Lecture 6 - Perception and Components of Memory Flashcards
What are the four main approaches to studying human cognition?
The four main approaches are:
- Perception
- Memory
- Language
- Action
What is the key question regarding perception and sensation?
How does the energy of the outside world become a representation of the inside world?
How accurately do our senses reflect the outside world?
Our senses do not always reflect the outside world accurately, as they are shaped by internal processes and representations in the brain.
What is the concept of “phantom limb” an example of?
Phantom limb is an example of how the brain can create perceptions without sensory input, showing that perception is shaped by brain representations.
Why are illusions important for understanding perception?
Illusions help us understand how the brain processes sensory information by tricking it and revealing the rules that govern perception.
What is the difference between sensation and perception?
Sensation refers to the process of detecting sensory stimuli, while perception involves the brain’s interpretation of that sensory information.
What is the core idea behind Helmholtz’s theory of unconscious inference?
The brain makes unconscious inferences about the environment based on sensory information, automatically perceiving the most likely object that caused a particular sensory pattern.
What does the Gestalt principle of “proximity” state?
Objects that are near each other are perceived as belonging together.
What does the law of closure suggest about perception?
The brain fills in missing information to create a complete image, perceiving incomplete shapes as whole objects.
What is the principle of continuity in Gestalt perception?
Points connected by lines are seen as following the smoothest path rather than as separate lines or angles.
What is perspective as a monocular cue of depth?
Perspective refers to how parallel lines appear to converge as they recede into the distance, creating a sense of depth.
What is “occlusion” as a monocular cue for depth?
Occlusion occurs when one object blocks the view of another, signaling that the blocked object is farther away.
What is binocular disparity?
Binocular disparity refers to the difference in the images received by each eye, which the brain uses to perceive depth.
How does convergence help with depth perception?
Convergence involves the inward movement of the eyes as an object gets closer, providing depth information.
How do cultural differences affect perception?
Cultural environment, education, and history influence how people perceive visual stimuli, such as susceptibility to illusions.
What was the result of the study by Segall, Campbell & Herskovits (1963)?
People from Western cultures were more susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion compared to people from rural African or Filipino cultures.
What does the Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) memory storage model propose?
It suggests that sensory input is briefly stored in sensory memory, then moved to short-term memory if attended to, and can be transferred to long-term memory.
What are the main components of the Working Memory Model?
The main components are the central executive, the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer.
What is the “Brown-Peterson” distraction paradigm?
It is an experiment that tests short-term memory by having participants remember a list of items while counting backwards, and then recalling the list after a delay.
What is the “recency effect” in free recall?
The recency effect refers to the tendency to remember the last items in a list more easily than earlier ones.
How does list length affect memory recall?
Longer lists generally lead to fewer recalled items, but the recency effect (remembering the last items) is unaffected.
What is Sperling’s partial report experiment about?
Sperling’s experiment demonstrated that people can briefly see all the letters in a visual array but can only identify a small portion due to time limitations.
