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Cognitive psychology Flashcards

1
Q

What is cognitive psychology?

A

scientific study of how the mind encodes stores and uses information

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2
Q

What are mental representations?

A

encoded and stored information about the environment

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3
Q

What are computations?

A

the processing steps, performed on mental represenations

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4
Q

What are the 3 levels of understanding?

A
  1. computational level of analysis: understand what the mind is trying to compute and why
  2. algorithmic level of analysis: understand the rules, mechanisms, and representations the mind uses.
  3. implementational level of analysis: understand the “hardware”—that is, the brain—that physically enables the processes of human cognition.
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5
Q

What is spatial resolution?

A

ability to pinpoint where neural activity occurs

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6
Q

What is temporal resolution?

A

Ability to pinpoint when neural activity occurs

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7
Q

What is invasiveness of research methods?

A

Impact on the individual whose brain is being studied

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8
Q

What is single-cell electrode recordings (electrophysicology)?

A

Measure the electrical activity from neurons using electrodes -> action potential is all or none -> basically you are manipulating the firing rate of neuron -> manipulating it = demonstrating that neuron’s function

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9
Q

What are the pros and cons of single cell electrode recording?

A

Pro: Spatial precision: can study basic unit of processing in brain - highest possible spatial resolution

Pro: temporal precision: can measure neuron firing the instant it happens

con: Highly invasive: inserting electrodes into brain - can only insert in humans if there is clinical reason to help

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10
Q

What is intracranial recording or electrocorticography (ECoG)?

A

Putting electrodes on the surface of exposed human brain - inserting electrodes into the human brain

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11
Q

What are the pros and cons of intracranial recording or ECoG?

A

Same as electrophysciology/single cell electrode: high spatial and temporal resolution (pro) but highly invasive (con)

Con 2: placement of electrode is clinically determined not by research hypotheses

con 3: ECoG recordings are from individuals who tend to be heavily medicated to control their epileptic seizure

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12
Q

What is electroencephalography (EEG)?

A

Uses electrodes on scalp to detect and amplify global electrical activity

EEG pattern in response to a stimulus is called event-related potential - different pattern for different stimulus/levels of consciousness ect

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13
Q

What are the pros and cons of electroencephalography (EEG)?

A

Pros: High temporal precision/resolution, inexpensive compared to other neuroimaging methods, noninvasive and relatively convenient

Con: Poor spatial resolution: sums up activity across entire brain - signals from different areas mingle so hard to decipher

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14
Q

What is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?

A

Measures and localizes blood oxygen levels throughout brain

Blood oxygen levels increases in active brain ares -> uses blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal to infer brain activity

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15
Q

What are the pros and cons of fMRI?

A

Pros:
- significantly better spatial resolution than any noninvasive method to study the brain
- Does not require placing of electrodes into brain or scalp -> less invasive

Cons:
- measurements are indirect
- infer activity based on increased measurements of oxygenated hemoglobin to a brain area
- accuracy limited by blood vasculature (limited spatial resolution)

  • Temporal resolution is poorer than electrophysiological methods
    • cannot offer precision due to its reliance on the rise and fall of oxygenated hemoglobin levels - happen slower than electrical currents in brain
  • Noninvasive but still many safety procedures to follow due to scanner’s high magnetic field + claustrophobia
  • another limitation, but not specific to fMRI but is relevant is reverse inference
    • illogically infer mental process (cognition or emotional) from activation of a particular brain area
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16
Q

What is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)?

A

a coil is placed at strategic locations around an individual’s head -> induces magnetic field -> and influence neural activity in region under the coil

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17
Q

What are pros and cons of TMS?

A

Pros:
- Help establish causality
- Good temporal precision
- can time TMS pulse
- Provide clinical benefits for some disorders such as drug resistant depression

Cons:
- poor spatial precision and reach
- foci of TMS disruption are not well defined
- Only disrupt within 3cm of the scalp and not deeper
- It can cause discomfort when used

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18
Q

What is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)?

A

involves applying a weak electrical current across the skull to modify brain activity -> increases or decreases likelihood of neurons to fire

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19
Q

What is perception?

A

Ability to recognize and interpret information from the senses

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20
Q

What is modal completion?

A

where your view of the illusory object is not obstructed, and where there is no objective boundary between the illusory object and the background (perceiving something that isn’t there in reality)

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21
Q

What is amodal completion?”

A

where you seem to perceive an object despite an apparently obstructed view

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22
Q

What is bottom up information?

A

Sensory input - what you sense

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23
Q

What is top-down information?

A

the knowledge and expectations that influence and enhance our interpretation of sensory input

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24
Q

How does top down information influences perception?

A
  1. Context
  2. Experience e.g. shadows: for depths and spatial resolution
  3. Predictions - our brain constantly make predictions of what we are going to see
25
What is object segmentation?
visually assigning the elements of a scene to separate objects and backgrounds.
26
What is the problem of figure-ground organisation?
Don't know which side of boundary belongs to background and the other to figure - vase or people kissing picture Characteristics - figure is part of foreground - background continues behind figure - contour belong to figure
27
What are the rules the mind follows for the problem of the figure ground organisation?
Rule of enclosure: if one region iscompletely surrounded by other, surrounded region seen as figure Rule of symmetry: one region that is more symmetrical, be perceived as figure Rule of convexity: convex side be perceived as figure before concave sixe
28
What is occlusion?
refers to the fact that our views of objects are often partially blocked by other objects - our brain fills in the gap
29
What is boundary extension?
where people tend to remember pictures as having extended beyond their edges, as if their minds fill in a little bit of what the scene would have looked like had it not been cut off at its border
30
What is the inverse projection problem?
we live in a three-dimensional (3-D) world, but the input to our eyes is two-dimensional (2-D).
31
What is binocular disparity?
Close something is to you, the greater the difference between what your two eyes see
32
What are some monocular depth cues?
Linear perspective: the way parallel lines appear to move closer together and converge on single point as they recede into distance texture gradient: textural elements that are presumably of similar size appear to get smaller and more densely packed as they recede into the distance
33
What is object constancy?
recognizing objects despite their orientation.
34
What is size constancy?
the perceived sizes of object are remarkably stable despite radical differences in their image size on the retina.
35
What is low-level (early) and high-level (late) vision?
Early: objects basic feature, ie orientation, color and motion late: recognize objects, faces and scenes
36
What is agnosia and its two types?
Agnosia: inability to recognize objects apperceptive agnosia: individual have impaired early vision, cannot copy images Associate agnosia: early vision intact but inability to name objects (aka cannot recognize shit)
37
What is the view based approach to object recognition?
Match images to representations that are like a template - a representation that fully describes the shape of an object - good for simple and standardized images, harder to explain natural images where we view objects at multiple angles
38
What is the structural approach to object recognition?
Models that represent objects as sets of 3d parts standing in spatial to each other, geons.
39
What part of the brain is activated for object discrimination?
Ventral cortex/Inferior temporal cortex
40
What part of the brain is activated for landmark discrimination/location?
Posterior parietal cortex
41
What are perception and action pathways?
Perception pathway: To determine what is located where Action pathway: use perceptual information to guide ongoing action -patient with agnosia who could not determine orientation of slot but could still put card into slot perfectly
42
What is mental imagery?
act of forming a percept in mind without sensory input
43
What is aphantasia?
Unable to engage in mental imagery
44
What is the depictive explanation of mental imagery (Kosslyn's view)?
Brain represents mental images like it represents real images coming through the eyes - mental imagery like perception, mental scanning: process of mentally moving from one pt in an image to another
45
What is the propositional explanation of mental imagery (Pylyshyn's view)?
Mental images are held in a post-perceptual, abstract way, more like a linguistic description than a picture - simply "simulating" perception, not using visual imagery, imagery as epiphenomenon - smth that occurs tgt with a process of interest but is not central for its function
46
What is spatial neglect?
who cannot visually attend to objects on one side of their visual fields - left-neglect individuals will be able to describe aspects of the scene on the right-hand side only
47
What is attention?
family of cognitive mechanisms that combine to help us select, modulate, and sustain focus on information that might be most relevant for behaviour
48
What is external attention?
how we attend outwardly or select and modulate sensory information
49
What is saccades?
eye movemnts
50
What is overt attention?
spatial attention by moving the eyes
51
What is covert attention?
spatial attention without moving eyes
52
What is selective attention?
concentrating on certain stimuli and ignoring others in an environmnet
53
What is voluntary attention?
Effort to select goal-relevant information
54
What is reflexive attention?
Attending to particular stimulus because it has seized your attention
55
What is spatial attention?
ability to attend to region in a space - like a spotlight illuminating and raising the profile of whatever falls within its focus
56
What is posner cueing task?
When you are cued when the target is coming from -> you are faster and more accurate when cued
57
What is endogenous (or central) cue?
engages voluntary attention and can appear in btw. the potential target locations and indicate symbolically where the target is likely to appear
58
What is exogenous (or peripheral) cue?
Engages reflexive attention and can appear at one of the target location instead in between them

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