Midterm 1 Cognition Flashcards
What is cognition?
“the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses”
which three stages did the stude of human cognition advance in?
Late 1950’s to early 1960’s
Mid 1970’s
Mid-1980’s
which stage of the study of human cognition was characterized by rapid progession propelled by methods of traditional psychophysics and experimental psychology?
1950’s to early 1960’s
which stage of the study of human cognition was fueled by computational analysis and marked arrival of early cognitive science?
mid-1970’s
which stage of the study of cognition incorporated evidence from neurophysiology and utilizes an ever-increasing array of imaging techniques
mid-1980’s
are humans active selectors or passive receivers of information?
active selectors
what is a bit?
It stands for “binary digit” and it is the most basic unit of information. it is the quantification of the amount of information provided by the occurrence of an event
what is information theory?
information theory posits tha the information provided in a message is inversly related to its probability of occurence…. the less likely it is, the more information it conveys…. kinda like when someone asks how you are doing and you respond with “I’m good”–> this does not give a lot of information whereas if someone would answer with “I’m doing terrible” this would give us much more informatiion
what is the time limitation in information processing?
the amount of time it takes for information to be processed in the nervous system
what is capacity limitation in information processing?
the amount of information that the nervous system can process within a fixed period of time.
what are the limitation of information processing?
the limits are time and capacity
what is Broadbent’s Filter Model Based on?
It’s based on the idea that information - processing is restricted by channel capacity– the maximum amount of information that can be transmitted by an information processing device.
explain the steps in which information would be processed under Broadbent’s Filter model.
information enters in through vison or hearing and is shipped to short term memory store…. information then goes through a filter. this filter operates by selecting messages that share some basic physical characteristics. the filter then passed along a selection of information to the limited capacity system responsible for the analysis of “high order” stimulus attributes
what does broadbent’s experiment with digits being presented to ones ears suggest?
suggest that ears function as separate channels, and switching between them more often caused more information decay
explain Waugh and Normans Model on memory
Waugh and Norman’s model consists of
- Primary memory (what we are aware of in the “immediately present moment” )
- Secondary memory (knowledge acquired at an earlier time that is stored indefinately also called long term memory)
This model suggests that without rehersal, primary memory is quickly forgotten
Explain ecological validity.
Gibson argued for an ecological approad using the richness of information provided by the natural environment.
the meaning of objects and events can be percieved in terms of their affordances (food affords the possibility of eating… stairs, climbing ect)
we learn what can and can’t be done with items through information pickup-the process whereby we perceive information directly
learning means becoming progressively more attuned to what the environment affords us.
explain how Neisser Proposed a cyclical model of cognition
SCHEMA directs the exploration of the environment
PERCEPTUAL CYCLE: A schema brings the perceiver into contact with new information to correct the schema
what was the point of cognitive ethology?
offers concrete and specific suggestions for carrying out studies in the real world in a way that will complement laboratory-based research
it is a new approach to studying cognition
what does Metacognition refer to ?
refers to the knowledge people have about the way that cognition processes work.
Cognitive psychology can be thought of as what?
a process of developing our metacognition
it is a actively developing area of injury
it contains many alternative hypotheses about how the mind works
_________________________ provides tools for the analysis of many different kinds of problems.
cognitive psychology
what do neuroscientists assume about the brain?
they assume that the brain is modular i.e. composed of different parts, each of which performs a different cognitive function
what is the idea of localization of function?
it is the idea that there is direct correspondence between specific cognitive functions and specific parts of the brain
what is phrenology?
study of the shape and size protrusions of the cranium in the attempt to discover the relationships between parts of the brain and various mental activities and abilities
who opposed the localization of function Idea? and what did this guy study?
Franz. he studied the effects of ablation , or destroying parts of an animals brain and observing behaviour. His conclusion was that mental processes are due to the activity of the brain as a whole and not individual parts.
Lashley, a student of Franz, continued ablation studies, what did he do?
he studied rats ability to learn or remember mazes after different degrees of brain damage.
He found little or no reduction in performance with small brain damage but more issues once damage became more extensive.
he suggested that learning was directly proportional to the amount of brain damage rather than the location of the damage.
what is the law of mass action?
learning and memory depend on the total mass of brain tissue remaining rather than the properties of the individual cells.
what is the law of equipotentiality?
despite the fact that certain brain areas may become specialized to perform specific functions, within limits, any part of the brain can do the job of any other part of the brain.
how are we trying to arrive to an integrated understanding of the mind and the brain?
Cognitive neuroscience draws on multiple disciplines like biology, linguistics, philosophy, psychology
Whats the difference between Consciousness and the mind?
consciousness or what we are aware of at any point and Mind , which includes consciousness, as well as processes that occur outside of awareness.
fours= classic approaches to how the mind and brain are integrated include:
Interactionism
epiphenominalism
Parallelism
Isomorphism
Interractionism is associated with Descartes (early 1600s), explain this approach in further detail.
the mind and brain are separate entities that interact and influence each other.
this dualistic view was not widely adopted by subsequent researchers, with the exception of Nobel Prize winner Roger Sperry
explain the approach of Epiphenomenalism:
it maintains that the mind is a by-product of bodily functioning.
the mind has no causal role in determining behaviour
Explain the approach of Parallelism:
Parallelism views the mind and brain as two aspects of the same reality, as they operate in parallel. Every event in the mind has a corresponding event in the brain.
Explain the approach of Isomorphism:
Isomorphism can be traced back to Gestalt psychology, which argues that consciousness is organized into a coherent whole.
Experience and its corresponding brain pattern share the same pattern in all their structural characteristics.
The same external stimulus can produce different internal experiences, therefore there must be a corresponding change in the underlying brain function… this can be experienced by:
necker cube
Mothods in Cognitive Neuroscience:
- animal models
- Study of Brian injuries
- Surgical intervention
- ERP, fMRI, PET, MEG,
- Connectivist models
- Combining methods
what are two classic studies of brain injuries?
the broca and wernike studies
What is Brocas aphasia?
Broca’s aphasia is a deficit in the ability to produce speech as a result of damage to Brocas area, in the left hemisphere of the brain.
language comprehension remains intact, but ability to produce speech is severly comprimised
What is Wernike’s aphasia?
Wernikes aphasia is caused by damage to Wernike’s area, the area in the brains left hemisphere that is responsible for processing the meaning of words.
Language comprehension is compromised and the affected individual produces incoherent speech
does speech production and comprehension only occur in brocas and wernikes?
no,
in split brain patients, what do the left and right hemispheres manage independantly?
left: analytic tasks
right: holistic tasks
which early brain imaging techniques provided high quality static “snapshots” of the brain?
CT and MRI
What kind of “scans” can measure temporal information about the brain?
fMRI and EEG
Rugg (1995) reviewed studies in which:
- participants were shown a series of items
- the ERP associated with each item was recorded
- the participants were asked to recal items
what does Rugg’s review suggest?
suggests that the waveform for items that will be remembered is different from the waveform for items that will be forgotten
can ERPs be used to understand brain processes ?
yes, but along with other techniques
What is PET?
it is an imaging technique where a radioactive substance is injected into the bloodstream. It allows detection of blood flow to different areas of the brain while the participant does different tasks.
-active areas in the brain use more oxygen therefor need more blood flow to these areas
what is Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
a non invasive brain imaging technique that combines the spatial resolution of fMRI and the temporal resolution of ERPs
-it measures the magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain.
what is teh Connectionist theory?
Connectionist theory holds that the brain consists of an enormous number of interconnected neurons.
it attemps to model cognition as an emergent process of networks of simple units communicating with one another
A model of the networks formed by neurons might help us to understand how cognitive processes work
focuses on physiological/neurological level
what kind of modern imaging technique can help show how information flows between and within brain regions?
DTI
two basic connectionist ideas are that:
a. information can be broken down into elementary units
b. there are cennoections between these units
Neural network:
neurons that are functionally related or connected
what is the Hebb rule?
a connection between two neurons takes place only if both neurons are firing at the same time.
what is an important assumption of connectionist models?
that many connections can be active at the same time- an example of parallel processing.
Serial processing:
only one connection is operating at the same time.
what is perception?
is the processing of sensory information in such a way that it produces conscious experiences and guides action in the world.
what does visual perception involve?
involves the pprocessing of information conveyed by light energy that enters the eye.
what steps does light energy enter the eye?
- enter eye through the cornea
- passses through a small opening called the pupil (pupil size controlled by the iris)
- is refreacted through the lens
- is focused on the tissue at the back of the eye know as the retina
- where it is captureed by light receptors called photoreceptors (most densely packed in fovea) and changed into a neural signal.
the neural signal is then transmitted to the brain through the optic nerve
what is the Primary visual cortex ?
is the area at the back of the brain responsible for the early processing of the visual signal and involved in visual consciousness
retinotopic means what?
visual info falling on adjacent sides of the brain
Visual processing is highly modular; distinct regions of the brain process different aspects of the visual input. Some visual deficits caused by damage to specific areas of the brain include:
Achromotopsia:
Akinetopsia:
Visual Agnosia:
Achromotopsia: inability to perceive color
Akinetopsia: inability to perceive objects in motion
Visual agnosia: inability to identify objects visually even though they can be identified using other senses.
There are two distinct visual processing pathways:
Ventral or “what” pathway: responsible for determining object shape, colour, and meaningful identity.
And
Dorsal or “where” pathway: responsible for determining object location and motion, and guiding action.
explain Feedforward sweep:
visual information from the primary visual cortex first propagates down the “what” and “where” pathways.
explain re-entrant (feedback) connections:
regions at the ends of the ventral and dorsal pathways send information back to the primary visual cortex through re-entrant(feedback connections
the effects of feed forward processing on perceptual experience are often referred to as:
bottom up influences
the effects of feedback processing on perceptual experiences are often referred to as:
top-down processing
Bottom up influences:
the feedforward influnece of the external environment on the resulting perceptual experience.
Top down influences:
the feedback influence of context and the individuals knowledge, expectations, and high level goals on perceptual experience.
Fusiform Face area (FFA):
the brain area responsible for the conscious recognition of faces.
A selective deficit in the ability to consciously recognize faces due to the damage to the Fusiform face area is called?
Prosopagnosia
Parahippocampla place area (PPA):
the brain area responsible for conscious recognition of places.
Extrastriate body area (EBA):
the brian area involved in processing non-facial body parts.
Patern recognition:
the ability to recognize an event as an instance of particular category of event.
Currently machine out perform humans in __________ while humans outperform machines in ________
“highly constraint” situations, “real-world tasks”
Memory trace:
the trace that an experience leaves behind in memory.
The Hoffding Funtction:
the process whereby an experience makes contact with a memory trace resulting in recognition.
Feature detection theory:
detecting patterns on the basis of their features or properties
Selfridge’s(1959) pandemonium model is a model of pattern recognition consisting of three levels:
Features: the bottom-level model consists of properties of the stimulus such as size, colour, shape, etc
cognitive demons: the next level decides whether the stimulus matches its particular pattern
decision demons: the top level decides which pattern is being recognized based on the input of the cognitive demons.
Pelli et al. (2003) investigated the effect of the contrast between the letters in a word and the background on which they are printed. Participants were shown words for 200 milliseconds and then had a recognition test (varied word length and contrast energy) explain what they found.
they found that as the word length increased, more contrast energy was required to recognize the word.
the result suggest that words that have low contrast energy may be “squelched by the visual system.
what does the Recognition by componants theory posit?
it posits that we regognize objects by breaking them down into their fundamental geometric shapes, geons, and then compare with existing memory representation.
what are Geons?
Geons are the set of 36 basic three-dimentional shapes from which all real-world objects can be constructed
which theory accounts for how we are able to recognize objects from different view points?
Recognition by componants theory
which theory explains why object recognition is robust against visual noise?
Recognition by componants theory.
what is the template-matching theory?
themplate matching theaory involves comparing the configuration of the current sensory input with a standard configuration we have in memory (a prototype or template)
what is a prototype?
the prototype is an average representation of the object in memory.
explain the multiple trace memory model:
the multiple-trace memory model is where traces of each individual experience are recorded in memory;
this distinguished between Primary and secondary memory
what is a probe in multiple-trace memory model?
a probe is an active representation of an experience” in primary memory
explain what the echo in multiple-trace memory model is:
the echo is like when we listen to a choir… we hear multiple voices… when having a prototype that “sounds the same” as all the other voices in the choir… but think about that as a memory, when the memory is similar to a lot of other memories the choir starts to sing
the echo sent out by secondary memory contains what the distortions all had in common, this makes :
the prototype easy to recognized when you havent even seen it in the first place.
what are context effects:
context effects are the change in perception of a visual componant of a scene based on the surrounding information and the observer’s prior knowledge.
explain the moon illusion.
moon illusion is the tendancy for the moon to appear different in size depending on whether it is near the horizionor high in the sky.
Apparent distance theory : the moon on the horizin is perceived as farther away because it can be compared to distance cues on the earths surface
what did the Gestalt movement beleive ?
the gestalt movement beleived that perception is holistic in nature rather than atomistic and that the grouping of visual feathures to form a whole follows certain organizational principles.
principle of experience:
visual componants are grouped together based on prior experience and knowledge of the observer
Principle of similarity:
visual elements are grouped togehter based on similarity (shape, size, colour, orientation)
principle of proximity
visual elements are grouped together based on how close they are to one another
priciple of symmetry:
summetrical lines are perceived as going together
principle of parallelism:
lines are parallel or similar in orientation are perceived as going together.
regions usually perceived as the figures are the ones with higher ____ meaning:
denitivity. meaning those that appear more familiar and meaningful to the observer.
Gibsons theory of ecological optics:
perception results from direct contact of the sensory organs with stimulus energy emanating from the environment.
an important goal of perception is ___
action
what us the ambient optical array (AOA) ?
it is all the visual information that is present at t particular point of view, the patterns of light reflected from surfaces and objects at a given point of observation
In the ambient optical array (AOA) what is transformation?
it is the change in the AOA as an individual moves through space.
in the ambient optical array, what is the optic flow feild?
is the continually changing pattern of information on the AOA
What are gradient of texture density?
they are incremental changes in the pattern on a surface that provide information about its angle or slant.
what is topoligical breakage?
it is the discontinuity created by the intersection of two textures, which gives us useful information about edges of objects.
what is scatter-reflection
it is the degree to which light scatters when reflected from a surface, which tells us about the smoothness of a surface
explain the intentional binding effect:
events that take place after one has taken some action are perceived as occurring sooner than they actually did.
this provides another example of how action influences perception
what is the modality appropriateness hypothesis?
the modality appropriateness hypothesis posits that different senses are better at processing different stimuli, therefore depending on the circumstances, different sensory modalities will dominate at different times
what is the Visual prepotency effect?
it is the hypothesis that the visual system dominates the other senses when it comes to perceptual processing.
the ______ is the auditory experience of the syllable “da” when seeing a mouth silently saying “ga” while at the same time hearing a voice say “ba”
the McGurk effect
why doesnt food taste the same when you have a cold…
because the contribution of smell is important
how can visual information change what we taste?
if we see orange juice with gross colored food colouring, well then we will think it tastes gross
what is selective attention?
it is attending to relevant information and ognoring irrelevant information.
-early research on attention was driven by practical problem experienced by armed forces personnel
what is Dichotic listening task?
participants are exposed to two verbal messages simultanously and are required to answer questions posed in only one of the messages
what is the cocktail party phenominom?
it is the ability to attend to one conversation when many other conversations are going on around you.
what is selective looking?
it occurs when we are exposed to two events simultaneously but attend to only one of them
what is the early selection view of attention?
attention can effectively prevent early perceptual processing of irrelevent distractions
what is the late selection view of attention?
both relevant and irrelevant stimuli are percieved
participants must actively ignore the irrelevant stimuli
it is studied with the stroop task
what is the stroop task?
It’s a naming task where in which names are printed in colors other than the colors the name
differnces between controlled process and automatic process in the stroop task?
automatic process is like reading whereas controlled process is like color naming
what brain areas are involved in the stroop task?
the dorsolateral prefontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex
the dorsolateral prefontal cortex favours the “
selection of task-relevant information
the anterior congulate cortex is one part of a network responsible for:
attentional control
spatial attention is like a spotlight that we shine on an object when we select it for more complex and conscious processing is called:
the spotlight metaphor
Endogenous shift of attention are :
voluntary movements
Exogenous shifts of attention are :
involuntary mouvements triggered by external stimuli
the diversion of attention of attention by a stimulus so powerful that it compels us to notice it even when our attention is focused on something else is called:
Attention capture
what is the periphreal cueing paradigm?
a test in which light lfashes in the periphery and is followed by a target either in the same “cued) location or a different (uncued) location
what is Inattention Blindness?
failure to attend to events that we might be expected to notice
what is Deja Vu
Deja Vu is the impression that you have already experienced the situation in which you find yourself, along with the sense that this is not the case.
who is more likely to experience Deja Vu?
2 out of three people experience deja vu and one that is higher on the socio-economic scale, better educated and more widely travelled is more likely to experience it
What is Attention Capture?
Attention Captuire is attending to events that we might be expected to notice
the flanker task is used to study attention capture, explain what this experiment is.
in this experiment, participants may be influenced by an irrelevant stimulus presented beside the target.
what are domain specific modules?
Domain-specific modules is the hypothesis that parts of the brain may be specialized for particular tasks, such as recognizing faces
the capacity model and Structural Limits of Dual tasks and the limits of attention mean that:
Capacity model attention has limited capacity and Structural limts: interference between tasks is more likely if they share the same processing resources.
Central Bottleneck:
attention requires a central processor that can process only information that is relevant to one task at a time
Divided attention means:
attending to more than one thing at a time
Mind Wondering:
a shift in mental resources away from the task at hand towards internal thoughts
how do we measure mind wondering ?
Sustained attention to response task (SART)
what is the attention blink?
The attention blink is a the failure to notice the second of two stimuli presented within 550 milliseconds of each other.
It’s measured using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) trials, which are the presentation of a series of stimuli in quick succession.
what is task switching?
Task switching is changing from working on one task to working on another; usually studied in situations in which the switch is involuntary.
what is a “set”
A set is a temporary, top-down organization in the brain that facilitates some response while inhibiting others in order to achieve a certain goal; alsoo referred to as “mental set”
explain Switch cost:
switch cost is the finding that performance declines immediately on switching tasks.
what is Susutained attention?
sustained attention is the act of focusing on a single task for a prolonged period of time.
Explain Vigilance:
Vigilance is externally imposed sustained attention.
What was the Mackworth Clock Task?
A labratory study where participants were asked to monitor a line moving in discrete steps around an imaginary circle and press a button whenever infrequent “skips” occured
what is Vigilance decrement?
Vigilance decrement is the decline in performance over time in vigilance tasks.
what is the overload view and the underload view?
in the overload view, tasks are too demanding and resources become depleted whereas underload view the task is not demanding enough to hold the attention
What is covert visual attention?
Covert visual attention is attending to an object without moving one’s eye.
what is overt attention?
overt attention is attending to something with eye movement.
what is the sequential attention hypothesis?
the sequential attention hypothesis posits a tight relationship between covert and overt visual attenetion, whereby covert attention is shifted first, and overt eye movement follows.
what do Findlay and Gilchrist say about overt and covert attention?
that in most cases overt and covert attention move together, and that researchers should focus on studying overt attention because of its critical role in everyday attending.
what are saccades?
they are the rapid, jerky movement made as the eye scans an image.
what is fixation?
is holding the eye reletively still in order to maintain an image on the fovea.
what is a Nystagmus?
is a small, continuous movement made during fixation.
what are Regressions?
they are right and left movements of the eyes during reading, directing them to previously read text
what is the moving window technique?
the moving window technique is a method of determining how much visual information can be taken in durring a fixation, in which the reader is prevented from seeing information beyond a certain distance from the current fixation
what are smooth pursuit movements?
they are movements of the eye that enable the viewer to maintain fixation on a moving object
________________plays an important role in object and scene viewing
task-related knowledge
the _____ is the sustained and steady eye gaze prior to an action or behaviour
quiet eye; expert athletes use this
what is the location surpression hypothesis?
it is a two-stage explanation for the quiet eye phenomenon
- In the preperation stage, the quiet eye maximizes information about the target
- during the location stage, vision is surpressed to optimize execution of an action or behaviour.
