Cognitive Psych: Exam #1 Flashcards
Define Cognition
the study of mental operations that support acquisition and use of knowledge
Broad applications for cognition
1) reading
2) learning
3) marketing
4) aging and dementia
5) eyewitness testimony
What does cognitive psychology blend?
- emphasis on constructs (memory, language etc) and the scientific rigor of behaviorism
What does cognitive psychology investigate about sensory input?
The processes in which it is:
1) transformed (ie change fonts in a reading study)
2) reduced (ie how we focus on important information (such as optical illusions where you can only see one thing at a time)
3) elaborated (use previous info to expand on something)
4) stored (memory processes but not specifically retrieval – may not be accessible)
5) recovered (retrieval processes)
6) used (real world application – the behavior produced and often what is measured)
Structuralism overview
- based on introspection: participants are asked to report their process/strategies when performing a task
- Cons: relies on subjectivity, bias, availability of report (processes can be outside of our awareness)
Behaviorism overview:
- based on observation: experimental approach where you manipulate something (IV) and measure the outcome (DV)
- they don’t care exactly what the process is (think a black box) - just how changing the input changes the output
Pros of behaviorism
- can control input to very fine detail
- allows for designing interventions to fix problems
Cons of behaviorism
- misses the WHY of the relationship between the IV and DV
Study: recall vs. recognition in amnesiac patients
Findings: controls AND amnesiacs perform higher on recognition memory tests than recall tests but the benefit is more severe for controls
- amnesiac results are worse overall
- demonstrated the “stored” part of cog psych definition
Study: degraded stimuli in amnesiac patients
when both groups (controls and amnesiacs) saw the original stimuli, they were quicker to decode the degraded stimulus
- signifies amnesiacs don’t have a problem with encoding but rather retrieving
Common measures (DV) in psych research
Most common: accuracy and reaction time
Less common: reaching behavior and eye tracking
What theories do
assume an underlying intervening construct between the IV and DV
- loop in many elements of the same thing: water deprivation, salty food, and consumption of dry food are all related to the underlying intervening construct of “thirst”
Advantages of Theories
1) decrease number of relationships explained
2) gives you the ability to make predictions about future behavior
3) details something about the nature of the organism
Disadvantages of theories
1) may be premature if data isn’t strong enough
2) can delay more applied breakthroughs
Converging operations definition
used to discriminate amongst alternative theories
- usually multiple tests on one construct (for memory test all people on recall vs. recognition vs. implicit memory and see where the difference lies to figure out the correct theory
Study with converging operations: swear words
hypothesis 1: visual thresholds are higher for taboo words due to emotional content
hypothesis 2: we have a learned inhibition of taboo words
- you would test this: by putting a swear word on the screen and you either a) have to say the word or b) say another word
- if it is inhibition, option a should take longer, if it is higher visual threshold, option b should take longer
Cognitive Neuroscience Overview
combined methods and theories of cognitive psychology with methods from neuroscience
- usually looks at metabolic processes or brain structures to support different theories
Neuroscience methods:
1) PET
2) fMRI
3) EEG
PET imaging
-inject radioactive tracer in blood stream that binds to proteins in the brain and a scanner can pick up where concentrations are
fMRI
measure hemodynamic changes in the brain
- pros: good spatial resolution
- cons: sensitive to movement, bad temporal resolution, noise protectors needed
EEG
measures electrical potential charges
- pros: good temporal resolution (can measure fast processes), noiseless
- con: sensitive to movement, worse spatial resolution
AI and cognitive psych
- can serve as theoretical models of human cognition
Methods to conduct research
1) case studies (good for small unusual populations)
2) correlational studies (for variables you can not manipulate such as age, economic status etc)
3) experimental studies
Pattern recognition definition
the study of how people identify the objects in their environment
- this is a very complex process
Template theory of pattern recognition
an new pattern is matched against alternative patterns by using the degree of overlap as a measure of similarity
- we put a prior concept “over” the stimuli and see what matches
Problems with template theory
1) doesn’t allow for differences in orientation
2) doesn’t allow for differences in size
3) doesn’t allow you to take the same stimulus and have different representations (ex: optical illusions where we can see two things from one stimulus)
Feature theory
Add all the components to define the thing
Evidence for feature theory
mapping receptive fields:
- they put a device that records a single cell in the brains of cats
- saw that there is a single cell important for recognizing the orientation of each line
- cells fire at a specific feature
Criteria for a feature
1) features must be critical (present in some members of a set but not others - if you are trying to determine kind of tree, bark is not a feature)
2) features should remain unchanged under differences in brightness, size or perspective
3) different combinations of features should yield a unique pattern
4) number of features should be reasonably small
How do we test for features?
1) rate similarity: use this to extract important features in defining an item
2) confusability ratings: more similar items are more confusable, suggesting they overlap in features
Removal of important features
impairs recognition
with letters:
1) midsection deletion: harder than intact
2) vertex deletion: the hardest - suggests that vertices are the best identifying feature of letters
Cued distinctive features
gave children a card with similar letters: some pointed out the distinctive feature others did not
- when a relevant cue is provided, children did much better in distinguishing between the letters
- even if you take this cue away on a next trial, results still hold
Feature integration theory
feature are represented simultaneously and without need for attention (all features are available immediately at the same time)
- BUT attention is required to bind features
How is feature integration theory tested?
adding more items - if you have 5 or 100 circles, it should not take you longer to decide if there is a red circle because all information is immediately available
Conjuctive feature and attention
Attention is required to bind multiple feature into coherent objects
- ex: a green square, a yellow T
- you should down as more items are added showing attention is needed
Structure Theories
built from feature theories but specify HOW features fir together (suggests the structure of the item is what is important)
Evidence for structure theories
When you take away vertices and connecting features, identification time increases - it signifies is is the relationship of the features rather than the features themselves that is actually important
Common methodology for studying word recognition
1) rapid identification: items are presented very quickly and you are asked to identify what you saw (measuring accuracy)
2) lexical decision task: is ___ a real word or not? (measuring reaction time)
3) pronunciation / naming: speak this word aloud as quickly as you can (measuring reaction speed)
What is a visual integration field?
areas in the eye that are sensitive to certain fields - every feature contained with one field is put together and considered to be one thing (such as a letter)
Evidence for OVERLAPPING integration fields
study:
- presented with one letter (A), two letters (AB or BA) or three letters (ABC) extremely quickly
- targets with two flanking letters (three letter condition) were less accurately identified – evidence for overlapping visual integration fields
Evidence for different shaped integration fields
- presented with one letter (A), two letters (AB or BA) very quickly
- one flanker causes more errors than two flankers
- if the extra letter is on the left, accuracy decreases
- we read left to right and this evidence suggests that visual fields have adapted to become larger to the left as the first letter is most important when reading
Receptive fields and symbols - same as letters?
- performance for one flanker did not matter which side it was on – (different from letters)
- we have elongated receptive fields for letters but NOT for symbols
- this did not adapt as the order of symbols does not have semantic meaning to us
Serial processing definition
operations occur in sequence (one at a time)
Parallel processing definition
all operations in the process occur all at one time
Evidence for serial or parallel processing for words
Study 1: lexical decisions task
- 5-8 letters had very similar reaction time (suggest parallel processing for common lengthed words)
- but for 1-4 and 8-12, reaction time greatly increases (suggests usually serial processing but there is an exception for common lengthed words)
Study 2: words that differed by a single letter were presented very quickly
- manipulated where the letter was different and measured reaction time
- under serial processing, words with the last letter changed should be the least accurate (not enough time to see this change)
- under parallel processing, where the letter change was should not matter
- findings: at 24+ms you are better than chance for ALL conditions - suggests parallel processing
Is meaning acquired through serial or parallel processing?
Study: asked if ___ letter occurred in a specific position
- word condition: presented with a word
- letter condition: one letter presented
- nonword condition: string of random letters presented
- we recognize letters better (when they are presented very quickly) if they occur in the context of a real word
- due to top down processing: knowledge of words influences what you perceive
- suggets operations occur in parallel
Interactive Activation
the levels happen in parallel but also influence each other (meaning can influence letter recognition and vice versa)
excitatory connection
give you evidence for something
inhibitory connection
gives you evidence against something
Neural network model definition
a theory in which concepts (nodes) are linked to other concepts through exciatory and inhibitory connections to approximate the behavior of neural networks in the brain
Parts of the neural network model
1) nodes
2) pattern of connections
3) activation rule
4) state of activation
5) output functions
6) learning
dorsal stream
controls object location and spatial attention
Ventral stream
controls shape orientation and color
- features, lines, edges and shapes
Midsection and vertex deletion when embedded in words
not as problematic for identification when they are presented within in words (parallel processing means that meaning can inform the missing info)
Crowding effects and Dyslexia
- part of visual integration fields
- conditions: spaced out text vs. normal/ “crowded” text – measured accuracy
- findings: people with dyslexia had easier time reading with spaced words
Goal of studying attention
understand what is selected, how is it selected, and what happens to selected/unselected information
selection definition
you have many stimuli in your perception at all times - have to select a subset of them to process further
Overt attention
actually moving eyes of head
Covert attention
moving attention without any overt physical movements
Posner cueing paradigm
task: press a button when you see an object appear
manipulation: was it precued and was the cue valid (measuring response time)
- valid cue: cue in the same place as target
- invalid cue: have to change attention as you have been directed to the wrong spot
- findings: a valid cue leads to a quicker response time than a neutral and invalid cue (have to reorient attention)
Practical implication for posner cueing paradigm
texting and driving (anything with divided attention)
Are attending and seeing the same (in posner cueing paradigm)
- posner cueing paradigm: eyes remain at fixation yet you still see the cueing effect
- seems like eye movement is not correlated directly to attention
Driving simulator study: attention
task: have to move a cursor to follow a path and press break if you see a red light flash
conditions:
- no distraction
- talking on a phone or following a conversation on the radio (dual attention)
- measuring errors in detecting the red lights
findings: talking on the phone increased both the probability of missing the red light AND overall reaction time (radio 2nd then control)
Inattention blindness
task: have to follow a path in a driving simulator
conditions: billboards are placed along the road and you either have a) no distraction b) talking on the phone or c) listening to the radio
measuring: eye fixations on the billboard in addition to later recognition of the content
findings:
- eye fixations are the same in both conditions (same probability and time)
- BUT recognition of billboard content greatly increased without distraction
- seeing does not equal attention
- cell phone use is the worse because it directs attention from external stimuli to an internal environment
How do we study which features we pay attention to?
usually with conflict tasks (such as stroop task)
Stroop test
congruent condition: green in the color green
neutral condition: a random word in the color green
incongruent condition: red in the color green
- these items compete for a response
findings:
- reaction time is longer in the incongruent task if you have to say the COLOR the words is written in (not the words itself) - difference even more severe for old people
Evidence for inhibition of unselected information
tipper negative priming paradigm: have to respond where a target letter “O” is and ignore where the “X” is
conditions: measuring response time
- control: O is always in a new spot
- attended repetition: O is always in the same spot
- ignored repetition: O is in the spot you just had to ignore
findings:
- you are much slower in ignored repetition - suggests you inhibited this spot below baseline due to the previous presence of an X and then had to take longer to bring it back up to attend to the O (where the X was matters)
Filter model
attention operated before pattern recognition (semantic understanding) takes place – EARLY SELECTION
- you are completely blocking out one stream of information thus it is lost from sensory store due to decay
Evidence for the filter model
dichotic listening task: two streams of digits are put into each ear
manipulations: measuring accuracy
- order of recall: in any order or fixed order (had to say right and then left for each trial)
findings:
- the longer the delay between the next set of pairs, the more accurate you are - it is harder to flip back and forth between channels so the more time you are give the better you do
Attenuation model
attention is still a filter but it doesn’t completely block one stimuli, it just lowers activity for it
- Still a model of EARLY SELECTION
How do we test the attenuation model?
shadowing task: play two audio messaged and see what gets in from the channel you are not paying attention to
Evidence for attenuation model through the shadowing task
when you have two streams of audio (one in each ear) and are asked to say what you hear aloud, you sometimes say words from the channel you are not supposed to be paying attention to - it is getting into perception without acutely attending to it
- volume, pitch, intensity and meaning (such as own name) can make you focus on different channels - it passes the threshold and thus is now attended to
Evidence for attenuation model through the shadowing task
when you have two streams of audio (one in each ear) and are asked to say what you hear aloud, you sometimes say words from the channel you are not supposed to be paying attention to - it is getting into perception without acutely attending to it
- volume, pitch, intensity and meaning (such as own name) can make you focus on different channels - it passes the threshold and thus is now attended to
Capacity definition + what effects capacity
anything that requires attention competes for capacity
- more difficult tasks require more capacity
- capacity is affected by arousal/ tiredness
- goals and events can affect where attention is allocated
- when capacity does not meet the demands of a task performance declines
Late selection models
attention operates AFTER pattern recognition / meaning is identified
Evidence for limited capacity
dual task or divided attention paradigm: vary the demands of the primary tasks and see what it “costs” the secondary task
- Study 1: study pictures and word OR do this plus another task (measuring accuracy) – performance on both decreases when you add another task
Evidence for early and late selection related to capacity
Main task: shadow one of two information streams
- early selection condition: attend based on voice pitch
- late selection: attend based on meaning of channel
Secondary task: (measuring reaction time)
- monitor for a flash of light and press a button
Findings:
- late selection increased reaction time the most – late selection tasks take more capacity and increase error rate for future memory
Multimodal theory
people’s intention and task demands determine where in the process information is selected (we can choose this)
- but late selection costs more to system
Does everything require capacity?
No - automatic processing does not
Automatic processes…
1) occur without intention
2) do not rise to conscious awareness
3) do not interfere with other mental operations
STM definition
memory limited in capacity (amount) and duration (how long it lasts)
Working memory (WM) definition
the use or manipulation of information to accomplish a task
Atkinson and Shiffrin model of memory takeaways
We have to manipulate information in some way (rehearsal, coding, decisions, retrieval strategies) to keep it in short-term store
How fast does forgetting occur?
exponential decrease - quick and then levels off
- but overall very quick if not rehearsal (less than 3 seconds)
Is forgetting due to decay or interference?
Interference (specifically reactive interference)
Evidence that forgetting is due to interference
Study: present many letters in a sequence and ask to recall a specific one
- decay hypothesis: items presented at a slower rate will forgotten more
- interference hypothesis: fewer interfering items should lead to better recall regardless of presentation rate
findings: more intervening digits, the less you were likely to recall - presentation rate did not matter
Reactive interference
interference that comes from items encountered AFTER learning
proactive interference
interference that comes from items that occurs BEFORE learning
Release from proactive interference
task: participants studied 4 lists - 3 that were similar and a 4th that was distinct in content
- if all lists were similar content, accuracy decreases dramatically cross all trials BUT if the 4th list was distinct, accuracy increased to that of the first list
interference of prior items is greater when you are studying more similar items
- The degree of similarity matters: fruits vs. veggies is less accurate than fruits vs. professions
STM capacity
7 items plus or minus 2
Chunking
chunk: a cluster of items that has been stored as a single unit in LTM
-ex: a phone number – better remembered if you can tag the chunks and relate them to something meaningful to you
Expertise and STM
if you are more experienced at something (such as chess) you are more likely to remember information about it in STM (chess experts can better recall the pieces on a board)
How do we search through STM?
Serial exhaustive search
Evidence for serial exhaustive searching in STM
task: study items and at the end, asked if you saw a probe item
- if we complete an exhaustive search, reaction time should increase with the number of items (as there is more to search through) and should be the same whether the answer is yes (positive) or no (negative)
- if we complete a self terminating search positive answers should be quicker than negative answer as we stop when we see it
findings:
- positive and negative searches take the same time and increase with list length: serial and exhaustive processing
