Cognitive Psyc Chapter 1

Question 1

mental chronometry

Answer 1

the measuring of how long a mental process takes

Question 2

reaction time

Answer 2

the time between stimuli is presented and the individuals response

Question 3

choice rt task

Answer 3

a reaction time task that involves making a decision
-ex press button on left or right depending which side light flashes

Question 3

single rt task

Answer 3

a reaction time task that only involves having to do one thing
-ex press a button when see light

Question 4

Donders

Answer 4

demonstrated that although mental processes can’t be measured directly, some of these aspects can be gathered through ppl’s behaviour

Question 5

Ebbinghaus

Answer 5

-he conducted the first scientific memory test and to study learning systematically
-his study involved him reading a list non-sense syllables to determine necessary number of repeat list without error
-tested ability to accurately repeat list
-the stronger the memory less times the list was repeated

Question 6

Wundt

Answer 6

-made the first psychological lab
-his approach focused on people’s conscious experience and to do so by breaking down their experiences

Question 7

structuralism

Answer 7

conscious experience determined by combining elements of experience called sensations
-goal was to identify basic elements and create a periodic “table of mind”

Question 8

analytic introspection

Answer 8

participants are trained to explain their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli

Question 9

problems with introspection

Answer 9

-the results significantly vary from individual to individual
-results are difficult to verify
-inner mental processes aren’t visibly observable
-don’t know if individuals are truthful

Question 10

John Watson

Answer 10

-wasn’t satisfied with psychology so changed it and introduced behaviourism

Question 11

behaviourism

Answer 11

-rejected introspection as valid method
-studied visibly observable behaviour

Question 12

classical conditioning

Answer 12

-pairing a neutral event with an event that naturally produces a response
-after multiple pairings the neutral event now produces the outcome
-learn association between events

Question 13

little albert experiment

Answer 13

according to watson experiment showed:
-Behaviour can be analyzed, predicted and understood
without any reference to the mind
-A scientific psychology only needs to measure responses and control stimuli

Question 14

behaviourism peak

Answer 14

-skinner was interested in behaviour control and how behaviour was shaped by rewards and punishment

Question 15

decline of behaviourism

Answer 15

-evidence that internal mental states guide behaviour
-controversy of language acquisition
-demonstrations of the limitations of behaviourist learning principles and behavioural control

Question 16

latent learning

Answer 16

-learning without conditioning
-no direct reward

Question 17

Tolman experiment

Answer 17

-rat experiment where let rats “explore” maze, then give food on right the second time, so they learn to turn right
-believed that the rats had created a cognitive map of
the maze and were navigating to a specific arm
-behaviourists couldn’t explain this behaviour

Question 18

controversy of language aqcuisition

Answer 18

Skinner argued that children learn language through opperant conditioning
-children imitate speech and the correction is rewarded
-except children say wrong things and aren’t corrected or say things they haven’t heard

Question 19

what did chomsky argue

Answer 19

-children do not only learn language through imitation and reinforcement
-concluded language development must be determined by an inborn biological program

Question 20

limitations of opperant conditioning

Answer 20

-doesn’t always succeed
-biological restrictions influence organisms to naturally learn associations thats adaptive

Question 21

cognitive revolution

Answer 21

-Measure observable behaviour
-Make inferences about underlying cognitive activity
-Inferences are tested by generating testable predictions
-Inferences that fail to provide accurate predictions are rejected

Question 22

information processing approach

Answer 22

-describes mental processes in terms of the storage, transfer and manipulation of information
-Inspired by advances in computer technology in the 1950s

Question 23

information

Answer 23

-any type of pattern (interconnections
between neurons, state of transistors in a microchip) that influences the formation or transformation of other patterns
-info can’t be touched or seen but it can have observable effects

Question 24

dichotic listening

Answer 24

-one message in each year
-attend and shadow (repeat) each
-participants were able to shadow the attended
message without interference from the other message
-unable to remember information in
the unattended message

Question 25

Broadbent’s Filter Model

Answer 25

-Early theory that attempted to explain Cherry’s data
-Flow diagram represents the flow of information from the senses
-Unattended information does not pass through the filter

Question 26

structural models

Answer 26

-Representation of the physical structure of the brain
-Represent the structures involved in the function we are attempting to understand
-Different structures are associated with different
components of the function

Question 27

the importance of models

Answer 27

-they Integrate the findings from many experiments
-provide a framework for understanding the complex
systems of the mind by providing simplified systems that attempt to describe the major processes involved
-help in the formulation of new hypotheses for future research