EXAM 1

Question 1

Cognitive Psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of the mind. Focuses on understanding cognition.

Question 2

Challenges to studying the human mind

Answer 2

1. We are studying the human mind using the human mind. Our limitations and biases can block progress.
2. We cannot directly see mental processes.
   Ex: the Black Box problem. Our mind is a black box. We know what goes in and what comes out but we don’t see it happening.

Question 3

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Answer 3

an early memory researcher who predated the term Cognitive Psychologist. He tested himself.
His key findings include: Forgetting Curve: memory for information decreases with time since it was learned. Spacing Effect: learning in small chunks is typically more effective than all at once.

Question 4

Early critiques of cognitive psychology

Answer 4

John Watson was critical of cognitive psychology because of one’s inability to see mental processes. He proposed the use of introspection (describing one’s own mental processes) as a research method.

Question 5

Behaviorism

Answer 5

studies observable behavior using conditioning methods. Eliminated the mind as a topic of study.

Question 6

Cognitive revolution

Answer 6

started in the 1950s. Shift from studying only behavior to also studying cognition. To understand cognition: measure observable behavior & make inferences about underlying cognitive activity.

Question 7

Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART)

Answer 7

show numbers (0-9) one at a time on a screen. Participants press the spacebar for each number as long as its not the number 3. If it’s the number 3, don’t press anything. Test proves that it’s hard not to press 3 unless you’re paying very close attention.

Question 8

Replication & Replication Crisis

Answer 8

replication study is when you rerun a prior study to see what you find. A study replicates if you find the same patterns. Some have argued a replication crisis because so many psychology studies do not replicate. If it does NOT replicate, the original study was wrong, the new study was wrong, or both can be true.

Factors involved in replication crisis include: confirmation bias (researchers confirming their pre-existing ideas), incentives (needing publications for education and career), errors (ex: statistical errors), fraud (fabricating data or results).

Question 9

Cognitive neuroscience

Answer 9

the study of the biological basis of cognition. How the structure and function of the brain contribute to mental errors and successes. Measures observable behavior, makes observations about the brain, draws conclusions about underlying cognitive activity.

Question 10

Levels of analysis for studying cognition

Answer 10

studying processes in multiple ways to add depth to our understanding. Example: remembering a name when you see a face. Chemical→ Neurons activated → Brain structure → Brain function → Performance (do I remember the face/ name?)

Question 11

Localization of function

Answer 11

parts of the brain are specialized for certain functions, but humans very rarely are just using one part of their brain.

Question 12

Distributed representation

Answer 12

real world activities use multiple areas of the brain (sensory, motor, cognitive)

Question 13

Prosopagnosia

Answer 13

the inability to recognize faces

Question 14

Super-recognizers

Answer 14

remembering every face you see/ inability to forget faces

Question 15

Phonagnosia

Answer 15

the inability to recognize voices

Question 16

Single dissociations

Answer 16

when damage to one part of the brain affects one ability and not the other.
Famous example: Phineas Gage, a railroad foreman who was impaled in the frontal lobe with an iron rod.
One brain injury. Change in decision making, no change in memory.

Question 17

Double dissociations

Answer 17

suggests that two different brain areas have two different cognitive functions. Allows us to better identify brain regions that are necessary for certain processes and not others. Examples:
Damage to Wernicke’s Area: can produce language, cannot understand it
Damage to Broca’s Area: can understand language, cannot produce it.

Question 18

Electroencephalography (EEG)

Answer 18

electrodes placed on a participant that measure the brain’s electrical activity. Activity is found in groups of neurons on the cortex.

Question 19

Event-related potential (ERP)

Answer 19

combines an EEG with a task. Measures the brain’s electrical activity that results from certain sensory, cognitive, or motor events. Examines specific parts of the brain wave (ex: peak).

Question 20

Perception

Answer 20

involves organizing and interpreting sensory information. It does NOT equal reality. Sensation and perception work together.
Ex:
Sensation is receiving info, sensory organs absorb energy from a stimulus in the environment
Sensory receptors convert energy into neural impulses and send them to specific areas of the brain

Two key processes involve top down and bottom up processing

Question 21

Gestalt Laws of Perception

Answer 21

perceive objects by using patterns. Perception can acknowledge experience. Perceptual characteristics play a huge role.
Sets of laws include
Law of good continuation:
Lines tend to be seen as following the smoothest path
Law of simplicity:
Stimulus patterns are perceived so that the structure is as simple as possible
Law of similarity:
Similar things appear grouped together

Question 22

Helmholtz’s Unconscious Inference

Answer 22

we use our knowledge to perceive, but often not in a conscious way

Question 23

Likelihood principle

Answer 23

we make decisions based on similar situations we have encountered in the past

Question 24

Regularities of the environment

Answer 24

an example of the top-down approach (we infer much of what we know about the world). Perception is influenced by what is commonly seen in nature

Question 25

Oblique effect

Answer 25

people can perceive verticals and horizontals more easily than other orientations

Question 26

Light from above assumption

Answer 26

light usually comes from above. We perceive shadows as specific info about depth and distance. Ex: footprint in sand.

Question 27

Semantic regularities

Answer 27

scene perception is influenced by what is happening within that scene and what we know about similar scenes

Question 28

Schema

Answer 28

knowledge of a typical version of a scene (what might you hear or see in a library?, what might you hear or see in a train station?)

Question 29

Perceptual constancy

Answer 29

the tendency to see familiar objects as having a standard shape, size, color, or location regardless of changes in the angle of perspective, distance, or lighting. Errors in this can cause illusions. Ex: Adelson’s Checker-Shadow Illusion.

Question 30

Short Answer: Define top down/ bottom up processing and how they contribute to perception of objects and events.

Answer 30

Top down processing is the encryption of information that is already known. The process uses a person’s knowledge, experience and expectations. Some examples include using our knowledge of a language to understand speech. Also includes (people we know, experiences we’ve had, day we’re having). Bottom up processing is the encryption of raw and new information. Uses information from
the senses. (is a room loud or quiet? Crowded or empty? Light or dark?)

Question 31

Short answer: Define optical illusions and what causes them.

Answer 31

Optical illusions are images or pictures that we perceive differently than they really are. Optical illusions are a result of perceptual errors. Causes include color constancy, size constancy, auditory illusions, and perceptual constancy. This is an example of unconscious inference.