Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards
What is Cognitive psychology?
Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, probelm solving, creactivity and reasoning.
What was Wilhelm Hunt noted for?
William Hunt is most noted for Structuralism, which involves describing the structures that composes the mind and its perceptions by analyzing those perceptions into their constituent components.
Method - Introspection
What was Hermann Ebbinghaus noted for?
Hermann Ebbinhhaus is most known for the “forgetting curve” which relates forgetting to the passage of time. He taught himself lists of nonsense syllables and examined rate of forgetting.
Quantified the study of memory
What was William James noted for?
Williamm James is nost known for Functionalism, which was to study the processes of mind rather than its contents.William James wote his first psychology textbook titles Principles of Psychology in 1890.
Methods of Functionalism are:
Introspection - a process that looking inward to examine one’s thoughts and emotions.
Observation - looking at the performance of the person
Experiment - with the brain
What was Watson/Skinner noted for?
Watson/Skinner most noted for Behaviorism the study of observable behavior
Methods- He performed animal experiments, conditioning experiments
What is the Information processing approach?
The Information Processing Approach is viewed as how people preceive, analyze, manipulate, use and remember information. The mind acting like a computer, it takes in information and stores it. Donald Broadbent (1926-1993) is the main proponent.
Who was the main proponent of the information processing approach?
The main proponent of the Information Processing Approach was Donald Broadbent, who beleived the mind is like a computer.
Who wrote the first Cognitive Psychology textbook?
The person who wrote the first Cognitive Psychology textbook is Ulric Neisser in 1967.
Who presented arguments against behaviorism?
Noam Chomsky presented arguments against behaviorism. He is best known for his work in linguistics, Chomsky’s primary contribution to the field of psychology was to situate the process of language learning as an important part of the field of cognitive psychology. Chomsky is best known for his influence on linguistics, specifically, the development of transformational grammar.
Arguments from language acquisition
Children producing novel sentences
Infinite sentences
What is the name of the cell that is specialized to receive and transmit information in the nervous system? (Also called the building block of the nervous system)
The name of the cell that is specialuzed to receive and transmit information in the nervous system is the Neuron.
Part of a cell that contains mechanisms that keep the cell alive
The part of the cell that contains mechanisms that keep the cell alive is called the Soma or cell body.
Structure that branches out from the cell body to receive electrical signals from other neurons
The structure that branches out from the sell body to receive electrical signals is called the Dendrite. The aaxons talk to this cell and they receive the information.
Part of the neuron that transmits signals from the cell body to the synapse
The part of the neiron that transmits signals from the body to the synapse is called the Axon or never fiber this talks to Dendrite.
Part of the neuron that transmits signals from the cell body to the synapse
Axon or nerve fiber
Space between the end of an axon and the cell body or dendrite of the next axon.
The space between the end of an axon and the cell body or Dendrite of the next axon is called the Synapse (Site of communication between neurons).
Neuron that is specialized to receive information from the environment
The neuron that is specialized to receive information from the enironment is known as the Receptor.
What is the basis of communication between neurons?
The basis of communication between the neurons is Electricity. It is conducted in the nervous system through the generation of action potentials.
Electrical signals travel down the axon of a neuron.
How does action get communicated between cells?
Action potential
soma to down the axon to synapse
No physical contact
Communication in the synapse occurs via the release of neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitter travels to receptor sites on the dendrites of another cell
Presynaptic & postsynaptic
How does communication in the synapse occur?
Communication in the synapse occurs via the release of neurotransmitters.
What are the chemical messengers between neurons called?
The chemical messengers between neurons are called Neurotransmitters.
What is the difference between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters?
The difference between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters are:
- Excitatory** neurotransmitters **Increase the rate of firing of action potentials on postsynaptic cell.
- Inhibitory** neurotransmitters **decrease the rate of firing of action potentials on postsynaptic cell.
How do neurons facilitate learning?
Neurons facilitate learning, when a neuron fires (or does not fire) consistently, the likelihood and frequency of it firing in the future is altered. Groups of these “altered” neurons result in the learning of information
What results from patterns of firing in neural circuits (groups of neurons)?
Patterns of firing in neural circuits (groups of neurons) results in Cognition.
Name the 4 lobes of the brain in a clockwise direction starting from the front.
The 4 lobes of the brain are:
- *Frontal lobe** - voluntary movement, expressive language
- *Parietal lobe** - sensory perception and integration
- *Occipital lobe** - visial processing
- *Temporal lobe** - auditory stimuli, memory, and emotion
What are 4 other important areas of the brain?
The 4 other important areas of the brain are:
- *Hippocampus** - learning and memory
- *Amygdala** - processing fearful and threatening stimuli
- *Cerebellum** - coordination and movement related to motorskills
- *Medula** - transmitting signals between the spinal cord
Where in the brain do higher order functions occur?
(Language, thought, memory, problem solving, judgment, and some motor functioning)
The Frontal lobe is where language, thought, memory, problem solving, judgment, and some motor functions occur.
Which part of the brain Integrates information involved in vision and attention processes, and integrates sensation from different modalities including touch?
The Parietal lobe integrates information involved in vision and attention processes, and integrates sensation from different modalities including touch.
Which part of the brain is responsible for auditory processes, hearing, language, and speech and is also associated with memory?
The temporal lobe is responsible for auditory processes, hearing, language, and speech and is also associated with memory.
What part of the brain receives and processes visual information coming into the brain?
The Occipital lobe receives and processes visual information coming into the brain.
What is the cerebellum responsible for?
The cerebellum is responsible for:
Sensory perception - the process of becoming aware of something through the senses.
Motor output - a response that is caused by activating effector organs.
Proprioception - ability to sense stimuli arising within the body regarding position, motion, and equilibrium.
What is the hippocampus responsible for?
Important in memory
Spatial functioning
What is the purpose of the amygdala?
Memory formation
Specifically emotional memories
What is the purpose of the thalmus?
Important for processing in senses of vision, hearing, and touch
What are 3 techniques used to study the brain?
Measuring neural activity
Measuring blood flow
Measuring brain damage
What is an event related potential (ERP)?
The brain’s electrical response to an event (stimuli)
Stronger response to unexpected stimuli
What is PET (Positron Emission Tomography)?
It is a Radioactive tracer is injected into bloodstream that a PET apparatus measures to detect the amount of tracer in each location of the brain
What is fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)?
Uses magnetic field to measure blood flow and Measures blood flow without radioactive tracers
What is Brain Lesioning?
Intentional damage or removal of part of the brain in animals, en vivo. It allows us to see which cognitive impairments are associated with certain brain areas.
What is study of the behavioral effects of brain damage in humans called?
Neuropsychology
What are experiences resulting from the stimulation of the senses and constitute the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information?
Perception
True or False. Perceptions are always the result of conscious experience
False
What does perceptual processing require?
Incoming information and prior knowledge
Perception that may start with the senses, and have incoming raw data?
Hint: Energy registering on receptors
Bottom-up processing
Perception that may start with the brain and depends on a person’s knowledge, experience, expectations?
Top-down processing
What is a another name for bottom-up processing?
Data-driven processing
What is another name for top-down processing?
Knowledge-driven processing