exam 1 Flashcards
Empiricism
belief that we acquire knowledge through though empirical evidence-> aka experience and observation
Rationalism
the route to knowledge is through thinking and logical analysis. Don’t need experiments to develop new knowledge, important for theory development
Gestalt psychology
we best understand psychological phenomena when we view them as organized,structured wholes. Studied insight, seeking to understand the unobservable mental event by which someone goes from having no idea about how to solve a problem to understanding it fully in what seems a mere moment of time
ecological validity
methods, material and setting of the study must approximate the real-world that is being examined
computer simulations
attempt to make computers simulate human cognition performance on various tasks
Forebrain
located toward top and front. comprises the cerebral cortex, the basal ganglia, the limbic system, thalamus, and hypothalamus.
midbrain
helps to control eye movement and coordination
hindbrain
medulla oblongata ->bodily functions, pons -> relay station. cerebellum-> balance
cerebral cortex
outerlayer of the cerebral hemisphere, plays vital role in our thinking, sensing, voluntary movement
limbic system
emotion, motivation, memory and learning
hippocampus
influence learning and memory-. memory formation and spatial memory
thalamus: relays sensory info to cerebral cortex
Sulcus/sulci
small grooves in the brain
gyrus/gyri:
bulges between adjacent sulci or fissures. these folds greatly increase the surface area of the cortex
cerebral hemispheres
two halves of the brain, each are responsible for diff things. left= language, movement, examining past experinces to find patterns. Right=semantic knowledge , practical langauge use, self-recognition
contralateral
transmission from one side of the brain to another
ipsilateral
transmission on the same side of the brain
corpus callosum
neural fibers that connect the two hemisphere
tendency toward contralateral specialization & hemispheric specialization (especially for language
some functions are highly lateralized but most depend on integration of both hemispheres
split-brain patients
patients who had severed corpus callosum, right hemisphere is organized into relatively independent functioning units that work in parallel. info can’t cross from one hemi to the other
Frontal lobe
motor processing, higher thought processes-> abstract reasoning, prob solving, planning and judgment. producing speech
parietal lobe:
somatosensory processing, receive inputs regarding touch, pain, temperature, limb position. consciousness and paying attention
occipital lobe:
visual processing. each area specialized for one thing
temporal lobe
auditory processing and comprehending language. retention of visual memories
Motor cortex
specializes in planning, control, and execution of movement-> particularly movement involving any kind of delayed response
motor homunculus
dunno yet
somatosensory cortex:
receives info from the senses about pressure, texture, temp, pain
association areas:
dunno yet
Post-mortem studies
ideal: ppl study and document behavior of ppl while they are alive, when they die researchers look at lesions in the brain. Infer that lesioned locations may be related to the behavior that was affected
animal studies
used to understand the physiological processes and functions of the living brain. To study changing activity-> use invivo research(research carried out in the body)
EEG/ERP
recordings of electrical frequencies and intensities of the brain, typically recorded over long periods. study activity of indicative of changing mental states. ERP- the record of a small change in the brain’s electrical activity in response to a stimulating event. Reveals only general info about location of activity. Provides a more complex understanding of the relationship between brain and cog development. Pro- relatively noninvasive Con- imprecise
MRI
reveals high-resolution images of the structure of the brain bu computing and analyzing magnetic changes in energy of the orbits of nuclear particles in the molecules of the body. P-clear pic of brain
fMRI
creates magnetic field that induces changes in the particles of oxygen atoms. More active areas draw more oxygenated blood than do less active areas in the brain. The differences in the amounts of oxygen consumed form the basis for fMRI. measurements. P-shows images of the brain in action, more precise than PET. C- requires individual to be placed in uncomfortable scanner for some time
PET
participants ingest a mildly radioactive form of oxygen that emits positrons at it is metabolized. Changes in concentration of positrons in targeted areas of the brain are then measured. p- shows images of the brain in action. c-less useful for fast procedures
Viewer-Centered:representation
individual stores the way the object looks to them, what matters is the appearance of an object to the viewer.shape of object changes depending on the angle from which we look at it. have to rotate object in our mind until it fits one of the stored images
object centered representation
individual stores a representation of the object independent of its appearance to the viewer.shape of the object will stay stable across diff orientation
simultagnosia
damage to temporal region of the cortex. person is unable to pay attention to more than one object at a time
Agnosia
damage to the border of temporal and occipital lobes or restriction of oxygen to these areas.have normal sensations of objects -> can perceive colors and shapes but can’t recognize what the objects are. trouble with what pathway
prosopagnosia
inability to recognize faces-> implies damage of some kind of the configurational system. lesions in right fusiform gyrus
Configuration system
specializes in recognizing larger configurations, not well equipped to analyse parts of objects or the construction of the objects. recognize faces using this system. harder to recognize parts of faces than the face as a whole
Part-based recognition (feature analysis system)
recognize parts of objects and in assembling those parts into distinctive wholes. reader may learn the appearances of words element by element and then come to recognize the words as wholes
Gestalt approach to form perception
helps us understand how we perceive groups of objects or even parts of objects to form integral wholes. whole differs from the sum of its individual parts
Propositional theory
suggests we do not store mental mental reps in the form of images of words, experience mental reps as images of epiphenomena. mental reps closely resemble abstract form of a proposition-> meaning underlying a particular relationship among concepts
Dual-code hypothesis
use both pictorial and verbal codes for representing info in our minds, these two codes organize info into knowledge we can act on, store and later retrieve
Imagery
mental rep of things that are not currently seen or sensed by the sense organs
Symbolic codes
form of knowledge representation that has been chosen arbitrarily to stand for something that does not perceptually resemble what being presented. Our minds use arbitrary symbols (words and combo of words) to represent many ideas
Analog Codes
resemble the objects they represent. mental images we form in our mind are analogous to the physical stim we observe
Procedural knowledge:
knowledge of procedures that can be implemented. ex) steps involved in tying shoes, driving car
declarative knowledge
facts that can be stated. ex) date of birth, name of friend
representation
form for what you know in your mind about things, ideas, events, etc in the outside world
Dual Tasks
can be automated to function as a unit. ex) more accidents when talking on a phone than listening to a radio while driving. Phone= more emotions and anger expressed
Change Blindness
inability to detect changes in objects or scene viewed
Neglect
attentional dysfunction in which participants ignore half of their visual field that is contralateral to the hemi of the brain that has a lesion
Habituation
becoming accustomed to a stim so that we gradually pay less and less attention to it, occurs automatically
Dishabituation
a change in a familiar stim prompts us to start noticing it again, occurs automatically
Sensory adaptation
lessing of attention to a stim that is not subject to conscious control. Occurs directly in sense organ, not brain
Automatic Processing:
involves no conscious control, takes little effort, ex) writing name
Controlled Processing
accessible to conscious control-> requires it. occurs sequentailly_> one step at a time. takes a relatively long time to execute
Automatization
tasks that start off as controlled processes become automatic. ex) driving a car
Negatively accelerated Curve
effects of practice on automatization show this curve, early practice effects are great and later practice effects make less difference in the degree of automatization
Preconscious Processing
stored info includes stored memories that we are not using at a given time but can summon when needed, Some info outside our conscious awareness but may still be available to consciousness or at least cog processing
Priming
subjects presented a 1st stim (the prime), then given a break and asked to a make judgement of whether the 2nd stim is the same as the first. Presentation of the 1st stim may affect the perception of the 2nd.
Blindsight
traces of visual perception in blind areas of ppl who have lesions in the brain
