people raised with wolves lose ability to learn language
69
Broca's area
Region of the brain concerned with speech production
70
Broca's aphasia
Language Impairments: Broca’s Aphasia
Patients struggle to produce grammatical speech. Sentences are short, usually consisting of just nouns and verbs yet reading and verbal comprehension are largely unaffected. Lack complex syntactic structures (Rarely use prepositional phrases (above, less than…))
71
Broca's aphasia symptoms
Halting speech
tendency to repeat words
disordered syntax
disordered gramar
disordered structure of individual words
comprehension intact
72
Wernicke's area
Region of the brain concerned with speech comprehension
73
Wernicke's aphasia
Patients struggle to comprehend sentences (written or spoken)
Sentences mostly grammatical, but often nonsensical. Either because the combination of words is nonsensical Or they introduce new words (neologisms)
74
Wernicke's aphasia symptoms
fluent speech
little spontaneous repetition
syntax adequate
grammar adequate
contrived or inappropriate words
comprehension not intact
75
Arcuate Fasciculus
White matter tract connecting Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas
76
Conduction aphasia
Preserved comprehension
Spontaneous speech has proper syntax and semantics
Impaired repetition & paraphasic errors (phonemes and syllables will be dropped or misplaced)
| caused by damage to acruate fasciculus
77
Global aphasia
Nearly complete loss of comprehension and production of speech. Some single stereotyped words might still be retained
| damage to both broca's and wernicke's area
78
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis strong interpretation
Strong interpretation (linguistic determinism)
Thoughts and behavior are determined by language
The language you speak determines the concepts and categories that you use, and as a result, shapes what you can think about.
No solid evidence that certain languages forbid a speaker from thinking about certain concepts!
79
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis weak interpretation
Milder interpretation (linguistic relativity)
Thoughts and behavior are influenced by language
Language influences what we pay attention to, and this shapes experience, which influences how we think.
80
Communicative view
language does not affect the way we think. We just use language to communicate our thoughts
81
Cognitive view
language determines or affects the way we think
82
Specific effects
how does our specific language affect our thinking (e.g., Spanish vs Mandarin)
83
General effects
how does having a language (as opposed to not having any language) affect our thinking?
84
Linguistic relativism
how does our specific language affect our thinking?
The types/numbers of words a language has for an item influences how the speaker thinks about it (e.g., color words)
The grammar of a language affects how we think of certain concepts (e.g., how we think of past, present, future)
85
Linguistic determinism
how much (to what extent) does our specific language affect our thinking?
Does language completely determine thought (strong) or does is only influence thought (weak)?
86
Cognitive view (general):
Spelke: language is the thing that makes us different. Language allows us to achieve things other species can’t
87
Color and language supports linguistic relativism
Example 2: Color terms
Assessing color perception with Maunsell color chips
People of different cultures divide colors up differently.
Does language influence perception of color?
Do Berinmo speakers perceive color differently?
If categorical effects are restricted to linguistic boundaries, these groups should show different responses across the two category boundaries (green-blue and nol-wor)
If categorical effects are determined by the universal properties of the visual system, then both populations should show the same response pattern
88
Gendered terms and language. support linguistic relativism
Do people include gender in their conceptual representations of objects?
Are people’s ideas about the genders of objects influenced by grammatical genders assigned in their native languages?
Taught Spanish and German speakers object-name pairs (e.g., apple-Patrick)
Name was either consistent or inconsistent with the grammatical gender of the object in their native language
Measured memory for the pairs; all testing was in English
Both Spanish and German speakers remembered objectname pairs better when the gender of the proper name given to an object was consistent with the grammatical gender of the object name in their native language than when the two genders were inconsistent.
another Boroditsky experiment:
Spanish and German speakers asked to write down the first 3 adjectives that came to mind to describe various objects
More masculine properties produced for masculine objects (defined by native language), and more feminine properties produced for feminine objects
Example: key
Masculine in German, feminine in Spanish
German: hard, heavy, jagged, metal, serrated
Spanish: golden, intricate, little, lovely, shiny
Grammatical gender focuses speakers of different languages on different aspects of objects
89
mental imagery
Mental imagery may involve any of the sensory modalities
Imagine a taste, a sound, a touch, a smell
90
The Analog Viewpoint
Stephen Kosslyn
Visual mental images are analogous to pictures in the head (“functional equivalence”) *** Championed by Stephen Kosslyn ***
Visual mental images are functionally equivalent with pictures:
Preserves metric spatial information
Changes with viewpoint
Empty space explicitly represented
Experienced using spatial attention
91
The Analog Viewpoint: functional equivalence
Functional equivalence - Although images are not identical to perception or real objects, images should behave the same way as real objects
92
The Propositional Viewpoint
Zenon Pylyshyn
The Propositional Viewpoint: Although we may believe we experience images as “pictures,” the underlying mental representations are actually **non-pictorial abstract concepts**. **** Championed by Zenon Pylyshyn ***
Mental imagery is guided by symbolic or linguistic representations
e.g., Structural description
List of Features and Relationships
e.g., Dog: Pointy ears on-top-of head Head on-top-of body Four legs beneath body Fur covering ears, legs, body
93
APHANTASIA
brain can not picture things
94
HYPERPHANTASIA
remembering things with too much detail
95
Analog Representations evidence
****Anecdotal evidence: The experience of imagining feels very much like seeing a picture in one’s mind
But can the existence of analog mental images be demonstrated experimentally?
**Reaction time increases linearly with distance**
As if have image in head that can gradually update
Analogous to real rotation
These results are observed even without instruction to use imagery, suggesting that participants spontaneously form mental images and scan them.
fMRI BOLD data from mental rotation task
**More dorsal stream brain activity **needed for a 40o rotation than for no rotation at all, and even more activity needed for an 80o or a 120o rotation.
96
The Propositional Theory’s response
Elaborate structural descriptions can explain rotation results
Angles of features are specified
e.g., Partial description of Shepard & Metzler stimuli:
97
Imagery & Ambiguous Figures
Chambers & Reisberg (1985)
Showed ambiguous figures for 5 seconds and asked for first interpretation
Removed picture, asked people to form a mental image
Results
People were unable to discover a second interpretation from the image
Then drew the figure from memory and could then find the other interpretation
Conclusion
A propositional code may override the imaginal code in some circumstances
98
Evidence: Kosslyn’s image scanning experiment (1978)
“Scanning” farther takes longer – it’s like you have to move the same distance in mental space * Support for analog representation hypothesis * Mental images are internal representations that operate in a way that is analogous to the functioning of the perception of physical objects (“functional equivalence”)
Kosslyn’s image scanning experiment (1978)
Task:
Memorize map
Map taken away
Focus attention on named location
Hear other location
Press button when attention at 2nd location
99
Resolution of the imagery debate
Lots of evidence for analog visual images
But propositional theory never completely ruled out
Assumes that the mind can rapidly work with extremely elaborate structural descriptions
Can neuroscientific data weigh in on the debate?
100
Early neuroimaging evidence (fMRI) for involvement of visual processing areas during visual imagery
Decoding Individual Mental Images From fMRI Activity But the propositional theorists were still not convinced
“…so desperate are those who seek a neurophysiological explanation of the bankrupt picture theory of mental imagery that they take almost any neuroscience finding as support” - Zenon Pylyshyn (2002)
101
Making judgments
Judgment is the process through which people draw conclusions from the evidence they encounter
102
Judgement heuristics
A “rule of thumb” or mental shortcut
Often based on past experience
Does a good job most of the time
Save us time and energy
Not guaranteed to be correct…and errors tell us important things…
Heuristics are efficient strategies that usually lead to the correct
answer. They are mental shortcuts that can:
* Reduce mental effort
* Simplify information
* Lead to faster decisions
Heuristics rely on attribute substitution
* strategy of relying on easily assessed
information as a proxy for needed
information
103
Availability heuristic
The judged probability of an event is related to how easily that event can be brought to mind.
Influenced by a given event being: Recent, Frequent, Vivid, Extreme, Negative
104
Availability heuristic experiments
Availability: role of media coverage
Judgments are clearly influenced by how often each factor appears in the media1
While homicide and fire are often reported, kidney disease doesn’t get as much press
The availability heuristic may lead us to believe that we always do the housework ourselves.
Schwarz et al. (1991)
Asked subjects to recall examples from their lives in which they had acted in an assertive fashion
Half of the subjects asked to recall 6 example
Half of the subjects asked to recall 12 examples
Then participants were asked some more general questions, including how assertive they thought they were
Which subject group rated themselves as more assertive? The group asked to generate 6 examples due to lack of memories coming up in the group of 12 examples
Craig Fox (2006) experiment
List 2 ways in which the course could be improved (easy task!) OR list 10 ways (relatively more difficult…I hope!)
Then ask for an overall rating of the class
Which results in higher ratings?
What is the median price of a home in Los Angeles?
* $1.2 million!
* You may hear about all of those expensive homes
that sell for upwards of $5 million, and those come
to mind when thinking about this question.
* Examples of higher home prices were more readily
available in your mind
105
Representativeness heuristic
People judge probabilities based on the degree that the situation is similar to, or representative of, their stereotypes or knowledge
They do this even when there is other information that a rational person would use to make the best possible decision.
106
Representativeness heuristic EX
“Steve is very shy and withdrawn, invariably helpful, but with little interest in people, or in the world of reality. A meek and tidy soul, he has a need for order and structure and a passion for detail”.
Is Steve more likely to be a: salesperson or librarian? Most people pick librarians but steve is 83x more likely to be salesman than librarian
Showed subjects personality descriptions allegedly sampled at random from a group of 100 professionals (lawyers & engineers)
Subjects told: 70% lawyers, 30% engineers (BASE RATE)
Dick is a 30-year old married man with no children. A man of high ability and high motivation, he promises to be quite successful in his field. He is well-liked by his colleagues. Lawyer or engineer?
Subjects predict: 50/50: base rate neglect
107
Base-rate neglect
The tendency for people to mistakenly judge the likelihood of a
situation by not taking into account underlying frequencies.
108
Base-rate neglect EX
Tom is an opera buff who enjoys touring art museums when on vacation. Growing up,
he enjoyed playing chess with family members and friends. Which situation is more
likely?
● Tom plays trumpet for a major symphony orchestra
● Tom is a farmer
Most people are inclined to judge that Tom is much more likely to be the musician. The
characteristics outlined in his description are more representative of people employed in
the arts. However, there are many more farmers in the US than trumpet players for
major symhony orchestras
109
Dual system theory
System #1 (INTUITION)
intuitive automatic immediate most heuristics produced by this system
System #2 (REASONING)
analytical, controlled, consciously monitored, rule governed, serial, cognitive demanding, flexible, make little use of this system
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Conjunction fallacy
a conjunction of two categories cannot be larger than either of the
two categories it is composed of
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Conjunction fallacy EX
Linda is a 30-something college
graduate with a degree in philosophy. She is
deeply interested in social justice.
Is it more likely that she is a bank teller or a
bank teller who is also an active member of her
local League of Women’s Voters?
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Gambler’s fallacy
Assuming that previous chance outcomes will have an
effect on a new, independent event
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Gambler’s fallacy EX
We know this should average out to about a 50-50 split in the long run, so we
feel that, if we have a long string of heads, we’re “due” a tails to even it out.
Realistically, the base rate at each toss doesn’t change-- we have a 50%
chance of it landing on heads at each new toss.
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Anchoring & Adjustment
you’re letting your starting (anchor) point for a
judgment determine how you’re going to adjust away from it.
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Illusion of covariation
Incorrect perceptions that one variable predicts
another
* Example: Many people incorrectly believe in a correlation between a person’s
astrological sign and their personality
116
Confirmation bias
tendency to be more responsive to evidence that confirms
one’s beliefs than evidence that challenges them.
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man who
The representativeness heuristic may lead us to believe that smoking must be okay for your health based on one example (anecdotal evidence or “man who” stories).
We often assume that what is true of one instance of the category must be true of the category as a whole
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Why we make these errors of judgment: Attribute Substitution
relying on false atrategies that can lead to errors in judgement b/c of availability heuristics or thinking something is homogenous when not
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Deductive reasoning
The process of reasoning from one or more general statements (premises) to reach a logically certain conclusion
Conclusions follow directly from premises using rules of logic
Guaranteed to be correct (If you follow the rules!!)
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Inductive reasoning
Reasoning that constructs or evaluates general propositions that are derived from specific examples
Probable guesses made on the basis of prior evidence
Not guaranteed to be correct
some inferences are more likely to be right than others
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Inductive reasoning EX
Example of induction
We would like to form universal generalizations about the world
Format: All X’s are Y
Ex: e.g., All swans are white (These are based on our previous experiences) but Induction is only guaranteed if we have experienced all possible instances e.g., there are black swans in Australia
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Syllogism (deduction)
consists of 2 premises followed by a conclusion
The argument is valid if the conclusion is certain based on the
premises
● It doesn’t matter whether the premises/conclusion are true or false, but
only whether the conclusion follows from the premises
● Validity is a formal property - it is like saying a math equation is correct
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Syllogism (deduction) ex
Example:
○ Premise 1: All puppies are dogs
○ Premise 2: Some dogs are spotted
○ Conclusion : Therefore, some puppies are spotted
INVALID BC its possible that no puppies are spotted
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Belief bias
people tend to:
○ Reject a valid syllogism if the conclusion is unbelievable
○ Accept an invalid syllogism if the conclusion is believable
● So people think - if it’s unbelievable it’s probably invalid, and if it’s
believable it’s probably valid. But this leads to errors because
believability doesn’t matter in deduction
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belief bias ex
All As are Bs
All Bs are Cs
Therefore, all As are Cs
Valid
Premise 1: All puppies are dogs.
Premise 2: All dogs eat.
Conclusion: Therefore, all puppies eat.
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the atmosphere effect
being influenced by the global impression or feel of the premises.
127
Wason 4 card selection task ???
"If you borrow my car, you must fill up the gas tank." (i.e., if A is true,
B is true).
Goal: Turn over two to ‘verify’ the rule: What situation is falsifiable
(has potential to make the rule false)?
Each card has a number on one side and a letter on the other
128
Iowa gambling task
The **orbitofrontal cortex** is essential for the evaluation of somatic markers
Patients with damage to that area will make risky decisions (Iowa gambling task)
Continue to select from disadvantageous deck of cards
Fail to associate arousal responses with decisions
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confirmation bias (illusory covariation)
more responsive to evidence that confirms one's beliefs
ignore disconfirming data and can lead to perpetuation of unfounded stereotypes
130
expected utility theory
rational person should try to calculate the expected utility of each option and choose the option that maximizes this
involves balancing costs and benefits; assumes individual is behaving and making decisions rationally
131
expected value
(probability of a particular outcome) * (value of outcome)
e.g., If you are playing roulette and there is a 1/20 chance of winning $100, the expected value of the gamble is $5
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prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979)
People make decisions based on the potential gain or losses relative to their specific situation (the reference point) rather than in absolute terms
it is asymmetric! bigger impact of losses than gains bc we are more loss averse
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Framing Effects
Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume that the exact scientific estimate of the consequences of the programs are as follows:
If Program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved.
If Program B is adopted, there is 1/3 probability that 600 people will be saved, and 2/3 probability that no people will be saved.
Which of the two programs would you favor?
People tend to interpret a choice in terms of the given frame of reference
This combines with the asymmetry of the utility function to cause behavior that differs depending on the description
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Risk aversion v risk seeking
Risk aversion when framed in terms of potential gains
Risk-seeking when framed in terms of potential losses
People are also influenced by how evidence is framed
The Moderna vaccine is effective 90% of the time
The Oxford vaccine is ineffective 10% of the time
Which would you choose?
135
emotions and decision making
People’s decisions are powerfully influenced by emotion
Assessment of risk in emotional terms
136
Use of somatic markers to evaluate options, especially under uncertainty (Damasio)/ role of regret
Body gives you feedback about your choices
Reliance on “gut feelings” to make decisions
Somatic markers enable us to plan/organize behavior and learn from previous mistake
People make decisions they are less likely to regret. However, when decisions go wrong, people do not regret decisions as strongly as they thought thye would anyways.
137
Opt-In versus Opt-Out
One group of participants was given a coffee mug and then given the opportunity to sell it
A different group of participants was given cash and then the opportunity to buy the coffee mug
Is it always better to have more options to choose from, and does this make us feel better about our eventual choice?
**More options Often leads to NOT making a decision**
Also in applied areas: medical decisions
Drug A or surgery: Many doctors thought drug treatment might help
Drug A, Drug B, or surgery: With 2 drug options and difficulty justifying one drug over another, surgery option was chosen more often (avoiding the need to make a drug choice)
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Problem Solving: Four Components
Initial state: Resources that you have at the outset
Goal state: The desired end product
Operators: A set of operations or actions that can be taken to change the current state into a new state
Path constraints: Rules that cannot be violated
139
Problem space
the set of all states that can be reached in solving a problem, as one moves from the initial state toward the goal state
140
Well-defined problems
All four aspects of the problem are clearly specified
141
Ill-defined problems
One or more of the aspects of the problem are not well specified
“Achieving world peace”
* Goal is no more war, but what else is required to realize this goal? How will
disputes be settled? Resources allocated?
* “Having a great time on vacation”; “Writing a perfect grad school admissions
essay”; “Create an app to help improve people’s health
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The Hill-Climbing Strategy
Choose an option that moves you in the direction of the goal
* However, many problems require you to move away from the goal state.
* E.g., solving a maze (or walking in your city)
A potential local maximum problem
The hill-climbing strategy is the heuristic to choose an option that moves you in the direction of the goal
However, many problems require you to move away from the goal state
E.g., walking two blocks east to a bus stop, in order to catch a westbound bus
143
The Means-End Heuristic
2 major parts:
1. Divide the problem into smaller subproblems
2. Solve each of the smaller subproblems
“Piece by piece”: make continual progress towards goal solving smaller subproblems
EX: How should you get from UCLA campus to the Empire State Building?
Fly from LA to New York: takes care of biggest difference
Creates new sub-problems: Getting from UCLA to the airport or n Getting from a New York airport to the Empire State Building. Each needs to be solved.
144
Insight
Occurs when the solution to a problem seems to come suddenly
145
Insight + Wolfgang Köhler
First identified by Wolfgang Köhler in his study of chimps
Bananas hanging from top of cage out of reach of chimps
Some empty boxes were present in the corner of the cage
After sitting quietly for a few minutes, they suddenly produced a solution: standing on top of empty boxes to get to the bananas
146
Insight + bronze coin problem
The Bronze Coin Problem: A stranger approached a museum curator and offered him an ancient bronze coin. The coin had an authentic appearance and was marked with the date 544 B.C. The curator had happily made acquisitions from suspicious sources before, but this time he promptly called the police and had the stranger arrested. Why? BC didnt exist then
Metcalfe & Wiebe (1987): gave subjects the Bronze Coin problem and complex algebra problems. BC didn't exist then
Subjects made “feeling of warmth” ratings (how close to the solution) every 15 sec before they arrived at the solution
147
Insight + feelings of warmth
For insight problems, there is **no linear ramp-up of
“feeling of warmth”**
* no subjective sense that one is getting closer to solving the
problem
* Feelings of warmth do not predict accuracy of solution
* “Aha!” moment may only mean that you’ve discovered a new
approach to the problem, not necessarily the solution
148
Insight + neural correlates (EEG study)
There is no question that problems requiring some insight involve a distinctive set of brain processes.
In Panel A, the yellow R indicates the moment at which the research participant announced that he
or she had figured out the problem solution, either for a problem requiring some insight (red line,
keyed “I”) or for a problem not requiring a special insight (blue line, keyed “NI”). To make the
difference between these lines easily visible, the difference is shaded in yellow. The time axis shows
the time relative to the participants’ announcement that an insight had emerged. The measure of
“**gamma power**” is derived from EEG procedures, and it represents the square of the voltage
measured in brain waves. Panel B shows the spatial focus of this distinctive brain process—called
“gamma-band activity.” The red dots in Panel B show where the EEG electrodes were placed.
149
Insight + incubation
A period of “incubation” can often help
walk away from the problem for a while
The solution may come in a flash
150
Mental sets
a frame of mind involving a certain representation of a problem, its context or a procedure for solving it
May cause you to adopt an ineffective strategy and prevents problem-solving
You may make wrong assumptions without realizing it
You may find it hard to approach the problem in a new way
Some problems require a change in mental set; i.e., re-representing a problem
151
Functional fixedness
The inability to realize that something that has a certain use might also be used for performing other functions
152
Functional fixedness: candle problem
Participants fixate on the box as having only one function: keep matches.
When the match-box was shown empty, with matches on the table, subjects were more likely to solve problem: put candle on wall given tacks, match box, and candle
153
Functional fixedness: two-string problem
2 strings you need to tie together with pliers but they are too far apart. Can use pliers to make do as a pendulum
Maier (1931) found it was possible to facilitate insight by ‘accidentally’ brushing against one of the strings
Those who solved it rarely reported noticing this cue
Unconscious cues can lead to problem restructuring and then to insight
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Analogy + facilitating problem solving
Analogies depend on similarities in structure
Most people tend to focus on surface features, which can be superficial in solving the problem
Analogy use depends on expertise within the relevant domain
Experts think of problems in terms of deep structure
Understanding the structure of a problem is far more effective for solving future problems than simply memorizing the solution
155
Tumor problem Duncker (1945)
You are a doctor faced with a patient with a malignant tumor.It is impossible to operate, but unless the tumor is destroyed the patient will die. There is a kind of ray that can be used to destroy the tumor. If the rays reach the tumor all at once at a sufficiently high intensity, the tumor will be destroyed. Unfortunately, at this intensity the healthy tissue that the rays
pass through on the way to the tumor will also be destroyed. At lower intensities, the rays are harmless to healthy tissue, but they will not affect the tumor, either. What type of procedure might be used to destroy the tumor with the rays and at the same time avoid destroying the healthy tissue?
Typical solving rate: 10%
Some subjects were given other stories to read; one
included the story of a general attacking a fortress
156
Tower of Hanoi
GOAL: Getting all the disks from the first to last peg.
RULES: Must move disc from top of pile. Peg moving to must be empty or have bigger disc on it
Many sub-goals: e.g., getting largest disk to the far peg first
To solve, must be willing to temporarily move away from the goal
157
Lily pads problem
Sometimes helps to use the goal as the starting point and work backwards!
158
Experts
Experts know about a particular domain: Any individual who can consistently and reliably demonstrate superior performance on tasks designed to capture essential aspects of skill in the domain under investigation
Experts are outliers: If you are performing 2 or more standard deviations above the population mean, you are likely an expert. > 97.5% percentile
159
The nature vs. nurture debate
Francis Galton (late 1800’s)
Analyzed genealogical records of scholars, artists, musicians, and other professionals and found that greatness tends to run in families
e.g., counted more than 20 eminent musicians in the Bach family
Concluded that experts are “born”
John Watson (early 1900’s)
Countered that experts are “made”
Said that he could take any infant at random and “train him to become any type of specialist [he] might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents.”
160
Becoming an expert
Practice: Development of perceptual, motor, and cognitive skills
Learning what you do and do not know
Expertise takes at least 10 years to develop (Gardner)
10,000+ hours of deliberate practice is needed (Ericsson)
Researchers reanalyzed data from 14 studies of top chess players and musicians
They found that for musicians, only 30% of the variance in their rankings as performers could be accounted for by how much time they spent practicing.
For chess players, practice only accounted for 34% of what determined the rank of a master player
161
How does Akira Haraguchi do it? Memorize pi numbers?
He has come up with his own way of assigning kana characters to each number. The number 0, for example, can be read as o, ra, ri, ru, re, ro, wo, on or oh; 1 can be a, i, u, e, hi, bi, pi, an, ah, hy, hyan, bya, or byan. The list goes on up to 9.
Combining these characters, he has created a myriad of stories and poems, including a story about a legendary 12th-century hero
When he recites digits, he explains that he “simultaneously interprets” his linguistic creations back into numbers
Through years of practice at home, which he has done every night after dinner and a bit of sake, and which to him seems more like daydreaming than cramming, he has trained himself to recite up to five numbers per second
162
Based on the “Method of Loci” mnemonic
Invented by Simonides of Ceos in 5th Century B.C.
Discovered that if visual images of things to be memorized were placed in sequence along imaginary journeys, or “memory palaces”, they could easily be recalled later
163
Mnemonic Techniques: Remembering Numbers
The Major System: Invented in the 17th Century
Convert numbers to letters, interspersing vowels as needed
164
Is there anything special about the brains or intellectual abilities of World Memory Champions?
Maguire et al. (2003) compared World Memory Champions and age-matched control subjects on a variety of cognitive tests
No difference in verbal or non-verbal IQ measures
No difference in visual memory abilities (e.g., figure copy)
However, when the subjects underwent fMRI scanning during memorization tasks, the memory champions showed **increased activity** (relative to control subjects) in the **hippocampus** and brain regions involved in **spatial/contextual processing and imagery**
165
London Taxi Drivers: “The Knowledge”: No GPS
Structural brain changes associated with years of taxi driving
**More posterior hippocampus gray matter volume**
Structural brain changes associated with initial learning of the “The Knowledge”
166
Chess expertise
Chase & Simon (1973) conducted an experiment examining people’s visuospatial memory for chess pieces
Experts vs. beginners: Task: view chess board for 5 sec and then reconstruct from memory
Chess experts are better able to remember real chess positions. They are actually worse at remembering random positions
Chase and Simon (1973) estimated that chess experts spend up to 50,000 hours learning to play chess.
That works out to 4 hours of chess a day for over 30 years
Chess experts can recognize between 10,000 and 100,000 distinct patterns of chess pieces on a chessboard.
Pieces within a single chunk are bound by relations of mutual defense, proximity, attack over small distances, and common color and type.
A huge "vocabulary" of chess configurations enables the expert to grasp the layout of a chessboard almost immediately
**Shows that FFA may not be exclusively used for face perception, but may also be important for other forms of expert pattern recognition**
167
Convergent thinking
An ability to find ways in which seemingly distinct ideas might be interconnected.
168
Divergent thinking
An ability to move one’s thoughts in novel, unanticipated directions.
169
Remote Associates Task (RAT)
find the common word that connects each triad..
170
Stages of Creative Process: Wallas, 1926
Preparation
Incubation
Illumination
Verification
171
Preparation
formulate the problem and make first attempts to solve it
172
Incubation
set the problem aside
Experimental evidence for incubation
Subjects given either helpful or misleading clues to rebus puzzles
Control participants had 1 min to work on each puzzle; other participants worked on each puzzle for 30 sec, then were interrupted, and later returned to the puzzle for an additional 30 sec.
Those with a delay performed better and forgot misleading cues
Gave participants the Alternative Uses Task twice
If participants performed an undemanding cognitive task during a 12 min incubation period in between assessments, their performance improved significantly
173
Illumination
achieve insight into solution
174
Verification
make sure the solution actually works
175
The Whorfian question
"Are our own concepts of time, space, and matter given in substantially the same form by experience to all men, or are they in part conditioned by the structure of particular languages?”
