Exam #2 Flashcards
Transduction
Conversion of stimulus to electrical signal
Absolute Threshold
The smallest amount of a stimulus we can detect 50% of the time
Just Noticeable Difference
The smallest change we can detect in stimulus strength
Sensory adaption
A decrease in the noticeability of a stimulus over time - happens at the sensory receptor level
Perception
The brain’s interpretation of raw sensory input
Sensation vs. Perception
Sensation gathers information from the external world, perception helps us make sense of that information
Perception = ? + ? + ? + ?
Sensory input + past perceptions + context + guesses
T/F? Sensory input is always complete
F
Signal to noise ratio
sometimes the stimulus is unclear so our brain makes its best guess
Perceptual constancy
the process by which we perceive stimuli consistently across varying conditions - shape consistency of a door, interpreting distance of things
Pupil
Hole that allows light into the eye
Iris
colored part, muscle that controls the pupil
Cornea
outside covering that helps protect and focus light
Lens
disc that focuses light on the back of the eye
Retina
membrane on the back of the eye containing sensory receptors
optic nerve
transmits visual signals to the rest of the brain from the eye
Fovea
Area on the retina where light is focused, controls how well you see
(Myopia) Nearsighted; (Hyperopia) Farsighted
Light focuses too soon; light focuses too late
Sound
vibrations that the ears interpret
Pitch
Property of sound corresponding to the frequency of the wave, measured in hertz (hz)
Ossicles
Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup
Outer Ear
Pinna & Ear Canal - Funnels sound waves onto the eardrum
Middle ear
Eardrum, ossicles - Transmits frequency of sound wave from eardrum to inner ear
Inner ear
Semicircular Canals, Cochlea - Converts vibration of sound waves into neural activity (transduction)
Cochlea
Organ of Cortical & Basilar membrane: contains hair cells that perform transduction
Fluid in cochlea bends Cilla, causing hair cells to fire APs
Place Theory
Different regions of the basilar membrane correspond to different frequencies: Inner = lower freq.
Chunking
Grouping complex information into meaningful patterns to remember better
Maintenance rehearsal
Repeating information to keep it in STM
Elaborative rehearsal
Linking information in a meaningful way to improve STM
Levels-of-processing model
The more deeply we process information, the better we remember it
LTM
Permanent store of skills, experiences, facts
Long duration & unlimited capacity
can last as long as you live
Explicit LTM
Conscious memories we recall intentionally
Explicit - Semantic LTM
Knowledge of facts
Explicit - Episodic LTM
Autobiographical memory, experience from your first person perspective
Implicit LTM
Unconscious memories we don’t reflect on deliberately
Implicit - Procedural LTM
Memory of how to do things, motor skills & habits
Encoding
Mechanism that transfers info. from STM to LTM
Retrieval
“Remembering” - becoming consciously aware of stored information
Context-dependent learning
Recall info better in the place we learned it
Godden and Baddeley 1975
Scuba divers learning underwater or on land, then switched and tested. Remembered better in same conditions
State-dependent learning
We recall info better in the same physiological & psychological state we learned it in
Primacy & Recency effects
Primacy: Remember words from the beginning of a list (LTM)
Recency: Remember words from the end (STM)
Flaws of memory
Major distortions in them over time
Elizabeth Loftus
False memory researcher
described memory as suggestive, subjective & malleable
Loftus & Palmer 1974
Asked people to estimate the speed of cars that collided in a crash, them saying the cars “smashed” vs “contacted” changed the reported memories greatly
Misinformation effect
altering memories by providing misleading information after the event
Retrograde Amnesia
Loss of ability to remember old things, like a “reset” on memory
Loss of episodic memory
Implicit & semantic memories remain intact
Anterograde Amnesia
Inability to form new memories
Like breaking the encoding process
Loss of ability to form new explicit memories
Implicit memory remains intact
Can learn how to do something but forget that you know how to do it
H.M.
Hippocampi removed, both anterograde and retrograde amnesia
BUT procedural memory remained intact, we know implicit memory is not stored in the hippocampi
Clive Wearing
Hippocampi destroyed, leads to anterograde amnesia
Hippocampus
Involved in forming NEW memory but NOT LTM
Scheme
Mental representation of a specific object: what it does, what its for, how to interact w/ it
Assimilation
new object added to an existing scheme
Accommodation
Schemes change to accommodate new items
Operation
A reversible action
Sensorimotor Stage
Birth - 2 years
Develop schemes
Lack object permanence
Preoperational Stage
2 - 7 years
Can use symbols to represent things
HAS Object permanence
Centration: focusing only on the most obvious feature of something
Conservation tasks
Concrete-operational
7 - 12 years
Overcome centration, understand objects based on principles
Understanding still tied to personal experience
Reasoning is rule-based
Formal-operational
Ages 11 +
Children no longer tied to experiences
Can think of theoretical situations & hypotheticals
Critiques of Piaget’s development stages
Depicts thinking as too consistent
Underestimates abilities of children
Understates role of social world
Vygotsky’s Theory of Development
Focused on social contribution to cognitive development
Idea that children learn because people teach them
Scaffolding
Initial help is given but gradually removed as children learn
ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)
Stage at which children benefit from instruction, can do more tasks with assistance
Attachment (humans)
Form attachment to primary care giver
Ensures children don’t wander into danger
important for normal development
Attachment (animals)
Imprinting: baby birds attach to the first large moving object they see
Harlow’s monkey experiments
Monkeys attached to the cloth mother more, develops “Contact Comfort”
Contact Comfort
Positive emotion caused by touch
John Bowlby
Theories for how attachment develops over time
Mary Ainsworth
Measurement of attachment quality
Attachment:
Provides a secure base to explore the world from
The Strange Situation
Measures children’s attachment
Capitalizes on stranger anxiety and separation anxiety
Secure attachment style
Baby upset by PCG’s departure & comforted by their return
Insecure-avoidant attachment style
Baby indifferent to both departure and return
Insecure-ambivalent
Upset by PCG’s departure and not comforted by their return
Disorganized
Inconsistent or confused reactions to PCG departure & return
Attachment types…
Depend on infant and parent
Vary across cultures. Secure attachment % remains same but different percentages of different attachment styles
Permissive Parenting Style
High acceptance, low control
Authoritarian
Low acceptance, high control
Authoritative
High acceptance, high control
Uninvolved
Low acceptance, low control
Authoritative parenting…
Best outcomes in middle class USA
But there are cross-cultural differences
Reflexes
Beginning of motor development
Sucking, rooting, grasping, stepping
Steps in locomotion
Dependent on muscle strength and physical development, tied to development of other abilities too
Milestones for motor development
3 months: prone, pushing up with hands
5-6 months: sit up without support
8.5 months: crawling
10 months: stand with support
12 months: first steps
15 months: walking by themselves
18-24 months: running
Theory of Mind
Understanding others’ thoughts and perspectives
Others have beliefs, desires, attentions that can be different from ours & reality
Developed around 4 years of age
Understanding of self
Develops 18-24 months, precursor to theory of mind
Understanding that you exist and are separate from others
Rouge test: do they recognize themselves in a mirror
Self-control
Ability to inhibit impulses
Children are not good at it,
Related to frontal lobe functioning
Delay of gratification predicts later life success
Components of language
Phenomes, morphemes, syntax, extra linguistic info.
1st language learning
Cannot learn a first language after a specific amount of time
Learn from parents at home, no direct instruction
2nd language learning
no time limit, can always learn a second language… but, ability degrades over time
Learn in school
Statistical learning
recognizing patterns in a speech stream
Phenome
sounds of a language, th r z ah
Morpheme
Smallest units of meaning in a language, prefixes & suffixes
Syntax
Rules for how words should be put together, plurals & tenses
Extra linguistic info
Other clues to meaning: tone, gestures, sarcasm - Pragmatics
Language learning timeline
Before birth: learn flow of native language, prefer native language over other languages (but can have multiple native languages
2 months: cooing and vowel sounds
3-4 months: syllables and consonant sounds
6 months: reduplicative babbling
10 months: conversational babbling : mimics intonation of real conversation
10-12 months: first words, comprehension precedes production
1-1.5 years: 20-100 words, holophrases
2 years: several hundred words, two word phrases “more juice” etc.
Holophrase
One word that can have the meaning of a whole sentence to an infant, like “doggie” could mean they want to pet the dog, or that theres a big scary dog, etc.
Critical period
Deadline for acquiring a skill or ability
After it passes you can no longer acquire those skills
Sperling experiment
No-one reported all letters, partial report
we have all the info but cant keep it in stm
Iconic memory
Usual sensory memory, lasts <1 second, inattentional blindness
Echoic memory
auditory sensory memory
lasts a few seconds, cocktail party effect
STM
aka working memory
attention transfers info from sensory memory to stm
short duration, small capacity
7 +/- 2 pieces of info
Retroactive interference
New info inhibits old info
PRoactive interference
Old info inhibits new info
