Test1 Flashcards
Explain evidence that visual rich slides are more effective for learning than text dense slides
Fenesi and Kim on effective slide design (2014) Participants viewed slides with either:
1) Heavy text and audio narration.
2) Short summary sentences w/ pictures and audio narration that complement each other.
After a delay, quiz results showed that participants who saw the 2nd set of slides scored higher. (75% >55%).
Students rated text-heavy slides to be better however, objective evidence disagrees.
Describe evidence that use of a laptop in lecture impairs learning.
An experiment in McMaster assessed performance after a lecture for a student who was using a laptop and engaged in multitasking compared to participants who didn’t have a computer.
- Multitasking scored 11% lower than the control.
- People within eyesight of the multitasking performed 17% lower.
Explain how the science of the mind developed as a series of reactions against the status quo.
- First: The Scientific method was described, it was a crucial step for the development of cognitive psychology.
- Then structuralism as a specific study of the mind
- Behaviourism
- Then cognition as it’s own sub-discipline, and now we’re in the age of cognitive neuroscience.
Each movement was a reaction to what had come before.
René Descartes - “I think therefore I am [therefore I exist/have a mind] “
Introduced Critical thinking and was the first to suggest the separation of the mind and body (brain).
How did Wilhem Wundt contribute to Cognitive psychology ?
He initiated the Structuralist perspective.
- Analytic introspection.
What are the functions of the mind?
1) The mind creates and controls mental functions.
(Various mental abilities)
2) It is a system that creates representations of the world.
(Functioning and survival)
Fransiscus Donders
Tested Decision time
(= Choice reaction time - Simple reaction time)
- He was the first to experiment in cognitive psychology.
- Suggested that mental responses can only be inferred from behaviour.
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Tested memory loss over time using the repetition of 20 nonsense syllables.
Savings = Original learning time - learning time after delay.
The greater the delay the lower the savings.
William James
Narrated observations of his own experience (attention)
John Watson
- Advocated for Behaviourism.
- Thought that Analytic Introspection was too variable and unscientific.
- Behaviourism on the other hand, involved studying the relationship between behaviour and the environment.
B.F. Skinner
Operand Conditioning
- Behaviour controlled by stimuli.
Edward Chance Tolman
Concluded that the rat in the maze had a ‘Cognitive map’ of the maze when it was looking for the cheese.
The idea of behaviour being a affected by a factor other than external stimulus sparked the study of cognitive psychology .
Structuralism VS Functionalism
Understanding the mind purely based on its physical structure VS its functions (regardless of structure).
(Wundt VS James)
Define radical behaviourism.
• The idea that free will and consciousness are an illusion. All of our behaviour is based on association: classical conditioning, reward and punishment.
Representations
Transformations of a presented stimulus.
What is the role of the temporal cortex in vision.
It combines the signals from the neurons in the visual cortex to create a representation.
What are Feature Detectors (neurons)?
Feature Detectors are neurons that respond to specific stimuli.
(Eg Bars of light slanted at specific angles and moving in a particular direction)
Specificity Coding
Specialized neurons respond to specific objects.
(Eg neuron “B” responds when detecting face of person “b”)
- This idea was later found to be unlikely because there would be infinitely many neurons.
Population Coding
Representation of an object by the pattern of firing of a large number of neurons.
Sparse Coding
representation by a pattern of firing over a small group of neurons.
Brain Organization
The localization of functions to specific areas of the brain.
Fusiform Face Area (FFA)
The area in the brain specialized for face recognition.
Found on the underside of the temporal lobe.
Damage to this area can cause prosopagnosia.
Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA)
Specialized in processing locations.
Found in the medial temporal lobe.
Extrastirate Body Area (EBA)
Activated by body segments.
Located in the occipital lobe.
Broca’s Area
Paul Broca
Is specialized in speech PRODUCTION
{Paul = P = Production}
Left Frontal Lobe
Wernicke’s Area
Carl Wernicke
Speech Comprehension (language) Temporal lobe
Occipital Lobe
Initial visual processing.
Auditory Cortex
Found in the temporal lobe
Somatosensory Cortex
Found in the parietal lobe.
Activated on touch, pressure and pain stimuli.
Frontal Lobe
Coordination of functions and higher cognitive functions.
Double Dissociation
When damage to one are of the brain causes a deficiency in function A while function B is normal and damage to another area causes a deficiency in function B and not function A.
There is a double dissociation between the areas in the brain and the functions.
Proven for facial vs Object recognition.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Structural imaging of the brain that uses large magnets.
functional MRI (fMRI)
records the activation of different areas of the brain.
The more active areas in the brain use up more oxygen; as oxygen is released from the blood cells they respond more strongly to the magnetic field.
Distributed Representation
The idea that cognitive functions activate many areas of the brain.
Perception
Experience that results from stimulation of the senses.
Bottom-up Processing
Processing that starts with stimulation of receptors.
Top-Down Processing
Processing that begins with a person’s knowledge, experience and expectations.
Involved in recognition of objects based on a small number of geons.
(Construction of the complete representation w/ fragmented stimuli)
The direct pathway model (Pain) `
Stimulated pain receptors send their signals directly to the brain.
However, it was later found that pain perception was affected by other factors than the stimulation of the skin.
(Expectation, attention, and distracting stimuli)
The likelihood principle.
We tend to perceive the object that is most likely to cause the pattern of stimuli that we received.
- Proposed by Hermann Von Helmholtz.
Unconscious Inference
the process by which occurs the judgement of what it most likely to occur.
(refer to the likelihood principle)
The Gestalt Principles of (perceptual) Organization
- Good Continuation
- Simplicity
- Similarity
- Familiarity
The law of Good continuation
A Gestalt Principle of Organization
Points are seen to belong together if, when connected they from straight or smooth lines, and the lines are seen to follow the smoothest path.
Objects overlapped by other objects are seen as continuing.
The law of Simplicity
A Gestalt Principle of Organization
Every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible.
The law of similarity
A Gestalt Principle of Organization
Similar things appear to be grouped together.
The law of Familiarity
A Gestalt Principle of Organization
Things that form patters that are familiar or meaningful are likely to be grouped together.
Environmental Regularities and perception.
Regularly occurring (physical/Semantic) properties in the environment influence our perception. (Top-Down based on our expectations and knowledge of the environment)
Oblique Effect
Topic: (Physical) Environmental regularities and Perception
Humans can perceive horizontal and vertical orientations more easily than oblique orientations.
This is due to the fact that oblique orientations are less frequent in the environment.
The light from above Assumption
Topic: (Physical) Environmental regularities and Perception
Since light normally comes from above, we can perceive a scene/object differently as we assume that light is coming form above.
Semantic Regularities
Topic: Environmental regularities and Perception
The characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes
Scene Schema
Topic: Environmental regularities and Perception
Our knowledge of different kinds of scenes ans what they contain.
What vs Where pathways (Ungerleider and Mishkin)
Researchers found a double dissociation between the WHAT and WHERE functions of object identification.
WHERE: Dorsal pathway to the parietal lobe; involves spacial information and locating objects in space.
(The landmark discrimination problem)
WHAT: Ventral pathway to the Temporal Lobe; Recognizing/Identifying objects.
(Object Discrimination Task )
Define: Attention
The ability to focus on one stimulus or location.
Define: Selective attention
Actively ignoring stimuli as while focusing on a specific one.
Define: Distraction
One stimulus interfering with anther.
Divided attention
Attending to multiple stimuli at the same time.
Attentional Capture
A rapid shifting of attention
Visual Scanning
Movement of the eyes from one location to another
Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention
Multiple Stimuli are received and held in the sensory memory before being processed by the filter.
The filter only allows one processed stimulus to pass to the detector and long term memory.
This is an example of an Early Filter Model
Dichotic Listening
Presenting different stimuli to left and right ears.
Shadowing
Repeating information heard from one ear.
Attenuation Model of Attention
Anne Treisman modified Broadbent’s model
The Attenuator unit replaces the filter and analyses the incoming message for:
- Physical Characteristics
- Language
- Meaning
before passing it into the dictionary unit then memory.
– Even the unattended message is somewhat perceived (subliminally) and is not totally filtered out.
Inattention Blindness
When focusing on a demanding task, we fail to notice unexpected events. (Gorilla in video)
Change Blindness
Failure to Notice large changes between scenes that are otherwise easily detectable. Often happens during eye movement or in moments of distraction.
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