Week 1: Introduction to cognitive psychology

Question 1

What is empiricism

Answer 1

the idea that knowledge comes from experience/ human observation and sense. It has been dated to Epicurus, but in modern psychology history to John Locke and Thomas Reid.

Question 2

What was Hermann von Helmholtz’s contribution to psychology

Answer 2

A German physiologist, he investigated sensory systems, through the measurement of the speed of neural impulses.
His work indicated that the senses don’t always mirror external reality.

Question 3

Who formally established experimental psychology, and when

Answer 3

Wilhelm Wundt,

1879 with the establishment of the first psychology lab

Question 4

When was the first psychology lab opened in the US

Answer 4

1883

Question 5

What years were the American Journal of Psychology and the APA established

Answer 5

1887 and 1892 respectively

Question 6

What was the main method for experimental psychology

Answer 6

Introspection through self-reports of reactions to stimuli. The goal was to identify the elements of consciousness.

Question 7

Discuss the development and nature of structuralism

Answer 7

Edward Titchener, a student of Wundt, brought structuralism to the US in the early 1900s. Structuralism focuses on what the mind IS, and limited its research to normal and mentally healthy adults.

Question 8

Discuss the development and nature of functionalism

Answer 8

Functionalism developed after structuralism and focuses on what the mind DOES.
influenced by Darwins evolutionary theory
Developed by James, Hall and Cattell they believed consciousness is ongoing and cannot be reduced to elements.

Question 9

Who was G Stanley Hall, and what did he do?

Answer 9

A functionalist interested in adaptation and development, particluarly child development
he foudned APA and created the American Journal of Psychology.

Question 10

Who was James Catell, and what did he do?

Answer 10

Student of Wundt, interested in individual differences. Believed in superior intelligence and eugenics.

Question 11

What is Gestalt Psychology

Answer 11

1930’s German psychological approach
The whole of any experience is richer than studying individual aspects.
Mind processes information simultaneously not sequentially
this is the precursor to cognitive psychology

Question 12

Discuss nature and development of behaviourism

Answer 12

1940’s psychology - Watson and Skinner
Rejected focus on mind, instead focused on overt and
observable behavior,.
Scientific study of behaviour to develop learning that promoted the prediction and control of behavior.
Ivan Pavlov - influential behaviourist:
conditioned learning or classical conditioning - provided support for the notion that learning and behavior were controlled by events in the environment and could be explained with no reference to mind
or consciousness.

Question 13

Name some pioneers of cognitive psychology

Answer 13

Jerome Bruner - 1950s, pioneering studies on cognitive aspects of sensation and perception.

Roger Brown - original research on language and memory,
coined the term “flashbulb memory,” and figured out how to study the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

George Miller - His research on working memory is legendary. His 1956 paper “The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information”is one of the most highly cited papers in psychology.

Question 14

When did Cognitive psychology become popular

Answer 14

1950s

Question 15

When was professional doctorate training in psychology established.

Answer 15

In 1973, the Vail Conference on Professional
Training in Psychology proposed the scholar-practitioner model and the Psy.D. degree
(Doctor of Psychology).

Question 16

What is flashbulb memory

Answer 16

A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event

Question 17

Whats a neural impulse

Answer 17

An electro-chemical signal that enables neurons to communicate.

Question 18

What is psychophysics

Answer 18

Study of the relationships between physical stimuli and the perception of those stimuli.

Question 19

What are the 4 key components to a statistical investigation

Answer 19

1. planning the study
2. examining the data
3. inferring from the data
4. drawing conclusions

Question 20

What are the important factors in planning a study

Answer 20

A testable research question or hypothesis
How data is collected
How long is the study period
How are people recruited and how many?
demographics of participants
What variables are recorded, how are they recorded?
what background variables are noted?

Question 21

What are the important factors in examining the data

Answer 21

What graphs are relevant, and what do they reveal? What descriptive statistics can summarize data
What patterns are revealed?
Are there any individual observations that deviate from the overall pattern, and what do they reveal?

Question 22

What are the important factors in data inference

Answer 22

What are valid statistical methods for drawing inferences “beyond” the data you collected?
Could they have happened by chance
what about BVs

Question 23

What is the distribution of data in a sample

Answer 23

The pattern of variation in the data

Question 24

What does the p-value in statistics indicate

Answer 24

The probability of observing a particular outcome in a sample, or more extreme, under a conjecture about the larger population or process. ,

Question 25

Define Psychophysiology

Answer 25

Research in which the dependent variable is a physiological measure, and the independent variable is behavioral or mental.

Question 26

What is hemaglobin

Answer 26

The oxygen-carrying portion of a red blood cell.

Question 27

What is Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Answer 27

A technique based on imaging blood oxygenation using an MRI machine; measures blood volume and flow from which we infer neural activity.
It provides information about the location and time course of brain processes

Question 28

Ventral

Answer 28

inferior or towards the bottom of the brain

Question 29

Bottom-up processing

Answer 29

processing that is directly influenced by environmental stimuli

Question 30

top-down processing

Answer 30

stimulus processing that is influenced by factors such asthe individual’s past experience and expectations

Question 31

What is Electroencephalography?

Answer 31

Technique for studying brain activation, using electrodes to measure the difference in electrical potentials between pairs of points on the head, via a skull cap.
The electrodes measure the electrical activity that
is naturally occurring within the brain. They do not introduce any new electrical activity. In contrast to fMRI, EEG measures neural activity directly.

Question 32

What is electrocorticography

Answer 32

When electrodes are placed within the skull, resting directly on the brain itself.
Typically used prior to medical procedures for localizing activity, such as the origin of epileptic seizures. This invasive procedure allows for more precise localization of neural activity, which is essential in medical applications.

Question 33

What is Magnetoencephalography ?

Answer 33

Noninvasive technique measuring neural activity.
The flow of electrical charge (the current) associated with neural activity produces very weak magnetic fields that can be detected by sensors placed near the participant’s scalp.

Question 34

What is a PET scan

Answer 34

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a medical imaging technique used to measure processes in the body and brain. 
A positron (positively charged particle)-emitting tracer atom is introduced into the blood stream in a biologically active molecule, such as glucose, water,

Question 35

What is TMS

Answer 35

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive method that causes depolarization or hyperpolarization in neurons near the scalp.
A coil of wire is placed just above the participant’s scalp.
When electricity flows through the coil, it produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field travels through the skull and scalp and affects neurons near the surface of the brain.
TMS is able to explore neural plasticity, which is the ability of connections between neurons to change.

Question 36

What is an EMG

Answer 36

Electromyography (EMG) measures electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles, through voltage between 2 points.
Can measure when a person first initiates muscle activity to engage in a motor response to a stimulus.
Used in emotion research to identify activity in muscles that are used to produce smiles and frowns.

Question 37

What is exact replication?

Answer 37

(also called Direct Replication)
A scientific attempt to exactly copy the scientific methods used in an earlier study in an effort to determine whether the results are consistent.

Question 38

What is Priming

Answer 38

Priming is the process by which a recent reference (often a subtle, subconscious cue) can increase the
accessibility of a trait. For example, if your instructor says, “Please put aside your books, take out a clean sheet of paper, and write your name at the top,” you might find your pulse quickening. Over time, you have learned that this cue means you are about to be given a pop quiz.

Question 39

What is conceptual replication

Answer 39

A scientific attempt to copy the scientific hypothesis used in an earlier study in an effort to determine whether the results will generalize to different samples, times, or situations.