Cognitive Psychology- Lectures 1-4 Flashcards

1
Q

Multi-store Model of Memory: Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968). Limits.

A

Over-simplified – suggests that both the short-term and long-term stores are unitary

Assumes the short-term store is a gateway to the long-term, so that information has not had any contact with information in long-term memory

But, chunking is done through making meaningful groups. Meaning can only be added from long-term memory

States that the short-term store is the contents of consciousness – meaning that unconsciously
processed information should not make it to long-term memory

Assumes all items in short-term memory are of equal status

Assumes most information in long-term memory gets there through rehearsal

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2
Q

Working Memory Model

A

Baddely & Hitch (1974) argued STM should not be thought of merely as a holding pen for a small set of information chunks

They asked what short-term memory is for

Working memory refers to a brain and cognitive system that allows both temporary storage and manipulation of information, necessary for a variety of complex cognitive tasks

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3
Q

Dual-Task Rationale for the Working Memory Model (WMM)

A

A key feature of WMM is that it permits the performance of more than one cognitive task at a time, provided each task is processed by a different subsystem.

Evidence comes from dual-task experiments (e.g. Logie, Zucco & Baddeley, 1990) in which people are asked to do two things at the same time.

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4
Q

Working Memory Model

A

The Phonological Loop: Consists of two parts, a phonological store that holds acoustic or speech-based information for about 2 seconds, and an articulatory control process that produces our “inner speech”. The articulatory control process allows us to sub-vocally rehearse information to ourselves to keep it refreshed in the phonological store.

The Visuospatial Sketchpad: A subsystem that allows us to maintain and manipulate visual and spatial images. Consists of visual cache (stores input about visual form and colour) and inner scribe (deals with spatial and movement information).

The Central Executive: The control centre that coordinates subsystems, allows us to select among possible actions, strategically allocates attention to different subsystems.

The Episodic buffer: temporary storage system that can hold and integrate information from the phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, and LTM. It is controlled by the central executive.

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5
Q

Craik and Lockhart (1972): Levels of Processing:

A

The level or depth of stimulus processing has a large effect on its memorability

Deeper levels of analysis produce more elaborate, longer lasting and stronger memory traces than shallow levels

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6
Q

Craik and Tulving (1975):

A

Incidental learning – participants performed tasks involving a number of words, but were not aware that their memory for these words would be tested. Task conditions differed in terms of level of processing:

Shallow graphemic: participants decided whether a word is in uppercase or lowercase letters

Intermediate phonemic: participants decided whether each word rhymes with a target word

Deep semantic: participant decides whether each word fits the blank in a sentence

Perceptual Processing (Shallow Processing) - processing of material to extract superficial sensory characteristics (e.g., shape, colour etc.). Leads to poor retention.

Semantic Processing - processing of material to extract meaning. Leads to better retention.

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7
Q

Long-Term Memory

A

Distinctiveness:

The more distinctive a piece of information is, the more likely it is to be remembered

Relevance:

An individual is more likely to remember information related to something they know a lot about/something related to them

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8
Q

Emotionality

A

Emotional stimuli are automatically processed more deeply than neutral

Emotional stimuli activate the amygdala, which in turn activates brain regions up and down the processing pathway (LeDoux, 2000)

Greater processing of negative or threat related information has a clear evolutionary advantage, as it would allow for better avoidance of dangerous situations

This greater processing leads to greater memory for emotionally valenced (especially negative) information

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9
Q

Tripartite Division of Memory Processes

A

Encoding - Process of transforming any information into a coded representation.

Storage - Process of storing the encoded representation in the memory

Retrieval - Process of retrieving the stored representation and reconstructing the event

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10
Q

Memory processes: Encoding

A

Encoding – the processing of information for storage.
Two major encoding processes:

Organisation
Organisable information remembered better than unorganisable information

Power of instructions & incidental learning

Mnemonics help memory because they provide retrieval cues that enable one to access the information wanted:

Method of loci – walking through the rooms of a ‘memory theatre’

Reduction mnemonics – reduce the information to a set of retrieval cues e.g.
red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigoandviolet.

Elaboration mnemonics – associate each item you want to remember to a line of a rhyme that you know

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11
Q

Memory processes: Retrieval

A

Retrieval cues – tags attached to the memory which facilitate its recovery.

Tulving & Pearlstone, 1966 distinguished between the availability of a memory (it is in there somewhere) and its accessibility (it can or can’t be accessed on this occasion).

Retrieval cues make available memories accessible

Context as a retrieval cue, where context can refer to
Environment

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12
Q

Tulving’s (1983) Encoding Specificity Principle

A

“Recall will be maximised when the context at recall matches the context at encoding”

Physically reinstating the context
Mental reinstatement

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13
Q

Godden & Baddeley (1975)

A

Deep-sea divers learned word lists on beach and under water

Later recalled the words in either same or different learning environment

Divers tested in a different environment recalled 40% less than those tested in the same environment

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14
Q

Context as a retrieval cue, where context can refer to:

A

Internal state: e.g. Goodwin et al. (1969): information learned while drunk is best remembered while drunk

Mood: information learned when happy is best remembered when happy

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15
Q

Have we forgotten anything?

A

Forgetting:
Forgetting function: a mathematical formulation of the rate of successful retrieval as a function of time:
The items used in the experiment should not have been in memory ever before.

Decay - memories fade or deteriorate over time.

Interference – learning of new or old information can disrupt or prevent retrieval so memories encoded in long-term memory (LTM) are forgotten and cannot be retrieved into short-term memory (STM).

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16
Q

Two types of interference:

A

Retroactive Inhibition: recent learning interfere old memories.Retention was better over a period of sleep than over the same amount of time devoted to activity (Jenkins and Dallenbach, 1924).During sleep participants were not exposed to new material that could interfere with their memories (McGeoch, 1942).

Proactive Inhibition: old information prevents the recall of newer information. For example, when trying to recall a new phone number, the old phone number you have previously had could make itdifficult to remember the new number.

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17
Q

Sensory Stores:

A

Sensory stores (or registers) are limited to one sensory modality, and hold information very briefly

Iconic Memory: Visual sensory store

Echoic Memory: Auditory sensory store

Movement from Sensory registers to short-term memory relies on Attention

If attention is not given to the stimulus, the sensory trace will quickly decay

Remember – attention can be overt and covert

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18
Q

Short-Term Memory:

A

Very limited capacity

Shown by digit/letter/word span tasks

Typical number of items that can be retrieved is 7 (±2) (Miller, 1956)

If items can be meaningfully grouped together into chunks, more can be remembered

the information is held in the short-term store for much longer through rehearsing.

For auditory information the coding is phonological
Items need to be rehearsed in order to move to long-term memory

Items can be lost from short-term memory through displacement

New items can ‘push out’ older items

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19
Q

Long-Term Memory:

A

No known limit on capacity
Coding is semantic
Forgetting happens slowly

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20
Q

Support for the Multi-Store Model

A

Support for short-term and long-term memory comes from studies of brain-damaged patients

Look for a double dissociation

Double Dissociation: Some people perform well on task A but poorly on task B, other perform poorly on task A but well on task B

Amnesic patient HM had impaired LTM but intact STM (Corkin, 1984)

KF had impaired STM but intact LTM (Shallice & Warrington, 1970)

If memory is unitary (one process or store) this should not occur

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21
Q

What is attention?

A

Attention acts as a means of allocating limited mental resources to information and cognitive processes at a given moment.

The brain chooses from among the various stimuli that strike the senses at any given moment.
allows only some info to enter into consciousness

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22
Q

Alertness and arousal:

A

The basic aspects of attention that enable a person to extract information from the environment or to select a particular response (full alertness)

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23
Q

Vigilance

A

(sustained attention) – the ability to sustain alertness (monitor an event or stimulus) continuously

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24
Q

Selective attention

A

ability to scan events/stimuli and pick out the ones that are relevant (difficult to monitor two events in the same modality)

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25
Q

Divided attention

A

payingattentionto two or more tasks.

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26
Q

Dichotic listening

A

METHOD
Two voices, each speaking a different passage presented to the left and right ear

RESULTS : Subjects are able to accurately report the content of the attended channel, but very little of the unattended channel, and most subjects are only accurate on reporting whether the voice was of a woman or a man.

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27
Q

The Cocktail party

A

Selective Attention: you can’t attend to all conversations at once

Divisible Attention: you can converse while getting a drink at the same time

Voluntary Attention Shift: you can consciously shift your attention from one conversation to another

Involuntary Attention Shift: you suddenly hear your name being spoken by some people across the room

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28
Q

Filter Models of Attention

A

Filter theories of attention try to explain why attention is selective

Attention is directly linked to perception

Many models of perception see perception as some kind of process from raw data to interpreted information.
E.g. vision: raw retinal image -> edges/blobs -> shapes -> objects

Filter theories of attention postulate that there are certain ‘filters’ along this informational pathway that only makes certain information pass, but not other.
Where along the pathway are these filters?

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29
Q

Gray & Wedderburn’s Study (1960)

A

Participants heard a mixture of numbers and words presented to each ear, such as, “Dear – 7 – Jane” in the left ear and, “9 – Aunt – 6” in the right ear and were asked to report back what they heard.
They could successfully shadow a message that jumps back and forth between ears.

This means that people can shadow based on meaning, not just physical characteristics.

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30
Q

Von Wright, Anderson, and Stenman (1975)

A

Processing with no awareness : When a word previously associated with electric shock was presented in the non-attended channel, participants sometimes showed a galvanic skin response.
This is an example for processing of unattended words.

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31
Q

Ann Treisman’s model (1960)

A

Selective attention involves three stages:
Parallel pre-attentive analysis of the physical properties of the stimulus;

Analysis of stimuli patterns (e.g., is it speech, music, etc?). A stimulus that meets the target pattern gets passed on to the next stage. If it doesn’t then only a weak version of it is passed on;

Attention is focused on the stimuli that make it to this stage. This includes sequential evaluation of the incoming messages, and the assignment of meaning.

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32
Q

Deutsch & Deutsch’s Late Selection Model (1963)

A

All information, both attended and unattended, undergo analysis for meaning.

After such analysis, selection of a sensory input takes place.

A major effect on selecting the input is the relevance of the information during the time of processing.

33
Q

Focused visual attention

A

Attentional shifts from one target to another can be achieved:

Overtly: overt movement of head and/or eyes (saccades)

Covertly: internal shift, in conditions where there is no time for head or eye movements.

34
Q

Divided attention

A

Focused attention asks about the extent to which we can focus on one task and ignore others.

Divided attention asks about the extent to which we can do more than one task at the same time.

Strategic control: the degree to which attention can be allocated, relatively, to competing tasks is under strategic control (Wickens and Gopher, 1977)

35
Q

Clinical Attention Deficits

A

Neglect syndrome: the lack of attention to one side of space, usually the left, as a result of parietal damage
That inability is not due to a lack of sensation

36
Q

Sensory-Representational Component of Neglect - Internal Representations

A

Left-neglect patients show right side bias in their descriptions of memories

Patient describing Piazza del Duomo

The mental ‘spotlight’ fails to illuminate left-sided features whatever the viewing perspective is.

37
Q

Defining Sensation and Perception

A

Sensation
The detection of physical energy emitted or reflected by physical objects.
It occurs when energy in the external environment or the body stimulates receptors in the sense organs.

Perception
The process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information.

38
Q

Measuring Senses

A

Absolute threshold: the smallest quantity of physical energy that can be reliably detected by an observer.

39
Q

Absolute Sensory Thresholds

A

Vision:
A single candle flame from 30 miles on a dark, clear night

Audition (Hearing):
The tick of a mechanical watch from 20 feet in total quiet

Olfaction (Smell):
1 drop of perfume in a 6-room apartment

Touch:
The wing of a bee on your cheek, dropped from 1 cm

Taste:
1 tsp. Sugar in 2 gal. water

Kinaesthesia – the ability to know the position of your body even when your eyes are closed

40
Q

Visual Perception

A

the ability to interpret the surrounding environment using light in the visible spectrum reflected by objects.
The resultingperceptionis also known asvisual perception, eyesight, sight, orvision.

Roughly 40% of cerebral cortex is involved in vision.

41
Q

Eye Functions

A

Light is reflected from objects in the environment enters the eye through the pupil and is focused by the cornea and lens to form sharp images of the objects on the retina. The network of neurons that covers the back of the eye and that contains the receptors for vision (photoreceptors)

Based on feedback from the visual system, the lens of the eye adjusts its thickness to focus light on the photoreceptive cells of the retina, also known as the rods and cones, which detect the light and respond by producing neural impulses.

42
Q

Receptors in the Human Eye

A

There are two types of photoreceptors in the human retina,rodsandcones.

43
Q

Optic Nerves

A

Left : the optic nerve contains about 1 million optic nerve fibers.
Right: a) Which area in the retina causes firing in a single optic nerve fiber? This area is called receptive field of that optic fiber.
b) Overlapping receptive fields of three optic nerve fibers.

LGN cells have center-surround receptive field organization. Only 10% of inputs to LGN come from the retina. LGN function is believed to regulate neural information as it flow from retina to cortex. LGN receives more feedback from the cortex than it receives information from the eye.

44
Q

Processing

A

Bottom-up processing: Here the perception begins with the stimulus itself. The processing is carried out in one direction from the retina to the visual cortex, with each successive stage in the visual pathway carrying out ever more complex analysis of the input.

Top-down processingrefers to the use of contextual information that is being used. For example, identifying the dog was easier when you knew what to look for.

45
Q

Size constancy

A

Our perceptions of the size of objects are relatively constant despite the fact that the size of object’s image on the retina varies greatly.

The retinal size of an object image depends both on its size and on its distance from the observer.

46
Q

Gesalt Theory

A

Law of similarity: similar things tend to appear grouped together.

Law of Pragnanz (conciseness): objects are seen in a way that makes them appear as simple as possible

Law of proximity: things that are near each other seem to be grouped together.

Law of continuity: points along straight or curved lines are seen in a way that follows the smoothest path.

Law of closure: things are grouped together if they seem to complete some entity.

Law of Common Region: elements that are located within the same closed region tend to be grouped together.

47
Q

Audition

A

the sense of hearing

Sound – physical phenomenon caused by vibration of material

These vibrations trigger pressure wave fluctuations in the air

Wave forms

48
Q

Sound propagation

A

Particles oscillate back and forth about they do not propagate with the wave.

49
Q

Physical Dimensions of Sound

A
Amplitude
- height of a cycle
relates to loudness
Measured in dB (Decibels)
0 dB is hearing threshold

Wavelength (λ)
- distance between peaks

Frequency (f )
- cycles per second (1 Hz = 1 cycle per second)
relates to pitch
humans are sensitive to a frequency range of 20-20,000Hz

50
Q

Psychological Dimensions

A

Loudness (wave amplitude)
higher amplitude results in louder sounds
measured in decibels (db), 0 db represents hearing threshold

Pitch (wave frequency)
higher frequencies perceived as higher pitch
hear sounds in 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz range

51
Q

Audition- The Ear

A

Outer ear
consists of the pinna, or auricle, and theearcanal

Middle Ear
chamber between eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones called the ossicles (hammer, anvil, stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window

Inner Ear
innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicurcular canals, and vestibular sacs

Cochlea
coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear

52
Q

Tonotopic coding

A

Pressure waves distort basilar membrane on the way to the round window of tympanic duct:

Location of maximum distortion varies with
frequency of sound

Frequency information translates into information about position along basilar membrane

53
Q

Solving Problems

A

Thinking;
Reasoning
Decision Making
Judgements

54
Q

Analogies

A

Using a description of a similar problem and solution to solve the one at hand

Classic example – Duncker (1945) Gick & Holyoak (1980) – the Radiation Problem
Analogies are not always easy to spot, other factors play a role

Visual or text-based information
Animation for static imagery (Kubricht et al, 2015)
Crucially, more information might be needed (i.e. an indication of the strength of the radiation beam)

55
Q

Definition of Problem Solving

A

Definition – The process of finding a solution to a complex issue.

Can vary in complexity and type
Crosswords/Anagrams/Sudoku
Chess, Fifa, Call of Duty, Plants vs Zombies

Finding a location, making friends, dating, identifying a career path, navigating through a crowd

Problems are either Well or Ill Defined
Well defined problems are when we know all or most of what we need to know to solve it
Ill-defined problems are when we don’t know much about how to solve it, or perhaps the goal is not clear

Can be adversarial or not.

56
Q

Behavioural view (e.g. Hull, 1920)

A

Remember the general approach of behaviourists focus on Response – Reinforcement to shape behaviour

For problem solving then behaviourists argue for reproductive strategies and/or trial and error approaches

57
Q

Gestalt Approach – problem solving is a productive strategy using insight

A

Wolfgang & Kohler (1927) – Ape called Sultan seemingly having a “Eureka!” moment when trying to solve a the suspended banana problem

Banana suspended from the ceiling, objects lying around that might help.

Behaviourists would argue that Sultan simply learned a complex series of behaviours

Gestaltists argue that there is an obvious moment where Sultan knows the solution

58
Q

The General Problem Solver (GPS) – Newell & Simon (1958/1961)

A

Most influential and complete model of problem solving – for humans and machines

Means-end analysis – breaking the problem down
Problem solving takes place over a series of states

1) Initial state – statement of the initial problem
2) Intermediate states (goal states) – multiple possible moves on the path to solution
3) End state – problem solved!

Heuristic (general) and algorithm (specific) rules play a role

59
Q

Judgements

A

Drawing a conclusion from a combination of knowledge and observation

Knowledge component tends to be the key in theories of judgement

Base Rate information – the information we know about a topic

So Base Rate information, or in other words, knowledge/experience is important

60
Q

Utility

A

Expected Utility Theory states that you would make your decision according to the formula:

Value x Probability of winning for each option

61
Q

Heuristics and Bias

A

Availability heuristic – memory for a similar previous event(s) to the one at hand that can easily be recalled (e.g. “words beginning with a specific letter…)”

Representative heuristic – general idea about a task or a group of people (stereotypes)

Affect heuristic – making choices that are influenced by emotions (positive emotions = decisions viewed as higher in benefits;negative = focus on the possible downsides

62
Q

Gamblers Fallacy

A

The gamblers fallacy occurs when we believe that a specific result is “due”

However, this has no effect on the likelihood of it occurring – all the possible outcome are equally likely on each individual spin

63
Q

Sunk Cost Effect

A

Throwing Good Money after Bad
For example, continuing to spend money on repairing an old car when it would be cheaper to buy a new one - the part at fault right now is cheaper than buying a new car, but in the long run all the small repairs add up to more

64
Q

Other Factors that affect Decision Making

A

Framing (how a decision is “framed” or worded)
Can be positive or negative (or neutral)
E.g. Lives lost versus lives saved

Reference dependence or “Status quo bias”
i.e. the state before the decision is made

Loss Aversion
“Losses loom larger than gains”

65
Q

Reference Dependence

A

Sometimes called status-quo bias

Refers to how we interpret outcomes relative to a baseline

For example, if we find or lose money we see this as money gained or lost and not in terms of our net worth

66
Q

Deductive Reasoning

A

Deducing conclusions from a set of given premises

Research typically focuses on logical reasoning, using syllogisms

67
Q

Inductive Reasoning

A

Use of logical processes that are probable rather than certain to arrive at a conclusion

Inductive Reasoning underpins several factors involved with thinking.

Concept Learning
Associative Learning
Hypothesis Testing

68
Q

Concept Learning

A

Concepts are mental representations, in multiple forms of classes of an object

Concepts can be natural or logical
Logical – Defined by rules or specific characteristics e.g. shapes
Natural - less strict in how they use rules and stem from direct experience/observation

Concept formation can be explicit or implicit
Explicit – There is an underlying concept is clear (e.g. a triangle has three sides)

69
Q

Psycholinguistics

A

Sub-field of cognitive science devoted to the study of language

“The study of the mental mechanisms that make it possible for people to use language” (Garnham, 1985)

Focus on comprehension rather than production

70
Q

Psycholinguistics continued

A

Parsing: how we understand sentences

Semantic interpretation: what it means

Mental models: how text is cognitively represented

Pragmatic interpretation: how it fits with broader understanding

Evidence largely from experiments and computer modelling

71
Q

McClelland & Rumelhart (1981): computational model

A

We identify letters according to their basic elements

Word Superiority Effect: context is the best guide

72
Q

Linguistics: the work of Noam Chomsky

A

Syntactic Structures (1955) “revolutionised the scientific study of language”

Challenged the behaviourist view that language is mostly learned/modelled

Later evidence from children’s mistakes

73
Q

Universal grammar

A

Innate potential for language learning

Specific grammar rules constrain possible sentences in any particular language

‘Unconscious knowledge’, rapidly acquired in childhood

74
Q

Deep vs surface structure

A

How meaning and grammar are independent

Deep structure: the topic of the sentence (meaning)

Surface structure: how it’s expressed (form)

Same deep structure, different surface structure

Same surface structure, different deep structure

75
Q

Syntax

A

How the sentence is constructed

Any sentence needs to follow (specific) grammar rules, irrespective of meaning

These don’t change much over time

76
Q

Semantics and pragmatics

A

Usually overrides syntax – clues from context
‘Colourless green ideas sleep furiously’ (Chomsky, 1955): grammatically plausible nonsense
‘The bachelor is happily married’ – contradiction

Pragmatics: choice of words/order

Certain considerations: relevance, concision, truthfulness

Other rules apply, e.g. conversation

77
Q

Lexical access:

A

information needed to retrieve a word from the lexicon
Perceptual (spelling)
Contextual (meaning)

78
Q

Parsing

A

Assigning sentence elements to grammatical classes

Difficult unless clauses are marked

Doubly self-embedded sentences