Midterm 1 Flashcards
Lateralization
Linking traits to specific areas of the brain. Different hemispheres have different specializations.
Dualism
The belief that the soul and body are interactive but seperate
Localization of function
Principle that specific parts of the cortex are specialized for specific functions.
Structuralism
Elemental components of the mind
Functionalism
Emphasized that psychological functions were developed by evolution for their function and adaptive purpose.
Forgetting Curves
Made by Hermann Ebbinhaus; made up of nonsense syllables with no internal process inference.
Modularity hypothesis
Cognitive skills are mutually independent of other skills.
Nativism
The ability to learn the structure of a language is an innate mental program and independent of other skills.
Serial Processing
One level of processing to the next in order.
Parallel Processing
Processing things simultaneously, like identifying someone’s face by taking in their eyes lips and nose all at once.
Transformation of information
As information travels through the system it changes its code or form. Environmental input -> sense -> STS -> LTS.
Cell Body
Also known as the soma, containes the nucleus of the cell.
Dendrites
Receives messages from other neurons and accepts electrical signals.
Axon
Sends messages as electricity. The message is conducted down the axon as an electrical impulse.
Myelin Sheath
Fatty covering of the axon to protect it from degradation. Speeds conduction of the message down the axon.
Synapse
End of the axons, contain synaptic terminals that are gaps between neurons that allow for the release of neurotransmitters.
Cerebellum
Coodrinated motor movement, skill learning, and some aspects of implicit and procedural memory.
Frontal Lobe
Involved in motor control, planning, decision-making, working memory, selective and focused attention, and langauge production.
Temporal Lobe
Involved in object recognition, memory, hearing, and speech perception.
Occipital Lobe
Vision
Parietal Lobe
Somatosensory cortex, spatial attention, detection of movement, and sensory integration.
Broadmanns’ Cytoarchitectonic Map
Map of areas of the brain based on cellular morphology and organization. Each part of the brain is slightly different from the area next to it.
CT/CAT Scan
X-ray technique that produces cross section pictures of the brain. Does not provide information on brain activity.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Electrodes placed on the scalp and electrical activity is recorded in graphic form. Gathers information on which parts of the brain are electrically active.
Evoked Potential
Stimulus presented and brain waves measured.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Tests the relationship between brain structures and function by placing magnets on the skull to disrupt neural activity in the brain. Weak, low frequency waves numb parts of the brain and short, high frequency waves stimulate parts of the brain.
PET San
Radioactive glucose is injected into the bloodstream and active areas of the brain take up this glucose so radioactivity can be measured.
fMRI
Records brain activity by measuring changes in magnetic properties of blood as it changes oxygenation levels.
Double Dissociation
Are two skills modular/separate from each other?
Memory
Provides the basis for our adaptation to the environment and serves as a work space for us to carry out cognitive activities.
Multistore Model
Proposed that memory systems are made up of three separate structures: sensory store, STS, and LTS.
Capacity
How much information the store can hold at one time.
Duration
How long the information lasts in the store/form
Code
Depends on the modality, is how the information is stored in the brain.
STS Capacity
5-9 items
Sensory store Duration
1/3 of a second for iconic memory and 2-3 seconds for echoic memory.
Sensory store Code
Mimics modality by which the information was taken in, usually auditory or acoustic.
Proactive Interference
Early information interfers with encoding or retrieval of later innformation
Retroactive Information
Later information interferes with encoding or retrieval of earlier information.
Control Processes
Rehearsal, elaboration, organization, imagery, and rehearsal strategies for encoding into the LTM.
Rehearsal
Verbal reptition
elaboration
Constructing a story from a word list.
LTS Capacity
Unlimited
LTS Duration
Potentially unlimited
LTS Code
Semantic
LTS Declarative Memory
Memories that can be declared as either semantic memory or episodic memory.
LTS Nondeclarative Memory
Information that cannot easily be conveyed verbally, can also be the performance of motor tasks that we do not consciously think about.
Primacy Effect
First words in the list are recalled well
Recency Effect
Last words in the list are also recalled well.
Visual-Spatial Sketchpad
Temporary storage and maintenance of visual-spatial material. Reading something and creating a visual of it.
Central Executive
Determines what task will be carried out at various times. Three slave systems: phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, and episodic buffer. Initiates decision-making task.
Episodic Memory (Declarative)
Autobiographical memories from our past as we remember it. Usually less clear memory since the event only happened once.
Semantic Memory (Declarative)
Knowledge of facts and meanings, thought of over and over.
Retrograde Amnesia
A person forgets part of their past due to some trauma.
Anterograde Amnesia
Difficulty in learning new information after a trauma.
Source Amnesia
Remembering a piece of information but not knowing where the information came from.
Hippocampus
Important for laying down new memories and is more activated during retrieval or episodic memories. Makes new neurons.
Amygdala
Houses more emotional memories
Temporal Lobes
Important for semantic memories
Mnemonics
Strategies used to improve memory for new material. Visually oriented and verbally oriented strategies.
Keyword Method
A particular icon serving as the key to trigger the information you were waiting to learn. Is the most effective after learning the keywords.
Method of Loci
Used by Greek orators to remember their speeches; built a mind palace in their minds and placed the information in different rooms to retrieve it later.
Peg-Word Method
Requires a person first learn a rhyme involving numbers and then memorize a series of items by imaging each of them interacting with the rhyme.
Maintenance Rehearsal
Maintains the item at the same level of processing, like repeating the word over and over.
Elaborative Rehearsal
Entails moving to a deeper level of processing and linking incoming information to more meaningful concepts.
Implicit Memory
Having the knowledge of a task, but not recollecting the memory.
Explicit Memory
A memory that can be explicitly remembered
State-Dependent Learning
Memory for information may depend on the internal state of the person doing the remembering. Memory is greatest if the person is in the same psychological or physical state as when the memory was taken and retrieved.
Encoding
How a memory is stored. A person thinks about the experience as it unfolds, and how that information is taken in is the basis for how it is stored.
Retrieval
Usually signaled as a cue from the environment that determines which aspect of the memory gets activated. Utilizes retrieval cues.
Scripts
Specific types of schema; organized knowledge about typical actions. Involves the frontal lobes.
Iconic Memory
Visual sensory store
Echoic Memory
Auditory sensory memory; can hold information usually for 2 seconds. Limited capacity.
Digit span
An indicator of short term store, usually about 5 to 9 items.
Chunking
Grouping numbers into chunks increases recall ability; top-down and active processing. Remember less items as a whole.
Decay
Lack of strong encoding in which information slowly fades over time if not revisited.
Interference
When information learned previously or learned after interferes with encoding.
Serial Position Effect
The position of items in a list will affect what you remember best. Tied to primacy effect and regency effect.
Long-term Potentiation
Tendency of neural circuits to keep processing information. Neural circuitry continues to vibrate after you’ve learned information to allow the neuron to process it. The continued reverberating of the neural signals allows for structural changes in the neurons.
Consolidation of memory
The process whereby a memory trace for an experience is laid down in the brain. Tied with long-term potentiation.
Structural
Physical features of a stimulus (is it big or small, is the voice male or female)
Orthographic
Visual: Does the word have a particular letter
Auditory: Does the word contain a particualr sound.
Syntactic
Includes the grammatical class of the word
Semantic
Coding based on the meaning of a stimulus
Incidental
The person does not know that they are being tested any storage of information comes about incidentally and is an unintended result.
Intentional
The person knows his or her memory will be tested and intentionally tries to remember the material.
Elaboration Hypothesis
Expanding on a task semantically may lead to richer associations and retrieval cues for those items.
Empiricism
John Locke; states that the only source of knowledge comes through our senses.
Associationism
Theory that complex mental processes can be explained by the associative links formed between ideas. This is the basis for thought or learning.
Phrenology
The detailed study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities. The shape of a persons head correlates with their mental ability.
Reaction Time Experiments
Particpants respond as quickly as possible anytime a stimulus appears. It serves as a baseline measure of how quickly a person responds when no other mental processing is required.
Subtractive Method
A measure of the duration of a process can be found by obtaining two measurements of time that include the process and subtracting one from the other.
Signal Detection Theory
The detection of a stimulus depends on both the intensity of the stimulus and the physical/psychological state of the individual. We notice things based on how strong they are and how much we’re paying attention.
Cognitive Maps
A mental representation of one’s physical environment. Like creating the map to your house when someone asks where you live.
Stimulus-Organism-Response
A stimulus triggers a response based on the internal feelings or behavior of an organism (person). The processing of the stimulus can be conscious or unconscious, and triggers an emotion that leads to a response.
Mental Representations
Mental Imagery of things that are not actually present to the senses, like perception, thought, memory, etc.
Computer Science
The study of principles and use of computers
Information Processing Approach
Aims to explain how information is encoded into memory. Humans do not merely respond to stimuli in the environment, but instead humans process the information they receive.
Cognitive Science
Encompasses psychology, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and neuroscience.
Brainstem
Involves the autonomic control of physical activity, such as salivation, respiration, heartbeat, digestion, etc.
Cortex
Responsible for higher level processes of the human brain, including language, memory, reasoning, thought, learning, emotion, and personality.
Partial Report Technique
A method of testing memory in which only some of the total information presented is to be recalled. Giving a block of text and asking to recall a sentence.
Working Memory
Small amount of information that can be held in mind and used in the execution of congitive tasks.
Phonological Loop
Phonological store that is dedicated to working memory and that serves to temporarily hold verbal information. Like repeating a telephone number over and over before dialing it.
Procedural memory
Type of long term memory involved in the performance of different actions and skills. Memory of how to do certain things that might seem unconscious now.
Amnesia
Dissociation between procedural and declarative memories, and the ability to remember semantic versus episodic memories, and LTS vs STS. Usually caused by trauma.
Interacting Images
Lead to better memory in the Wollen, Weber, and Lowry study.
Bizarreness effect
Bizarrenes did not lead to better memory. If it does, it is due to retrieval processes.
Distinctiveness
Things that stand out are more likely to be remembered. Picture memory is best under physical orienting instructions.
Levels of Processing
Proposed by Craik and Lockhart; shallow processing, intermediate processing, and deep processing. Go from one to the other; deep is semantic and the best way to memorize.
Levels of Processing: Structural
Physical features of a stimulus (visual: is it big or small, auditory: is it male or female?)
Levels of Processing: Orthographic
Visual: Does the word have a particular letter, Auditory: Does the word contain a particular sound?
Levels of Processing: Syntactic
Includes the grammatical class of the word
Levels of Processing: Semantic
Coding based on the meaning of a stimulus.
Orienting Tasks
Designed to manipulate the type of encoding
Semantic Orienting tasks
Frequency of word usage and pleasantness/unpleasantness ratings of the word.
Non-semantic orienting tasks
E-G checking (orthographic), syntactic sentence fram, part of speech.
Distinctiveness Hypothesis
Ordinary memory mechanisms are capable of generating flashbulb memories. Emotional events are better remembered because they are more distinctive and less subject to interference from similar events.
Transfer-appropriate processing
aka encoding specificity; encoding is not independent of retrieval processes.
Recall/cued recall
Provide some retrieval cue to help facilitate memory.
Forced choice recognition
Requires the test-taker to identify or recognize a previously presented stimulus by choosing between a finite number of alternatives, usually two.
Absolute Judgment
Like a true/false question involving recognition. “Was this item in the original stimulus list?”
Picture Superiority Effect
Memory for pictures is superior to memory for words; encourages more elaborate encoding and providing more retrieval cues.
Word Frequency Effect
We are more likely to recall high frequency words and recognize low frequency words.
Relearning
method of measuring the retention of learned material by measuring how much faster a person can relearn material that had been previously learned and then forgotten. Number of trials to learn information originally divided by number of trials to relearn = savings.
Fragment Completion
Used to test implicit memory; an indirect way of detecting memory for a word presented previously by asking participants to fill in the blanks of a sentence.
Encoding Specificity
Refers to the idea that encoding and retrieval operations must match for memory performance to be maximum.
Context Effects
An effect of preceding items or experiences on responses to subsequently presented items.
Mood congruency
Material is best recalled when it matches one’s current mood. If you’re in a positive state of mind, you will also recall positive memories or thoughts.
Storage
Mainting information over time
Forgetting
Can either be through decay or interference, the process of losing memory, or an inability to retrieve a memory that is stored.
Very long-term memory
Due to over learning and distributed practice or picture superiority effect
Permastore
Relatively permanent information that remains after 3-5 years. The first few years show the steepest decline in memory.
Overlearning
People being exposed to the same material over and over.
Distributed Practice
Learning was spread out over time.
Forgetting
Inability to retrieve information due to interference or lack of viable retrieval hooks.
Schema/ta
Specific way of storing information in groups. Details may be lost or altered as they become apart of their more general schema memory.
Eyewitness Testimony
Post-event information can affect the accuracy of witnesses’ testimony; implanted information leads to less accurate memory performance.
Misinformation Effect
Incorrect pieces of information might have replaced the original information in memory.
Misinformation acceptance
The participants know the correct answer, but respond yes to the incorrect answer because they feel the experimenter wants that response or else they wouldn’t have asked about it.
Flashbulb Memory
Memories of unexpected, dramatic, and highly emotional events that are potentially not subject to forgetting.
Now-Print Theory
Brown and Kulik constructed a special-mechanism hypothesis which demonstrated a distinct neural mechanism for flashbulb memories. Arousal of the limbic system due to emotionality.
Reconstructive Script Theory
Flashbulb memories are better remembered because of enhanced rehearsal of the event and reconstruction of event details based on schema of disasters.
Direct antecedents of the cognitive revolution
Human factors engineering, communications, revolt against radical behaviorism, linguistics and computational approach, and computer science and artificial intelligence.
Human Factors engineering
improvement of human and machine interaction in WW2. Signal detection theory.
Communications (antecedent of CR)
All forms of communication can be analyzed in a common framework, and information is transmitted and encoded and retrieved later.
Revolt Against Radical Behaviorism
Tolmans congitive maps and SOR psychology
Linguistics and Computational Approach
Behaviorism is inadequate in explaining the creativity of language and its modularity. Noam Chomsky’s cognitive manifesto.
Sterling Experiment
Sensory Store; presented stimulus for 50 milliseconds and asked them to relay how many numbers they remembered. Most remembered 4. Tested them again by activating a cued recall with a tone, which resulted in better memory.
Degroot Experiment
STS capacity, asked chess masters to view a chess board for 15 seconds and then recreate it. Masters chunked information together more and did better than novices because they imposed meaning on the pieces they were seeing from prior games.
Brown-Peterson Task
Duration of STS; gave triagrams and asked participants to count backwards by 3s for a certain interval The longer the interval the less they remembered. Proactive vs retroactive interference.
Van der Linden
Studied A.C. who had a stroke and damaged both L and R occipital and temporal lobes. He remembered more personal semantic information than autobiographical information.
Schacter Study
Source amnesia; amnesic patients cannot recall how they got information even though they remember the information itself 40% of the time.
Bower study
Interactive imagery that paired associate learning under three conditions (rote rehearsal, interacting images, and non-interacting images.)
Wollen, Weber, and Lowry study
Tested interacting vs noninteracting images and bizzare vs common images.
Craik and Lokhart Study
LOP; subjects learned 24 words composed of 12 pairs of primary associates and given different orientation asks meant to manipulate the type of encoding. Participants given semantic orienting tasks had the best recall, and within that intentional encoding had higher recall.
Now Print Theory
Brown and Kulik
Reconstructive Script Theory
o Neisser (1982)
o Flashbulb memories are better remembered because of enhanced rehearsal of the event and reconstruction of event details based on general knowledge of disasters.
Distinctivness Hypothesis
McCloskey
