Exam 1 Flashcards
What is metacognition?
Awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes
What is the recency effect?
The observation that our recall is especially accurate for the final items in a series of stimuli
What is Gestalt psychology?
Emphasizes that humans have basic tendencies to actively organize what we see and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts i.e. looking at a circle with two lines and seeing a face
What is a gestalt?
Overall quality that transcends the individual elements
What are the principles of behaviorism?
Psychology must focus on objective, observable reactions to stimuli in the environment, rather than on introspection
What is the psychology technique called introspection?
Carefully trained observers would systematically analyze their own sensations and report them as objectively as possible, under standardized conditions
What is the operational definition?
A precise definition that specifies exactly how a concept is to be measured
Studies are high in __ if the conditions in which the research is conducted are similar to the natural setting where the results will be applied
Ecological validity
__ is an interdisciplinary field that tries to answer questions about the mind
Cognitive science
__ is a branch of computer science. It seeks to explore human cognitive processes by creating computer models that show “intelligent behavior” and also accomplish the same tasks that humans do
Artificial intelligence (AI)
What is pure artificial intelligence (pure AI)?
An approach that designs a program to accomplish a cognitive task as efficiently as possible, even if the computer’s processes are completely different from that of humans
__ attempts to take human limitations into account in contrast of pure AI. It must produce the same number of errors - as well as correct responses - that a human produces
Computer simulation / computer modeling
What is the computer metaphor?
Our cognitive processes work like a computer
The __ approach argued that our mental processes are similar to the operations of a computer, and information progresses through our cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time
Information-processing
What is the connectionist approach?
Cognitive processes can be understood in terms of networks that link together neuron-like processing units (many operations can proceed simultaneously)
The __ is the outer layer of the brain that is essential for your cognitive processes
Cerebral cortex
What is cognitive neuroscience?
Combines the research techniques of cognitive psychology with various methods of assessing the structure and function of the brain
What is social cognitive neuroscience?
Consists of neuroscience techniques to explore the kind of cognitive processes that we use in our interactions with other people
What are brain lesions?
The destruction of an area in the brain, most often by strokes, tumors, blows to the head, and accidents
What is a positron emission tomography (PET) scan?
Researchers measure blood flow in the brain by injecting the participant with a low dose of a radioactive chemical just before this person works on a cognitive task
What is a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?
Based on the principle that oxygen-rich blood is an index of brain activity; researchers have used the fMRI method to examine regions of the brain that process visual information
What does the event-related potential (ERP) technique do?
Records the very brief fluctuations in the brain’s electrical activity, in response to a stimulus such as an auditory tone or a visual word
__ emphasizes the importance of information from the stimuli registered on your sensory receptors. It uses only a low-level sensory analysis of the stimulus
Bottom-up processing
__ emphasizes how our concepts, expectations, and memory influence our cognitive processes. It requires high-level cognition
Top-down processing
The term __ refers to the systematic variation in the way that groups of people perform on the same cognitive task
Individual differences
The term cognition refers to:
The acquisition, storage, transformation, and use of knowledge
__ uses previous knowledge to gather and interpret the stimuli registered by the senses
Perception
During __, you identify a complex arrangement of sensory stimuli, and you perceive that this pattern is separate from its background
Object recognition or pattern recognition
The __ is the actual object that is “out there” in the environment i.e. the pen on your desk
Distal stimulus
The __ is the information registered on your sensory receptors i.e. the image that your pen creates on your retina
Proximal stimulus
What is your retina?
It covers the inside back portion of your eye
- It contains millions of neurons that register and transmit visual information from the outside world
__ is a large-capacity storage system that records information from each of the senses with reasonable accuracy
Sensory memory
In relation to vision, __ preserves an image of a visual stimulus for a brief period after the stimulus has disappeared
Iconic memory or visual sensory memory
__ is located in the occipital lobe of the brain; it is the portion of your cerebral cortex that is concerned with basic processing of visual stimuli
Primary visual cortex
The __ plays an important role in recognizing complex objects such as faces
Inferotemporal cortex
What is the ambiguous figure-ground relationship?
The figure and the ground reverse from time to time, so that the figure becomes the ground and then becomes the figure again
What is the explanation for figure-ground reversals?
1) The neurons in the visual cortex become adapted to one figure, so you are more likely to see the alternative version
2) People try to solve the visual paradox by alternating between two reasonable solutions
What are illusory contours (also called subjective contours)?
We see edges even though they are not physically present in the stimulus
What is the feature-analysis theory?
A visual stimulus is composed of a small number of characteristics and each visual characteristic is called a distinctive feature i.e. The letter “R” contains 3 distinctive features
What is the recognition-by-components theory?
A specific view of an object can be represented as an arrangement of simple 3-D shapes called geons
What is the viewer-centered approach?
We store a small number of views of three-dimensional objects, rather just one view
What is the word superiority effect?
We can identify a single letter more accurately and more rapidly when it appears in a meaningful word than when it appears alone by itself or a string of unrelated letters
What is change blindness?
We fail to detect a change in a objet or a scene (sometimes if we overuse top-down processing)
What is inattentional blindness?
When we are paying attention to some events in a scene, we may fail to notice when an unexpected but completely visible object suddenly appears
In general, psychologists use the term __ when people fail to notice a change in some part of the stimulus. In contrast, they use the term __ when people fail to notice that a new object has appeared
Change blindness; inattentional blindness
What does it mean when we recognize faces on a holisticholistic (recognition) basis?
In terms of their overall shape and structure; we perceive a face in terms of its gestalt (overall quality that transcends its individual elements)
People with __ cannot recognize human faces visually, though they perceive other objects relatively normally
Prosopagnosia
The location most responsible for face recognition is the __
Temporal cortex (the specific location is known as the fusiform face area, in the lower portion of the temporal cortex)
What is the face-inversion effect?
People are much more accurate in identifying upright faces, compared to upside-down faces
In a study where 22 individuals with schizophrenia and 20 without, were asked to identify the emotions of people’s faces on photographs, what were the results?
The two groups of people had similar accuracy rates, although the control group responded significantly faster than the individuals with schizophrenia
During __, your auditory system must record the sound vibrations generated by someone talking; then the system must translate these vibrations into a sequence of sounds that you perceive to be it
Speech perception
A(n) __ is the basic unit of spoken language, such as the sounds a, k, and th
Phoneme
A third source of variability is called __: when you are pronouncing a particular phoneme, your mouth remains in somewhat the same shape it was when you pronounced the previous phoneme
Coarticulation
What is phonemic restoration?
They can fill in a missing phoneme, using contextual meaning as a cue i.e. The orange *eel
What is the McGurk effect?
Refers to the influence of visual information on speech perception, when individuals must integrate both visual and auditory information
What is the location within the cerebral cortex that gives rise to the McGurk effect?
The superior temporal sulcus (located in the right side of the horizontal groove along the center of the temporal lobe of the cortex)
According to the __, humans are both with a specialized device that allows us to decode speech stimuli
Special mechanism approach (also called the speech-is-special approach)
What is a phonetic module (or speech module)?
A special-purpose neural mechanism that specifically processes all aspects of speech perception
Early researchers asked people to listen to a series of ambiguous sounds, such as a sound halfway between a ‘b’ and a ‘p’. People who heard these sounds typically showed __
Categorical perception; they heard either a clear-cut ‘b’ or a clear-cut ‘p’
The __ argue that we can explain speech perception without proposing any special phonetic module
General mechanism approaches
What are the 5 flaws of brain scans?
1) Unnatural environment for cognition (fMRI studies: selection bias)
2) Scans are indirect measurements of brain activity
3) Colors exaggerate the effects in the brain
4) Brain images are statistical compilations
5) Brain areas activate for various reasons
The frequency at which a proton precesses - the time it takes for the axis to sweep out a cone once, is called the __, that depends on the strength of a magnetic field
Resonant frequency
Why are pictures of brains splotched with sharply defined colored regions highly misleading?
Because they suggest well-defined processing blocks (the module metaphor), when in fact the neural activity may be distributed in more of a loosely defined network
Scientists agree that changes in blood flow and oxygenation levels in particular areas of the brain signal __ neural activity
Greater
What is meant by “brain images are statistical compilations”?
Scientists line up all individual images with one another and then combine the data and take averages for the subjects in the environment. Therefore, the image usually does not represent any one person’s brain
Reason and rationality happen in the __ areas, whereas emotion and irrationality are experienced in the __
Cortical; limbic system
Which area specializes in language in the left frontal lobe?
Broca’s area
According to the article “Paradoxical Perceptions” what is the goal of perception?
To compute rapidly the approximate answers that are good enough for immediate survival
What is the goal of rational conception of logic?
To take time to produce a more accurate appraisal
What is the motion aftereffect?
This effect arises because your visual system has motion-detecting neurons signalling different directions, and the stripes constantly moving in one direction “fatigue” the neurons that would normally signal that direction. The result is a “rebound” that makes even stationary objects appear to move in the opposite direction
According to the article “Paradoxical Perceptions” __ is virtually instantaneous, whereas __ takes time
Perception; cognition
Visual search involves not just sight but __ and __
Memory; abstract thought
Although we sometimes must work harder at visual search, we typically succeed
The structures in the human eye that support high-resolution vision, called __, are clustered in a central area of the retina known as the __
Cones; fovea
Looking for something that you are unlikely to find - something that in the overwhelming majority of instances will not be present, is dubbed the __
Low prevalence effect (can greatly reduce accuracy)
How is the low prevalence effect slightly different from inattentional blindness?
The misses of the low prevalence effect are because of an unconscious mental calculation, not lack of attention
When you repeatedly look for a target without finding it, what does your brain do?
It begins to assume nothing is there, making you less attuned and watchful
In the study of recorded eye movements where subjects looked for a partial hidden circle, what were the results of the passive search and the active search?
Passive search - They fixate for longer periods and move their eyes less (MORE SUCCESSFUL)
Active search - People move their eyes around more frequently
How can people improve their search abilities in the study of active or passive searching?
By learning to flexibly implement either an active or passive approach, depending on the circumstances
active: looking around nearby stores at the mall for your friend
passive: browsing vegetables for your salad
Generally, what are the results of the research on stroboscopic effects (video gamers, baggage screeners, and active vs passive looking)?
With training, people can become better searchers
- the stroboscopic group showed far larger improvements, suggesting that the training helped them better capture and hold visual memories
__ can be defined as a concentration of mental activity that allows you to take in a limited portion of the vast stream of information available from both your sensory world and your memory
Attention
In a __, you try to pay attention to two or more simultaneous messages, responding appropriately to each message
Divided-attention ask
- when attempting this, both your speed and accuracy suffer
In the driving / cell phone study, Strayer and his colleagues discovered that the participants who used cell phones showed a form of __ blindness
Inattentional
What does a selective-attention task require?
People to pay attention to certain kinds of information, while ignoring other ongoing information
What are the 3 kinds of selective-attention tasks?
1) Dichotic listening
2) The Stroop Effect
3) Visual Search
What is dichotic listening (example and in the laboratory)?
Example: Held a phone to one ear to hear an important message, while your other ear registers the words from a loud nearby conversation
Lab: Participants are asked to shadow the message in one ear (they listen to the message and repeat it after the speaker)
When are people more likely to process the unattended message?
1) When both messages are presented slowly
2) The main task is not challenging
3) The meaning of the unattended message is immediately relevant
Even if you are paying close attention to one conversation, you may notice if your name is mentioned in a nearby conversation; this phenomenon is known as the __
Cocktail party effect
What is working memory?
The brief, immediate memory for material that we are currently processing
Conway (2001) found that students who had a __ working-memory capacity noticed their name only 205 of the time, and students with a __ working-memory capacity noticed their name 65% of the time on the same dichotic-listening task
High; low
- People with a low capacity have difficulty blocking out the irrelevant information such as their name; they are easily distracted from the task
According to the __, people take a long time to name the ink color when that color is used in printing an incongruent word
Stroop effect
Why does the Stroop effect demonstrate selective attention?
People take longer to pay attention to a color when they are distracted by another feature of the stimulus, namely, the meaning of the name itself
What is the popular explanation for the Stroop effect?
Adults have had much more practice in reading words than in naming colors
What is the emotional Stroop task?
People are instructed to name the ink color of words that could have strong emotional significance to them. These people often require more time to name the color of the stimuli because they have trouble ignoring their emotional reaction to them
__ disorder is an excessive fear of a specific object
Phobic
What is attentional bias?
A situation in which people pay extra attention to some stimuli or some features
What is the cognitive-behavioral approach?
Psychological problems arise from inappropriate thinking (cognitive factors) and inappropriate learning (behavioral factors)
In __, the observer must find a target in a visual display that has numerous distractors
Visual search
Wolfe (2005) found that people are much more accurate in identifying a target if:
It appears frequently
What is the isolated-feature / combined-feature effect?
People can typically locate an isolated feature more quickly than a combined feature
What is the feature-present / feature-absent effect?
People can typically locate a feature that is present (positive) more quickly than a feature that is absent (negative)
When people are searching for a feature that is present, the target item in the display usually captures their attention __
Automatically
It’s easier to spot a movement-__ object than a movement-__ object
present; absent
What is saccadic eye movement and what is the purpose of it?
Rapid movement of the eyes from one spot to the next
Purpose: During reading, is to bring the center of your retina into position over the words you want to read
A very small region in the center of your retina, known as the __, has better acuity than other retinal regions
Fovea
The term __ refers to the number of letters and spaces that we perceive during a fixation
Perceptual span
__ refers to the fact that readers can access information about upcoming words even though they are currently fixated on a word to the left (in English) of those words
Parafoveal preview
Parafoveal preview can cause __ fixation durations on a nearby word when information about the properties of the text is available parafoveally
Shorter
What are regressions?
When readers move their eyes backward to earlier material in the sentence
The __ is generally responsible for the kind of attention required for visual search, in which you must shift your attention around to various spatial locations
Orienting attention network
The __ cortex is the region of the brain that we use in visual searches
Parietal
What is a brain lesion?
Specific brain damage caused by strokes, accidents, or other traumas
What is unilateral spatial neglect?
When a person ignores part of his/her visual field
i.e. A woman with a lesion in the left parietal region may have trouble noticing the food on the right side of her plate
According to PET-scan research, the __ cortex shows increased blood flow when people perform visual searches and when they pay attention to spatial locations
Parietal
The __ is responsible for the kind of attention we use when a task focuses on conflict
Executive attention network
- it inhibits your automatic responses to stimuli
The __ portion of the cortex is the region of your brain where the executive attention network is especially active
Prefrontal
The __ attention network is primarily involved during top-down control of attention. This network begins to develop at about age 3
Executive attention
The __ is typically active when we must inhibit an automatic response and produce a less obvious response
Executive attention network
__ theory proposed a similar narrow passageway in human information processing
Bottleneck
- limits the quantity of information to which we can pay attention
- when one message is currently flowing through a bottleneck, the other messages must be left behind
According to __ theory, we sometimes look at a scene using distributed attention, and we process each item in the scene, one at a time
Feature-integration
__ attention allows you to register features automatically; you use parallel processing across the field, and you register all the features simultaneously
Distributed
__ attention requires slower serial processing, and you can identify one object at a time. It is necessary when the objects are more complex
Focused
What is an illusory conjunction?
An inappropriate combination of features, perhaps combining one object’s shape with a nearby object’s color
What is a binding problem?
When your visual system does not represent the important features of an object as a unified whole
For example, suppose that you are standing near a lake, looking out at the beach, what kind of attention are you probably using?
Distributed attention because it can quickly gather information about the average size of pebbles (rather than registering EVERY single pebble on the beach)
__ means the awareness that people have about the outside world and about their perceptions, images, thoughts, memories, and feelings
Consciousness
In general, __ is associated with the kind of controlled, focused attention that is NOT automatic
Consciousness
In recent years, cognitive psychologists have been especially interested in 3 interrelated issues concerned with consciousness:
1) Our inability to bring certain thoughts into consciousness
2) Our inability to let certain thoughts escape from consciousness
3) Blindsight, which reveals that people with a specific visual disorder can perform quite accurately on a cognitive task even when they are not conscious of their accuracy
A phenomenon called __, occurs when your thoughts shift from the external environment in favor of internal processing
Mind wandering
When people engage in __, they try to eliminate the thoughts, ideas, and images that are related to an undesirable stimulus
Thought suppression
i.e. Don’t think about a white bear!
What are “ironic effects of mental control”?
Our efforts can backfire when we attempt to control the contents of our consciousness
What is blindsight?
A condition in which an individual with a damaged visual cortex claims not to see an object; however, he or she can accurately report some characteristics of that object, such as its location
- people with blindsight can report visual attributes such as color, shape, and motion
