Midterm 2 Flashcards
attention
the mental process of concentrating effort on a stimulus or a mental event.
input attention
getting sensory information into the cognitive system
controlled attention
deliberate, allocation of mental effort
alertness and arousal
being prepared to attend to some incoming event and maintaining this attention
orientation reflex and response
What orients us?
- Important things
- objects and entities
- the unexpected
- habituation: gradual reduction of the orienting response back to baseline
-social factors
- language
default mode network
a brain system of interacting cerebral regions characterized by coordinated activations that are distinct from the activities of other brain networks
global local distinction
Distinction between levels of information processing focusing preferentially on either details of specific information (local) versus the whole (global)
sustained attention/vigilance
Sustained attention is the ability to focus on an activity or stimulus over a long period of time
Vigilance =
the action or state of keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties.
explicit processing
conscious processing, conscious awareness that a task is being performed, and usually conscious awareness of the outcome of that performance.
implicit processing
processing in which there is no necessary involvement or consciousness awareness
word stem completion task
In WSC tasks, participants are usually instructed to complete the stem with the first word that comes into their mind without knowing the number of letters in the target word.
attention capture
Attentional capture is a concept in the scientific literature used to refer to instances in which observers fail to ignore a task-irrelevant stimulus
habituation
a gradual reduction of the orienting response back to baseline
spotlight attention
is the mental attention-focusing mechanism that prepares you to encode stimulus information
feature search
the search for a simple feature
conjunction search
the search for the conjunction of two features.
controlled attention
deliberate, voluntary allocation of mental effort or concentration
inhibition of return
previously checked locations are mentally marked as checked and not returned to
facilitation of return
returning to a previously fixated location
hemineglect
inability to direct attention voluntarily to one side of space so the individual neglects the stimuli presented on that side
selective attention
the ability to attend to one source of information, while ignoring others.
filtering
ignoring distractions
selecting
the mental process of eliminating those distractions
the cocktail party effect
The cocktail-party effect refers to the ability to focus one’s attention a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli
dual task method
two tasks are presented such that one task captures attention as completely as possible
shadowing task
to repeat the message out loud as soon as it was heard.
early selection
selection of filtering based on early phases of perception (eg. selection based on physical features of the message such as loudness or location)
late selection
selection of filtering based on the meaning and importance of information (eg. selection based on semantic relevance
divided attention
simultaneously performing multiple tasks (inattention blindness)
attention blink
a delay in a second decision or response cycle if it is required immediately after a preceding decision
automaticity
occurring without conscious awareness or intention and consuming very little resources.
stroop task
assess the ability to inhibit cognitive interference that occurs when processing of a specific stimulus feature impedes the simultaneous processing of a second stimulus attribute
declarative memory
(explicitly memory) long term memory for facts and events that can be consciously reflected upon
procedural memory
a type of non-declarative memory (implicit) that is memory for skill and habits
retrograde amnesia
inability to retrive information that was aqurired before a particular date, such as before a surgery or accident
anterior grade amnesia
type of memory loss that occurs when you cannot form new memories
short term working memory
is a simple store, while working memory allows it to be manipulated
working memory
one of the brain’s executive functions. it is a skill that allows us to work
digit span task
Verbal task, with stimuli presented auditory, and responses spoken by the participant and scored automatically by the software.
chunking
putting large items into groups to over come the complexity
recording
the process of systematically collecting data and information through careful observation of a phenomenon or behaviour
trigram
three letters
brown Peterson Task
- participants are shown a trigram (MHA)
- shown a 3 digit number (eg. 786)
-count backwards by 3’s from the digit (785, 784, 783, etc. - counting backwards is a distractor
interference
forgetting target information due to competition of related or recent information
decay
loss of information due to fading
proactive interference
when older material interferes forward in time with your recollection of the current stimulus
retroactive interference
new material interferes backward in time with your recollection of older times.
release from proactive interference
Triads of letters are presented in the first 3 trials, and proactive interference begins to depress recall accuracy. In trial 4, the control group gets another triad of letters; the experimental group gets a triad of digits and shows an increase in accuracy, known as the release from PI
serial position curve
graph of item by item accuracy of recall task
serial position
original position of items in list
free recall
people recall items from a list in any order
serial recall
people recall items on a list in their original order
primary effect
better memory for the first few items
recency effect
better memory for the last few items. the last few items are not displaced by future items. It is based on working memory
recognition
any yes or no task where the participants are asked to judge whether they have seen a stimulus before
rehearsal
the process of repeating a stimulus repeatedly so that is can be remembered.
Sternberg Task
Is a four stage process, where participants get a list of letters, shown a prompt and asked it it was in the set. The four stages include: encode, scan & compare, decision making, and motor response execution
Baddeley’s working memory model
4 components: central executive, phonological loop, visio-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer
phonological loop
part of working memory that holds verbal and auditory information
word length effect
the idea that is more difficult to remember a list of long words compared to remembering a list of short words.
articulatory suppression
interference with the operation of the phonological loop when a person repeats an irrelevant word, while carrying out a task that requires the phenological loop
phonological similarity effect
an effect that happens when letters or words that sound similar get confused.
visuospatial sketch pad
a system for visual and spatial information maintaining that kind of information in a short duration buffer
central executive
sets the goals and controls the processes
- Inhibition, shifting, and updating
episodic buffer
a backup “store” that communicates with long term memory and working memory components
mental rotation
reaction time is associated with angle rotation, the more it was rotated the more time it took to figure it out
boundary extension
the tendency for people to misremember more of a scene than they actually viewed as if the boundaries of an image were extended farther out.
representational momentum
misremember the movement of an object further along the path of travel than it actually was last seen.
Mnemonic devices
a strategy that provides a useful rehearsal strategy for storing and remember difficult material
savings score
the reduction in the number of trials (or the time) necessary for relearning, compared to original learning.
forgetting curve
shows how learned information slips out of memories over time - unless we take action to keep it there.
massed practice
study time grouped together into one long session
distributed practice
study time is spread out over many, shorter sessions.
metamemory
knowledge about our own memory
judgements of learning
are assessments onpeople of how well they have learned particular information
feeling of knowing
an estimate of how likely it is that the item will be recognized on a later memory test.
tip of the tongue effect
where you feel like the word or name or knowledge you cannot remember is on the verge of being remembered. (feeling that retrieval is imminent)
maintenance rehearsal
low level, repetitive information recycling
elaborative rehearsal
a more complex rehearsal that uses the meaning of the information to store and remember it
primacy effect
accuracy of recall for the early list positions
depth of processing
defined as the relative amount of cognitive effort, level of analysis, elaboration of intake together with the usage of prior knowledge, hypothesis testing and rule formation employed in encoding and decoding some grammatical or lexical item in the input.
self-reference effect
memory is better when we relate information to ourselves.
generational effect
information that you generate or create yourself is better remembered compared to information that you have only heard or read.
encoding specificity
idea that a retrieval cue can serve as an effective reminder when it helps re-create the specific way in which information was initially encoded.
state-dependent learning
retrieval more likely to be successful when physiological state of learning matches that of retrieval
transfer appropriate retrieval
memory is more likely to transfer from one situation to another when encoding and retrieval situations match
retrieval-induced forgetting
impairment of subsequent recall of related items due to retrieval of information from long-term memory.
