Test 1 Flashcards
1
Q
Folk psychology
A
Term for various assumptions and theories based on the everyday behaviour of ourselves and others
2
Q
Stimulus
A
An entity in the external environment that can be perceived by the observer
3
Q
Bit
A
Short for “binary digit”
The most basic unit of information. Every event that occurs in a situation with 2 equally likely outcomes provides one “bit” of info
4
Q
Information theory
A
A theory suggesting that the information provided by a particular event is inversely related to the probability of its occurrence
5
Q
Filter model
A
A theory based on the idea that info processing is restricted by channel capacity
6
Q
Channel capacity
A
The maximum amount of info that can be transmitted by an information processing device
7
Q
Introspection
A
“Looking inward” to observe your own thoughts and feelings
8
Q
Primary memory
A
What we are aware of in the “immediately present moment” often called immediate or short term memory
9
Q
Secondary memory
A
Knowledge acquired at an earlier time that is stored indefinitely, and is absent from awareness. Also called long term memory
10
Q
Brown Peterson task
A
An experiment in which subjects are given a set of items and then a number to start counting backward by 3 from, after a specific interval they’re asked to recall the items
11
Q
Ecological approach
A
A form of psychological inquiry that reflects conditions in the real world
12
Q
Accordances
A
The potential functions or uses of small stimuli (objects and events) in the real world
13
Q
Information pickup
A
The process whereby we perceive information directly
14
Q
Schema
A
An expectation concerning what we are likely to find as we explore the world
15
Q
Perceptual cycle
A
A process where our schema’s guide our exploration of the world and are in turn shaped by what we find there
Schema (directs) exploration (samples) objects/available info (modifies) schema
16
Q
Cognitive ethology
A
A new research approach that links real-world observations with laboratory based studies
17
Q
Metacognition
A
Knowledge about the way cognitive processes work.
Understanding our own cognitive processes
18
Q
Modules
A
Different parts of the brain, each of which is responsible for particular cognitive operations
19
Q
Phrenology
A
The study of the shape, size, and protrusions of the skull to attempt to discover the relationships between parts of the brain and various mental activities/abilities (Gall, and Spurzheim)
20
Q
Localization of function
A
The idea that there is a direct correspondence between specific cognitive functions and specific parts of the brain
21
Q
Law of mass action
A
Learning and memory depend on the total mass of brain tissues remaining rather than properties of individual cells
22
Q
Law of equipotentiality
A
Although some areas of the cortex may become specialized for certain tasks, any part of an area can (within limits) do the job of any other part of that area
23
Q
Interactionism
A
Mind and brain are separate substances that interact and influence each other
24
Q
Epiphenomenalism
A
“Mind” is a superfluous by product of bodily function
25
Parallelism
“Mind” and brain are two aspects of the same reality, and they operate in parallel
26
Isomorphism
Mental events and neural events share the same structure
27
Sensory system
A system that links the physical and perceptual worlds via the nervous system.
Composed of sensory receptors, neural pathways, and distinct regions of the brain dedicated to the perception of information
28
Broca’s aphasia
A deficit to produce speech as result of damage to Broca’s area
29
Broca’s area
The area of the brains left hemisphere that is responsible for how words are spoken
30
Wernicke’s area
Area of left hemisphere responsible for processing the meaning of words
31
Wernicke’s aphasia
A deficit in the ability to comprehend speech as a result of damage to wernicke’s area
32
Interhemispheric transfer
Communication between the brains hemispheres. Enabled largely by the corpus callosum
33
Corpus callosum
Plays big role in enabling the hemispheres of the brain to interact with each other
34
Split brain
A condition created by severing the corpus callosum
35
Emergent property
Roger sparry’s idea that a property that “emerges” as a result of brain processes, but is not a component of the brain, is neither deductible to, nor a part of a particular region of the brain
36
Emergent causation
In sperrys sense, causation brought about by an emergent property. Once the “mind” emerges from the brain, it has the power to influence lower level processes
37
Supervenient
In sperry’s sense, describe mental states that may simultaneously influence neuronal events and be influenced by them
38
Event related potential (ERP)
An electric signal emitted by the brain after the onset of a stimulus
39
Positron emissions tomography (PET)
An imaging technique in which participants are injected with radioactive substances that mingle with the blood and scanners use it to detect the flow of blood in brain areas
40
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI)
A non radioactive magnetic procedure for detecting the flow of oxygenated blood to brain areas
41
Magnetoencephalography
| MEG
A non invasive brain imaging technique that directly measures neural activity
42
Connectionism
A theory that focuses on the way cognitive processes work at the physiological/neurological level as opposed to information processing level.
It hold that the brain consists of an enormous number of interconnected neurons and attempts to model cognition as an emergent process of networks of simple units communicating with each other
43
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
An MRI-based neuroimaging technique that makes it possible to visualize the white matter tracts within the brain
44
Neural network
Neurons that are functionally related or connected
45
Hebb rule
A connection between two neurons takes place only if both neurons are firing at approximately the same time
46
Parallel processing
Many neural connections may be active at the same time
47
Serial processing
Only one neural activity may take place at any one time
48
Visual agnosia
An inability to identify objects visually even though they can be identified using other senses
49
Perception
The processing of sensory info in such a way that it produces conscious experience and guides action in the world
50
Cornea
The outer tissue of the eye and the first layer that light passes through on its way to the back of the eye
51
Pupil
The space through which light passes on its way to the back of the eye; adjusted in size by the iris ; appears black
52
Iris
Surrounds the pupil responsible for the colour of the eye
53
Lens
The transparent tissue in the eye that refracts light and focuses it on the back of the eye
54
Retina
The tissue at the back of the eye that contains light receptors
55
Photoreceptors
Cells that transduce light energy into a neutral signal
56
Fovea
The region of the retina where photoreceptors are most densely packed
57
Primary visual cortex
The area at the back of the brain that is primarily responsible for the basic processing of visual info
58
Retinotopic
A principle of organization of the primary visual cortex, whereby info falling on adjacent areas of the retina is processed in adjacent areas of the cortex
59
Achromatopsia
A visual deficit characterized by inability to perceive colour because of damage to the area of the brain that processes colour information
60
Akinetopsia
Inability to perceive the motion in objects (motion blindness)
61
Ventral “what” pathway
The stream of visual processing in the brain that is responsible for determining object shape, colour, and meaningful identity
62
Dorsal “where” pathway
The stream of visual processing in the brain that is responsible for determining object location and motion, and which guides action
63
Feedfrward sweep
The propagation of visual info from the primary visual cortex down the “what” and “where” pathways
64
Re-entrant (feedback) connections
Connections between brain areas that allow the propagation if visual info from the endpoints of the “what and “where” pathways back to the primary visual cortex
65
Bottom up influences
The feedforward influence of the external environment on the resulting perceptual experience
66
Top down influences
The feedback influence of context and the individuals knowledge, expectations, and high-level goals on perceptual experience
67
Automatic processes
Processes that run them self without requiring us to pay attention
68
Controlled processes
Processes we must pay attention to to execute
69
Automatic processes may also be called: (3)
Bottom-up,
Stimulus driven
Instinctual
70
Controlled processes may also be called:(3)
Top down
Goal directed
Voluntary
71
Visual agnosia
An inability to identify objects visually even though they can be identified using other senses
72
Perception
The processing of sensory info in such a way that it produces conscious experience and guides action in the world
73
Cornea
The outer tissue of the eye and the first layer that light passes through
74
Pupil
The space through which light passes, adjusted in size by iris, appears black
75
Iris
The tissue that surrounds the pupil and gives the distinct colour of the eye
76
Lens
Transparent tissue in the eye that refracts light and focuses it on the back of the eye
77
Retina
The tissue at the back of the eye that contains light receptors
78
Photoreceptors
Cells that transduce light energy into a neural signal
79
Fovea
The region of the retina where photoreceptors are most densely packed
80
Primary visual cortex
Area at the back of the brain that is primarily responsible for the basic processing of visual info
81
Retinotopic
A principle of organization of the primary visual cortex, where info falling on adjacent areas of the retina is processed in adjacent areas in the cortex
82
Achromatopsia
A visual deficit characterized by inability to perceive colour because of damage to the area of the brain the processes colour info
83
Akinetopsia
Inability to perceive the motion of objects (motion blindness)
84
Ventral “what” pathway
Stream of visual processing in the brain responsible for determining object shape, colour, and meaningful identity
85
Dorsal “where” pathway
The stream of visual processing in the brain that is responsible for determining object location and motion, and guides action
86
Feedforward sweep
The propagation of visual info from the primary visual cortex down the “what” and “where” pathways
87
Re-entrant “feedback” connection
Connections between brain areas that allow the propagation of visual info from the endpoints of the “what” and “where” pathways back to the primary visual cortex
88
Bottom up influences
The feedforward influence of the external environment on the resulting perceptual experience
89
Top-down influences
The feedback influence of context and the individuals knowledge, expectations, and high-level goals on perceptual experience
90
Fusiform face area
An area in the inferior temporal cortex that is responsible for the conscious recognition of faces
91
Propagnosia
A selective deficit in the ability to consciously recognize faces as result of damage to FFA
92
Percept
The visual experience of sensory info
93
Parahippocampal place area (PPA)
An area in the ventral stream that is responsible for the conscious recognition of places
94
Extrastraite body area (EBA)
An area in the ventral stream that is involved in processing non-facial body parts
95
Pattern recognition
The ability to recognize an event as an instance of a particular category of event
96
Memory trace
The trace that an experience leaves behind in memory
97
Hoffding function
The process whereby an experience makes contact with a memory trace resulting in recognition
98
Feature detection theory
Detecting patterns on the basis of their features or properties
99
Pandemonium
A model of pattern recognition consisting of 3 levels:
Data,
Cognitive demons,
And decision demon
100
Feature
A component or characteristic of a stimulus
101
Cognitive demon
Feature detector in pandemonium model
102
Contrast energy
The relative ease with which a stimulus can be distinguished from the background against which it’s displayed
103
Squelching
The tendency of the nervous system to inhibit the processing of unclear features
104
Recognition by components (RBC)
The theory that we recognize objects by breaking them down into their fundamental geometric shapes
105
Geons
The set of 36 basic 3-D shapes from which all real-world objects can be constructed
106
Dichroic listening
Participants are presented with two verbal messages simultaneously. typically one to each year, and are asked to focus on only one of them. they are then asked to respond to a series of questions about what they heard most often about the message played to the unattended ear
107
Selective attention
Attending to relevant information and ignoring irrelevant information
108
Cocktail party phenomenon
The ability to attend to one conversation with many other conversations are going on around you
109
Shadowing task
A task in which the subject is exposed to two messages simultaneously and must repeat one of them
110
Filter
A hypothetical mechanism that would admit certain messages and block others
111
Selective looking
Occurs when we are exposed to two events simultaneously but attend it to only one of them
112
Early selection
The hypothesis that attention prevents early perceptual processing of distractors
113
Late selection
The hypothesis that we perceive both relevant and irrelevant stimuli and therefore must actively ignore the irrelevant stimuli in order to focus on the relevant ones
114
Stroop task
A naming task in which colour names are printed in colours other than their colours their name
115
Controlled versus automatic processes
Processes that demand attention if we are to carry them out properly versus processes that operate it without requiring us to pay attention to them
116
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
An area of the brain that may exert a top down by is that favours the selection of task relevant information
117
Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
An area of the brain that may detect conflicting response tendencies of the sort that the Stroop task elicits
118
Spatial attention
The process of selecting visual information for conscious awareness in specific regions of space
119
Spotlight metaphor
The idea that special attention is like a spotlight that we shine on an object when we selected for more complex and conscious processing
120
Endogenous shifts
Voluntary movements of attention
121
Exogenous shifts
Involuntary movement of attention triggered by external stimuli
122
Attention capture
The diversion of attention by a stimulus so powerful that it compels us to notice even when our attention is focussed on something else
123
Peripheral cueing paradigm
A test in which a light (i.e. the cue) flashes in the periphery and is followed by a target either in the same (ceud) location or a different (uncued) one
124
Catch trials
Trials of a detection task in which a target is not presented (to see if a participant is paying attention)
125
Cueing effect
Faster responses in cued compared to uncued trials in the cueing task
126
Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA)
The time difference between the onset of one stimulus and the onset of a subsequent stimulus
127
Inhibition of return (IOR)
Slower responses to cued then uncued trails in the queueing paradigm
128
Central cueing paradigm
An experimental method in which central cues (e.g. arrow) points to a location in which the target might subsequently appear
129
Inattentional blindness
Failure to attend to events that we might be expected to notice
130
Flanker task
An experiment in which participants may be influenced by an irrelevant stimulus beside the target
131
Domain specific modules
The hypothesis that parts of the brain may be specialized for particular tasks such as recognizing faces
132
Capacity model
The hypothesis that attention is like a power supply that can support only a limited amount of attentional activity
133
Structural limits
The hypothesis that attentional tasks interfere with one another to the extent that they involve similar activities
134
Central bottleneck
The hypothesis that there is only one path along which information can travel, and it is so narrow that the most they can handle it any one time is the information relevant to one task
135
Divided attention
The ability to attend to more than one thing at a time
136
Mind wandering
A shift of mental resources away from the task at hand and towards internal thoughts
137
Sustained attention to response task (SART)
A continuous response task in which digits are sequentially presented on a computer screen and participants are asked to press a button in response to all of them except the infrequent digit
138
Commission error
Failure to withhold a response to the infrequent digit in the SART
139
Default network
A set of brain areas that are active when an individual does not have a specific task to do and is absorbed in internal thought
140
Attentional blink (AB)
Failure to notice the second of two stimuli when presented within 550 milliseconds of each other
141
Action slips
The kind of behavioural error that occurs often in everyday life
142
Parallel mental activity
Thinking about something other than the task at hand
143
Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP)
The presentation of a series of stimuli in quick succession
144
Set
A temporary, top down organization in the brain that facilitates some responses while inhibiting others in order to achieve a certain goal; also referred to as a “mental set“
145
Task switching
Changing from working on one task to working on another; usually studied in situations in which the switch is involuntary
146
Switch cost
The finding that performance declines immediately on switching tasks
147
Sustained attention
The act of maintaining attention focussed on a single task for a prolonged period of time
148
Vigilance
Sustained attention as an externally imposed requirement
149
prototypical
representative of a pattern or category
150
template matching theory
the hypothesis that the process of pattern recognition relies on the use of templates or prototypes
151
multiple trace memory model
traces of each individual experience are recorded in memory. no matter how often a particular kind of event is experienced, a memory will be traced ofthe individual event is recorded everytime
152
probe
a "snapshot" of info in primary memory that can activate memory traces in secondary memory.
153
echo
when a probe goes out from primary to secondary memory, memory traces are activated to the extent that they are similar to the probe. the activated memory traces are said to return an "echo"
154
context effects
the change in perception of a visual component of a scene based on the surrounding info in the scene and the observers prior knowledge
155
moon illusion
the tendency for the moon to appear different in size depending on whether its near the horizon or high in the night sky
156
holistic
focusing on the entire configuration of an object
157
atomistic
focusing on the components of objects
158
grouping
the combination of individual components to form a percept of a whole object
159
orgonizational principles
the rules that govern the perception of whole objects or events from a collection of individual components or features
160
principal of experience
visual components are grouped together based on the prior experience and knowledge of the observer
161
principal of similarity
visual features that have a high degree of visual similarity are combined
162
principal of proximity
visual components that are close to one another are grouped to form a whole
163
principal of symmetry
symetrical lines are perceived as going together
164
principal of parallelism
lines that are parallel or simular in orientation are perceived as going together
165
figure ground segmentation (segregation)
the separation of a scene so that one componant becomes the object and the other componants become background.
166
denotivity
the degree to which an object is meaningful and familiar to an individual observer
167
jumbled word effects
the ability to read wdors in seentnces evne wnhe smoe of the ltters rea mexid up
168
word superiority effect
its easier to identify a letter if it appears in a word than if it appears alone
169
empirical theory of colour vision
the theory that colour perception is influenced by prior experience with the way different illuminations affect colout (blue black/ gold white dress)
170
optic ataxia
a condition characterized by a deficit in ability to successfully reach for objects, especially when they are presented in the periphery vision, with unimpaired abiity to identify them
171
theory of ecological optics
the propostition that perception results from direct contact of the sensory organs with stimulus energy emanating from the environment and that an important goal of perception is action
172
ambient optical array (AOA)
all the visual info that is present at a particular point of view
173
transformation
Gibsons (1966) term for the chages in the optical info hitting the eye that occurs as the observer moves through the environment
174
optical flow field
the continually changing (transforming) pattern of info that results from the movement of either objects or the observer through the envinment
175
gradient of texture density
incremental changes in the pattern on a surface, which provide info about the slant of the surface
176
topological breakage
the discontinuity created by the intersection of two textures
177
intentional blinding effect
events that take place after one has taken some action are perceived as occuring sooner than they actually did
178
principal of common movement
visual features that move simultaniously and follow the same path are perceived to form a whole entity
179
modality appropriateness hypothesis
hypothesis that different senses are better at processing different stimuli, and therefor, different sensory modalities dominate at different times, depending on the circumstace
180
visual prepotency effect
the hypothesis that the visual system dominates other senses when it comes to perceptual processing
181
McGurk effect
the auditory experience of the syllable "da" when seeing a mouth silently saying "ga" while hearing a voice say "ba"
182
Vigilance decrement
The decline in performance overtime in vigilance task
183
Overload view
The view that performance on vigilance tasks declines over time because such tasks are so demanding
184
Resource depletion account
A version of the overload view according to which performance declines over time as attentional resources become depleted
185
Under load view
The view that performance on vigilance tasks declines over time because such tasks are not stimulating enough to hold a persons attention
186
Embodied
Existing within a body; the term reflects the general view that cognition depends not only on the mind but also on the physical constraints of the body in which the mind exists
187
Overt attention
Attending to something with eye-movement
188
Covert attention
Attending to something without eye movement
189
Sequential attention hypothesis
The hypothesis about the relationship between overt and covert attention that posits a tight relationship between the two. Whereby covert attention shifted first and overt eye movement follows
190
Saccades
The rapid, jerky movements made as the eye scans an image
191
Fixation
Holding the eye relatively still in order to maintain an image of the fovea
192
Nystagmus
Small but continuous eye movements during fixation
193
Regressions
Right to left movements of the eyes during reading, directing them to previously read text
194
Moving window technique
A method of determining how much visual info can be taken in during fix station in which the reader is prevented from seeing info beyond a certain distance from the current fixation
195
Entry points
The locations to which we direct our eyes before starting to read a section in a piece of complex material such as a newspaper
196
Smooth pursuit movements
Movements of the eye that,because they are not jerky enable the viewer to maintain fix station on a moving object
197
Task related knowledge
An observer’s knowledge of the goals and the task at hand as it guides the eyes during a visual task
198
Quiet eye
Sustained and steady I gaze prior to an action or behaviour (sport players example)
199
Location suppression hypothesis
A two stage explanation for the quiet I phenomenon; in the preparation stage, the quiet eye maximizes info about the target object; then, during the location stage, vision is suppressed to optimize execution of an action or behavior
