midterms Flashcards
cognitive psychology
the study of mental processes, determining the characteristics and properties of the mind as well as how it operates
wilhem wundt
first person to apply scientific method into understanding the human mind
approach: structuralism
method: analytic introspection
structuralism
description of the contents of consciousness
overall experience is determined by sensations, combinations of basic elements
“periodic table of the mind”
analytic introspection
a technique whereby trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to a stimuli
problems with introspection
- only applies to conscious processing
- poor reliability between subjects
- subjective
- hard to relate to physiology
- made little progress in understanding the mind
john watson
behaviorism
he rejects introspection as a method
focuses on observable behavior
ignores tjose that are no observable
parsimony important to him
parsimony
the most simple explanation is the correct one
behaviorism
B.F. Skinner
behavior is shaped by rewards and punishments
rewarded > increase in the action
punished > decrease in action
challenges to behaviorism
Tolman; cognitive maps and rats
rat learned the maze layput rather than the reward of food
Chomsky
language
children do not only learnlanguage through imitation and reinforcement, thus thinks that children implicitly lesnr rules of language and language must then be determined by an inborn biological program
not learned through behaviorism or social learning
cognitive apprach
focus on what occurs inside the mind before action
onformation processing approach
information processing approach
sequences of mental operations
Donder
reaction time as a behavioral measure
simple vs choice
simple: flash of light and respond
choice: light from the left or right
difference in RT between the simple and choice conditions indicate devison making time
decision making time = choice RT - simple RT
limitations of experimental cognitive psychology
- ecological validity (white-room effect) only applicable in lab settings, not generalisable
- provide indirect evidemce that may not demonstrate neurological and computational plausibility
neurophsyochology
study of the behavior of people with brain damage, provodes insights into the functioning of different parts of the brain
action potential
all or none
active for ~1millisecond
travel all the way down without changing their height or shape
action potentials always remainnthe same even if the stimulus is stronger -> just have more impulses rather than stronger ones
neurons
basic building blocks of the brain
cajal
discovered that nerve nets were not continuous, but individual cells with synpases in between
resting potential
when there are no signals, -70mV realative to outside
graded potential
proportional to stimulus strength
specificity coding
idea that an object could be represented by the firing of a specialized neuron that responds only to that object
population coding
the representation of a particular object by the pattern of firing of a large number of neurons
sprase coding
object is represented by a pattern of firing of only a small group of neurons
localisation of function
specific functions are served by specific areas of the brain
double dissociation
when damage to one part of the brain causes function A to be absent while function B is present
AND
damage to another area causes function B to be absent while function A is present
allows us to identify functions that are controlled by different parts of the brain
FFA
fusiform face area (recognition of faces)
PPA
parahippocampal place area (recognition of places)
fMRI
functional magnetic resonance imaging
uptake of oxygen indicates brain areas that are active during an activity
EEG
electroencephalography
measure brain waves (bc neurons use electricity and action potentials)
perception
experiences that result from stimulation of the sense
- can change based on added info
- involves (often unconscious) process similar to reasoning or problem solving
- occur in conjunction with actions
bistable state
switch between 2 images in an ambiguous figure
rabit vs duck
inverse projection problem
refers to the task of determinng the object responsible for a particular image on the retina
start from the retinal image -> extend outward to the source of that image
why is it difficult to desogn a perceiving machine?
- objects can be hidden or blurred
- ambiguous
- angles (viewpoint invariance)
- humans can make use of environmental cues and pre-existing knowledge to add context and understand the image
top-down processing
perception starts with the brain, based on knowledge, esperience, and expectations
bottom-up processing
perception starts with the senses
relies on incoming raw data
Helmholtz
theory of unconscious inference (top-down)
likelihood principle: we perceive the object that is “most likely”
unconscious interference: perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment
Bayesian inference
one’s estimate of the probabilityis due to
- prior probability (initial belief about the probability of an outcome)
- likelihood of a given outcome
cough -> lung disease vs cold vs heart burn example
oblique effect
ppl perceive horizontals and verticles easier than other orientations
light-from-above assumption
assume light always comes from above sl we perceive images with that in mind too
semantic regularities in scene schemas
in a kitchen setting
we expect a bread
but when we are flashed with a pic with a letterbox there (looks v much like a loaf) we will assume we saw a bread and think it is bread
(gestalt) law of good continuation
lines tend to be seen as following the smoothest path
(gestalt) law of pragnanz
every stimulus pattern is seen so the resulting structure is as simple as possible
(gestalt) law of similarity
simialr things appear to be grouped together
(gestalt) law of closure
tendency to see visual item as part of a larger object
figure-ground
background vs foreground show different objects
heuristics
rule of thumb mental shortcuts provides best-guess solution fast often correct
algorithm
procedure guaranteed to solve a problem
slow
definite result
recognition-by-components theory
put together the smaller pieces ro form the big picture
geons
3d volumes, put together to form an object
36 diff variations present
local viewpoints
thatcher illusion
we can identify objects from many different orientations
what and where pathways
temporal lobe: what (ventral) pathway, identifying
pareital lobe: where (dorsal) pathway, location
attention
the ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations
selective attention
attending to one thing while ignoring others
divided attention
paying attention to more than one thing at a time
distraction
one stimulus interfering with the precoessing of another stimulus
cocktail party effect
the ability to focus on one stimulus while filtering out other stimuli
Cherry; dichotic listening
asked participants to focus on the message in one ear (attended ear) and repeat what was said (shadowing)
particpants could not report the contents of the message in the unattended ear (but could describe simple physical characteristics of thr voice)
Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention
msg | sensory memory | filter | detector | memory
sensory memory holds all incoming info for a fraction of a second -> transfers to the filter
filter identifies the message that is being sttended to and pass to detector
detector process info (meaning) -> STM & LTM
Treisman’s Attenuation Model of Attention
msg | attenuator | dictionary unit | memory
attenuator analyse msg based on characteristics, language, and meaning
attended msg -> dictionary unit (full strength)
unattended msg -> weak
late processing model
- given an ambiguous sentence with 2 meanings
- have a biaisng word in the unattended ear
- meaning of biasing word affected the partcipant’s interpretation of the sentence
processing capacity
amount of info people can handle
perceptual load
difficulty of a task
overt attention
shifting attention from one place to another
fixation
short pauses on points of interest
saccades
rapid movements of the eyes from one place to another
pre cueing
directing sttention without moving the eyes
covert attention
shifting attention while keeping eyes still
exogenous attention
the redirection of attention toward an unexpected stimulus
inattentional blindness
being unaware of clearly visible stimuli if not directing attention to them
a stimulus that is not attended to is not perceived
binding
the process by which features such as colour, form, motion, and location are combined to create our perception of a coherent object
feature integration theory (FIT)
object | pre attentive | focused attentive | perception
pre attentive stage: automatic, occurs before we focus attention on an object
focused attentive stage: attention plays a key role, allows features to be combined correctly
patient RM
Balint’s syndrome
inability to focus attention on indiv onjects, high number of illusory conjunctions reported
illusory conjunctions
combining features of separate objects together
occur because features and free-floating
parallel process
identifying unique features
serial process
identifying target among conjunctive items
memory
process involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli
sensory memory
initial stage, holds all incoming info for seconds or fraction of a second
eg, in movies (snapshots of pictures but we make it into ancoherent smooth video)
persistence of vision
continued perception of a visual stimulus even after it is no longer present
light trail
STM
holds 5-9, (7+-2)
15-20 seconds
STM peterson & peterson (brown peterson)
3 letters 3 numbers
count the number backwards by intervals of 3
recall the 3 letters
after 3 secs delay (of counting numbers) 80% accurate
after 18 sec dalay 12% accurate
chunking
chunk is defined as a collection of elements that are strongly associated with one another but are weakly associated with elements in other chunks
working memory
limited capacity, temporary storage
manipulation of information
baddeley
- central executive
- phonological loop*
- visuo-spatial sketchpad*
- episodic buffer
phonological loop
phonological store: buffer for auditory info
articulatory rehearsal: refresh and transfer
word length effect
shorter words easier to recall
language with shirter articulation (syllables) easier to recall
bc faster to rehear after remembering
phonological similarity effect
easier to recall words that do not sound similar to each other (do not rhyme)
articulatlry suppression
have participant repeat a word/irrelevant sound then asked to recall
pevent them from rehearsing
eleminates the word length effect and phonological similarity effect
visuo-spatial sketchpad
holds visual and spatial info
if the image is roated in a lesser degree, easier and faster to identify if 2 are the same or not
central executive
attention controller, controls suppression of irrelevant info
focus, divide, switch attention
episodic buffer
a way of increasing storage capacity and a gateway to communicate to LTM
long term memory
cam hold large amount of info for years and even decades
encoding
storing info in long term memory
retrieval
process of remembering info
control processes
dynamic processes associated with the structural features that can be controlled by the person
eg; rehearsal, strategies that help you rmb
sperling experiment
3x4 numbers and letters
recall
try again but only asked to recall a specific row
recall all: 33%
one row: 75%
delay one row: 25%
modal model of memory
input | sensory memory | STM | LTM
. output
STM rehearsal to rmb
STM <> LTM
proactive interference
occurs when info learned prev and stored in LTM interferes w learning of new info
evaluation of modal model
oversimplified
claims STM is modality free
control/manipulation process not clearly specified
claims rehearsal necessary for transfer to LTM
primacy effect
rmb words that were stated first better
more time to rehearse
recency effect
rmb words at the end of the list better
words stored in STM
patient HM
hippocampus removal
x LTM
ok STM
can kesrn nee skill but thinks hes doing it for the first time always
patient KF
damaged parietal lobe
ok LTM
x STM
STM only hold up to 2 things
episodic memory
memory for events snd experiences
semantic memory
memory for facts
pateint KC
hippocampus
lost episodic
ok semantic
patient LP
lost semantic
ok episodic
remember/know procedure
10 yrs rmb > know
50 yrs know > rmb
procedural memory
skill memory
priming
the presentation of one stimulus changes the way a person responds to another stimulus
propaganda effect
more likely to rate statements they have read or heard before as true simply because they have been exposed to it before
anterograde amnesia
cannot rmb anything after amnesia
lose ability to learn
reterograde amnesia
memory loss before brain damage
serial position curve
primacy effect and recency effect
u shaped curve
explicit LTM
episodic, semantic
implicit LTM
priming, procedural, conditioning
Craig
levels of processing theory
letter
rhyme
semantic
self-reference effect
memory is better when you link words to yourself
generation effect
generate info yourself better than passively reading or receiving it
Bransford & Johnson
mental framework
given random passage that seems not to make sense when paired with a pic, makes more sense pic > passage > recall better passage > pic > x recall passage alone > x recall
free recall
general qn and asked to remember the details
cued recall
given some trigger words
recognition
like in mcq
coding specificity
environmental context dependent memory
learn in water, better recall in water
leanr on land, better recall on land
memory and emotion
when a memory is associated with a strong emotion, it is better able to be recalled
flashbulb memories
memory for cicumstances surrounding how a person heard about an event
very complete
very accurate
immune to forgetting
details fade but they believe flashbulb memory is accurate and more vivid (confident)
factors that determine what gets into LTM
- emotion (impt)
- repetition
- depth of process (semantic meaning) (impt)
- effort/desire to learn
maintenance rehearsal
repetition
savings in relearning
faster to remember something you have already learnt
to improve learning and memory
- elaborate
- organise
- generate and test
- encoding specificity
- take breaks
- distributed learning
