Cognition

Question 1

cognition

Answer 1

thinking and reasoning that humans engage in

Question 2

memory

Answer 2

1996

active information processing system which receives, stores, organizes and recovers information

Question 3

memory process

Answer 3

• encoding: where information has to be converted into a form or code that the brain can work with later
• storage: where the encoded information is stored in memory system for a period of time
• retrieval: where the stored information is taken out of storage

Question 4

sensory memory

Answer 4

• capacity: unlimited
• duration: milliseconds to 5 seconds
• function: to hold information in its original sensory form
• new information in the form of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch enters memory when it is registered in sensory memory
• contains a sensory register for each sense where it holds the information as an exact copy of its original sensory form

Question 5

sensory registers

Answer 5

iconic memory
- duration: 1/3 to 1/2 a second
- capacity: relatively unlimited
- function: holds exact replica of visual information
echoic memory
- duration: 3 to 4 seconds
- capacity: relatively unlimited
- function: hold exact replica of auditory information

Question 6

short term memory

Answer 6

• capacity: magic number 7+/- 2
• duration: less than 30 seconds
• function: decision making
• holds all thoughts, information and experiences that you are aware of at any point in time

Question 7

rehearsal

Answer 7

role of repetition in the retention of memory

- enables information to be held in STM or working memory for longer

Question 8

elaborative rehearsal

Answer 8

involves linking new information in some meaningful way with information previously stored in LTM or other new information

• increases chances of transfer to and retrieval from LTM
• creates link between information items, adding more detail to information
• advantages: increases understanding as it requires deep processing, makes information more accessible as it creates potential retrieval cues
• disadvantages: takes longer time and requires more conscious effort than maintenance rehearsal, relies on ability to retrieve information previously stored in LTM

Question 9

maintenance rehearsal

Answer 9

• involves repeating information a number of times so that it can be held in STM for longer
• Barsalou suggested that the more times information is repeated, the longer it will be held in STM and the higher its chances of being stored in LTM
• advantages: allows information to be stored in STM for longer than 18 to 20 seconds, good for remembering meaningless information
• disadvantages: does not add to understanding, restricts entry of new information

Question 10

chunking

Answer 10

• grouping of separate bits of information into a larger single unit of information
• can be in the form of numbers, sentences or abbreviations

Question 11

long term memory

Answer 11

• capacity: unlimited
• duration: more than 30 seconds to forever
• function: retain information we encounter
• once information has been processed in STM, it is transferred to LTM for relatively permanent storage of unlimited amount of information
• information may decay over time

Question 12

procedural memory

Answer 12

• our memory of how we do things
• memory of skills, habits, procedures and conditioned responses
• memory that unconscious but is implied to exist because it affects our conscious behavior
• retrieval takes place more or less automatically as skills are learned and well established

Question 13

declarative memory

Answer 13

• our memory of information that is conscious and known
• allows us to ‘declare’ how things are or what you remember
• retrieval requires conscious effort

Question 14

episodic memory

Answer 14

• declarative memory system which holds information about specific events or personal experiences
• includes details of time, place and psychological and physiological state of the person when the event occurred

Question 15

semantic memory

Answer 15

• declarative memory system which stores information we have about the world
• consists of knowledge of facts and information based on understanding and interpretation

Question 16

working memory

Answer 16

1974 - Baddeley and Hitch

• proposed that working memory emphasised active nature of processing memory
• has limited capacity

Question 17

central executive

Answer 17

• component of working memory that drives the whole system
• responsible for organising information and coordinating the slave systems
• responsible for directing attention to relevant information and suppressing irrelevant information

Question 18

3 slave systems

Answer 18

• phonological loop: stores and processes auditory information such as sounds of language and rehearses it silently
• visuo-spatial sketchpad: stores visual and spatial information, constructs and manipulates visual images including its shape, color and position
• episodic buffer: links information across domains to form integrated units of visual, spatial and verbal information with time
• • added in 2000

Question 19

ways of measuring what a person has remembered

Answer 19

• recall: questions which requires you to retrieve information without any prompts or cues
• recognition: retrieving information from a number of alternatives
• relearning: tests whether a person would learn information that has been previously taught more quickly on a second occasion

Question 20

forgetting

Answer 20

failure to retrieve information that has been previously stored

Question 21

retrieval failure

Answer 21

• inability to retrieve a certain piece of information
• this theory suggests that many memories are inaccessible because the memory cues that were present when the memory was formed was not present at the time you are trying to retrieve them

Question 22

interference

Answer 22

• retrieval difficulties due to similar information being stored
• retroactive interference: new information interfering with old information
• proactive interference: information previously stored interfering with new information

Question 23

motivated forgetting

Answer 23

• failure to retrieve information because there is some advantage to not remembering it
• occurs because of our conscious or unconscious desire to block painful or traumatic memories from entering out conscious awareness
• forgetting because you don’t want to think about it as it may be anxiety provoking or convenient to forget

Question 24

decay

Answer 24

fading away of memory over time

Question 25

organic theories of forgetting

Answer 25

• occurs because of brain damage caused by things such as blow to the head, brain surgery, misuse of alcohol, ageing
• damage to different parts of the brain leads to different forms of memory loss

Question 26

ways to improve memory

Answer 26

• pay closer attention to information to be remembered
• rehearse information to be remembered
• use memory aid tricks or mnemonics

Question 27

learning

Answer 27

relatively permanent change as a result of experience

Question 28

stimulus

Answer 28

sensory event that elicits a response

Question 29

response

Answer 29

any identifiable behavior elicited by a stimulus

Question 30

classical conditioning

Answer 30

learning of a conditioned behavior that occurs by changing voluntary behaviors through past experiences

Question 31

Ivan Pavlov

Answer 31

• studied digestive systems of dogs and knew that dogs naturally salivate when food is given
• noted that this salivation would occur before food was given and wanted to know what triggered this anticipatory salivation
• restrained a dog in a harness to avoid extraneous variables
• a tube was surgically attached to the cheek of the dog near one of its salivary glands and a fistula was made to drain the saliva straight into a measuring device
• meat powder, the unconditioned stimulus, was placed on the dogs tongue which will naturally elicit salivation
• during conditioning, the food was paired with the sound of a bell, the neutral stimulus, which should not elicit any salivation
• after several pairings, the bell became the conditioned stimulus which will elicit salivation, the conditioned response

Question 32

elements of classical conditioning

Answer 32

• unconditioned stimulus: naturally occurring stimulus which elicits an involuntary behavior
• unconditioned response: involuntary response to an unconditioned stimulus
• neutral stimulus: stimulus that has no effect on the desired response
• conditioned stimulus: stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned reflect response by being paired with the original unconditioned stimulus
• conditioned response: learned reflex to the conditioned stimulus

Question 33

John B Watson

Answer 33

• controlled experiment providing empirical evidence of classical conditioning in humans
• little Albert was shown a few stimuli such as wool, cotton, live animals and burning newspaper and did not display any distressing signals
• he was later given a white rat to play with
• every time the rat was present, Watson’s assistant would bang a loud noise behind Albert so that he could not see the source of the sound
• after several pairings, Albert would cry and try to run away from the rat
• he later generalised this fear to stimuli that resembled the rat such as a white fur coat
• concluded that fears and phobias are learned from our environment and this experiment would be highly unethical today as it may cause permanent phobias

Question 34

preparedness

Answer 34

• when one pairing is enough for us to be conditioned to the stimulus
• researchers believe that this occurs because some associations are important for survival
• some pairings are learned very quickly if the response is intense or traumatic

Question 35

operant conditioning

Answer 35

learning process in which the likelihood of a behavior repeating is determined by the consequence of that behavior
- response follows consequences of reinforcements, punishments or nothing

Question 36

B F Skinner

Answer 36

• studied conditioning in rats
• used Skinner box which contains a number of levers which can be pressed by animals and a chamber which dispenses food or water in response to lever pressing behavior that is being learned
• in one of his experiments, the rat would explore the box and stumble over the lever
• when the lever was pressed, a food pellet was dispensed
• when the lever was pressed again, the same thing happened and the rat soon settled into a pattern of pressing the lever and receiving food
• in follow up experiments, Skinner used a light to teach the rat when to expect a reinforcer
• when the lever was pressed while the light illuminates, food was dispensed
• when the lever was pressed while the light was not illuminated, no food was dispensed
• the rat learnt to press the lever several times until the light illuminated and then sought out their food

Question 37

observational learning

Answer 37

learning through watching others and copying their behavior

Question 38

Albert Bandura

Answer 38

• believed that behaviors are learned through observing models and imitating their behavior at a later time
• believes that there is a reason for all our actions and we think before we carry out those actions through observing how it affects others
• 72 pre school children were invited one at a time to play in a room filled with toys
• the researchers pre tested the children on how aggressive they were by observing them in a nursery to ensure that they all had similar aggression levels
• the children were exposed to 3 conditions
• A: aggressive model punching bobo doll
• B: non aggressive model playing quietly and ignoring bobo doll
• C: no model was shown
• the children were left alone with the toys and the researchers would observe their behaviors behind a one way mirror
• results showed that those who observed aggressive model were more aggressive towards bobo doll than those who observed non aggressive model
• boys were more likely to imitate the behavior of same sex models but was not the same for girls and same sex models
• concluded that children learned social behavior such as aggression through observational learning
• a later study showed that if a model is punished for aggressive behavior, children are less likely to imitate that behavior. but if a model was rewarded for aggressive behavior, children are more likely to imitate that behavior

Question 39

Bandura’s theory of observational learning

Answer 39

• behavior is first modelled
• it first goes through the attentional process, which determines who much attention is paid to the behavior
• next, it goes through the retention process, which determines how much well the behavior is remembered
• it then goes through the production process, which determines how well the behavior can be produced
• lastly, it goes through the motivational process, which determines the motivation to imitate the behavior

Question 40

behavior modification

Answer 40

• application of classical conditioning and operant conditioning to human behavior and learning
• uses reinforcements and sometimes punishments to modify unwanted behaviors and to strengthen desired ones

Question 41

systematic desensitisation

Answer 41

graduated series of anxiety provoking stimuli while remaining relaxed

• involves application of classical conditioning to phobias, which are the unwanted behaviors and replace them with desirable ones
• steps
• clients are asked to list their fears from least fear provoking to the most
• clients are taught relaxation techniques
• clients are introduced to their lowest fear while practicing their relaxation technique
• once the client is comfortable with the lowest fear, they progress up the hierarchy, being exposed to each fear while practicing the relaxation technique

Question 42

token economy

Answer 42

artificial system of reward and reinforcement where symbolic markers are given to continue a desired behavior

• tokens can be later exchanged for tangible reinforcements
• steps
• the person will declare what primary reinforcer they want
• the teacher or therapist must choose one desired behavior and confuse the person by bringing in more than one behavior to work on
• clearly explain how the token can be obtained and how many tokens must be obtained to exchange for the tangible reward
• advantages: clients will have less chance of being fed up with primary reinforcer; provides same reinforcement for clients who have different preferences in the primary reinforcers
• disadvantages: difficulty of maintaining improvement in behavior in hospitals and prisons once patients and inmates leave; reward system must be consistent or client might deter from using it

Question 43

reinforcement

Answer 43

consequence that strengthens the likelihood of a behavior

• reinforcer: object or event that strengthens the likelihood of a behavior
• positive reinforcement: addition of a pleasant stimulus that strengthens a behavior
• negative reinforcement: removal of an unpleasant stimulus that strengthens a behavior

Question 44

punishment

Answer 44

consequence that weakens to likelihood of a behavior

• punisher: object or event that weakens the likelihood of a behavior
• positive punishment: addition of an unpleasant stimulus that weakens a behavior
• negative punishment: removal of a stimulus that weakens a behavior
• works best when implemented immediately after behavior, given each time the behavior occurs and stimulus must be an appropriate deterrent

Question 45

cognitive behavioral therapy

Answer 45

type of therapy based on the premise that cognitions influences feelings and behaviors which subsequently influences thoughts

• usually run for 1 hour sessions once a week for 6 to 12 weeks with homework given at the end of each session
• uses coping strategies to help produce positive thoughts and behaviors
• the focus is on the persons thoughts and behaviors in the present time and helping them change them to be more adaptive
• ways to use it
• help them identify and change the negative thinking associated with depressed feelings by getting client to keep a diary of their thoughts so they become more aware of them
• help them focus on positivity by focusing on the positive traits of their life
• help them manage their problems by setting a goal for a day and finishing that goal without feeling pressured