Final Flashcards
What is iconic memory?
Brief sensory memory for visual stimuli
Describe iconic memory
A type of sensory memory where you try to recall visual images after seeing it for a few seconds
What is the duration of iconic memory (H: Short)
Less than 1 second
What is the capacity of iconic memory?
The capacity of iconic memory is 3-4 letters when asked to report all items on a screen when shown a matrix of 9 or 12 letters, people remember 100% of the 9-letter matrix and ~75% of the 12-letter matrix when presented with a cue (pitch), and the number of items dropped when presented with a delay
What is echoic memory?
Brief sensory memory for auditory stimuli
Describe echoic memory
A type of sensory memory where you try to register auditory information until it’s processed and comprehended
What is the duration of echoic memory? (H: Longer)
A few seconds
Explain the modality effect (H: E vs I)
Echoic memory is longer than iconic memory because auditory information usually requires integrating information over time
Describe Sterling’s Partial Report Experiment
Participants are shown a matrix of 9 or 12 letters
They were told to report only items in one row based on cue
- High Pitch: Top row
- Middle Pitch: Middle row
- Low Pitch: Bottom row
Results: Participants could remember 100% of the 9-letter matrix and ~75% of the 12-letter matrix
What is short-term memory?
The contents of our conscious awareness
Describe short-term memory
What are we thinking about right now
What is the duration of short-term memory?
15-30 seconds
What is the capacity of short-term memory?
Limited
What is chunking?
A strategy where small units are combined into larger meaningful units
Describe chunking
A collection of units can be strongly associated with one another but weakly associated with units in other chunks
Examples
- Numbers → Area Code
- Letters → Words
What is sensory memory?
The memory system that stores a record of the information received by sensory neurons
Describe sensory memory (H: 4 items)
Characterized by short duration (<1 second), long capacity, highly accurate and modality-specific
How are short-term memory and sensory memory connected? (H: 2 items)
Both are of short duration (less than 1 minute)
Attention controls the transfer of information from sensory memory to short-term memory
What is Baddeley’s model of working memory?
A model that uses different systems of information storage for greater cognitive utility
Describe Baddeley’s model of working memory
Contains three aspects with the phonological loop focused on verbal and auditory information, the central executive focused on controlling activity, and the visuospatial sketchpad focused on visual and spatial information
What are the components of Baddeley’s model of working memory? (H: 3 items)
Phonological Loop
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Central Executive
Describe the phonological loop (H: 2 items)
Holds a limited amount of verbal and auditory information
Rehearsal can keep items in the phonological store from decaying
Describe the visuospatial sketchpad (H: 3 items)
Holds and manipulates visual and spatial information
Visual Cache: Form and color
Inner Scribe: Space and motion
Describe the central executive (H: 3 items)
Coordinates activity of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad
Pulls information for long-term memory
Cognitive Control
What is working memory?
The amount of information that can be held while performing a certain task
Describe working memory
Concerned with the maintenance and manipulation of information that occurs during complex cognition
Modular
- Phonological Loop
- Visuospatial Sketchpad
- Central Executive
- Episodic Buffer
How are short-term memory and working memory connected?
Both are limited-capacity systems
What is long-term memory?
“Archive” of information about past events and knowledge learned
What is the duration of long-term memory?
Years or decades
What is maintenance rehearsal?
Maintains information but doesn’t transfer it to long-term memory
What is elaborative rehearsal?
Transfers information to long-term memory
How are maintenance and elaborative rehearsal connected?
They both help in retaining information
How are short-term and long-term memory connected? (H: 2 items)
Both forms allow us to remember memories
Both use rehearsal to keep information
What is encoding?
Acquiring information and transforming it into memory
Describe encoding
Memory depends on how information is encoded
What are the different types of encoding processes? (H: 2 items)
Shallow Processing
Deep Processing
What is shallow processing?
Little attention to meaning → Poor memory
What is deep processing?
Close attention to meaning → Good memory
Describe an experiment with the levels of processing theory to a memory task
Conditions
- Physical Characteristics: Shallow processing
- Rhyming: Deeper processing
- Meaning: Deepest processing
Results: Participants performed best when meaning was involved
What is the self-reference effect
Memory for a word is improved by relating the word to the self
Describe a study that demonstrates the self-reference effect
Conditions
- Physical Characteristics
- Rhyming
- Meaning
- Self-Reference
Results: Participants showed the best memory for words that described them
What is the generation effect?
Memory for material is better when a person generates the material himself, rather than passively receiving it
Describe a study that demonstrates the generation effect
Conditions
- Read
- Generate
Results: Participants who generated the second word of each pair were able to reproduce more word pairs than participants in the read condition
How does organization enhance encoding?
Organization helps reduce the load on memory
Describe a study that demonstrates organization enhancement on memory
Presented participants with difficult-to-comprehend information
- E.G. 1: First saw a picture that helped explain the information
- E.G. 2: Saw the picture after reading the passage
- C.G.: Didn’t see the picture
Results: Group 1 outperformed the others
- Having a mental framework of comprehension aided memory encoding and retrieval
What is the testing effect?
Learning is better when retrieval is practiced
Describe a study that demonstrates the testing effect
Participants read a passage and then either
- Recall as much as they could
- Reread the passage
Test recall after a delay
Results: Learning is better after testing
What is retrieval?
Process of transferring information from long-term memory into working memory (consciousness)
Describe retrieval
Most of our failures of memory are failures to retrieve
What is encoding specificity?
We learn information together with its context
What’s an example of encoding specificity?
Divers studied either on land or underwater and then were either tested on land or underwater
Results: Best recall occurred when encoding and retrieval occurred in the same location
Describe retrieval-based learning
Retrieval-based learning helps improve recall
Describe an experiment that demonstrates retrieval-based learning
Conditions
- 4 study sessions
- 3 study sessions, 1 recall session
- 1 study session, 3 recall sessions
Results: Active rehearsal is better than just studying
What is consolidation?
Transforms new memories from a fragile state to a more permanent state
What is synaptic consolidation?
Occurs at synapses, and happens rapidly
Describe synaptic consolidation (H: 3 items)
Cells that fire together, wire together
Learning and memory are represented in the brain by physiological changes at the synapse
Neural record of experience
What is systems consolidation?
Involves a gradual reorganization of circuits in the brain
Describe systems consolidation (H: 4 items)
Retrieval depends on hippocampus during consolidation
Reactivation: Hippocampus replays neural activity associated with memory
Cortical neurons form new connections with each other
After consolidation, hippocampus is no longer needed
How are encoding and retrieval connected?
When occurred in the same location, they both help in improving recall
What regions of the brain support short-term memory? (H: 2 items)
Prefrontal Cortex
Hippocampus
What regions of the brain support long-term memory? (H: 4 items)
Hippocampus
Parahippocampus
Amygdala
Cortex
How are synaptic and systems consolidation in the brain connected?
They both transform new memories from a fragile state to a more permanent state
Describe patient H.M.
Had surgery to remove parts of the brain to relieve epileptic seizures
- Hippocampus
- Parahippocampus
- Amygdala
Post-Surgery Symptoms
- Severe anterograde amnesia
- Moderate retrograde amnesia
Functioning short-term memory but can’t form new long-term memory
Describe Clive Wearing
Contracted encephalitis
- Anterograde and retrograde amnesia
- Still has procedural memory
Functioning short-term memory but can’t form new long-term memory
What is retrograde amnesia?
Loss of memory for events prior to the trauma
What is anterograde amnesia?
Can’t form new memories
How are retrograde and anterograde amnesia connected?
Both affect the ability to recall information and experiences
What is declarative memory?
Conscious recollection of events experience and facts learned
Describe declarative memory (H: 3 items)
Episodic: Memory for personal events
Semantic: Facts and knowledge
Can be differentiated by the concept of mental time travel
What are examples of declarative memories? (H: 2 items)
Important life event
Capital of Texas
What is semantic memory?
Memory for facts and knowledge
Describe semantic memory (H: 3 items)
Context-free memories
General knowledge
Familiarity
What are examples of semantic memories? (H: 2 items)
Capital of Cuba
Remembering your friend’s name
What is episodic memory?
Memory for personal events
Describe episodic memory (H: 4 items)
Have context
Personal memories
Remembering
Mental time travel
What are examples of episodic memories? (H: 2 items)
10th birthday party
College graduation
How are semantic and episodic memory connected? (H: 2 items)
Autobiographical memories are specific experiences containing both semantic and episodic memories
Personal semantic memories are semantic memories that have personal significance
What is non-declarative memory?
Memory that unconsciously influences behavior
Describe non-declarative memory (H: 4 items)
Procedural Memory
Repetition Priming
Classical Conditioning
Non-Associative Learning
What are examples of non-declarative memories? (H: 2 items)
Riding a bike
Knowing how to use scissors
What is priming?
Previous experience changes response without conscious awareness
Describe priming
Improves processing of a stimulus when it’s repeated again
What are examples of priming? (H: 2 items)
Responding milk after saying silk 10 times after being asked what a cow drinks
Saying pepper after hearing salt
What is procedural memory?
Memory for actions (motor and cognitive skills)
Describe procedural memory (H: 2 items)
No memory of where or when learned
Perform procedures without being consciously aware of how to do them
What are examples of procedural memories? (H: 2 items)
Tying your shoe
Playing an instrument
What is classical conditioning?
Creating associations between stimuli which creates a naturally occurring response
Describe classical conditioning (H: 2 items)
You can condition an emotional response to a stimulus
You can condition a muscular response
How are declarative and non-declarative memory connected?
Both are memory systems that contribute to our cognitive functioning
What is the propaganda effect?
More likely to rate statements read or heard before as being true
Describe the propaganda effect (H: 2 items)
This occurs even when people are told the information is false
This occurs outside of people’s conscious awareness
What are examples of the propaganda effect? (H: 2 items)
Political campaigns
Advertisements
Describe Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Modal Model of Memory
They proposed that memory goes through a series of stages
Identify each state in the Modal Model of Memory (H: Image)
Input
Sensory Memory
Short-Term Memory
- Rehearsal
- Output
Long-Term Memory
Describe how information moves through these different states
Attention controls the transfer of information from sensory memory to short-term memory
Maintenance rehearsal keeps information in short-term memory
Elaborative rehearsal moves information from short-term memory to long-term memory
Describe interacting memory systems
Memory involves a collection of memory systems that interact to support cognition
- Medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures are involved in declarative tasks
- Caudate nucleus (part of striatum) is involved in non-declarative tasks
Describe habit learning (H: 3 items)
Focuses on the formation and expression of habits through repeated actions and reinforcement
- Early Learning: Medial Temporal Lobe
- Late Learning: Striatum
- Automaticity: Motor Cortex
What is the serial position curve?
A curve relating the percentage of words recalled by the number of words in the list
Describe the serial position curve
There’s greater accuracy of words from the beginning and end of the list than words from the middle of the list
What is the primacy effect?
Enhanced memory for words presented at the beginning of a list
Why does the primacy effect occur?
Thought to occur because these items are the most rehearsed in the list and these items move into long-term memory
What is the recency effect?
Enhanced memory for words presented at the end of a list
Why does the recency effect occur? (H: 2 items)
Thought to occur because these words are still in short-term memory
Can be eliminated by putting in a 30-second delay between presentation of the list and recall
Describe the constructive approach to memory
Memory is what actually happened plus knowledge, experiences, and expectations
What is autobiographical memory?
Memory for dated events in a person’s life
What are examples of autobiographical memories? (H: 2 items)
Birth of your child
Wedding day
What is the reminiscence bump?
People over the age of 40 have enhanced memory for events from adolescence and early adulthood
What are examples of the reminiscence bump? (H: 2 items)
College years
New career
Describe an experiment illustrating the reminiscence bump
Participants over the age of 40 were asked to recall events in their lives
Results: Memory is high for recent events and for events that occurred in adolescence and early adulthood (10-30 years of age)
What is a flashbulb memory?
Memory for circumstances surrounding shocking, highly charged events
What are examples of flashbulb memories? (H: 2 items)
9/11
JFK assassination
Describe an experiment testing flashbulb memories
Participants were asked to give an initial description (baseline) of 9/11 and then later asked to give a description again, which was compared to baseline
Results
- Memories can be inaccurate or lacking in detail
- Even though participants report that the memories seem very vivid and that they are very confident
What is source monitoring?
Process of determining the origins of our memories
Describe an experiment showing errors in source monitoring
Acquisition: Participants were asked to read non-famous names
Immediate Test: Read non-famous names plus new non-famous and new famous names and asked to identify which are famous
- Result: Most non-famous names were correctly identified as non-famous
Delayed Test (After 24 hrs): Same as intermediate test
- Result: Some non-famous names were misidentified as famous
Explanation: Some non-famous names were familiar, and the participants misattributed the source of the familiarity
- Failed to identify the source as the list that had been read the previous day
What is false memory?
Someone recalls something that didn’t happen or recalls it differently from how it happened
Describe false memory (H: 2 items)
It’s possible for memories of abuse to have been forgotten for a long time to be remembered
It’s possible to construct convincing psuedomemories for events that never occurred
Describe an experiment demonstrating how false memories can be
created
Participants’ parents gave descriptions of childhood experiences
Participant had conversation about experiences with experimenter; experimenter added new events
Results: When discussing it later, some participants “remembered” the new events as actually happening
What is a script?
Conception of sequence of actions that occur during a particular experience
What are examples of scripts? (H: 2 items)
Going to the restaurant
Going to the dentist
What is a schema?
Knowledge about what’s involved in a particular experience
What are examples of schemas? (H: 2 items)
Post office
Ball game
What is deductive reasoning?
Reasoning that involves syllogisms in which a conclusion logically follows from premises
Describe deductive reasoning? (H: 2 items)
Conclusion is stated as definitely being true
Moves from general statements to specific instances
What is inductive reasoning?
Reasoning in which a conclusion follows from a consideration of evidence
Describe inductive reasoning (H: 2 items)
Conclusion is stated as probably being true
Moves from specific instances to general statements
How are deductive and inductive reasoning connected?
Both forms of reasoning make conclusions based on evidence
What is a categorical syllogism?
A syllogism in which the premises and conclusion describe the relationship between two categories by using statements that begin with all, no, or some
What is a conditional syllogism?
Syllogism with two premises and a conclusion, whose first premise is an “If…then…” statement
What is validity?
Quality of a syllogism whose conclusions follow logically from the premises
What are the different ways to identify if a syllogism is valid or invalid? (H: 4 items)
Affirming the Antecedent
Denying the Consequent
Affirming the Consequent
Denying the Antecedent
Describe affirming the antecedent
P1: If p, then q
P2: p
C: q
Valid
Describe denying the consequent
P1: If p, then q
P2: Not q
C: Not p
Valid
Describe affirming the consequent
P1: If p, then q
P2: q
C: p
Invalid
Describe denying the antecedent
P1: If p, then q
P2: Not p
C: Not q
Invalid
What is the Wason Four Card Task? (H: 2 items)
Participants are provided with a rule and they have to indicate which cards need to be turned over
To test the rule, it’s necessary to look for situations that would falsify the rule
Describe how performance differs when using abstract vs. concrete examples with the Wason Four Card task
Performance was much better on concrete, real-world version of the task than the abstract version
What is a heuristic?
A rule of thumb that may lead to a solution reasonably quickly with relatively low computational costs
Describe heuristics?
Fast and fugal
What is a bias?
A tendency to make systematic errors based on cognitive factors instead of evidence
What is the availability heuristic?
Basing judgments of the frequency of events on what events come to mind
What are examples of the availability heuristic? (H: 2 items)
Asthma leads to more deaths than tornadoes
Appendicitis leads to more deaths than pregnancy
What is the representativeness heuristic?
The probability than an event A comes from class B can be determined by how well A resembles the properties of class B
What are examples of the representativeness heuristic? (H: 2 items)
Someone in a suit and tie carrying a briefcase is a lawyer
Someone tall is a basketball player
What is confirmation bias?
The tendency to selectively look for information that conforms to our hypothesis and to overlook information that argues against it
What’s an example of confirmation bias?
Political agendas
What is illusory correlations?
A correlation that appears to exist between two events, when in reality there is no correlation or it’s weaker than it’s assumed to be
Describe illusory correlations
Stereotypes
- Selective attention to stereotypical behaviors makes the behaviors more available
What’s an example of an illusory correlation?
Women are bad at math
What is the endowment effect?
If you have something, you want to keep it
Describe the endowment effect
If people have the item they’re less likely to give it away, given the choice of another item
What’s an example of the endowment effect?
Very few people wanted to trade if they were given $2 dollars vs a lottery ticket
What is base-rate?
The relative proportions of different classes in a population
How does base-rate influence reasoning? (H: 3 items)
Failure to consider base rates often leads to errors in reasoning
People make better decisions when given only base rate information
Adding descriptive information reduces the use of base rate information
What is anchoring and adjustment?
People start with an implicitly state reference point (”the anchor”) and make adjustments to reach their estimate
What’s an example of anchoring and adjustment?
Car salesmen
What is utility?
Outcomes that achieve a person’s goals
What is delay discounting?
The tendency to consider later rewards as less valuable (or discount later rewards)
Describe delay discounting
Often associated with impulsivity, delayed gratification, and self-control
What factors influence delay discounting? (H: 3 items)
Socioeconomic Status
Peer Pressure
Power
Describe an experiment demonstrating power in delay discounting
Participants assigned to manager (high-power) or worker (low-power)
- Manager assigned tasks to workers
- Workers had no say in the tasks assigned to them
Results: Managers showed less delay discounting than workers on monetary discounting task
What is risky decision-making?
A decision where the outcome is uncertain
What is risk?
Making a decision where the outcomes have a probability
What is ambiguity
Making a decision where the probability of outcomes is unknown
What do people tend to prefer when making decisions?
People tend to prefer risky choices to ambiguous choices
What is risk aversion?
The tendency to avoid taking risks
When are people more risk-averse?
when the problem is stated in terms of gains
What is risk-seeking?
The tendency to take risks
When are people more risk-seeking?
when the problem is stated in terms of losses
What is system 1 processing?
A process where we make a fast, automatic, and unconscious decision
Describe system 1 processing (H: 3 items)
High capacity
Evolutionary “old”
Independent of intelligence and working memory
What’s an example of system 1 processing?
Bat and ball question
What is system 2 processing?
A process where we make a slow, controlled, and conscious decision
Describe system 2 processing (H: 3 items)
Low capacity
Evolutionary “new”
Linked to intelligence and working memory
What’s an example of system 2 processing?
Multiplying large numbers
How are system 1 and system 2 processing connected?
Both systems of processing help us make decisions, but they’re also susceptible to errors
What is neuroeconomics?
An interdisciplinary field that examines how people make economic decisions using a variety of methods from economics, psychology, and neuroscience
Describe neuroeconomics
Young field
What brain regions are involved in representing subjective value? (H: 3 items)
Ventral Striatum (VS)
Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC)
Posterior Cingulate Cortex (PCC)
What is computational modeling?
A mapping or transformation between a set of stimulus inputs and a set of behavioral responses
Describe computational modeling (H: 2 items)
Attempts to mathematically model cognitive tasks
The goal is to scientifically explain one or more of these basic processes or explain how these processes interact
What fields use computational modeling? (H: 6 items)
Clinical Psychologists
Cognitive Neuroscientists
Aging Researchers
Human Factors Researchers
Decision Researchers
AI and Robotics Researchers
What are the steps to make a cognitive model? (H: 5 items)
Step 1: Take conceptual theoretical framework and reformulate its assumptions into more rigorous mathematical or computer language
Step 2: Make additional detailed assumptions to complete the model
Step 3: Estimate parameters using data
Step 4: Compare the predictions of computing models with respect to their ability to explain empirical results
Step 5: Reformulate the theoretical framework and construct new models in light of the feedback from empirical results
What is value function?
Estimate the reward associated with decision options
Describe how value functions are used in cognitive models (H: 2 items)
Description: Make decisions based on information given to them
Experience: Make decisions based on previous experiences based on the choice
Decisions from a description and an experience can lead to dramatically different choice behaviors
What is reinforcement learning?
The algorithm receives feedback and uses that feedback to adjust its predictions through trial and error
Describe reinforcement learning (H: 2 items)
The goal is to maximize cumulative rewards
One way to maximize cumulative rewards is to calculate value functions
What is exploitation?
When an agent takes advantage of prior knowledge by repeating actions that lead to an acceptable award
What is exploration?
When an agent samples from a set of actions to learn what action lead to the best reward
How are exploration and exploitation connected?
Both are looking to get the best reward and maximize value
What is greedy?
The simplest action selection rule is to pick the action with the highest estimated value
What is e-greedy?
Attempts to balance between exploration and exploitation by choosing randomly between these two policies
Describe e-greedy
Refers to the probability of choosing to explore, with exploitation occurring most of the time
What is softmax?
The greedy action selection is given the highest selection probability, but all the others are ranked and weight according to their value estimates
What are the steps for model comparison? (H: 2 items)
Step 1: Find the best-fitting model parameters for each model under consideration
Step 2: Compare the accuracy of the predictions of each model using optimal parameters
Consider model complexity - simpler models are preferred
What is model-based fMRI?
Estimates of latent variables such as value or RPE are used as predictors of BOLD signals
What are the steps of model-based fMRI? (H: 4 items)
Step 1: Fit model to behavior
Step 2: Generate SV time series
Step 3: Convolve time series with HRF
Step 4: Regress against fMRI data
How can computational models be used to examine individual differences? (H: 2 items)
Best-Fitting Model
Best-Fitting Parameters
What is the best-fitting model?
Tell us how individuals differ in their cognitive strategies
What is the best-fitting parameter?
Tell us how individuals differ in their ability to implement a strategy
What is consciousness?
State of awareness of sensations or ideas
Describe consciousness
Awareness of external events, internal sensations, yourself as a unique being having sensations, and your thoughts about those experiences
Components
- Wakefulness: Level of arousal or alertness
- Awareness: Clarity or specificity of content in consciousness
What is attention?
Process of concentrating on specific features of the environment or on certain thoughts or activities
Describe attention (H: 3 items)
Selective
Limited
Both top-down and bottom-up
What is selective attention?
Ability to focus on one message and ignore all others
Describe selective attention (H: 2 items)
We don’t attend to a large fraction of the information in the environment
Filtering out some information and promoting other information for further processing
What are the models of attention? (H: 5 items)
Metaphor Models
- Spotlight Model
- Zoom-Lens Model
Filter Models
- Early Selection Model
- Intermediate Selection Model
- Late Selection Model
Describe the spotlight model (H: 3 items)
The center of attention has high resolution
Events on the periphery are blurry
Events outside the margin are unattended
Describe the zoom-lens model (H: 2 items)
Similar to spotlight model
Ability to change size
Describe the early selection model (H: 5 items)
Filters message before incoming information is analyzed for meaning
- Sensory Memory: Holds all information for a fraction of a second
- Filter: Identifies attended message based on physical characteristics
- Detector: Processes all information to determine higher-level characteristics of the message
- Short-Term Memory: Receives output of detector
Describe the intermediate selection model (H: 2 items)
Attended message can be separated from unattended message early in the information-processing system
Selection can also occur later
Describe the late selection model
Selection of stimuli for final processing doesn’t occur until after information has been analyzed for meaning
Describe the Simon effect
The difference between congruent and incongruent reaction times
- Circle and location match
Describe the Stroop effect
The difference between congruent and incongruent reaction times
- Word and color match
Describe Cherry’s dichotic listening experiment
One message is presented to the left ear and another to the right ear
Participant “shadows” one message to ensure their attending to that message
Results
- Participants couldn’t report the content of the message in unattended ear
– Knew that there was a message
– Knew the gender of the speaker
- However unattended ear is being processed at the same level
– Change in gender is noticed
– Change in tone is noticed
– Cocktail Party Effect
What is the cocktail party effect?
The ability to follow one conversation in the presence of many other conversations
What is automatic processing?
Occurs without intention and only uses some of a person’s cognitive resources
What’s an example of automatic processing?
Riding a bike
What is controlled processing?
Occurs with intention and requires us to think about situations, evaluate and make decisions
What’s an example of controlled processing?
Driving to a new place
What is inattentional blindness?
A stimulus that’s not attended to isn’t perceived, even though a person might be looking directly at it
What’s an example of inattentional blindness?
Not noticing a bike while driving
What is change blindness?
If shown two versions of a picture, differences between them aren’t immediately apparent
What’s an example of change blindness?
Traffic light changing after blinking
What is covert attention?
The ability to focus on a subject mentally without corresponding eye movements
What’s an example of covert attention?
Listening to a conversation without looking at the speakers
What is overt attention?
Occurs when the eyes move towards the subject of attention
What’s an example of overt attention?
Turning your head to listen to a conversation
What is mental imagery?
Experiencing a sensory impression in the absence of sensory input
Describe mental imagery? (H: 3 items)
Visual Imagery: “Seeing” in the absence of a visual stimulus
Auditory Imagery: “Hearing” in the absence of an auditory stimulus
Imagery is often used to improve performance
- Athletes and musicians use imagery to rehearse
What is Pavio’s Dual Coding Hypothesis?
Cognition is divided into visual and verbal processing systems
Describe Pavio’s Dual Coding Hypothesis (H: 3 items)
Concrete Words: Encoded both verbally and visually
Abstract Words: Encoded only verbally
Memory for words that evoke mental images is better than those that don’t
What is the conceptual-peg hypothesis?
Concrete nouns create images that other words can hang onto, enhancing memory for these words
How does the conceptual-peg hypothesis apply?
Tree and Desk vs Truth and Justice
What is spatial representation?
A phenomenon that accompanies a mechanism but isn’t actually part of the mechanism
Describe spatial representation (H: 2 items)
Related to the phenomenon under study but aren’t directly involved in the causal chain
Pictures
What is propositional representation?
A mental representation in which relationships are portrayed by symbols
Describe propositional representation
Symbols and language
How are spatial and propositional representation connected?
They both allow us to create mental simulations
Describe Kosslyn’s mental scanning experiments
Participants memorized and island with 7 locations and were told to make 21 trips between the different locations
Results: It took longer to scan between greater distances
Describe Shepard and Metzler’s mental rotation experiment
Participants mentally rotated one object to see if it matched another object
Results: The time to respond strongly correlated with the angle of rotation
Describe perception
Automatic and stable
Describe imagery (H: 2 items)
Takes effort and is fragile
Has less detail
How are imagery and perception connected? (H: 3 items)
Both imagery and and perception are spatial
Brain activity in the visual area plays a role in both
Unilateral neglect occurs in both
Describe evidence from fMRI about perception and imagery (H: 3 items)
Studies are correlational
These results don’t prove that the brain activity causes imagery
Brain activation could be epiphenomenon
Describe evidence from TMS about perception and imagery
TMS to the visual area of the brain during perception and imagery task → Slower response time for both
Describe evidence from neurophysiological studies about perception and imagery (H: 2 items)
Patient M.G.S.
- Patient had surgery to remove part of the visual cortex
- Estimate changed on mental walk task with surgery suggesting visual cortex is necessary for imagery
Unilateral Neglect: Patient ignores objects in one half of the visual field
- Appears to occur in both perception and imagery
What is the hedonic prinicple?
All people are motivated to experience pleasure and avoid pain
Describe the hedonic principle (H: 3 items)
Emotion as a “fitness-meter”
- It guides us towards good things
- It guides us away from bad things
- It also creates unjust biases
What is the Cannon-Bard Theory?
Events cause both arousal and emotion at the same time
What are the stages of the Cannon-Bard Theory? (H: 2 items)
Event → Arousal and Emotion
What is the James-Lange Theory?
Events cause physiological arousal, and emotion is the interpretation of this arousal
What are the stages of the James-Lange Theory? (H: 4 items)
Event → Arousal → Interpretation → Emotion
What is the Two-Factor Theory?
Emotion is determined by both physiological state and cognitive appraisal of the situation
What are the stages of the Two-Factor Theory? (H: 4 items)
Event → Arousal → Cognitive Appraisal → Emotion
How does emotion interact with cognition? (H: 3 items)
It guides us towards good things
- Attractive mates
It guides us away from bad things
- Moldy food and poisonous insects
It creates unjust biases
- Stereotypes
What are the six universal emotions?
Anger
Fear
Disgust
Surprise
Happiness
Sadness
What is motivation?
The orienting and invigorating impact of prospective reward on behavior
Describe motivation (H: 2 items)
Extrinsic rewards are tangible, external rewards
Intrinsic rewards are intangible, internal rewards
How does motivation interact with cognition?
More motivation can lead to an increase in selective attention, memory and creativity
What is the Papez Circuit?
Emotional responses involve a circuit of brain regions; hypothalamus, anterior thalamus, cingulate gyrus and hippocampus
Describe the Papez Circuit (H: 2 items)
Stream of Feeling: Stimulus → Thalamus → Hypothalamus → Body Reaction
Stream of Thought: Stimulus → Thalamus → Cortex
What is the MacLean’s Triune Brain?
Added additional regions to the Papez circuit; amygdala, OFC and basal ganglia
Describe the MacLean’s Triune Brain (H: 3 items)
Lizard Brain: “Primitive” emotions like fear
“Old” Mammalian Brain: Augments lizard brain responses and includes much of the Papez circuit + amygdala PFC, hippocampus
“New” Mammalian Brain: Interfaces with cognition, exerts top-down control, made up of the neocortex
Describe the dopamine system
In the reward pathway, the production of dopamine takes place in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and from there it’s released into the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex
How is dopamine linked to reward anticipation and reward receipt? (H: 2 items)
Dopamine neurons encode rewards and reward prediction error
Nucleus accumbens is strongly innervated by dopamine neurons from the VTA and it shows response to receiving a reward and during the anticipation of receiving a reward
Where is the nucleus accumbens located?
Subcortical brain structure located within the ventral striatum
What is the function of the nucleus accumbens? (H: 3 items)
Plays a major role in reward
- Strongly innervated by dopamine neurons from the VTA
- Shows response to receiving a reward and during the anticipation of receiving a reward
Where is the amygdala located?
Almond-shaped cluster of nuclei located in the temporal lobe
What is the function of the amygdala? (H: 4 items)
Involved in memory, learning, decision making and emotion
Where is the insula located?
Regions of the cerebral cortex located within the lateral sulcus
What is the function of the insula? (H: 5 items)
Linked to consciousness, emotion, homeostasis, empathy and perception of taste
How is the amygdala linked to fear conditioning?
Damage to the amygdala impairs fear conditioning
How is the amygdala linked to emotional memory?
The amygdala modulates the strength of declarative memories
Describe Kluver-Bucy syndrome (H: 3 items)
Caused by bilateral lesions of the amygdala
Results in psychic blindness and dampening of emotional expression, in particular fear
“Discovered” in 1930s when Kluver and Bucy removed the temporal lobes of a rhesus monkey and noted unusual emotional responses
How is the insula linked to disgust? (H: 3 items)
Insula activations were correlated with subjective feelings of disgust
Patient N.K. was unable to categorize disgust after having shown a loss of anterior insula
Feeling of disgust and recognition is disgust in anterior insula
What is self-referential processing?
Relating information from the external world to our self
Describe self-referential processing
Self-Reference Effect: Memory for a word is improved by relating the word to the self
What brain regions are associated with self-referential processing? (H: 2 items)
Medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC)
Posterior Cingulate Cortex (PCC)
What is Theory of Mind?
The ability to attribute separate mental states to oneself and to others
Describe Theory of Mind (H: 2 items)
Mental States: Beliefs, intents, desires, knowledge
Mindblindness: The inability to develop an awareness of what is in the mind of others
What brain regions are associated with Theory of Mind? (H: 3 items)
PCC
mPFC
TPJ
What is the default mode network?
Active when people are not focused on the outside world - daydreaming and mind wandering - “at rest”
Describe the default mode network
Decreases activity when given an attention-demanding task
What brain regions are associated with the default mode network? (H: 3 items)
mPFC
PCC
Angular Gyrus
What is empathy?
The ability to understand share the feelings of others
Describe empathy (H: 4 items)
An interaction between mentalizing, experience sharing and prosocial concern
Emotional Contagion: One person’s emotional state influencing those around them
Sympathetic Concern: Experiencing someone else’s distress or concern for someone else’s well-being
Perspective Talking: Understanding someone’s point of view
What is social decision making?
Decisions that are made in the context of social interactions
Describe social decision making
Include concepts like trust, reciprocity, fairness, revenge, etc.
What is moral decision making?
How we produce a reasonable and defensible answer to an ethical dilemma
Describe moral decision making
Often studied using classical hypothetical dilemmas and dishonesty
What is individualism?
Views individuals as stable entities who are autonomous from others
Describe individualism (H: 2 items)
More prevalent in western cultures
More likely to use context-independent/analytical processing
What is collectivism?
Views individuals as dynamic entities who are continually defined by their social context and relationships
Describe collectivism (H: 2 items)
More prevalent in eastern cultures
More likely to use context-dependent/holistic processing
How are individualism and collectivism connected?
They both focus on the relationship of the individual to the society and are influenced by cultural norms
How does culture interact with cognition? (H: 3 items)
Culture has an impact on change blindness, categorization and decision making
Describe an example of how culture interacts with cognition
Change Blindness
- Participants presented with two pictures and then a subsequent picture for each one (4 total)
Results
- Japan (eastern) more likely to identify changes in background
- USA (western) more likely to identify changes in focal object information
Information remains in sensory memory for
seconds or a fraction of a second
Research suggests that the capacity of short-term memory is
somewhat small, holding only about seven items at once
Working memory differs from short-term memory in that
working memory is engaged in processing information
Rehearsal is important for transferring information from
short-term memory to long-term memory
Acquiring information and transforming it into long-term memory is
encoding
The process of pulling information out of long-term memory is
retrieval
_____ transforms new memories from a fragile state, in which they can be disrupted, to a more permanent state, in which they are resistant to disruption
Consolidation
Believing that a particular statement is true simply because you have seen the statement in previous instances is known as the _____ effect
propaganda
For most adults over age 40, the reminiscence bump describes enhanced memory for
adolescence and young adulthood
The misinformation effect occurs when a person’s memory for an event is modified by misleading information presented
after the event
Your text discusses how episodic and semantic memories are interconnected. This discussion revealed that when we experience events,
the knowledge that makes up semantic memories is initially attained through a personal experience based in episodic memory
Of the following real-world phenomena, the confirmation bias best explains the observation that people
can site several reasons for their position on a controversial issue but none for the opposing side
Consider the following conditional syllogism:
Premise 1: If I don’t eat lunch today, I will be hungry tonight
Premise 2: I ate lunch today
Conclusion: Therefore, I wasn’t hungry tonight
This syllogism is
invalid
Utility refers to
outcomes that achieve a person’s goals
What is the difference between risk and ambiguity?
Under risk, probabilities are known; under ambiguity, probabilities are unknown
_____ is an interdisciplinary field that examines how people make decisions using a variety of methods from economics, psychology, and neuroscience
Neuroeconomics
Which of the following is NOT TRUE of cognitive computational models?
Computational models can be applied to any type of data
Which action selection algorithm periodically explores the environment, but takes into account that some alternative actions are better than others?
Softmax Algorithm
How do we compare computational models?
Find the best-fitting model parameters for each model and compare the accuracy of each model using the optimal parameters
What type of learning is reinforcement learning?
Supervised Learning
Which of the following is NOT a way computational models have been used?
To estimate machine breakage
Mental scanning experiments found
a direct relationship between scanning time and distance on the image
Research on the use of cell phones while driving indicates that
the main effect of cell phone use on driving safety can be attributed to the fact that attention is used up by the cognitive task of talking on the phone
The “filter model” proposes that the filter identifies the attended message based on
physical characteristics
The Stroop effect demonstrates people’s inability to ignore the _____ of words
meaning
A high threshold in Treisman’s model of attention implies that
it takes a strong signal to cause activation
How is the Two-Factor Theory of emotion different from the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion?
Emotion is determined by both physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal
What is the order of events according to the James-Lange Theory of emotion?
Event → Arousal → Interpretation → Emotion
_____ states that all people are motivated to experience pleasure and avoid pain
The Hedonic Principle
Where did the idea of the limbic system as the single system of emotion come from?
James Papez first linked these regions of the brain to emotion
Modern approaches to affective neuroscience suggest
multiple networks in the brain are responsible for emotion
_____ decision making is how we produce a reasonable and defensible answer to an ethical dilemma
Moral
Sanfey and coworkers’ “ultimatum game” experiment revealed that people tended to make the _____ decision of _____
irrational; accepting only high offers
_____ is the ability to attribute separate mental states to oneself and to others
Theory of Mind
Which regions of the brain are involved in processing self-referential judgments?
PCC
mPFC
TPJ
Which regions of the brain are involved in representing theory of mind?
PCC
mPFC
TPJ
