Cognitive Psychology Flashcards
perception definition
set of processes in which we recognise, organise and interpret sensations from environmental stimuli
types of perception
- olfactory
- gustatory
- vision
- audition
- touch
receptors for vision
rods and cones in retina
location of receptors for vision
eyes
TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) what is it
noninvasive method of temporarily exciting/inhibiting cortical areas with magnetical stimulation
TDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation)
noninvasive method of stimulating brain by passing weak current through it
fMRI
- how it works
- advantages
- brain imaging through oxygenated blood
+ good temporal + spatial resolution
PET
- how it works
- advantages
- radioactive glucose to see areas of brain activity bc increased blood flow
+ see what areas are switched on for certain tasks
pathway of vision
optic nerve -> thalamus -> cortex
perceptual features
- colour
- form
- motion
- orientation
- distance
- depth
cognitive psychology definition
how people perceive, learn, remember and think about information
auditory receptors
inner hair cells + outer hair cells in organ of Corti on basilar membrane
auditory pathway
receptor -> auditory nerve - > cortex
auditory perceptual featurs
- loudness
- pitch
- timbre
- distance
somatoreception receptor location
- skin
2, tendons - muscle
- semicircular canal of ears
3 pathways of somatoreception stimuli
- conscious perception
nerve fibres -> spinal cord -> thalamus -> cortex - coordinated motor adjustment
nerve fibres -> spinal cord -> cerebellum -> cortex - reflex
nerve fibres -> brainstem nuclei
olfaction and gustation similarities
linked to primitive parts of brain NOT cortex
- subjective experiences -> hard to put into words
absolute threshold
minimum value of stimulus for it to be noticed (or maximum for it to stop working)
difference threshold
minimum difference for two stimuli to be differentiated
Weber Fechner Law
our perceived change of sensation is not proportionate to actual change of stimuli
McGurk effect
what we see overrides what we hear
*sights influences hearing
synthesia
when one stimulation results in experiencing in unrelated modality
seeing sounds
multisensory warning - study finding
people more alert when audio-tactile signals given
location of specialised cells for face rec
fusiform gyrus
prosopagnosia
facial blindness
bottom-up processing
receiving info from sensory then analysing it in b
top-down processing
active search and interpertation of sensory data depending on goal + experience
size constancy
perceive size as constant even if distance changes
- still think car is same size when it comes towards us
shape constancy
perceive shape as constant even if changing perspectives
brightness + colour constancy
even if shadow in room makes object darker we still perceive colours
monocular perception + examples
using one eye to see depth (2D)
- texture gradients
- relative size
- interposition → if obscured by other object
binocular perception + examples
using both eyes to see 3D
- depth perception through binocular disparity (slight diff images left and right eye pick up)
motion parallax
things that are closer appear to move faster
9 Laws of Gestalt Psychology
- Prägnanz
- Figure ground
- Similarity
- Proximity
- Continuity
- Closure
- symmetry
- contingency
- small size
Prägnanz meaning
organise elements into categories simplest org with least cog skills needed
figure.ground
some elements stand out and others hide in background
proximity
objects that are close together get seen as group
similarity
similar objects form group
closure
close certain shapes that aren’t closed
symmetry
perceive objects as forming mirror image
contingency / common path
objects moving in one direction seen as group
small size
easier to extract elements characterised by small size
global precedence effect
tendency to see big picture than individual elements
local precedence effect
tendency to see individual elements rather than big picture
agnosia i
inability to perceive object
- the “” what
transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
- non-invasive
- magnetic stimulation excites or inhibits cortical areas
transcranial direct current stimulation
- non-invasive
- direct current through brain stimulates
EEG
functional brain imaging method
-showing waves of E activity
ERP (event related potentials)
- functional brain imaging method
- E activity during repeated stimulus presentation
psychophysiological measurements
- EMG
- galvanic skin response
- eye-tracking
Donder’s method
subtraction method: time needed to differentiate - time needed to decide
- simple reaction time
- choice reaction time
signal detection theory
how we detect signals in environment full of distractors
diff reactions in signal detection theory
- hit
- miss
- false alarm
- correct rejection
d’ what is it
ability not distinguish signal from noise
if d’ = 0
system can’t distinguish signal from noise
if d’ = 3
system distinguishes signal from noise perfectly
implicit association test (IAT)
rxn times to categorise objects into categories to see implicit attitude towards a group
navon task
measuring local vs global perception
how do we process info?
n-back task
measures working memory
only respond if stimulus the same as stimulus n back
OSPAN task
measures working memory capacity
- solve maths task -> word -> math task -> word
2 .then sequence matrix by remembering right order of all above
verbal protocol research
participants talk out loud about thought process while performing tasks to help researchers understand how people think
attention definition
concentration of consciousness on stimulus considered most important
external attention
sensory events external to body
internal attention
internal to body
- senses
- thoughts
- motivations
dorsal attention network
- top-down processing
- selection of stimulus relevant to goals
ventral attention network
- bottom-up processing
- detects unexpected things happening around you
- detects behaviourally relevant stimuli
default mode network of attention
network of brain regions active when person not focused on external stimuli
4 functions of attention
- signal detection vigilance
- search
- selective attention
- divided attention
vigilance definition
ability to attend to field of stimuli over prolonged period of time to detect appearance of particular target stimulus
what does ratio of hits and false alarms depend on?
- signal strength to noise strength ratio
- payoff matrix -> consequences of missing or false alarms
- expectations -> higher expectations = more false alarms
search definition
try to find signal amongst distractors
selective attention
pay attention to some stimuli and ignore others
cocktail party effect
don’t listen to other conversations (semantics) unless own name gets mentioned
physical characteristics of talking that we pay attention to
- pitch
- volume
- source
attention field
- centre (closer to us) = clear + perception of detail
- periphery = not vivid + only possible to register occurence not detail
resources allocated to attention based on
- importance of task
- task requirements (simple or complex)
- level of automatisation
flow state
when task difficulty and competence match up
divided attention
allocate resources to do more than 1 task at a time
multitasking efficient when
- diff sensory used (talking and cooking)
- level of automatisation high
factors influencing attention
- anxiety
- arousal
- task difficulty
- skills
people are bad at multitasking
- more errors
- slower reaction time
- lower efficiency
Broadbent’s model of Attention
input -> sensory register -> selective filter -> perceptual process -> longterm memory -> response
unattended stimuli gets stopped at selective filter so you’re not even aware of it
proof for Broadbent’s model of attention
- dichotic listening paradigm
when two convos played in both ears you don’t know what’s being said in unattended ear
Treisman’s model of Attention
not all resources given to task we have our attention on
still aware of environment to see what’s important
proof of Tresiman’s model of attention
cocktail party effect -> notice when our name gets mentioned
Kahneman’s theory of divided attention
we can focus more on one task if we have the amount of resources available
- difficulty of task
- arousal
- allocation policy
- momentary + permanent disposition
memory definition
process where info is encoded, stored and retrieved
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model of longterm memory
longterm memory needs to pass through linear line to become longterm
sensory store definition
- info stored up until 150 milliseconds
- greatest capacity
- visual + auditory
- transfers data to short-term
short term store
- 30 seconds
- 7 (+- 2 ) or 4 in recent studies
- internal repetitions needed to retain info
- transfers to longterm
Baddley’s working memory
- short-term memory active storage faciltiy
- visuospatial sketchpad
- phonological loop
- central executive -> coordinates
- episodic buffer -> integrates short with long
- slave systems
Cowan’s working memory theory
short-term memory (working memory) part as longterm (direct access region)
- most active info -> focus of attention (capacity 4)
executive functions use
- mental shifting (between goals or tasks)
- updating + monitoring working memory representations
- inhibiting of irrelevant dominant responses
non-declarative memory
implicit memory
- from automatisation
- unable to verbalise it
- learning of complex rules without awareness
Tulving episodic vs semantic memory
episodic: personal experience
semantic: knowledge of world
prospective memory
knowledge of future (plans and intentions)
Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve
- rapid forgetting occurs early
- the longer time passes the less likely we are to forget
- repetition helps retain memory
factors improving memory
- sleep (memories go from hippocampus to cortex which is more permanent)
- repetition / deliberate practice
- self-reference effect
- depth of processing
- spacing effect
diff memory tests
- recall task
- serial recall task (remember in right order)
- implicit memory task
- recognition task
- procedural task
levels of processing framework
the deeper info is processed the more likely we are to remember
deeper processing -> no- of connections new info has to already stored info
- physical
- phonological
- semantic
connectionist network theory
memories not stored in one place but in different node connections
dissociative amnesia
repressing memories of traumatic event from memory
infantile amnesia causes
- psychoanalytic: repression of traumatic birth etc
- cog: lack of developed memory functioning
- neuropsych: brain structures not fully developed can’t retain memories
7 sins of memory
- transience
- absentmindedness
- blocking
- misattribution
- suggestibility
- bias
- persistence
savant
people with extraordinary abilities with developmental disorder
Daniel Tammet and Sherevsky
both were savants
- Sherevsky: man who couldn’t forget
Tammet: world record pi number reciter
mnemonics
and examples
strategies to enhance memory abilities
- categorisation
- method of loci
deliberate practice how to:
- set specific/achievable goals
- focused max on improvement
- immediate feedback on progress
- get out of comfort zone
1956 Symposium of Info Theory MIT
- who was there
- what happened
- Chomsky, Miller, Simon
first idea of mind as computer (encoding) which meant away from behaviourist model more to info processing model -> start of cog psychology
computer as minds vs mind as computer -> who came up with what
- mind as computer -> Simon
- computer as mind -> Turing/von Neumann
*human thoughts can be captured by computer
executive functions
- mental set shifting -> shifting between tasks
- updating + monitoring of working memory representations
- inhibitory control -> avoid distraction from goal
what makes recall effective
- multiple access paths -> connect smth w diff info from life
- contextual compatibility -> retrieval easier when in same environment we learned info in
- mood compatibility
- primacy/recency effect
- self-reference
- repetition
- spacing effect
- elaboration
- depth of processing
- pro/retroactive inference
- consolidation of memory traces
realism defintion
= cog representations are realistic of objective world
representation as an imprint into mind of sensory stimulus
constructivism definition
sensory data encoded into mental data
*one object can be encoded in diff ways
2 types of representations
- verbal
- visual
mental imagery definition
mental reps of sensory properties of object
*seeing in our mind
Steven Kosslyn’s theory of mental imagery
*1. surface vs deep component
*2. analog or symbolic=
- images have surface component (fluffy dog with lolling tongue) and deep component (dog must bark/have tail)
- analog (not symbolic) and spatial properties/relationships
- size relative to other objects
- manipulations (rotations) can be performed on mental image just like on real image
Kosslyn mental scanning
it takes us the same amount of time to scan mental map as physical distance between locations
aphantasia defintion
rare condition where you can’t make mental images
mental imagery on decision making
- choice generates mental imagery of possible outcomes of choices
- provide behaviour-consequences AND affective responses
- strength of affective response depends on vividness of mental imagery
Pavio - dual coding hypothesis
concrete words encoded both verbally + visually which makes them easier to remember
abstract only verbally!
imagens definition
fast, sensory, non-verbal, parallel processing
logogens definition
slow, verbal, sequential
concepts definition
mental rep of category of objects stored in long-term memory
3 types of concepts appraoch
- common feature
- prototype
- exemplar
functions of concepts
- reduced no. of cog resources needed
- easier to understand + explain
- easier for inferences + prob solving
- effective communication + transfer knowledge
classical matrix concepts
formal cog rep of characteristic shared by all copies of the concept
natural concepts definition
informal, less precise than matrix concept
Tversky similarity theory definition
- score of common vs different features
- weighted for importance
- context dependent
prototype meaning
ideal example that best represent a category
*major features there
typicality meaning
extent to which object is representative of category
family resemblance
tendency of members of category to be similar to each other without having any one characteristics common to them all
exemplar models definition
stored examples of models in head that we use to compare new item
semantic networks studied through word association test
- participants mention 1st word to come to head after seeing target word
proposition definition
true/false statement unit of storage for semantic memory
*combination rules used
schema definition
set of related propositions typical knowledge of world
*script
*stereotype
grounded/embodied approach
thinking is shaped with bodily experience
*concepts not just vrbal but also body experience
hub-and-spoke model definition
spoke = modality specific region (verbal, visual etc)
hub = unifies spokes for integrated conception of one concept
triple-code-model
3 representations
- verbal: five
- image: 5
- symbolic: V or *****
non-symbolic number system
two subsystems
1. object tracking
*exact
*limited capacity (3-4)
*quick + precise
- approximate number
*approximate
*large numbers
*depends on Weber-Fechner laws
number sense definition
some animals (humans) biological ability to represent large amounts of numbers + manipulate them
symbolic representation
*when does it start
* what is it
age 2-4
mapping of non-symbolic + symbolic
SNARC effect meaning
faster rxn with left hand when number smaller
- faster rxn with right hand when numbers bigger
mental number line definition
abstract rep of no.
- small on the left
- big on the right
are mental number lines different for anyone?
- people with right hemisphere damage ignore left side of body + small numbers
- Arabs differ (read from right to left)
- some synesthesia differ
PISA assessment
- assessed maths skills in kids
- east asian countries scored highest
- globally boys outperformed girls
consequences math anxiety
- reduced working memory capacity
- local avoidance effect = not putting effort in
- global avoidance effect = not taking extra classes or improving
what causes math anxiety
- deficits in number sense, spatial processing + attentional control
- negative classroom experiences
- teacher anxiety
- stereotypes
Stanovich on rationality
*epistemic rationality
*instrumental rationality
rationality = good thinking helping reach goals + avoid mistakes
- epistemic = extent that individual beliefs correspond to actual state of world
- instrumental = to what extent individual pursues goal
judgement definition
explicit statement about state of affairs + prob of occurence
decision making definition
choice of one possibility from at least 2 options
classical decision theory definiton
utility maximisation
*how much can be won + probability of winning
Kahnemann prospect theory
loss aversion more than wanting to win
framing effect
people will make different decisions based on how decision is worded
*we don’t rationally think of probability
3 heuristics/biases on decision making
- representativeness
- anchoring adjustment
- accessiblitiy
representativeness meaning
is event similar to prototype
anchoring and adjustment meaning
starting point i can base and adjust judgements on
accessiblity heuristic meaning
how readily available for recall is event
representativeness bias examples
- insensitivity to prior probability of outcome
- insensitivity to sample size
- insensitivity to predictability
- misconception of chance
*Linda’s conjunction fallacy!
availability heursitc examples
- bias of retrievability of instances
- bias of effectivenss of search
- bias of imaginability
- illusory correlation
anchoring + adjustment examples
- insufficient adjustment
- bias in eval of conjunciton + disjunction
examples of biases
- gambler’s delusion
- hindsight bias
- simulation heuristics
- sunk cost effect
Simon on bounded rationality definition
human decision constrained by
*limitations of mind
*structure of environment
satisficing = choosing from smth sequentially bc we don’t know about possibilities in advance
*next best person to date
fast-and-frugal heuristic
simple rules in toolbox for decision making with realistic mental resources
*ignorance based
*one-reason decision making
one-reason decision makings
- take the best
- take the last
- minimalist heuristic
ecological rationality
adaptive behaviour from fit of mind mechanism and structure of environment it operates in
steps to explore boundedly rational heuristic
- design computational model of heuristic
- analyse environmental structures where they work well
- testing performance in real-world
- determine whether + when people actually use heuristic
cognitive interventions on person
- increase reflection + resources
- increase knowledge + processing efficiency
cog intervention on situation
- increase motivation for engaging in task
- reduce task requirements
how to communicate numbers
- identify goal of communication: what people know -> what they don’t know -> what they should know
- choose format of presenting
- test message
- include numbers in way that doesn’t need extra info
how to reduce cog effort for listeners
- do math for them
- fewer options
- absolute risks NOT relative
- constant time ranges
- appropriate visuals
how to hold attention
- place most important info at start or end
- emphasise only the most important parts
- summarise
- visual clarity
- emotions
ai on improving cognition
- increase focus + productivity
- adaptive learning
- problem solving
- data analysis + discover
- memory + info management
- support mindfulness + sleep
challenges of ai on cognition improvement
- over-reliance on AI
- privacy
- bias
- effectivness not scientifically tested
5.
video games improve
- enhance attention
- faster rxn time w/o accuracy loss
transfers of training effects
- near transfer = transfer of effects on similar tasks using same cog processes
- far transfer = transfer of effects on tasks w diff cog processes
steps for measuring training effects
- direct improvement in task being trained
- transfer of training effects
- maintenance of effects (follow up)
- generalisability of results
evidence of cog training?
- only 1/3 used active control group -> motivation just as high as other group
with elderly people there was a positive effect but not super positive
System 1 and 2
system 1: intuitive, autonomous without conscious awareness
*biased
system2: reflective (logic+conscious+working memory)
*slow
stroop effect
harder + slower for us to identify diff colours if they have different colours than they are describing
*system 2 needs to be activated
cognitive reflection test explain:
design puzzle where intuitive thinkign (system 1) will give incorrect answer
- best outcome: reflective answer (system 1 -> system 2)
*most people who started with incorrect answer didn’t get it right
difficulties of verbal protocols
- people have poor access to mental processes
- speaking aloud might effect mental processes
verbal protocols test
- participants think aloud to see encoding process
proof system 1 exists
- tip of tongue
- eureka moments
- correct answer from guessing
- premonition something will happen
- dejavu
iceberg system (top to bottom)
- consciousness = explicit processing
2 intuition
- unconsciousness = implicit processing
process of attention of consciousness
input -> attended -> conscious -> conscious report
process of attention of unconsciousness
input -> unattended -> unconscious -> levels of priming
subliminal perception definition
when stimulus below threshold has measurable effect on behaviour
supraliminal perception definition
stimulus presented above threshold of perception
checking threshold subjectively would entail:
asking subjects whether they perceived something or not
*more valid bc see what accessed their consciousness
priming definition
stimulus influences perception of following target stimulus (semantics)
- participants shouldn’t be aware it’s happened (subliminal)
- slight results only seen in labs
implicit learning definition
- without effort
- without intention to learn
- without specific strategies
*in case of explicit instruction -> decrease of task performance levels
serial reaction time task
- pressing letters implicit learning
- response time decreased with practice with trials following learned rule
diff between implicit vs explicit (good points)
- robust -> unaffected by disorders
- age independent
- low variability
- IQ independence
- commonality (implicit common to most creatures)
when to trust expert intuition
- reg patterns in environment
- regularities become known through practice
- feedback from environment
thinking definition
process of mental exploration of possible actions + states of world
well structured problems
= clear path to solution
*starting conditions, actions. available, goals specified
*one goal -> convergent thinking
*2+ goals -> goal selection + divergent thinking
problems in well-structured problems
- invalid moves
- not realising nature of next legal move
- moving backwards
ill-structured problem definition
= no clear path to goal
*starting conditions or actions or goals not specified
*reduction of openness
*political + economical problems
algorithm definition
- unambiguous + reliable action plan
- sequence
- high cog load
heuristics definition
- informal, simplified shortcut to solving problems
- unreliable + risky
- for poorly defined situations
problem solving cycle
- id problem
- define problem
- construct strat
- org info
- allocate resources
- monitor prob solving
- eval + learning
problem space definition
all possible actions that can be applied to problem
problem solving strategies
- random search
- heuristic search strat
- custom rules for analysing
- modify previous sequence to fit this new problem
syllogistic reasoning definition
reasoning using statements connected by logical relations
atmosphere effect
conclusion over-influenced by premise rather than logic of argument
believe bias
tendency to accept invalid but believable conclusions
inductive reasoning definition (for syllogisms etc)
making a well-founded + probable conclusion
- rejecting null hypothesis for instance bc we can never be sure that it should be rejected
insight definition
change in perception of problem leading to understanding
*often through reconceptualising problem
- feeling of warmth accompanies solving prob
enabling factors (of prob solving)
- positive transfer (transfer of knowledge from one field to another)
- incubation
incubation definition
- pause at solving problem after impasse
*preceded insight - weakens set of obstacles
- extensification of attention
- temp increase in working memory capacity
2 obstacles in prob solving
- set = tendency to persist with one approach to prob
- functional fixedness = difficulty thinking of novel use of familiar object
Clever Hans case study
horse who was thought to have ability to answer maths + other questions
- picked up unconscious cues from people -> bias + observational learning
cognitive interview
- memory facilitated if recall happens in similar situation as encoding
Techniques:
- reinstating context -> imagine environment where it happened
- report everything
- recall events in diff order
- changing perspectives
slips in automatic processes
- capture error
- omissions
- description errors
- associative deviation errors
- loss of activation error
capture error definition
when situation resembles routine we switch to autopilot and omit decision making
*driving to work place bc routine in the morning instead of to starbucks
automatic slips - omission definitoin
process too automatically we ignore some info
- overlook missing word in sentence bc brain makes up for it
automatic slips - description error
- right action on wrong object
*pouring juice into cereal bowl
automatic slips - associative deviation error
- action driven by association not mental reasoning
*mom calling you by sister’s name not your own name
automatic slip - loss of activation error
- doing an action and forgetting why before completion
*opening your phone and then forgetting what you were going to check
Cowan short term capacity according to working memory model
around 4
George Miller’s short term capacity according to working memory model
7 +-2
Cognitive psychology history
- 1879 - Wundt’s first lab
- Ebbinghaus 1885 - forgetting curve
- 1948 Tolman’s mice and maze
- 1956 MIT Symposium
- 1967: First cog book published Ulrich Neisser
- Turing Test