Cognition Flashcards
working memory is…
multifaceted
we temporarily hold information to work with
working memory model
2 slave systems -phonological loop -visual spatial sketchpad episodic buffer central executive - the director
working memory diagram
central executive
visuospatial sketchpad episodic buffer phonological loop
visual semantics episodic ltm language
key assumptions of working memory
limited capacity
central executive
visual spatial sketchpad and phonological loop function largely independently
implications of functioning independent systems
two tasks that use same component of working memory cannot be performed successfully together
if two tasks rely on different components of working memory they can be performed together or separately
what is the phonological loop
a component of working memory for holding speech-based information and subvocal rehearsal takes place
consists of two components - phonological store and articulatory system
what are the roles of the two components of the phonological loop
articulatory control system - verbal rehearsal system; time limited and called the inner voice
phonological store - speech based storage system; has rapid decay rate of 2 seconds; called inner ear
different brain areas associated with these two components
early views on the value of the phonological loop and evidence brief supporting this
important for memory as involves verbal rehearsal
- phonological similarity
- word-length effect
phonological similarity
phonologically similar set has poorer serial recall than the phonologically dissimilar set
3 things today we now see as the value to the phonological loop
useful for learning new vocab
useful for learning a new language
action control
what is the word length effect
memory span for longer words taking a shorter time to say than words taking a longer time to say
articulatory duration of words vs phonological complexity
what is the visual spatial sketch pad and its two components brief
a temporary spatial and visual information storage system
used for the manipulation of visual patterns and movement
components - visual cache and inner scribe
what does the visual cache do
stored information about visual form and colour
what does the inner scribe do
processes spatial and movement information
involved in rehersal of information in the visual cache
transfers information from visual cache to the central executive
evidence for visual / spatital distinction
2 tasks - spatial task = memory for dot locations and visual task = memory for Chinese ideographs
dual task paradigm with secondary tasks
1 movement discrimination (spatial interference)
2 colour discrimination (visual interference)
3 control condition (no secondary task)
hypothesis - spatial interference task should interfere more with spatial main task than visual main. visual interference task should disrupt main task more than spatial main task
result - true
neuroimaging and neurological evidence for visual / spatial distinctioN
ventral prefrontal cortex - activated more during visual working memory tasks as opposed to spatial
dorsal prefrontal cortex - activated during spatial working memory tasks than visual working memory tasks
evidence for independence of visuo-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop
dual task paradigm used
visual and verbal main tasks and secondary competing visual and verbal tasks
hypothesis - simultaneous visual task should show less interference with a verbal main verbal short-term task than a visual short-term task
simultaneously verbal task should show less interference with a main visual short-term memory task than a verbal short term memory task
result - performing two tasks simulataneously reduced performance
imagery secondary task as opposed to secondary arithmetic severely disrupted visual short-term memory task
converseley secondary arithmetic task disrupted verbal short term memory while secondary imagery task had no effect
two slave systems of phonological store are…
independent
the central executive is…
not unitary
it has multiple executive functions
define the central executive
the tern for processes that organize and coordinate the functioning of the cognitive systems to fulful current goals
employ the central executive when carrying out complex activities like reading, problem solving and multi-tasking
where is the central executive located in the brain
prefrontal cortex - part of brain most heavily involved
disruption of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex resulted in impaired performace on multiple complex cognitive tasks
processes comprising the central executive
initial conceptualization - the central executive is a unitary process
however now argued that central executive is comprised of different processes
Miyake et al 2000 view of processes of central executive
3 processes
inhibition - the ability to deliberately halt or stop automatic, dominant or prepotent responses when required (eg stroop)
shifting - the ability to move flexibly between multiple tasks, operations or mental sets. useful skill in everyday functioning
updating - keeping track of working memory operations, involves revising the information that you need to remeber
evidence for miyake’s framework
each executive process was found to have activation associated with a different region within the prefrontal cortex
right intraparietal sulcus is acitvated when there is selective attention to relevant stimuli and supresion of irrelevant information
left superior parietal sulcus is involved in switching and integration
lateral prefrontal cortex is involved in monitoring and updating
unity / diversity miyake and friedman 2012
what is unique to each function
plus
what is common to all three processes
evidence for unity
fMRI evidence showed that tasks assessing each of the functions produced activation in other areas such as the left lateral prefrontal cortex
any executive processes missing from miyake framework
dual task performance - where individuals are performing two different tasks at the same time
dorsolateral cortex activation - when performing two tasks simultaneously as opposed to each task on their own
what is the 4th component of the working memory model
episodic buffer - a temporary store that exists to integrate infromation from 1 phonological loop 2 visuo-spatial sketchpad 3 long term memory
why was the episodic buffer added to the working memory model
limitations associated with the orignial model in terms of the ability to explain findingd
eg people can remember up to 16 words presented in sentences but only 5 unrelated words
episodic buffers offer an explanation - in the buffer information from long term memory can be combined with information held in the phonological loop and visual spatial sketchpad
evidence for the episodic buffer (Baddeley and wilson 2012)
prose recall study
what does good prose recall involve
the capacity of the episodic buffer - 4 chunks
role of long term memory
an efficiently functioning executive so that information can be integrated, chunked and maintened in the buffer
findings of baddeley and wilson 2002
amnesic patients with poor long term memory found it difficult to recall prose
amnesic patients who had poor central executive functioning had poor immediate prose recall
amnesic patients with good central executive functioning displyed better immediate prose recall
brain areas involved in the episodic buffer
hippocampus is important
rudner et al 2007 required participants to construct representation based on both sign language and speech
episodic buffer task as involved combining differnt kinds of information in memory
imaging results showed that activation was found in the left hippocampus and not the prefrontal cortex
what is the status of the episodic buffer
provides the glue for integrating different types of info (phonological vs visual) in working memory
evidence hippocampus is important for this binding and integration of information
what is autobiographical memory
memory for the events of ones life
also knowledge about facts of ones life (personal semantic memory)
can take various forms like specific memories and categoric memories
how is autobiographical memory different from episodic
autobiographical - concerned for ones life
episodic - an awareness arising when individual consciously recalls a speciifc period or state in the past as it was experienced at that time
evidence for autobiographical / episodic memory distinction
Burinova et al 2010 brain imaging studies
IV - picture
DV - autobiographical, episodic and semantic memory
all 3 types of memory shared some brain regions, frontal, temporal and parietal brain areas
however there were also different activations associated with episodic vs autobiographical memory retrieval
how does autobiographical memory develop
infantile amnesia - absece of memories for the first three years of life
causes of infantile amnesia - hippocampal development and density of synapses in prefrontal cortex
the role of self in autobiographical memory development
need a self concept before you can form autobiographical memories
self-recognizing infants have better memory for personal events than non-self-recognizers
language and cultural developmental theory
-state the theory and explain
language and culture influence autobiographical memory retrieval
-language skills of children at time of encoding event influence their retrieval of the event
fund children used words they knew at time of the event even though their vocab had increased by the time they recalled their memory
importance of elaboration
mother reminising style is important
elaboration best style - communication with great detail
culture can influence retrieval style
explain the reminisence bump
bump at teen age (10-30) in autobiographical memories recalled - thats when we make most memories
get childhood amnesia, reminisence bump then period of recency
hyperthymestic syndrome
the ability to recall detailed information about almost everyday for one’s life over a long time period
accompanied by normal performace on standard memory tests
could be due to difference in brain structure
flashbulb memories
autobiographical memories for important, dramatic and unique public events
activate a special neural mechanism that encodes the details of the event in the memory system
what features are contained in a flashbulb memory
person place ongoing event individuals own emotional state emotional state of others consequences
evidence review
- are flashbulb memories more accurate
cubelli and della sall 2008 - tested italians memory of a bomb explosion in bologna - found memory for the explosion was very inaccurate
talerico and rubin 2003 - compared consistency of students memories for 9/11 with their memory for an everyday event over 32 weeks
talerico and rubin 2003 found flashbulb memories were more vivid over time but did not show greater consistency than everyday memories
conclusions on flashbulb memories
may be inacurate involve reconstructive processes are distinctive do not suffer from interference from similar events rehersal
what is the self memory system
describes how autobiographical memories are retrieved
2 major components - autobiographical memory knowledge based and working self
autobiographical knowledge base - contains personal information at different levels of specificity
working self - concerns the self, what self becomes in the future and individuals current goals
2 methods of retrieving autobiographical memory - generative retrieval and direct retrieval
3 sections of autobiographical memory knowledge base
lifetime periods - cover significant period of times and themes
general events - consists of both repeated and single events
event specific knowledge - images, details and feelings related to general events but lasts from seconds to hours. also contains information about the temporal order of the event
retrieval methods
generative retrieval
direct retireival
what is generative retrieval
involves combining the information contained within the working self with information in the autobiographical knowledge base
using generative retrieval to access autobiographial memories is more effort full than direct retrieval
direct retrieval
spontaneous access of memories
key component of working self = current goals
influences what types of memories are store in the autobiographical knowledge base
involved in generative retrieval but no direct retirieval
evidence for self - memory model
evidence for three types of autobiographical knowledge comes from patients with retrograde amnesia - rosenbaum et al 2005
working self - bryant et al 2005
distinction between generative and direct retrieval - addis et al 2012
what brain areas are involved in autobiographical memory retrieval
prefrontal cortex
real autobiographical events as opposed to imagined events were associated with activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex
6 processes involved in autobiographical memory retrieval
search and control self-referential processes recollection emotional processing visual imagery feeling of rightness monitoring involved in preconscious check of accuracy of memories
6 brain areas involved in autobiographical memory retrieva
lateral prefrontal cortex medial prefrontal cortex hippocampus and parts of medial temporal lobes amygdala occipital and cuneus and precuneus areas ventrolateral prefrontal cortex
what is imagery
a form of representation that is similar to one formed in early stages of perception but based on information drawn from memory as opposed to raw sensory inputs
differences between imagery and visual perception
visual perception - patterns of neural activation capture spatial structure of object imposed on the retina
imagery - representation created to make explicit and accessible properties of objects
why dont we confuse imagery with perception
have an awareness that we have deliberately constructed images
images are ususlly less detailed than visual perceptions
perception anticipation theory
visual images are depictive representations - meaning that images are organized spatially int he same ways as information within a percept
involves the same brain areas as that involved in ealry visual processing
evidence for the imagery resembling perception
kossylns perceptual anticipation theory 2005 argues that visual perception and visual imagery depend on the same visual buffer
two predictions follow from his theory - faciliatation and interference
imagery resembles perception - evidence for faciliation
pearson, clifford and tong 2008
participants told to either perceive or imagine a green or red horizontal grating
then see a visual display in which green grating presented to one eye and red to the other at different visual orientations
when two different stimuli presented one to each eye there is binocular rivalry
consequently only one of two stimuli is consciously perceived
facilitation effect explained
under binocular rivalry conditions the stimulus orignially perceived or imagined was more likely to be perceived
degree of oreintation of the grating made a difference
findings imply that visual imagery relies on similar processes to visual perception
interference evidence baddeley and andrade 2000
dual task experiment - shows interference when primary visual imagery task is in same modality as secondary task
task - participants rated vividness of audiotry or visual images under
- control condition
-dual task condition (1 visual-spatial task of taping a pattern on a keyboard)
-dual task (2 phonological loop - counting aloud repeatedly from 1 to 10)
RESULTS
spatial tapping reduced vividness of visual imagery but no auditory imagery
also found that counting task reduced the vividness of auditory imagery more than visual imagery
evidence for mental imagery
pavio 1991 - dual coding hypothesis
one code is for visual representation and the other is for verbal representation
evidence for pavio’s dual coding hypothesis – recall is better for sets of concrete, imageale words than sets of less concrete, non-imageable words
thus 2 types of representation - verbal and visual
mental rotation evidence shepard and metzler 1971
time taken to mentally rotate an image of an object is the same as time it takes to move the object physically through space
task - decide if two objects (one mirror image) were identical
time for the decision was linearly related to degree of rotation
neuroimaging evidence for mental rotation
both viewing an object and imagin the object activates the primary visual cortex
but imagery is associated with greater actvation of posterior left cortex
the case of CK
showed severe deficits in object recognition
however able to imagine these objects as he was able to draw them from memory
object discrimination difficulties but was able to imagine visual shapes, manipulate them and alter them in his minds eye
Do children and adults differ in their use of imagery
kossyln 1976 - yes
young children more likely to rely on imagery as long term memory knowledge is lacking
kosslyn 1976 experiment
task where they had to make judgements about properties of objects for animals
key manipulation - the size of the property varied with its association to the object
also two non-associated properties were included
results - in imagery condition all participants irrespective of age responded faster to larger but less associated properties than smaller more associated properties
difference between imagery and non-imagery conditions was greatest for adults followed by 14 yo and finally 5 yo
when explicity asked to not use imagery, age differences appeared in time to make decisions for the smaller but more associated properties than the larger less associated properties
imagery and emotion
sensory signals in inmages can directly influence emotional systems in the brain
as mental imagery is so closely linked to perception imagined events can be emotionally arusing as real events
how does imagery contribute to psychopathology
negative aversive images are a feature of psychopathology as are attempts to avoid them -agoraphobia OCD social anxiety depression
imagery and trauma - what condition and why is this a special case
trauma imagery has devastating effects for PTSD sufferers
- imagery involves most of the same neural systems as are employed in visual perception
- people with PTSD have strong physiological reactions to cues associated with their traumatic experience
- people with PTSD have reduced hippocampi
social anxiety and the role of imagery
hirsch et al 2003 - manipulated imagery instructions and observed the impact on social anxiety symptoms
asked individuals with social anxiety to either:
-imagine their actual selves while conversing with another person
-have a positive self image whilse conversing with another person
results of self-reported rating as well as independne tjudges found reduced distress associated with positive imagery instruction
2 roles of imagery in the treatment for emotional disorders
desensitization treatment - imagine object until fear diminishes
positive imagery training - in depression, computerised training on producing positive imagery about the future is being conducted in order to improve mood
what is attention
taking into possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought
focused attention
refers to situation where individuals attend or focus resources on one type of stimulus input while ignoring other stimuli presented at the same times - also described as selective attention
why is focused visual attention the most investigated area of attention
vision is our most important sensory modality
easier to control presentation times of visua as opposed to auditory stimuli
what is the endogenous system
top-down voluntary goal directed system
located in dorsal fronto-parietal network
activated by peripheral cues if those cues have information about to-be-presented visual stimuli
what is the exogenous attentional system
automatic involuntary stimulus driven system
involved with the presentation of uniformative peripheral cues
used when unexpected and potentially important stimuli are presented
located in the right hemisphere ventral fronto-parietal network
evidence for two attentional systems
neuroimaging data has identified dissociable areas of activation associated with processing in these two systems
visual neglect - types
persistent neglect - patients ignore stimuli presented on the left side of the visual field
personal neglect - shows personal neglect for the left side of the body like failing to shave
ventral system
nature of focused visual attention - what are the two theories
single spotlight theory or multiple spotlights?
what study and explain provides evidence for the spotlight model
la berge 1983 zoom lens study
5 letter word presented
probe presented instead of or immediately after the word
probe could appear in spatial position of any 5 letters of word
2 conditions
1 subjects must focus attention on middle letter or word by categorizing the letter
2 subjects were required to categorize the entire word
results
probe responded to faster when fell in central attentional beam than when it did not
can either have a very narrow or broad beam
now evidence this analogy oversimplified
multiple spotlight theory
main principle there is splut attention
split attention means that attention can be allocated to two (or even more) non-adjacent areas of visual space
evidence for multiple spotlight theory - methodology
awh and pashler 2005
5x5 visual display, 23 letters, 2 digits
task - idetify 2 digits
just before onset of display participants presented with cues and asked to anticipate location of the digits
20% of trials, cues were invalid with near and far condition
near condition critical - digit presented between the cued locations as opposed to on them
far - digit presented away from the cues
evidence for multiple spotlight theory - predictions and findings
if spotlight theory correct = performance should be better for digit presented in between the two cues locations
as according to spotight theorem the beam or focus would include the area between the cues
if multiple spotlight theory correct performance should be worse for digit presented in near cued location as opposed to at the cue location as focus should only be on the two cued locations
finding supported multiple spotlight theorem
what is selected in attention 3 possibilities
space based attention
object based attention
space and object based attention
evidence for location based attention
both spotlight and zoom lens models characterize space based attention as they are describing attention operating on stimuli in a particular location
evidence for object based attention
dorsal simultagnosia - condition where patients can only perceive portion of visual field and act as if they can obly see single objects at once
if object is presented to patients with Ballint’s syndrome they can describe the object, describe its use and reach for it
however if two objects are presented together they only see one of the two
also have a left sided neglect with sticky fixation
evidence from studies that attention is ….
both obejct and space based
shows attention is a flexible resource
what is inhibition of return
referes to reduced perceptual priority for information in a region that recently enjoyed a higher priority
applies to both space and object based visual attention
what happens to unattended visual stimuli
receive less processing than attended visual stimuli
however there can still be processing of unattended visual stimuli
2 factors that influence processing of unattended visual system and explain
perceptual load - distraction is greater under conditions of low vs high perceptual load
load on executive cognitive control functions - need this control to distinguish between target and distractions, especially when they are similar
these are lavies two functions
evidence for lavies two functions
detect target (x or z) in one of six portions in a row
high perceptual load condition - other 5 positions contained non-target letters
low perceptual load - other 5 positions were empty
also a large distractor letter was presented and varied in terms of whether it was incompatible (other target or neutral)
hypothesis - longer time to indentify target stimuli should occur under high vs low perceptual load and results confirmed prediction
what is divided attention
referes to the allocation of resources when performing two tasks at the same time
why should we study divided attention
provides information about attentional mechanisms and capacity
3 factors explained that influence dual task performance
task similarity - two monitoring tasks interferred with eac other much more when the stimuli on both tasks were in the same sensory modality
task practice - practice makes perfect
task difficulty - shadowing task (repeating back out loud) an auditory message and detecting target words on a non shadowed message at the same time
distinction between automatic and controlled processing
little or no attention vs attention
without conscious awareness vs conscious effort
interferes little with other cognitive activities vs interferes
fast and in parallel vs serial step by step manner
effortless vs effortful
3 resources models for explaining divided attention or dual task activity
central capacity model
multiple resource theory - working memory framework for example
dual task - involves task co-ordination. dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation
case of driving and dual attention
driving and talking on the phone
compared riving in a simulator whilst talking on the phone or not
immediately following driving session drivers asked which of the two objects had been present during the driving stimulation and to rate relevance to driving safety
eye-tracking showed they had viewed the same number of objects but fewer remembered when attention divided by cell phone conversation
explanations (explained) for driving and talking on the phone problem
bottleneck theory - 2 tasks require critical mental operations at the same time
responses to each task serially and create a bottleneck in processing even after prolonged practice
psychological refractor period - effect arising from slowing of response to second of two stimuli until corresponding central stage of processing in first task completed but perceptual and motoric stages can overlap without constraint
what is object recognition
processes involved in identifying objects in the visual field
what is mental chronometry
the time course of cognitive process
what did donders 1868 do
measured two types of reaction time simple and choice. difference in choice was had to decide
2 key systems involved in object recogntion
ventral
dorsal
key theories associated with object recognition (3)
marr’s computational theory of processes involved in object recognition
biederman’s recognition by components theory
3 view point dependent and view-point invariant approaches
what is marrs computation theory
describes different representations that are constructed in object recognition that include 1 grey level input image 2 primal sketch 3 2.5 D sketch 3D model reporesentation
grey level of marrs computation theory
compares intensity of light across different regions of the retina
critically looks at two or more adjacent areas showing light intensity changes in order to identify edges, blobs, a bar or termination
these abstract elements are known as place tokens
raw primal sketch - marrs computation theory
developed by grouping recurring place tokens into patterns that capture scene or object
groupings based on spatial pattern of intensity, size and density of recurring features, distance from each other
once groupings complete the raw primal sketch is constructed from the edge and variations due to texture on the object
2.5D sketch marrs computational model
is viewer centered meaning that it is constructed from the view of the observer
computation has attached vectors to the surface of the edges to indicate orientation of the surface
shows how surfaces appear to the observer
3D model marrs computational
final computation - results in a representation that allows the viewer to imagine objects in a rotated position
mean the observer can recognize the object from different perspectives
modular representation of object parts
summary of marrs approach
recognitionof objects - computational process
bottom up approach
does not consider that top down and bottom up processing can work in parallel
distinguished between viewpoint-dependent and viewpoint-invariant
Biederman’s recognition by components theory
objects are comprised of basic shapes or components known as geons
36 different geons
combine these geons in different ways
key prediction of biederman recognition by components thoeyr
emphasises bottom up processing
object recognition is viewer invariant such that object can be recognised easily from all viewing angles
steps in biederman
edge
segmenting visual object
deciding what types of edges are invariant across different viewing angles
geons contructed
compare geon construction of object with object representation stored in ltm
evidence for biederman
recogntiion by components argument presented observers with degraded line drawings of objects
found object recognition harder when parts of contour supplying information about concacity were missing as compared to when other parts of contour were deleted
evidence demonstrating the importance of geons
asked obervers to decide if two objects presented in very quick succession had the same name
condition a - geon changed
condition b - size varied in terms of being bigger or smaller
task performance worse for condition a when the geon as opposed to size was changed
what is the problematic evidence for biederman
viewpoint invariant recognition - has been found with familiar objects but not novel objects where view point dependence is found
evidence novelty is viewer dependent
participants spend 7hr learning greebles
2 greebles presented in quick succession and observer had to decide if they were the same or different
mainpulation = orientation change betwenn 1st and second greeble
main finding
time taken to identify greeble reduced with expertise
time taken increased with increasing orientation difference
more orinetated = took longer
more trained = quicker
evalutation of biederman
good evidence of importance of edges and contours
bottom up theory
accounts for unsubtle perception like deciding if object is dog or cat but not if objects is our dog or cat
objects consists of invariant geons
object recognition is view invariant
new theories of recognition
both viewpoint dependent and viewpoint invariant
viewpoint invariant processes - object recogntiion equally rapid irrespective of viewing angle
viewpoint dependent processes - object recognition depends on viewing angle
when are different types of viewpoint used
categorization - view point invariant
identification - view point dependent
vanrie et al 2002
argued complexity influenced whether object recognition is viewer invariant or dependent
