Cognition Flashcards
Creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals
the mind
What is cognition?
The process by which sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered and used.
Measures whether or not a participant makes a correct response in a specified period of time when placed in a challenging situation
response accuracy
Measures amount of time a participant takes to make a response
Reaction time
Online studies - Eye tracking
Cognitive variables
Using brain measurements (EEG, ERP, fMRI, TMS, TDCS) to make inferences about what happens in the brain
Brain measurements
Representations of a physical structure
structural models
Represents the processes that are involved in cognitive mechanisms
process models
Position that all science should be based on observations
empiricism
What was the first cognitive psych experiment?
Donders (1868) - studied how long it takes to make a decision and found that it takes 1/10th of a second to make a decision.
What were Wundt’s findings?
Believed that experience is determined by combining basic elements of sensation (structuralism), analytic introspection – wanted to understand thought processes.
Describe the Ebbinghau’s curve of forgetting
Forgetting steeply declines at the beginning, but over time (if the learning is repeated) slows down.
What did Watson propose?
Behaviourism - wanted to be able to study “observable” behaviours
Describe the little Albert experiment
Paired a rat with a loud noise and baby became scared every time a rat was presented. Demonstrated how pairing one stimulus with another affects behaviour (classical conditioning)
What did Tolman find from his experiments with rats and the maze?
Found that rats make a cognitive map in their heads that guide their behaviours. Rats were able to navigate their way through the maze to get to the food and were able to do this even when placed in a different area.
Why did Chomsky disagree with behaviourism?
Believed that language was inborn. Used evidence suggesting that children often say things that they never heard and did not imitate, and that children often say things that are incorrect even if they’ve not been rewarded.
artificial intelligence
Making a machine behave in ways that would be called “intelligent” if a human were behaving
3 stage model of memory
- sensory memory
- short term memory
- long-term memory
long-term memory is divided into 3 parts
- episodic (life events)
- semantic (facts)
- procedural (physical actions)
Neuropsychology studies…
studies behaviour of people with brain damage
electrophysiology studies…
electrical responses of the nervous system including brain neurons
What do both PET and fMRI scans have in common?
Show which brain areas are active during specific episodes of cognition
Electroencephalography (EEG)
- oldest method
- electrodes on scalp
- reflect brain’s electrical output
Event related potentials (ERP)
- segment of EEG data time-locked to an even of interest
- typically averaged over many trials of an experiment to zero out unrelated activity
- peaks and valleys are linked to specific cog processes
repetitive trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)
- can disrupt/enhance brain activity
- measures changes in behaviour due to more or less activity in region
