Midterm Flashcards
1
Q
what is cognition
A
the processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered and used (sensation, perception, imagery, retention, recall, problem-solving, problem-solving and thinking, etc.) -Ulric Neisser
2
Q
where did the study of the mind root from
A
philosophy (Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant)
3
Q
Fechner
A
the relationship between physical stimuli and sensation
4
Q
William Wundt
A
Scientific methods and introspection
- first experimental lab
- structuralism
- analytic introspection
5
Q
introspection
A
the study of the contents of consciousness and of mental process through inner observation
6
Q
what was the problem with introspection
A
- they are only accessible to the individual
- not a good measure (not valid)
7
Q
evolution
A
Charles Darwin believed in natural selection and that are selected for the most advantageous traits for survival and reproduction
8
Q
Logical positivism
A
positivism: all knowledge must be based on empirically verifiable facts
operationalization: to establish a clear relationship between the theoretical and empirical basis in the operations producing scientific data
9
Q
Ivan Pavlov
A
- originally interest in the digestive system
- conditioned dogs
- classical conditioning
10
Q
classical conditioning
A
a type of associative learning during which two events (a stimulus and a response) become interconnected such that one may activate the representation of the other
11
Q
behaviourism
A
studying mental events by evaluating observable behaviour
1. blank slate
2. all learning stems from associations
3. theories about the mind are not needed in a complete explanation of psychology
12
Q
Watson
A
- behaviourist
- no dividing line between humans and animals
- little Albert experiment
13
Q
B.F Skinner
A
operant conditioning
14
Q
Operant conditioning
A
Conditioning results from the relation between behaviour and its consequences
15
Q
omission training
A
decreasing a stimulus by removing a stimulus
16
Q
problems with behaviourism
A
- doesn’t evaluate the mind
- means there are no innate dispositions
- not all learning stems from associations (language acquistion)
17
Q
taste aversion learning
A
a conditioned taste aversion learned if ingestion of a novel flavour is followed by an aversive consequence such as indigestion or food poisoning
18
Q
Garcia and Koelling
A
- relations of cue consequence in avoidance learning
- rates are given sweet water
- some were made sick
- some were shocked
- another group had bright and noisy water
- some were made sick and some were shocked
- the pairs that inherently made sense (noisy water and shock, tasty water and sickness) made the rats less likely to drink the water
showed - there is a predisposition for forming associations
- some experience does not derive from experience
19
Q
Language acquisition
A
B.F. skinner argued language was acquired through operant conditioning. Chomsky rejected this view because how can non-reinforced linguistic behaviour occur, how can children say sentences they have never heard
20
Q
chomsky
A
innate knowledge of languagebased on rule-based learning
21
Q
Quine’s induction problem:
A
how can a problem as complex as language be solved if there are no innate mental constraints? (how can children solve problems that have many possibilities)
22
Q
what is the mind
A
creates and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory emotions, language, deciding, thinking and reasoning
a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act
23
Q
Franciscus Donders
A
measured the time it takes to make a decision by using reaction time and choice reaction time (one-tenth of a second)
24
Q
structuralism
A
our experience is determined by combining basic elements of experience the structuralists call sensations
25
analytic introspection
trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli
26
Ebbinghaus
studied the the savings curve
- how long it took him to relearn something
forgetting curve
27
Edward Chace Tolman
called himself a behaviorist
- used behavior to infer mental processes
- rat mazes and cognitive maps
28
cognitive revolution
-1950's, introduction to computers
- behaviourism could no explain all psychology
29
Broadbent
- cocktail phenomena
filter model of attention
- input -> filter -> detector -> memory
- focus on one thing while blocking other out
30
Colin Cherry
auditory attention experiment
- dichotic
- two different messages playing in each ear (focus in one)
- unaware of the contents of the unattended message
31
Simon and Newell
logic theorist
created an ai system the used human reasoning processes to solve problems
32
1956
birthday of cognitive science
33
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin's model of memory
- input
- sensory memory
- short term (rehearsal)
- long-term memory (encoded)
- information can be retrieved from long-term into short-term (output)
34
Endel Tulving
Long-term memory
Episodic
- live events
semantic
- facts
procedural
- physical actions
35
positron emission tomography
made it possible to see which areas of the brain are activated during cognitive activity by injecting radioactive tracers
36
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
showed brain activity and capable of higher resolution
37
Stephan Palmer
environment can influence perception
- context scenes and target images
- Participants correctly guessed the images related to the scene more than images unrelated to the scene
38
analogy of computer
program = mind
hardware = brain
- input and output
manipulates information based on rules
39
the information processing paradigm
- stages
- transformations
- limited capacity
- serial
40
Sternberg experiment
- high speed
- given a set of numbers (0 to 9)
- target number
- determine if the target number was in the original set
41
four stage process model for memory scanning
- encode test item
- scan and compare with memory set items
- binary (yes or no)
- execute motor response
42
serial self terminating
look at the items one by one. stop immediately when you find it
- exponential on a graph (yes is faster than no)
43
serial exhaustive
look the the items one by one. go through the entire list before rendering a decision - exponential on a graph (as set increases and no difference for answer)
44
parallel
process all the items at once and provide a decision
- parallel on a graph (same amount of time regardless of set size or answer)
45
connectionism
- not necessary to postulate a program to fully understand the mind
- a good model of cognition is a model of the brain
46
the brain
A network of highly interconnected neurons that processes information in parallel and that learns by forming associations
47
connectionist network
A network of highly interconnected abstract units that processes information in parallel and that learns by forming associations
- Information at one point in the system is being processed everywhere else in the system (parallel)
- simulations start with random associations (tabula rasa)
48
Hebbian learning rule
any two cells that are repeatedly active at the same time will tend to become "associated", so that actively in one facilitates activity in the other (fire together, wire together)
49
sub-symbolic
all knowledge consists of associations. There are no rules or symbols!
50
why prefer connectionist models
- Biological plausibility
- Autonomous learning with minimal "innate" knowledge
Some kinds of learning are more easily explained by connectionist networks (e.g. perceptual tasks)
51
cognitive neuropsychology
the study of cognition by using behavioural methods and neuroscience
52
embodied cognition
Sensory and motor processing are involved in people's understanding of the world (past experience is tied to our representations)
53
Hauk, Johnsrude, and Pulvermuller, Somatotopic representations of action words in human motor and premotor cortex
Goal: generate neuroscientific evidence for embodied cognition
- participants read action words
- semantic representations were distributed in a systematic way throughout the entire brain
54
Glenberg and Kaschak- grounding action in language
The action- sentence compatibility effect (ACE) is consistent with the prediction derived from the indexical hypothesis and supports the notion that language understanding is grounded in bodily action
- feeling like you are correct, speeds up reaction time
55
Hickok the myth of the mirror neuron
- People can understand actions that they can't perform (e.g. fly), actions that don't involve the motor system (e.g. sweat), and abstract concepts unrelated to action (e.g. love)
- Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( a disease that destroys motor neurons) still understand action words very well
- Meta-analyses have found motor cortex activation for non-words
- Motor cortex activation related to the processing of action words simply reflects associative learning in the brain
56
language
a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas and emotions
57
creativity of language
variety of signals which can be combined in countless ways
58
hieracharchical nature of language
consists of a series of small components that can be combined to form larger units
59
rule-based nature of language
components can be arranged in certain ways and not others
60
Paul Broca
study of patients led to the proposal that an area in the frontal lobe (Broca's area) is responsible for the production of speech
61
Carl Wernicke
proposed that an area in the temporal lobe (Wernicke's area) is responsible for comprehension
62
psycholinguistics
the field concerned with the written and spoken language
4 major concerns
1. comprehension
2. representation
3. speech production
4. acquisition
63
lexicon
all the words we know
64
semantics
the meaning of language
65
word frequency effect
we respond faster with high frequency
66
lexical decision task
decide as fast as possible whether a string of words is a non-word or a word
67
Irwin Pollack and J.M. Pickett
demonstrated that words are more difficult to understand when taken out of context and presented alone
68
speech segmentation
the perception of individual words even when there are often no pauses
69
lexical ambiguity
words can often have more than one meaning (use context to interpret)
70
lexical priming
seeing a word makes it easier to respond when it is presented again
71
Michael Tanenhaus and coworkers
used lexical priming to show that people briefly access multiple meanings of ambiguous words before the context takes over
72
meaning dominance
the relative frequency of the meanings of ambiguous words
73
biased dominance
when a word with 2 meanings, has a more frequent meaning
74
balanced dominance
both meanings are equally likely
75
syntax
the structure of a sentence
76
parsing
meaning created by the grouping of words into phrases
77
garden path sentences
begin appearing to mean one thing but end up meaning something else
78
heuristic
a rule that can be applied rapidly to make a decision (fast but sometimes wrong)
79
late closure
states that when a person encounters a new words, the person's parsing mechanism assumes that this word is part of the current phrase, so each word is added to the current phrase for as long as possible (until you realize something isn't right and you create a new sentence)
80
constraint-based approach to parsing
the idea that information in addition to syntax participants in processing as a person reads or hears a sentence
81
Visual world paradigm- michal tanenhaus
determining how information in scene can influence how a sentence is processed
82
anaphoric inference
an inference that connects an object or person in one sentence to an object or person in another sentence
83
instrument inference
an inference about tools or methods that occurs while reading a text or listening to speech
84
causal inference
an inference that results in the conclusion that the events in one clause or sentence were caused by events that occurred in a previous clause or sentence
85
situation model
a mental representation of what a text is about
86
Robert Stanfield and Rolfzwann
people responded more quickly to images that matched the orientation of the description
87
Ross metusalem
measured ERP's while people read stories
- big n400 response to unexpected words
88
Olaf Hauk
areas of the cortex are activated by reading actions words
89
given-new contract
states that a speaker should construct sentences so that they contain previously known information and new information
90
common ground
the mental knowledge and beliefs shared among conversational parties
91
entrainment
synchronization between the two partners
92
syntactic coordination
conversational partners can end up coordinating their grammatical constructions
93
syntactic priming
hearing a statement with a particular syntactic construction increases the chances that a sentence will be produced with the same construction
94
prosody
the pattern of intonation and rhythm in spoken language
95
tonic
notes of a melody are organized around the note associated with the compositions key
96
Aniruddh Patel
large p600 in response to violations of syntax
97
congenital amusia
severe problems with discriminating between simple melodies or recognizing common tunes but normal language abilities
98
cognitive neuroscience
the study of the physiological basis of cognition
99
levels of analysis
the idea that a topic can be studied in multiple ways
100
nerve net theory
signals can be transmitted throughout the net in all directions
101
neurons
a cell that is specialized to receive and transmit information
102
nerve nets were first believed to be
continuous
103
camillo Golgi
developed a staining technique in which a thin slice of brain tissue was immersed in a solution of silver nitrate
- see structure
104
Ramon y Cajal
- used Golgis technique and newborn animals
- determined that the nerve net was not continuous, but made up of individual units connected together (neurone doctrine)
105
dendrites
receive electrical signals
106
axons
transmit signals
107
synapse
gap between the dendrite and the axon
108
neural circuits
interconnected neurons which form connections only to specific neurons
109
receptors
specialized neural structures that respond to environmental stimuli
110
Edgar Adrian
recorded electrical signals from single sensory neurons using microelectrodes (small hollow glass filled was a conductive salt solution that can pick up electrical signals)
111
recording electrode
picks up electrical signals
112
reference electrode
used to measure the difference in charge between the two electrodes
113
nerve impulse
an electrical response that is propagated down the length of an axon (action potential)
114
Adrian
action potentials travel along the axon without changing height or shape
- found that the rate of neural firing relates to pressure
115
neurostransmitter
chemical that is released at the synapse in response to an incoming action potential
116
David Hubel and Thorsten Wiesel
specific neurons fired in response to specific stimuli for cats
feature detectors: respond to specific stimulus features such as orientation, movement and length
117
sensory code
refers to how many neurons represent various characteristics of the environment
118
specificity coding
the idea that an object could be represented by the firing of a specialized neuron that responds only to that object
119
population coding
the representation of a particular object by the pattern of firing neurons
120
sparse coding
occurs when a particular object is represented by a pattern of firing of only a small group of neurons, with majority of neurons remaining silent
121
cortical equipotentially
the idea that the brain operated as an indivisible whole as opposed to specialized areas
122
Brocas aphasia
ungrammatical speech and difficulty un understanding some types of sentences
123
Wernickes aphasia
difficulty in understanding language and fluent grammatically correct but incoherent speech
124
prosopangnosia
caused by damage to the temporal lobe, anability to recognize faces
125
double dissociation
damage to the brain that causes damage to one area causes one function to be present while another is absent and the other way around
126
fMRI
measures blood flow in response to cognitive activity
127
fusiform face area
temporal lobe, responds to faces
128
parahippocampal place area
temporal lobe, responds to pictures of indoor and outdoor scenes (spatial layout)
129
extrasiate body area
temporal lobe, responds to bodies or body parts
130
track-weighted imaging
based on the detection of how water diffuses along the length of nerve fibers
131
connectome
the system of neural pathways in a brain
132
functional connectivity
the extent to which neural activity in separate brain areas is connected with each other
133
default mode network
network of structures that respond when a person is not involved in specific tasks
134
bottom-up processing
processing which is driven by the stimulus pattern, the incoming data
135
template matching
The input is compared with memorized exemplars (templates) until a good fit is found
Problems
1. Parsimony: how many templates will be necessary?
2. Flexibility: can the templates account for the variability?
136
pandemonium
Pandemonium is a data-driven recognition model based on feature analysis; that is, objects are recognized from an analysis of their components
1. Image demons
- They record the initial image of the external signal
2. Feature demons
- They look for a particular characteristic in the pattern: the presence of a certain line, the presence of an angle
3. Cognitive demons
- They watch the responses of the feature demons and seek out one particular pattern
4. The decision demon
- It listens to the pandemonium created by the demons. It's answer is determined by the demon that is yelling the loudest
137
arguments in favour of pandemonium
- account for variability
- people's performance in identification studies
- neuropsychological studies - certain brain cells respond to specific line orientations
138
Problems of pandemonium
- complex images
- one picture, 2 scenes
139
Gestalt principles of organization
affected by experience but bottom-up
- similarity
- proximity
- closure
- continuity
140
top-down processing
processing which is influenced by the context and higher-level knowledge
141
the word superiority effect (Reicher)
- had people identify whether or not a word appeared in a word, in a non-word or just a letter
- found that there were fewer errors for words (top-down)
- more error for letters and non-words (bottom-up)
142
The interactive activation model
- bottom-up and top-down
- levels that are connected to adjacent levels
- parallel processing
- excitatory or inhibitory
143
perception
conscious experience that results form stimulation of senses
144
erroneous perception
incorrectly interpreting something
145
inverse projection problem
task of determining the object that caused a particular image on the retina
146
viewpoint invariance
people's ability to recognize a object even when it is seen from different viewpoints
147
transitional probabilities
the likelihood that one sound will follow another
148
statistical learning
learning about transitional probabilities and other characteristics of language
149
Hemholtz's theory of unconscious inference
realization that the image on the retina is ambiguous
likelihood principle: we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we received
- top-down
unconscious inference : our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment
150
Max Wertheimer
wondered how the illusion of movement could be explained from the structuralist idea
- had a flashing light, then darkness, then a flashing light
- we don't see the darkness because our perceptual system adds something
151
the principle of good continuation
point that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curved line are seen as belonging together
152
the principle of simplicity
every stimulus is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible
153
the principle of similarity
similar things appear to be grouped together
154
oblique effect
vertical and horizontal orientations can be perceived more easily than others
155
semantic regularities
the characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes
- scene schema
156
Bayesian inference- Thomas Bayes
proposed that our estimate of the probability of an outcome is determined by two factors
- top down
1. prior probability: initial belief of the probability of an outcome
2. likelihood of an outcome: the extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome
157
brain ablation
removing a specific area of an animals brain to determine it's function
158
ventral stream
temporal lobe is responsible for the what pathway
159
dorsal stream
parietal lobe is responsible for the where pathway
160
David Milner and Melvyn Goodale
patient D.F.
- damage to her temporal lobe
- couldn't orient a card to a slot until she performed the action
161
G. di Pellingrino mirror neurons
same neurons fired in monkeys when the performed and observed an action
162
Mario Iacoboni
- participants watched clips about cups
- intention film caused more activity in areas associated with mirror neurons
- involved with understanding the intentions behind actions (expectations in a particular context)
163
The attentional blink_ Raymond, Shapiro and Arnel
- rapidly flashed digits
- targets were red
- report what the 2 target numbers were
- easier to process when there is a lag between targets
- capacity limit
164
signal attention
reporting something in a sequence of nothing
165
visual search paradigm
participants are asked to scan a display in search of a particular target while trying to ignore distracters
166
Popout effect:
stand out from the rest (single feature)
167
Conjunction
looking for two features
168
selective attention
Paying attention to one thing while ignoring a series of other things
169
divided attention
Trying to focus on more than one thing simultaneously (driving)
170
Feature-integration theory- Treisman
Preattentive stage:
- Features are registered early, automatically, and in parallel across the visual field
Focused attention stage:
- Any features which are present in the same central "fixation" of attention are combined
171
Normans pertinence model
Information is selected on the basis of the momentary importance of information, whether caused by permanent or transitory factors
- You attend to all physical and semantic information of both messages before filtering out
- Environmental information and pertinence mechanism combined with the information of the model and that is combined and sent to the selection filter
Limitation: the message has to be fully processed
172
Multimode model of attention - Johnston and Heinz
explored the possibility that attention was dynamic; that is, attention may be voluntarily focused on the physical or semantic properties of the message
173
dual task paradigm
- measured reaction time as a baseline
- then did a listening task with different voices and meanings
- results support Johnston and Heinz's multimode model of attention (flexible and limited capacity)
174
Dual-tasking and driving- Strayer and Johnston
cell phone use significantly increases red light misses and reaction times. There is no effect for the radio control
175
Hunton and Rose- what about passengers?
- more incidents for cell phone
- reduced for pilots
176
attentional capture
a rapid shift in attention (loud noise, bright light or sudden movement)
177
Broadbent filter attention model
1. sensory memory
2. filter- only attended message goes through
3. detector processes information and creates meaning
4. output- sent to short-term memory before being transfered to long-term
- should not be conscious of unattended messages
178
colin cherry dichotic listening task
different stimulus in each ear
- focus on one ignore the other
- could report whether the unattended voice was male or female but not what the content was
179
Neville Moray
presented listeners name in unattended ear and 1/3 detected it
180
Dear Aunt Jane experiment- J.A. Gray and A.I. Wedderburn
when asked to shadow they report dear aunt jane
- demonstrated they switched attention based on meaning (top-down)
181
Anne Treisman
attenuator: analyzes incoming information based on
1. physical characteristics
2. its language (how the message is grouped)
3. it's meaning
- dictionary unit
182
dictionary unit
contains words stored in memory, each of which have a threshold of being activated
183
Donald Mackay
- ambiguous sentences in one ear
- biased words in the other
- when asked which sentence was closest, they were more likely to choose the sentence associated with the biased word
- late selection
184
Lavie- how do people ignore distracting stimuli
1. processing capacity: limit of ability to process info
2. perceptual load: task difficulty
185
Load theory of attention
the ability to ignore task-irrelevant stimuli depends on the load of the task the person is carrying out
- high load tasks result in less distraction
186
Stroop task
stroop effect: harder to do when the colour doesn't match the ink
187
overt attention
shifting attention by moving eyes
188
stimulus salience
physical properties of the stimulus
189
covert attention
shifting attention without making eye movements
190
same-object advantage
when the enhancing effect of attention spreads throughout an object
191
Ritobrato datta and edgar deyoe
created attention maps that show how directing attention to a specific area activates a specific area of the brain
192
attentional warping
occurs when the map of categories on the brain changes to make more space for categories that are being searched for as a person attends to a scene
193
Walter Shneider and Richard Shiffrin
after practice task became automatic
- practice made it possible for participants to divide their attention to deal with all the target and test items simultaneously
194
mind wandering
associated with the default mode network
195
inattentional blidness
when you are unaware pf a clearly visible stimuli if you aren't paying attention to it
196
Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons
gorilla and passing ball
197
inattentional deafness
when inattention causes a person to miss auditory stimulus
198
change detection
detecting difference's between pictures or displays that are presented one after another
199
change blindness
difficulty detecting changes in similar but slighlty different scenes
200
continuity errors
in film, changes that occur from one scene to another, that do not match
201
binding
combining features of an object
202
binding problem
explaining for individual features combine
203
illusory conjunctions
features of different objects are inappropriately combined
204
R.M. Baliant syndrome
- hard to focus attention
- reports illusory conjunctions (preattentive stage)
205
Treisman and Schmidt
illusory conjunctions were less likely when participants were told what the object was going to be (top-down)
206
ventral attention network
controls attention based on salience
207
dorsal attention network
controls attention nased on top down processes
208
effective connectivity
how easily activity can travel along a pathway
209
sensory memory
holds all information for seconds or fractions of a second
210
short-term
holds 5 to 7 items for about 15 to 20 seconds
211
long-term
can hold a large amount of information for year or even decades
212
control processes
processes that can be controlled by a person and may differ from one task to another (ex. rehearsal)
213
rehearsal
repeating a stimulus over and over to keep it in short term-memory
214
encoding
storing something in long -term
215
retrieval
remembering something from long-term
216
persistence of vision
continued perception of a visual stimulus when it is no longer present
217
george sperling
- flashed an array of numbers
- average 4/12
- when a tone was present
- 3.3/ 4
- delay
- about one
- large capacity but decays quickly (brief retention)
218
iconic memory
brief sensory memory for visual stimuli that lasts for a fraction of a second after a stimuli is extinguished
219
echoic memory
brief sensory memory for auditory stimuli that lasts for a few seconds after stimulus is extinguished
220
Lloyd peterson and Margret peterson
- presented letters
- count backwards (prevent rehearsal)
- after 3 to 18 seconds recall dropped
221
George Miller
magical number 7 plus or minus 2
222
Chunking
grouping small units
223
George Alverez and Patrick Cavanagh
- change detection
- capacity decreased as the objects got more complex
224
Working memory
a limited capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks
225
Baddeley two tasks simultaneously
- people can do two tasks at the same time
- working memory must be dynamic and consist of components that can function separately
226
Baddeleys working memory model
1. phonological loop
2. visual spatial sketch pad
3. central executive
4. episodic buffer (added)
227
phonological similarity effect
the confusion of letters or words that sound similar
228
articulatory suppression
interference with operation of the phonological loop that occurs when a person repeats an irrelevant word such as "the"
229
sensory overload
when two tasks require the same sense
230
object permanence location
prefrontal cortex
231
Shintaro Funahashi a
- recorded neurons in monkeys during delayed-response task
- continued firing during delay
232
Mark Stokes
information can be stored in working memory by changes in connectivity of a neural network
activity state: neurons in the network are activated by incoming stimulus
synaptic state: connections have been strengthened between neurons in the network
activity silent working memory: short-term changes in neural network connectivity that has bene hypothesized as a mechanism for holding information in working memory
233
Shifrrin and Shneider 2 reasons for automatic processing
- practice
- systematic associations
234
Consistent mapping
targets are always the same
235
variable mapping
targets and distractors change
236
shifreen and shneider visual and memory search paradigm
- display memory set
- varied mapping (serial- slower) vs. constant mapping (parallel- faster)
