Cognition Flashcards

Question

What are the three components of mnemonic devices and who came up with the idea?

Answer 1

Worthen & Hunt (2008) claimed that the 3 components are

1. Organisation - Categorising info to make it easier to remember. Remember better if told not to do this. Connecting new info with existing is one method.

2. Elaboration - Process of enriching with additional information. Easier to remember new information if you can apply it to things you already know. Remember better if think deeply about information. Aim to make info stick, easy to retrieve.

3. Mental Imagery - The process of coming up with an image, usually visual. Use of bizzare imagery effective. Has the potential to enhance both organisation and elaboration of to-be remembered information.

Answer 2

Method of Loci - Using an already known location and putting images into place while mentally walking through in order to retrieve information.

Advantage is that if you forget one part, you can move onto next, not dependent on each other.

Peg-Word Method - Pre-memorising a set of memory pegs and hanging memories on them e.g. 1 = bun. Interact with word.

Advantage = go back and forth between pegs

Link Method = Build a chain of images/ a story. Link one image to another. However, if forget one part, cannot remember the rest.

Answer 3

Studied 3 lists of 20 words each using reheresal, simple imagery, link method, method of loci, peg-word method.

Most effective were those which used a more elaborate technique e.g. method of loci or peg-word.

Answer 4

Ericsson (2003) - Claims that exceptional memory skills are a result of the right tools (menemonics) and deliberate practice. Everyone can become one if put in time and effort. No support for naturally superior memory. Explains that experts have been using strategies for up to 10yrs.

Maguire et al. (2003) - Looked at brain anatomy and brain activation patterns in memory athletes. No difference in anatomy, but some areas more active than others which allowed them to make quick connections when using techniques.

Roediger, McDermott, Balota & Pyc (ongoing) - Memory athletes better in all tasks. Selection effect suggested. Could have higher WM which attracts them to competition.

Answer 5

Measured memory for list of words, non-words and working memory. Stroop test was non-memory test.

Immediate Free Recall - Better performance for athletes. Perf drops when have to remember something they have never done before, no longer use mnemonic device.

Delayed Free Recall - Still have good memory for words after a delay, hard to forget info.

Working Memory Span Score - Used computation span task where given equations. Memory athletes better.

Stroop Task Perf - Memory athletes responded to q in less time.

Practiced memory tasks - Superior performance.

Unpracticsed - Only a small advantage.

Selection effect suggested - higher WM attracts them to competition.

Answer 6

Highly superior autobiographical memory. Hard to verify so look at public events.

First shown by Parker, Cahill & McGaugh (2006) - Jill Price. Take any date, recall what day it fell on, what she was doing. She could perfectly recall what happened up to 25yrs ago. They came up with 2 defining features

1. Person spends a long time thinking about personal past

2. Extraordinary capacity to recall specific events from the past.

Answer 7

LePort et al. (2012) - HSAM participants could recall autobiographical and public events better, but no increase in performance in standard memory tasks.

McGaugh & LaPort (2014) - Looked at brain regions. differences in grey and white matter. Suggested that this was due to them using the areas more, them being more activated.

Two causes

1. Innate strucural differences in the brain

2. Unique experiences during development

Answer 8

McGaugh & LaPort (2014)

- Only remember specific events, not every second of lives

- Don’t use strategies like mnemonic devices

- Recall memories in a structured manner, day, date, emotion connected. Only for events they have experienced directly.

- Enjoy having vivid memories, keep on doing it.

- Links to OCD

Answer 9

Patihis et al., 2013

- False memory tasks. They are just as susceptible to false memories. No effect on any other type of memory.

Roediger & McDermott (2013)

- Two types of event memories

1. Laboratory remembering

2. Autobiographical remembering

Those with HSAM excel in only 1

Answer 10

Aphantasia - Zemen et al. (2015) - Condition in which individuals have extremely poor visual imagery. Unabled to create mental images.

Charles Bonnet Syndrome - Opposite. Where individuals experience the sight of images which are not real and only visual in nature. Extremely strong visual imagery.

Experienced by 10-40% of people with partial or severe blindness.

Answer 11

1. Mental images may exist, but non-depictive (symbolic, words, phrases) representations doing the work. Mental images are a by-product.

- Held by Pylsyhn (2003) - Neural evidence doesn't provide new info on format of mental images. No diff between pictorial and other forms on reasoning. We should not look for spatial properties in image format.

2. There is a depictive file format

- Kosslyn (2004) - Difference between visual mental imagery and visual perception.

Visual perception happens whilst viewing stimulus. Visual mental imagery is a set of representations that give rise of the experience of viewing a stimulus in the absence of appropriate sensory input. Based on previously stored info in the brain.

Says that imagery shares mechansims with perception. Brain areas which implement the visual buffer crucial during mental imagery. Believes we should look at spatial properties.

- Evidence for by Kosslyn, Ball, & Reiser (1978) whereby the amount of time scaled linearly with distance.

Le Bihan et al. (1993)

- End of imagery debate.

- fMRI evidence. Visualising a remembered pattern uses the same brain areas as percieving.

Answer 12

Two objects are shown and response times are recorded for participants determining if the two objects are the same if rotated.

Results - response times quickest when there was no rotation. As the amount of rotation increases, the reaction time also increased.

Important because it is strong evidence for visually based cognitive processing. This suggests that individuals can have an image-based representation in the mind.

Answer 13

Used to explain the powerful mnemonic effects of mental imagery. Proposes two kinds of mental representation. Verbal representations and visual imagery and these are both functionally independent systems. If the memory is stored in two distinct functional locations then the chances that a memory will be retained are greater.

Brain uses a different rep for the word tree than the image of tree.

Ran word association experiments.

Similar words are remembered easily and concreate images are remembered better than words.

Explanation - Information goes into the sensory system and then responses come out the end. In the middle, dual-coding is occurring which is where there are two different types of receptors and they must have connections between them. Visual stimuli are dually coded in the brain to give it an advantage over verbal.

Answer 14

Learning is a cognitive process carried out by all humans. From learning to walk to learning advanced mathematical concepts, learning is a crucial part of life.

Learning styles the idea that individuals have a preference on how they take in information and that the way they learn should match their preference as this determines success.

Popularity of learning styles emphasised through the fact that 93% of teachers believed that individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style and 98% of UK teachers received training on how to promote learning styles to pupils (Dekker et al., 2012).

Gives individuals the opportunity to be treated like individuals. Blame something if it doesn't work.

Answer 15

"Defined as ‘learning will be ineffective if learners receive instruction that does not take account of their learning style’

Four steps to test

1. Divide participants into groups based on reported learning style

2. Random assignment to different instruction modes

3. Take final test

4. Find crossover interaction between learning style and interaction method.

Pashler et al. (2008) - Filtered out studies which did not follow 4 steps. One study which revealed crossover interaction and 3 which contradicted.

"

Answer 16

Sternberg et al. (1999)

324 gifted high school students took the Sternberg triarchic abilities test to obtain ratings on analytical, creative and practice ability.

Issues - Test created by the author. Only a third of the whole sample was included and there was no reason supplied as to why some students were excluded.

Answer 17

Massa & Mayer (2006)

- Categorised into visual or verbal learner.

- Computer based lesson help screen aimed to help a particular learner.

- Those matched showed no improved performance. No crossover effect

Cook et al. (2009)

- Medicine residents categorised to sensing or intitutive.

- No support for hypothesis.

Constantinou & Baker (2002)

- Visual verbaliser questionaire.

- No crossover, but visual presentation led to better free recall.

Answer 18

They suggest an alternative - look at multiple factors.

Suggest problems with hypothesis

- Failure to explain underlying mechanisms - Should inform of these, they don't explain the underlying cognitive or psychological mechanisms.

- Borrowed constructs - E.g. personality

- Measurement problems - They often use rank-odering or self-report assessment measures which have poor realiability.

- Ignorance of research

Kuepper-Tetzel (2017) - Supports these ideas that the approach is too simple to be applied to the complexities of human cognition.

Answer 19

Pashler et al. (2008)

- There are not enough resources in education to apply this. - It is not worth it when approaches have a strong evidence base such as active recall.

Willingham, Hughes & Dobolyi (2015)

- Agree with Pashler.

- Could have a big impact on education if were true.

- Need to ensure students are aware

- Cost-factor involved as would need to use expensive assessments and would be large-scale.

- No scientific evidence supports the hypothesis.

Answer 20

Term introduced by Bernoulliwho used it to solve St. Petersburg paradox. Coin tossed, winnings doubled each time play. Most people not willing to pay much to play game. Bernoulli then claimed that we do not base decisions on objective value, but utility. Utility refers to outcomes that achieve a person's goals. People do not always make decisions that result in the desired outcome. Expected utility theory proposed by von Neumann and Morgenstern (1944). Suggests we try to maximise utility which is the subjective value we attach to an outcome. Individuals will choose the act which results in the highest expected utility. How we place value on things.

Answer 21

Loss aversion - £100 felt more deeply than the gain of £100. Greater sensitivity to potential losses than potential gains. Endowment Effect - Value you place on a mug depends on whether you own it. Loosing a mug you own is worse than gaining the same mug. Framing effects - E.g. vaccine problem. Question then changed. According to this theory, the only thing that has changed is the framing of the problem. When question framed in terms of how many people to save, most people pick this. When it is framed in terms of how many people will die, most likely to pick over option to avoid killing ppl. Suggests that people's decisions can be swayed by how the problem is presented.

Answer 22

Proposed by Kahneman and Tversky (1984) to describe how we actually decide. Main assumptions 1. Indvs identify a reference point representing their current state. 2. Indvs more sensitive to potential losses than potential gains. Rare events receive more weight than they should do. Framing effect - Decisions can be influenced by how the problem is presented. When a choice is framed in terms of gains, people use a risk aversion strategy, but when the choice is framed in terms of losses, people use a risk-taking strategy.

Answer 23

More adequate account of decision making than EUT. Value function allows for the explanation of many phenomena such as loss aversion and framing effects. Loss aversion shown by many real world e.g's. Theory successfully applied to real life. Limitations -

Answer 24

Within the field of learning, there is a widely accepted view that learners have different mindsets. Dweck - Concept of a fixed vs growth mindset. Performance and achievements depends on mindset. Fixed Mindset = Belief that you cannot further improve. Abilities and intelligence are fixed and cannot be changed. Avoid new and challenging tasks results in them missing opportunities to learn from mistakes. Stop trying sooner when come across obstacles. Problems with setbacks, not smart enough. More likely to lie about obtained scores, blame others, cheat. Growth Mindset = Ability to change abilities and intelligence if work hard enough. Can achieve goal. Goal is to develop abilities over time. Embrace new and challenging tasks as opportunities to learn. More persistent when face obstacles. Handle setbacks in a constructive way. More likely to develop new strategies and keep trying.

Answer 25

5th graders took iq tests, provided with feedback afterwards. Heard a different sentence (experimental manipulation) 1. Fixed Mindset - 'You must be smart at these problems' 2. Growth Mindset - 'You must have worked hard at these problems' 3. Control - No comment Praised on intelligence = Picked easier puzzle, more likely to get right. Second trial impossible. Third like the first, but after setback of 2nd. Fixed Mindset Praise = Declines in performance in the 3rd trial. Unable to cope with not being able to solve task in 2nd. Likely to lie. Growth Mindset Praise = Increased performance, wanted to improve. Strong effects of one phrase.

Answer 26

Type of mindset assessed then math performance over 2 years. Fixed Mindset = No increase in perf Growth Mindset = Increase in perf Follow up study - Half of students received intervention to foster growth mindset at start of semester, taught about it. Increase in performance, however follow-up studies unable to replicate.

Answer 27

Mindset used in business to hire people. Criticises Dweck's studies as finding cannot be replicated by scientists. How can teachers replicate this across the world if scientists cannot? Dwecks study had changes in the study method like dropping participants which were not reported Studies are using statistical methods which will allow them to have success no matter what.

Answer 28

Claims that teachers need to create a growth-mindset culture in the classroom, provide the right kinds of praise. Says that informing children of the effort they put in is more effective. Provides examples of exercises for teachers to foster a growth mindset such as writing a letter to a struggling student, explaining the growth mindset. Teachers need to emphasise challenge, not success. Give a sense of progress to provide a sense of improvement. Children in this growth mindset environment will have lifelong success.

Answer 29

People delivering mindset need to be highly trained and skilled experts. Too much use of growth mindset can have a negative effect. Subtle interventions are subtle and brief. Implications for implementing in schools - Negative impact on mindset instead - Schools should focus on achieving success rather that tackling motivation as a lack of seeing sucess can be neative. - Successful interventions look at behavioural changes rather than effects on attitudes.

Answer 30

When solving problems, there are different proposed strategies that people use. Said to be due to individual differences, but different strategies can be used on different tasks. Switch depending on demand. Exemplar-Based Learning - Focus on task attributes and memorise procedures to solution. - Advantage: Faster and easier - Disadvantage: Transferring what has been learned to new problems impossible Rule-Based Learning - Focus on underlying rules/regularities and obtain understanding of procedures. - Advantage: Transfer to new problems - Disadvantage: Difficult, takes longer

Answer 31

Unambiguous transfer: In final test, similar items able to be solved from memorisation Ambiguous Transfer Items: Learner who has understood underlying principles able to answer.

Answer 32

- People try to figure out underlying rule and why a solution is the adequate one. - Less distracted by superficial task features used to confuse - Can apply what learned to new examples - Renkl (1997) - Successful problem solvers emphasised the importance of understanding rules

Answer 33

- Learn steps to a solution by heart - Distracted by superficial features, easy to confuse - Cannot apply memorised examples to unpracticed new examples

Answer 34

Participants trained on input-output pairings from V-shaped function. Not shown graph. If understand rule, should understand that function should look like V. Exemplar Learners - Produced flat function, used e.g's from before. Rule Based - Able to produce V Both approaches successful during practice, but result in different pattern.

Answer 35

What found in function learning task can be shown on categorisation task. Used concept learning task. See drawings of animals with 5 binary dimensions. Animals either differs or builds. Animal a builder when 2 of 3 critical features involved. Rule Learners : Stable performance, not affected by changes as could apply rule. More working memory demanding. Used by those with higher general fluid intelligence. Exemplar: Less likely to answer correctly as memorised all the types. Requires more cognitive effort.

Answer 36

Participants rated stimuli into a category of dax or blicket and rated the strategy they used. Those who self-reported rule based more likely to classify items according to rule. Self-reported memorisers - Classify items according to similarity.

Answer 37

Inductive Reasoning - Drawing general conclusions from statements referring to particular instances. Deductive Reasoning - Reasoning to a conclusion from a set of statements where conclusion follows from assumption that the premises are true. Related to problem solving. Little importance in everyday life. Informal Reasoning - Based on knowledge and experience rather than logic. Everyday reasoning. Own motives cover how we perceive others arguments. Affected by 4 factors 1. Content 2. Context 3. Probability 4. Motives

Answer 38

Logical reasoning task looking into human reasoning. Example of deductive reasoning. Participants shown four cards. Instructed - 'if there is an R on one side of the card, then there is a 2 on the other side of the card. Select the 2 cards which need to be turned over in order to decide whether the rule is correct.’

Answer 39

Most fail to solve correctly. Original study - 5-10% get answer correct. Failed to apply modus tollens - denying the consequent. To solve: Need to look for the presence of P when there is an absence of Q. Only way to falsify rule is to find a card with P on one side and Q on the other side. Only cards with P or Q worth checking. Need to look for situations that would falsify the rule. Reasons for occurring - Evans (1998) Suggests this occurs due to matching bias - tendency to select cards named in rule. - Stenning and Lambaglen (2004) - Participants don't understand how many to turn and when feedback is received. - Oaksford (1997) - Conflict with experience in real world. Context of problem important.

Answer 40

Formulate rule as deontic rule to trigger cheater detection - Sperber and Girotto (2002) - Did this. 68% made correct choice. Attention diverted to importance of disproving the rule. Motivate participants to disprove rule - Dawson et al. (2002) - People in high emotional liability die earlier. People told if high or low in this. High emotional liability - 38% correct, low emotional liability - 9% correct. Small numb of people can solve with deductive reasoning, most don't understand.

Answer 41

Oaksford (1997) claims that one of the reasons for occurring is conflict with experience in real world. Griggs & Cox (1982) - Presented the problem as a beer/drinking age version. Identical to original, but concrete everyday items used instead of numbers and letters. 73% correct. Being able to relate the beer task to regulations about drinking easier to realise that 16yrs must be turned over.

Answer 42

Two premises and a conclusion, form of 'if...then..' Form of deductive reasoning. ``` Antecedent = P or 'if' term Consequent = Q or the 'then' term ``` Performance usually poor as ppl interpret problem differently from the dictates of logic and use knowledge of world.

Answer 43

Belief Bias - Tendency to accept invalid, but believable conclusions and reject valid but unbelievable ones. - Stupple and Ball (2008) - Longer for ppl to process unbelievable premises than believable. Conflict with beliefs, time consuming. - Klauer et al. (2000) Half conclusions believable, half unbelievable. Better perf on syllogisms with valid conclusions when believable. Decisions influenced by factors irrelevant to logic. Matching Bias - Stupple et al. (2013) - Ppl accept conclusions which match the premises in the surface features rather than those which do not match. If change what task looks like, likely to accept invalid. - Syllogistic reasoning can be influenced by non-logical factors that do not depend on knowledge and experience. Diff in meaning between Natural Language and Logic - Ceraso and Provitera (1971) - Tried to prevent by spelling out premises unambiguously, led to increased performance. If make ppl aware, performance increases.

Answer 44

Example of a hypothesis testing task. Participants told 3 numbers which conformed to a simple relational rule, task to generate sets of 3 numbs and provide reasons. 21% correct on first attempt 28% never discovered rule Poor performance bc of confirmation bias - Look for information confirming hypothesis

Answer 45

Limitations - Differs from real life hypothesis testing as given immediate feedback, but not why. Real life has more informative delayed feedback. - Correct hypothesis too general and applies to a high proportion of sets Positives - More info to be found on human inductive reasoning

Answer 46

Cowley and Byrne (2005) - People show confirmation bias bc don't want to leave initial hypothesis - Showed another hypothesis, likely to falsify own. Tweney et al. (1980) - Performance can be improved in told experimenter has 2 rules in mind. - 50% correct on first attempt Russo and Meloy (2008) - Generate more hypotheses when given less feedback as think flexibly compared to frequent feedback. Dunbar (1993) - What scientists do - Solve difficult experiment - Those who tried to find data consistent with hypothesis failed to solve problem - Ppl started focusing on inconsistent data when every activiation hypothesis had been disconfirmed.

Answer 47

Wason selection task Markovits et al. (2013) - Proposed strategies to solve problems as people rarely think logically in reasoning tasks. - Statistical strategy: Whether happened in past - Counterexample strategy: Think about counterexamples, people using this correctly reject invalid conclusions. - Importance of time. When have unlimited time, most use counterexample strategy as more cognitively demanding/ Limited time uses statistical. De Neys et al. (2005) - Using counterexamples appearing to invalidate a given conclusion. - Logic says that counterexamples conflict with a valid conclusion and should be ignored. - Numb of counterexamples had an impact on participants willingness to accept valid inferences against what logic said. - High reasoning performance when participants high in WM capacity

Answer 48

Mental Models - Laird (1983) - People form mental models representing what is common to a set of probabilities. - Allow us to navigate through world, build representations. Affect behaviour. - Idea of thermostat by Kempton (1986) - Those with switch model put it to right temp and don't mess around with. Ppl have different metal models. - There are steps to create a mental model. Dual-Systems Theory - Claims we have 2 systems, heuristic processes and analytical processes. - System 1 Heuristic = Faster, parallel processing, based on unconscious processes, used to construct a single mental model - System 2 Analytical = Based on conscious processes, slower, more effortful to engage in processes, limited capacity, linked to general intelligence. Improvement improves reasoning performance. - Evans (2006) says human reasoning based on 3 principles 1. Singularity principle: One model at a time 2. Relevance Principle: Only most relevant model 3. Satisficing principle: Analytical system evaluates model

Answer 49

Copeland and Radvasnky (2004) - P looked at what conclusions followed validly from sets of premises. Demands on WM varied by manipulating number of mental models. - 1 Mental Model = 86% valid conclusion drawn - 3 Mental Models = 31% - More errors when more WM capacity involved Legrenzi et al. (2003) - Testing principle of truth, if descriptions of everyday objects consistent or inconsistent - High perf on problems with sufficient adherence to principle of truth Newstead et al. (1999) - No evidence that people search for counterexamples after construction of mental models - Average number of conclusions considered with multiple and single-model syllogisms similar

Answer 50

Positives - Mental models represent what is common to a set of possibilities - Errors on deductive reasoning happen because people use principle of truth, ignore false. - Difficult to seek out counterexamples - WM limits reasoning ability Limitations - Assumes people engage in deductive reasoning more than they do. - Processes for formation specified. Does not explain how we decide which information to include. - People don't construct multiple models.

Answer 51

Stupple et al. (2011) - Participannts high vs low in belief bias - High levels: Faster response on syllogistic reasoning. Using heuristic system. - Low levels: Slower response, using analytical De Neys (2006) - Looked at if use of analytical processes while reasoning should be reduced by participants performing demanding secondary task during reasoning task. - High WM capacity ppl: Only an advantage in conflict tasks - Time constraint: Problematic for conflict tasks - If decrease belief bias, likely to engage in analytical system De Neys et al. (2010) - Ppl more responsive to the logical structure of reasoning - Accuracy on conflict trials - 52% - Accuracy on non-conflict trials - 89% - Greater arousal on conflict trials - Conflict registered within processing system below conscious level

Answer 52

Successes - Cognitive processes used by individuals correctly stated - Supports distinction between heuristic and analytical processes - Accounts for some indv diffs in perf Limitations - Keren & Schul (2009) - Distinction between 2 processes too neat and tidy - Not clear which processes or how decide which to use - Assumes logical processing depends on conscious analytical processes when suggested that logical processing can involve processes occurring below conscious level - Probably more parallel processing involved than assumed.

Answer 53

``` Neuroimaging illusion (Weisberg et al. (2008) - Content and context can convince someone to accept a statement. ``` Myside Bias - The tendency to evaluate statement in terms of ones own beliefs or to generate reasons or arguments supporting those beliefs. - Stanovich & West (2007): College students rated accuracy of correct statements. One about student drinking and alcoholism. Students who drank regularly gave lower accuracy ratings than those who did not. One about gender pay gap. Women gave lower accuracy ratings than men. Their belief impacted how much they accepted the statement. If personally affected, fall for myside bias. - Howe & Leiserowitz (2013): Climate change perceptions. Asked to estimate if previous summer was warmer. Motive and own belief impacted. - Kahan et al. (2012): Science and literacy assessed. Those within egalitarian community perceived global warming as more of a threat. Bayesian Approach - Taking new info and updating beliefs. - Limition: Bowers and Davis (2012) - Too flexible, hard to falsify. No way to measure strength of prior beliefs. Little research on indv diffs in informal reasoning.

Answer 54

Problems occur when there is an obstacle between a present state and a goal and it is not obvious how to get around the obstacle. Has 3 aspects 1. Goal-directed 2. Involves controlled processes 3. Exists when an individual lacks knowledge to solve problem and produce an immediate solution. Two main ways to solve a problem Algorithm - Definitely leads to a solution, methodical, logical procedure. Time consuming. Heuristic - Simpler strategy, less time consuming. More error prone. Insight - Sudden realisation Different types of problems - Well-defined problems: Problems in which the initial state, goal and methods clearly laid out. - Ill defined problems - Imprecisely specified, goals unclear. No one correct answer, path to solution unclear.

Answer 55

Gameshown, choice of 3 doors, behind one is a car, behind others are goats. Pick door 1, host opens another 1 and reveals a goat. Asks if you want to switch to door 2. Correct answer is to swap. Burns & Wieth (2004) - Most people don't switch. Don't know there is a higher statistical probability People don't switch because - Uniformity fallacy - Assume all scenarios have same probability - Demanding task on executive functioning - People think host not making strategic hoice Using heuristics leads us to make mistakes

Answer 56

Early approach to PS. Claim that PS is about reproductive thinking - applying previous research and productive thinking - restructuring of the problem. Success in solving a problem is influenced by how it is represented in persons mind. Introduced idea that restructuring is associated with insight - sudden realisation of solution. Multilated draughtboard problem - Can the remaining 62 squares be filled by 31 dominoes. - If you give hint, most people get correct answer. People need a hint. - First people try to mentally position them. - The way a problem is stated affects its difficulity

Answer 57

Metcalfe and Wiebe (1987) - Insight vs non-insight problems. Insight problems lead to a sudden increase in warmth compared to non which provokes a continuous increase. Bowden et al. (2005) - Looked at whether insight is associated with particular pattern of brain activity - 3 words, think of one to connect - Right hemisphere, anterior temporal gyrus activated - role in semantic integration - Anterior cingulate cortex - Detection of conflicts and breaking of mindset. Insight involves replacing way of thinking with new. - Prefrontal cortex Ellis et al. (2011) - Anagram task - Insight doesn't occur unexpectedly - Eye movements gradually decrease, unaware of accumulation of knowledge. - People accumulate evidence below consciousness. Moment of insight is conscious realisation.

Answer 58

Maier (1931) - Pendulum, two-string problem, 2 strings, too far away, objects. Need to tie together. - Ppl don't think to use objects in room as have not encountered situation where have had to use it in that way before. - Solution occurred once ppl restructured representation Thomas & Lleras (2009) - Same as above but with exercise break. Random exercises either swinging or stretching arms. - Swinging arms - solved problem - Hints work with or without conscious awareness

Answer 59

Problem solving Incubation - Stage in PS in which come up with solution after break Sio & Ormerod (2009) - Incubation effects in 73% of students, stronger for multiple solutions probs. Wagner et al. (2014) - Math problems. Those who had sleep had a 59% success rate compared to 25% in awake. Sio et al. (2013) - Sleep only good for difficult probs, not easy, Effects limited.

Answer 60

Need to change problem representation for insight to happen. Happens in 3 ways 1. Constraint relaxation: Things removed 2. Re-encoding of task: Some aspect reinterpreted 3. Elaboration: New problem info added to representation. If search process is unsuccessful, an impasse. Have to change representation/see prob from another view. Propose that a search process is necessary even have impasse. Best time for a hint is after a representation of the problem has been built. Just before impasse.

Answer 61

Knbolich et al. (1999) - Move single stick to make statement true Revereberi et al. (2005) - How constraints processed in brain, processing activates lateral prefrontal cortex - If damage to this area, no building of constraints, better performance on insight probs. 82% in matchstick problem compared to 20% in healthy. Chi and Synder (2011) - Stimulation of the lateral prefrontal cortex - Reduction in the left lateral prefrontal cortex + inc in excitability of right lateral prefrontal cortex led to 60% solving hardest matchstick problem compared to 43% control. Ollinger et al. (2014) Nine-dot Problem - Testing theory - Connect all 9 dots using only straight lines, no more than 4 lines without taking pencil off. - Ppl fail bc think there is a box. Need to go beyond the constraint. - Success likely when constraint relaxed

Answer 62

Validation - Rep of a problem takes time - Past experience has impact. Hints required, many only solved with a hint. - Additional search processes required. Before and after impasse. Limitations - Hard to predict when and how representation of a prob will occur - Individual diffs not accounted for - Theory assumes constraint relaxation enough to solve a prob, but not the case e.g. nine-dot prob

Answer 63

Functional fixedness - Assumption that objects have a specific function or can only be used in certain ways Mental set - Tendency to use a specific strategy repeatedly, despite being unsuccessful.

Answer 64

Obstacle to problem solving Candle Problem (Duncker, 1945) shows this. - Given candle, box of matches and tacts. Task to attach candle to wall so doesn't drip onto table below. - Ppl fail bc fixation in tack box functioning as container rather than platform. - Improved performance when box is empty. Pendulum problem. Challonder (2009) - Can be overcome by - Noticing obscure feature - Form a solution using obscure feature McCaffrey (2012) - If individuals ignore what object is used for, 83% solve insight problems. Can make people focus on it by using generic parts routine - describe each object in a function free way.

Answer 65

Obstacle to problem solving Lunchins (1942) Water Jars Problem - Need to end up with one jar with 25 quarts of water. - Practiced with complex situation - weren't able to find easier strategy - No mental set group - Short solution - Experts not immune to this. Failed to identify shortest solution, used fast, familiar.

Answer 66

Newell and Simon (1972) - Use heuristics when solving probs to deal with our limited processing capacity. Rely on 2 heuristics. Means-end analysis - Create subgoal, reduce cognitive load, smaller parts. Move solution closer to goal state. - Can be ineffective e.g. Sweller & Levine (1982) - Invisible maze. When shown the goal, 1 out of 10 solved problem as it activated means-end, performed many moves. When not shown the goal, solved it in less moves. Hill Climbing - Want to reach goal quickly, find moves to allow this. - Short-term benefits - No understanding of problem structure

Answer 67

People who don't invest much time + effort into thinking tasks. Measured by cognitive reflection test. Toplak et al. (2011) - Low scorers on test perform poorly on judgement and reasoning tasks. Performance correlates with intelligence.

Answer 68

Stanford Marshmallow Experiment (Mischel, 1972) - Child given choice of small reward instantly or 2 small rewards if wait. - Those who wait longer have better life outcomes. - Economic background explains some results. - Well-off children know that waiting pays off - Not all about self-control. Shouldn't train this. - Root cause of poor life outcomes isn't impulsiveness as problems complicated to repair. Can be influenced by state-trait factors - Older people less impulsive - Hunger increases present bias

Answer 69

Addiction - Higher impulsivity in ex-smokers vs control, higher in current - Bickel, Odum & Madden (1999) Eating disorders - Obese women should greater delay discounting than healthy weight women. - Anorexia opposite effects Veillard & Vincent (2019) - 3 ways discounting and BMI age might be related. - Age most meaningful predictor of B,O - No correlation between discounting and BMI - No evidence for main effect of discount rates on BMI - No evidence BMI moderates rate of weight gain with age. - Temporal discounting does not drive BMI

Answer 70

One of the most common themes from cognitive science research is into our sense of self and whether or not it is illusory. Diff groups try to answer this question. Direct perception is the view that we perceive the world because we have direct contact with it, however there are probs with this approach such as visual illusions and no direct evidence. Alternative view is that what is experienced is not reality, but our internal mental model of reality. Focus on self and idea that sense of self is an illusion. Nature is not what it seems. Two important concepts Ownership = Subjective experience - Strong sense that it is mine, don't experience it as belonging to someone else. Agency = An agent who can act in the world, you initiate voluntary acts and these sensations are based on you, not random.

Answer 71

E.g. of how damaged brains can create false experiences of the world. Sense of self. Damage to ventral pathway. Performed 2 tasks 1. match orientation with hand 2. Letter posting. DF unable to do perceptual matching with hand as info not available to the perceptual system. Good at posting. Orientation info in brain but not in perceptual system. When asked, knows true orientation, if ask without doing task unable to. Info is available, but hidden from perceptual awareness.

Answer 72

E.g. of how damaged brains can create false experiences of the world. Sense of self. Respond to visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it. Difference between the brain having access to info and being able to act on it. Neural activity can give false knowledge of the world e.g. seizure induced hallucinations, charles bonnet.

Answer 73

Decision making involves selecting one option from several possibilities. Often have limited time to make decisions. Factors involved depend on importance of decision to individual. Individuals usually assess their decisions in terms of their consequences; however a decision can provide useful information even if there are poor consequences. Serval core components to decision making, it is the combination of these factors which result in a decision. Key components of decision making are choices, outcomes, beliefs and values. One of the key components of decision making is explained through expected utility theory. Model attempts to explain how we should behave. Another key component of decision making is prospect theory. Prospect theory has two core components and attempts to explain how we actually make decisions.

Answer 74

Memorising large volumes of information is an ability which seems out of reach for many people, however there are certain individuals who describe themselves as memory athletes and have an extraordinary ability to recall information. Super-memorizers are individuals who have the ability to memorize extremely large amounts of information and recall it correctly. Many of these individuals rely on mnemonic devices and certain techniques in order to memorise information The art of memory comes from mnemonic devices which was developed by the ancient greeks to improve memory. They originally used it for memorising hour long speeches. Memory athletes use the same technique.

Answer 75

Who am I Failure to detect changes in the visual environment. Shown by presenting participants with two pictures and asking them to detect the differences between them. Most ppl poor at this. Important because - Studies show the processes underlying our conscious awareness of the visual world. Shows that the brains representation of the world isn't complete. Jenen et al. (2011) argues for 5 processes for change detection to occur. - Attention must be paid to the change location - Pre-change and post-change visual stimulus at change location must be encoded into memory - Pre and post-change representations must be compared and recognised at conscious level. The visual systems emphasis on continuous stable perception plays a role in making us susceptible to change blindness.

Answer 76

Who am I Face flashes with either a long or short delay. Short-delay: Did not perceive angry face, but activates amygdala even though didn't perceive fearful face. Shows that info can be available in the brain but not reflected in conscious experience.

Answer 77

Illusion of ownership Evidence that our body perceptions can be warped. Participant feels like rubber hand is theirs. Brain assumes rubber hand is being stroked s there is visual and tactile sensation experience. Doesn't work without stroking.

Answer 78

VR - Participants wear VR headset. - Perceive that body is theirs when there is synchronous stroking. - Evidence that don't have direct perception of where bodies are. With person - Evidence of ownership - Wear VR - In synchronous hand squeezing condition, they perceive the hand shake themselves.

Answer 79

Illusion of ownership If looking through camera and see back, see back as in front of where head is. Feels like body has shifted forward. Shows that sense of ownership can be manipulated. Perception is illusionary, not directly perceiving the world. We experience our own mental models of the world. A proposal is that what we are experiencing is our proposal of the world.

Answer 80

Alien Hand Syndrome - Task to reproduce shape. - Part of body uncontrolled by unconscious mind. - Retain sense of ownership but lose sense of agency. Hallucinating Agency: Direct Brain Stimulation - Brain stimulated to trigger arm movement. - Conscious experience of urge of wanting to perform action - Patient says that meant to do it, but wasn't controlled by them but a surgeon instead. Behavioural methods Pronin et al. (2006) - Patients thoughts manipulated - Study 1 - Causing pain to voodoo doll in unpleasant confederate vs control confederate. Negative thoughts to unpleasant made ppl think they cause their pain. - Study 2 - Perceived influence in the outcome of basketball games increased if the person generated positive visualizations consistent with teams success. Schizophrenia - Lose ability to 'attribute their own thoughts, internal speech, covert or overt actions to themselves' - Suggested that there is a faulty inferential mechanism.

Answer 81

It is episodically active - Self not always in operation/active - E.g. can go when performing meditation It is a representational entity - Out brain represents the external world accurately or not so accurately. Its function is to help you get around as an agent - Evolutionary adaptive to think of yourself as an agent. - We think of goals and motivations we wish to achieve and change behaviour to meet these. No point if this didn't exist.

Answer 82

Suggests a reflective mind which holds our views on how the mind works. Rationality involves both reflective and algorithmic processes. Type 1 Processing = Autonomous Mind - Few conscious individual differences - Use of heuristics - Fast and automatic ``` Type 2 Processing Algorithmic Mind - Indv diffs in fluid intelligence - Rules, procedures - Slow and effortful Reflective Mind - Indv diffs in rational thinking dispositions - Goals, beliefs, general knowledge ``` Errors occur when - Lack of intelligence in algorithmic system to override heuristic responses - Have necessary fluid intelligence, but lack of processing capacity e.g. time pressure - Have necessary fluid intelligence but reflective mind doesn't trigger algorithmic mind.

Answer 83

Evidence it is not limited - Heuristics allow for faster processing. Adaptive behaviour - Performance on logic tasks low. Doesn't tell us much about the real world. - Deductive tasks often ignore knowledge compared to real life. also requires true or false judgements which have nothing to do with real world reasoning - Underestimate humans ability to think rationally It is limited - Performance cannot be improved through incentives - Cog abilities associated with reasoning skills - Humans don't know how to use additional info made explicit to them - Experts make errors - Dunning-Kruger Effect: Less able people are less aware of their low abilities than ppl with higher skills.

Answer 84

People have beliefs due to motivated inference. More based on wishes than facts. Similar to myside bias. Indvs want support for their own beliefs. Motivated to find this. E.g. of Stanovich & West (2007)

Answer 85

Positives - More important in everyday life - Motivational facts important Limitations - Bowers & Davis (2012) - Too flexible and hard to falsify - No way to precisely measure the strength of prior belief - Little research on individual diffs into informal reasoning

Answer 86

Core philosophical idea in cognitive science. Mind - Involved in inner mental experiences not observable to others. Creates and controls mental functions. Body - Physical aspects of our brain/body we can't objectively measure. Dualism and monism try to answer these questions. Dualism says mind and body are different whereas monism says they are the same type of thing.

Answer 87

Examination and description of one's own mental thoughts in order to explain behaviour. However, there are problems with these method. - How do you measure brain states - Different results from person to person - Results difficult to verify because interpreted as mental processes. Led to behaviourism

Answer 88

Cognitive - Focused more on thought processes, internal thoughts, what is in the mind. - Computer metaphor of the mind. Computer and human mind are alike, encode and store info. - Between stimulus and response are complex mental processes which can be studied. Behaviourists did not look at this. - Methods scientific Behavioural - Founded by Watson - Focused on observable events, visible behaviour, external - All learning is the result of conditioning - Conditioning depends upon processes of association and reinforcement - Classical Conditioning - Predicting what will get you a reward again. Depends upin association. Shown by Pavlov who suggested that dogs could be conditioned to salivate when hearing sound of bell. Food acted as unconditioned stimulus.

Answer 89

Environments we interact with everyday contain many stimuli competing for our attention. Some of these stimuli are attended to whereas others are ignored. It is crucial in everyday life, use it to search for multiple objects or when crossing the road. There are many types of attention. Selective Attention - Focusing on one specific stimulus. Studied by using 2+ stimulus inputs at same time and instructing to only attend to one. Divided Attention - Participants attend to all stimuli, multi-tasking

Answer 90

Compared heavy vs light multitaskers High Multitaskers - Worse at filtering out irrelevant stimuli and ignoring irrelevant contents. Often switch between tasks. Low MT - Better at allocating attention whilst given distractions. Changes in society placing new demands on cognitive processes. Unable to cope

Answer 91

Expertise -High level of knowledge and performance in a given domain that an expert has achieved through years of practice. Example of knowledge rich problems - require specific knowledge in order to answer questions. Experts are efficient problem solvers in their knowledge domain by applying it. Examples of experts are chess players and medical professionals. Good to research chess players bc their abilities can be ranked on a skill level, lots of data exists. Their skills are bound up in cognitive processes e.g. pattern recognition and visual search. Learn how humans process information Ericsson's theoretical approach

Answer 92

Visual imagery can inform us of the nature of visual representation in the world. New field bc behaviorism didn't believe in studying observable events. Computers has led to new insight e.g. deep learning. Cognitive science views brain as an information processor. Investigating individuals and their experience with visual imagery allows us to see what the function of visual imagery is. E.g. Charles Bonnet and aphantasia.

Cognition Flashcards

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