Cognition, Consciousness, and Language (4) Flashcards
Dual-coding theory
states that both verbal association and visual images are used to process and store information
Cognitive Theory
development of one’s ability to think and solve problem across the life span.
Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
Schema
a cognitive framework that helps organize and interpret information in the world around us
Assimilation
process of classifying new information into existing schema
Accommodation
a process by which existing schema is modified to add new information.
Sensorimotor stage (Piaget)
( birth to age 2) manipulating the environment to meet the physical needs through circular reactions. Primary circular reaction (repetition of body movement). Secondary circular reaction ( focused on something outside the body such as throwing a toy from the high chair). Object Permanence ends this stage.
Object Permanence
understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view. (“Peek a boo” as a example )
Preoperational stage ( Piaget)
(age 2 to 7) focouses on symbolic thinking, egocentrism, and centration. (unable to tell that quantities are equal )
Concrete operational stage (Piaget)
(age 7 to 11) Able to engage in logical thought as long as they are working with concrete objects or info that is directly available.
Formal operational stage (Piaget)
(starts around age 11) focuses on abstract thought and problem solving
Fluid Intelligence
consists of problem solving intelligence
Crystallized intelligence
related to used of learned skills and knowledge
Delirium
abrupt change in the brain that causes mental confusion and emotional disruption and caused by medical (nonpsychological) causes.
Functional Fixedness
inability to consider how to use an object in a nontradional manner
Algorithm
formula or procedure for solving a certain problem
Deductive (top-down) reasoning
starts from a general rules and draws conclusions from the information given to you.
Inductive (bottom-up) reasoning
seeks to create theory via generalizations.
Heuristics : availabilty heuristic
representativeness heuristic
enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves.
Availabilty : when we try to decide how likely something is.
Representativeness: invovles categorizing item on basis of whether they fit in prototypical, sterotypical, or representative image of the category.
Intuition
ability to act on perceptions that may not be supported by available evidence. ( They “feels” to be correct on something because on experience )
Gardner’s multiple intelligence
linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, visual-spatial, bodily- kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.
Belief perseverance
inability to reject a particular belief despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Consicousness
one’s level of awareness of both the world and own existence within the world.
Alertness
state of consiousness in which we are awake and able to think. Able to percieve, process, access, and verbalize information.
Cortisol levels are high
Fibers from prefrontal cortex communicate with reticular formation to keep cortex awake and alert.
Melatonin
Sleepiness can partially attributed to blood levels of melatonin. It is secreted from pineal gland. Necessary for maintaining circadian rhythms
Cortisol
steriod hormone produced in the adrenal cortex. Cortisol contributes to wakefulness.Necessary for maintaining circadian rhythms
activation-synthesis theory
dreams are caused by widespread, random activation of neural circuitry. It may consists pieces of stored memories, current and previous desires, and other experiences.
Problem-solving theory
dreams are way to solve problems while you are sleeping.
Cognitive process of dream theory
dreams are merely the sleeping counterpart of streams-of-consciousness.
Dyssomnias
disorders that make it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, or avoid sleep.
Insomnia - difficult to fall asleep
Narcolepsy - lack of voluntary control over onset of sleep
Sleep anea - inability to breathe during sleep.
Parasomnias
abnormal movements or behaviors during sleep
Night terror - intense anxiety occur during slow-wave sleep.
Sleep walking- also occurs during SWS
Hypnagogic
Hypnopompic
Hypnagogic - hallucinations when going to sleep
Hypnapompic- hallucinations when awake
(hypnaGOgic is one GOing to sleep. hypnoPOmpic when one is POPping up out of the bed.)
Depressants
reduce nervous system activity, resulting in a sense of relaxation and reduced anxiety.
Drugs that increase GABA activity in the brain.
Alcohol
Barbiturates
Benzodiazepenes
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome
caused by deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1) and characterized by severe memory impairment with changes in mental status and loss of motor skills.
Brain disorder occured from alcoholism.
Drugs that increase dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin activity
Amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy (MDMA)
Opiates
Naturally occuring drugs, cocaine and morphine
Opioids
Semisynthetic drugs, oxycodone,hydrocodone, heroin.
Hallucinogens
lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), causing hallucinations.
Marijuana
THC inhibits GABA activity and indirectly increases dopamine activity (causing pleasure).
Mesolimbic reward pathway
Contains three main structures: nucleus accumbens(NAc) ventral tegmental area (VTA) medial forebrain bundle (MFB) The neurotransmitter of this pathway is dopamine.
Selective Attention
focusing on one part of the sensorium while ignoring other stimuli. More of a filter that allows on one thing while allowing other stimuli to be processed in the background (only if background stimuli is important, hearing your name).
Divided Attention
ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time. Divided attention uses automatic processing to pay attention to multiple activities at one time.
Controlled (effortful processing)
maintaining undivided attention on a task, and is usually used for new or complex actions.
Five components of language: Phonology Morphology Semantics Syntax Pragmatics
Phonology: refers to the actual sound of the language
Morphology: refers to the structure of words. Building blocks of words.
Semantics: refers to the association of meaning with words.
Syntax: refers to how words are put together to form sentences
Pragmatics: refers to the changes in language delievery depnding on context.
Timeline of language acquisition: 9 to 12 months 12 to 18 months 18 to 20 months 2 to 3 years 5 years
9 to 12 months: Babbling
12 to 18 months: Increase of about one word per month
18 to 20 months: “explosion of words” and combining words. Gesture, inflection, and context are essential for parents.
2 to 3 years: Longer sentences of three or more words
5 years: Language rules largely mastered
Language acquisiton device (LAD)
theoretical pathway in the brain that allows infants to process and absorb language rules. Nativists (biological) theory explains language acquisition as being innate and controlled by LAD. Nativist believe in critical period for language acquistion between 2 years to puberty.
Learning (behaviorist) theory
proposed by B.F Skinner and explained language acquistion by operant conditioning. Skinner explained language acquisition by reinforcement.
Social interactionist theory
language acquisition is driven by child’s desire to communicate and behave in social manners.
Whorfian hypothesis or Lingusitic relativity hypothesis
The way we think about the world is determined by the content of language.
Broca’s aphasia
difficulty producing language, great difficulty coming up with words.
Wernicke’s aphasia
nonsensical sounds and words devoid of meaning, language comprehension is lost.
arcuate fasciculus
bundle of axons that allows appropriate association between language comprehension and speech production
conduction aphasia
difficulty repeating speech, with intact speech production and comprehension.
Base rate fallacy
using prototypical or stereotypical factors while ignoring actual numerical information.
Confirmation bias
the tendency to focus on information that fits an individual’s beliefs while rejecting information that goes against them.
Beta waves
person is alert or attending to do a mental task that requires concentration (high freq waves)
Alpha waves
when we are awake but relaxing our eyes closed
waves are synchronized
Theta waves
starts STAGE 1 of sleep and as you fall more deeply asleep you enter STAGE 2
(irregular waveforms with slower freq)
Delta waves
STAGE 3 and 4 of sleep also known as slow-wave sleep (SWS)
slow freq, higher voltage
non-rapid eye movement (NREM)
Stage 1-4 of the sleep
rapid eye movement (REM)
stage where dreaming is mostly occurred.
