Introduction to Human Cognition

Question 1

Definition of sensation

Answer 1

Biological functioning of our sensory system via stimulated sensory receptors

Question 2

Definition of perception

Answer 2

Interpretation of sensory input, organising input and assigning meaning
Cognitive process

Question 3

Definition of attention

Answer 3

Ability to select salient sensory inputs to attend to

Question 4

Primary and recency effect

Answer 4

More likely to remember info from the start and end of an encounter

Question 5

Definition of an episodic memory

Answer 5

Memories of personal experiences in the long term memory

Question 6

Definition of a semantic memory

Answer 6

Memories of facts, ideas and concepts in the long term memory

Question 7

Definition of an explicit memory

Answer 7

Conscious retrieval of declarative knowledge

Question 8

Definition of implicit memory

Answer 8

Unconscious retrieval of procedural knowledge

Question 9

What is the difference between sensation and perception

Answer 9

Sensation

• Functioning of our sensory system via stimulated sensory receptors
• biological processes

Perception

• Interpretation of sensory input, organising the input and assigning meaning
• cognitive process and not very accurate

Question 10

What is the pathway of sensation to the brain

Answer 10

Environmental stimuli
Transduction of stimulus via sensory receptors
Transmission of AP in CNS
Interpretation in the brain

Question 11

What are the 3 factors that affect perception of internal/external stimuli

Answer 11

Attention

• ability to select salient sensory inputs to attend to
• can change depending on the context

Information Processing systems

• Recognition, assign stimulus to a meaningful category
• knowledge, process stimulus based on preexisting knowledge in top down processing

Emotion
-how we feel affects what we perceive (anxiety and depression)

Question 12

Describe the properties of attentional resources

What are the 2 types of attention

Answer 12

Attentional resource is limited

• restrictions to the amount of sensory inputs we can process and assimilate
• only some sensory inputs are transmitted to our sensory store or further processing
• processed by parallel sensory channels

Can be voluntary/unvoluntary

Question 13

What are the 3 stages in skill acquisition

How does this link to attention

Answer 13

Cognitive stage => mental representation of skill
Associative stage => development of motor programme
Autonomous stage => skill becomes innate

As you progress down the stages, the amount of attention needed decreases

Question 14

What are the 2 problems with implicit skills that dont need a large amount of attention

• in healthcare workers
• in patients

Answer 14

Healthcare workers may commit more medical errors and impact on patient safety

Patients who think they can manage their conditions who weren’t taught well adhered to treatment less

Question 15

How does attention affected by stress

Answer 15

Survival mode => hypervigilant attention system

Attention biased to certain inputs deemed to be of importance

Question 16

How would you address attention and stress in a clinical environment

Answer 16

By distracting a patients attentional resource away from the threatening context, our perception of stimuli decreases

Question 17

What is the short term memory

Answer 17

Temporary storage system
Visual and auditory processing
Limited processing capabilities

Question 18

How to overcome the issues associated with short term memory

Answer 18

Chunk information according to preexisting structures
Give important info at the end and the start (primacy and recency effect)
Write info down
Check back and revise

Question 19

What is the long term memory

Answer 19

Stores info for future retrieval
Memory structures are created via encoding
Sematically meaningful categories are generated

Question 20

Describe the composition of declarative knowledge

Answer 20

Episodic memory
-personal experiences, easier to recall

Semantic memory
-facts, ideas, concepts, harder to recall

Both form the explicit memory
-conscious retrieval of declarative knowledge

Question 21

Describe the composition of procedural knowledge

Answer 21

Cognitive/problem solving
Motor and perception skills
Repetition

All link with the implicit memory (unconscious retrieval)

Question 22

What are the 3 types of health behaviours

Describe them

Answer 22

Risky
-increases morbidity and mortality
Promoting/protective
-enhance health and prevent disease
Illness related
-aimed at managing acute/chronic illness