Exam 1 Flashcards
What is cognitive psychology?
the study of how people learn structure, store, and use knowledge; attention, perception, higher mental processes
Where did the study of cognition begin?
With Greek philosophers
What is behaviorism?
restricted psychology to observable behavior and stimulus-response associations
What is 1 pro and 1 con for behaviorism?
+ rigorous methods
- impeded cognitive psych
What are the 3 ways behaviorism lost its hold on psychology?
- “cognitive maps” rather than learned sequences
- ex. coming up with different routes even if you’ve never used them - Verbal behavior
- kids say things they’ve never heard, use incorrect grammar - Misbehavior of Organisms
- behavior reflects evolution, not simply learning or reinforcement
Who wrote the 1st cognitive psychology textbook and when?
Neisser, 1967
What are the 3 ways psychology has changed since the 1980s?
- cognitive approach dominates
- development of connectionist models & cognitive neuroscience
- replacement of IP approach w/ ideas of embodied cognition and evolutionary psychology
What is the information processing approach?
our brains are like computers, we take in and process information
What do we assume when taking the (serial) computer analogy?
- serial processing: one thing at a time, steps to figure out a problem
- limited capacity ‘CPU’
- passive reception of information
What is reaction time?
Response time
What does a consistent difference in RT reflect?
difference in cognitive processing - could be difficulty or # of steps
What is Donders’ subtractive method?
estimation of a time required for a particular process - add that process to a task, measure increase in RT
What is a simple reaction time and an example?
one reaction to one thing
ex. one button, one light. see the light, press the button as fast as you can.
What is choice reaction time and an example?
must respond differently to two different things
ex. 2 buttons, 2 lights. see red light, press left button; see green light, press right button
What did Donders predict? Was it correct?
choice RT would be longer than simple RT - yes, correct
What is an example of priming?
does a ___ have wings?
-sentence verification test
say vulture first, robin second - robin was primed by vulture, you’re already thinking about birds
What is serial processing?
processing one thing at a time
What is parallel processing?
simultaneously processing 2 or more things at a time (multitasking)
What is intentional processing?
fully conscious
ex. playing an oboe - we know nothing about it and have to put effort into learning
What is automatic processing?
something well-practiced; like driving on a familiar road - you don’t remember much about your trip or where you are
How is bottom-up/data-driven processing determined?
sensory processes
What is top-down/conceptually driven processing?
understanding or perception is guided by stored knowledge (memory) or other internal events; you are generating this yourself
ex. thinking about a unicorn, reading a sentence with the letters jumbled
Where does most thinking lie within top-down or bottom-up?
Somewhere in between the two extremes
What is explicit knowledge?
knowledge you can verbalize
What is tacit knowledge?
implicit; you have the knowledge but can’t fully explain it
- ex. riding a bike
- most procedural knowledge is tacit
What is cognition?
The mental processes and activities used in perceiving, thinking, and remembering
ex. remembering a string of numbers
What is metacognition?
knowledge and beliefs about cognition, including awareness, understanding, and monitoring of one’s own cognitive state and cognitive activities
ex. thinking about how difficult this exam will be
T/F:
Cognition is inactive
False- cognition is active, we selectively seek out information
ex. scoping out the environment subconsciously
T/F: cognitive processes are efficient and accurate and have been shaped by evolution
True
T/F:
Positive information is easier to deal with than negative information
True - “what is” v “what is not”
T/F: cognitive processes are not interrelated and highly interdependent
false
T/F:
cognition uses only top-down processes
false- uses both top-down and bottom-up processes
What are the two theories for object and pattern recognition?
template matching model, feature analysis theory,
What is the template matching model?
Claims a stimulus must be compared with a set of specific patterns (templates in memory) - like a stencil, miniature copies
What are the problems with template matching model?
size matching orientation matching (alignment) configuration matching memory load (huge # of templates required) incomplete figures
What are the 4 steps of the feature analysis theory?
- register sensory input
- detect features
- compare detected features to stored info (memory)
- decide on best match
What is evidence for feature analysis theory?
letters have distinctive features
confusion errors - C vs. G vs. H
“feature detectors” in visual cortex - cells that respond most strongly to one feature
results of some visual search tasks - like trying to find your car in the parking lot
What are some problems with feature analysis theory?
- strictly bottom-up theory, but top-down is important
2. global (Gestalt) effects - not holistic, don’t involve detection of pieces
What are complexity effects?
when we make features more complex and the task gets easier
What is the word superiority effect?
letters are identified more quickly and accurately when they appear as part of a word
What are context effects?
you will categorize things differently based on context alone, not features
ex. A 13 C, 12 13 14
What is a perceptual set?
a readiness to perceive things in a certain way, usually due to expectations
ex. pictures of animals > rat
pictures of heads > man
What is subjective contour?
illusory contour - background color/lighting makes you see different images
What three words could be used to describe attention?
conscious, selective, limited
What are the three benefits of attention?
accuracy, speed, memory
What gets your attention?
Goal-directed selection
Stimulus-driven capture
What is goal-directed selection?
- what type of processing does it take?
top-down processing, intentionally deploy attention to specific objects or spatial regions
- voluntary and requires effort
- can have long duration, required for vigilance (sustained attention in monitoring low-frequency events)
- featural distinctiveness: easier if something sticks out
What is stimulus-driven capture?
bottom-up “surprise”
- involuntary, rapid response
- quickly dissapates
- abrupt onset
- change
What is the “Cocktail-party phenomenon?”
we have the ability to selectively attend one conversation, but not to several at once
Dichotic Listening Technique
came from people listening to 1 story while reading another do not comprehend both
What is shadowing?
repeating message immediately and accurately
What are the + and - of attended (shadowed) message?
+ often easy to shadow one message
- couldn’t follow 1 of 2messages presented to the same ear unless presented with the same voice and loudness
What are the + and - of unattended (unshadowed) message?
- could report almost nothing about ‘rejected’ message
+ could notice if sex of speaker was changed or if voice was replaced by a tone in the middle - didn’t notice language changes like English to German
+ often notice their name in unattended message (we can notice physical properties, but not meaning
What are the theories of selective attention?
- Filter (bottleneck)
- Neisser’s 2-stage model
- Feature integration
What is the Filter (bottleneck) theory of attention?
assume limited capacity ‘CPU’ - one process at a time
- sensory inputs are selected on basis of physical properties (loudness, pitch)
What are the problems with the filter theory of attention?
- how do we switch “channels” if we’re unaware of the content (meaning) of unattended inputs (how do we hear our name in unattended conversation)
- words in unattended messages can intrude on shadowed message if they fit (left and right ear different sentences)
What is Neisser’s 2 stage model of attention?
proposed that attention/perception involved both
- preattentive (rapid & parallel) processes
- attentive (controlled & serial) processes
What is the feature integration theory?
Triesman - current theory of attention and pattern recognition that involves 2 successive processes
- feature detection
- focused attention (feature integration)
(Feature Integration Theory)
What is feature detection?
“distributed attention”
- automatic and rapid parallel process of detecting features (breaking it down into parts)
- certain features are more salient than others (color; orientation)
- supports “global attention” - can segregate scenes into discrete areas, select targets for later ID, and monitor for salient and unexpected events
ex. go to supermarket for avocado, search for avocado-like features
(Feature Integration Theory)
What is Focused Attention?
Feature integration
- required to identify objects and correctly detect combos of features
- requires serial processing and time
- can be influences by stored knowledge (ex bananas are yellow)
ex. put together which features go with which (avocados are green and round)
What evidence supports the Feature Integration Theory?
- pop-out research: targets that differ from surrounding distractors by a single dimension are spotted effortlessly and detection time does not depend on # of distractors
- ex. at a football game see someone on away side wearing orange - illusory conjunction - “binding problem,” insufficient attention
- incorrect impression about features that go together
ex. seeing what you expect to see, fruit: red banana, yellow apple - will report normal color
What is inattentional blindness?
unattended events/objects are not consciously registered
- often go unnoticed
ex. gorilla basketball video
What is change blindness?
- brief blanks cannot be seen
- gradual change often missed (ex. rock appearing in scenery video)
- “lost” person asks for directions, helper staring at map doesn’t notice when “lost” person switches
What is attentional blink?
when 2 targets are presented in rapid sequence, later target is often missed
What is mindless reading
Reading without attention
What is divided attention and dual-task performance?
- what are the effects
We think we can multitask, but we can’t
- pseudo-multitasking
- performance decrements noticed on both tasks
- insufficient practice
Many well-practiced skills are ___ - seem to require no effort or attention
automatic
Ex. reading
What are the three main factors that affect dual-task performance?
- practice
- task similarity
- task difficulty
What is the cognitive unconscious?
some cognition occurs without conscious awareness
What is blindsight? (cognitive unconscious)
vision without awareness
- patients w/brain damage couldn’t see part or all of visual field, yet they are able to respond appropriately
- can answer questions about what’s in front of them
What are “automatic” processes?
ex. driving a long way but not realizing where you’ve gone/what you’ve seen
What is subliminal perception?
behavior and physio responses can be influence by stimuli below threshold of awareness
ex. movie theaters slipping in clip of popcorn
What are four responses of subliminal perception?
- responses in dichotic listening tasks - bank interpreted as river or money depending on ear
- very brief of low intensity stimuli, or masked stimuli can have effects
- effects seem limited to weak but significant changes in arousal, positive or negative affect and other non-specific responses
- subliminal perception of complex messages ex rock music
