1: Cognitive psychology Flashcards Preview

NEW Language and Memory > 1: Cognitive psychology > Flashcards

Flashcards in 1: Cognitive psychology Deck (38)
Loading flashcards...
1
Q

What is psychology?

A

The science of mind and behaviour.

2
Q

What is science?

A

Science is one of the of four ways of knowing about the world and reality, based on empirical and non-empirical methods.

3
Q

What are the two empirical methods used in ways of knowing about the world?

A
  1. Intuition (direct observation)

2. Science

4
Q

What are the two non-empirical methods used in ways of knowing about the world?

A
  1. Authority

2. Logic

5
Q

What is authority?

A

A belief based on what someone else claims.

6
Q

What is logic?

A

A belief based on inductive or deductive reasoning.

7
Q

What is inductive reasoning?

A

Specific to general. Generalisations based on single observations.

8
Q

What is deductive reasoning?

A

General to specific. Uses syllogisms, when 2+ arguments are believed to be true, it guides us towards a conclusion.

9
Q

What is intuition?

A

A belief based on direct observation.

10
Q

What is science?

A

A belief based on a collection of methods.

11
Q

What are the 5 steps of the scientific method?

A
  1. Make observation.
  2. Generate theory.
  3. Generate hypothesis.
  4. Test hypothesis.
  5. If outcome is consistent with hypothesis, then retain it. If different, generate a new theory.
12
Q

What are the 7 characteristics of science? (Hint: STTOPPE)

A
  1. Self correcting.
  2. Tentative.
  3. Theoretical.
  4. Objective,
  5. Progressive.
  6. Parsimonious.
  7. Empirical.
13
Q

What is parsimony?

A

The simples explanation is the best.

14
Q

What are the 3 components of measurement in scientific experiments?

A
  1. True value.
  2. Bias.
  3. Random error.
15
Q

What is the true value?

A

The things being estimated.

16
Q

What is bias?

A

Type of error who’s value is unknown and does not equals zero. Can be minimised through precaution.

17
Q

What 2 precautions can we used to minimise bias?

A

Careful measurement and accurate equipment.

18
Q

What is random error?

A

Type of error who’s value varies from one measurement to the next. It’s mean value across all measurements equals or is very close to zero.

19
Q

Using the computer analogy in cognitive psychology, the brain is _________ and the cognition is ________.

A

Using the computer analogy in cognitive psychology, the brain is hardware and the cognition is software.

20
Q

Who is Hermann Ebbinghaus?

A

Studied human memory and first documented several important features about it (serial position curves and savings).

Used only himself as subject, using nonsense syllables called CVC’s as a method to study memory.

21
Q

Who is William James?

A

Wrote seminal 2-volume tome ‘The Principles of Psychology’.

Astute observer of the mind and cognition. Made distinction between primary and secondary memory.

22
Q

What is the main goal of introspectionism?

A

To understand human cognition via introspection.

23
Q

Who is Wilhelm Wundt?

A

Established the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.

Founded school of Structuralism, attempting to describe the mind via its simplest components.

24
Q

Who is Edward Titchner?

A

Wundt’s most prominent student, establishing his own lab in the USA.

Famous for sparking debate with Wundt over existence of imageless thought.

25
Q

Who is Ivon Pavlov?

A

Russian physiologist, credited with discovering classical conditioning.

26
Q

Who is John B. Watson?

A

American psychologist, who in 1930 wrote the ‘Behaviourists Manifesto’, causing the paradigm shift from introspectionism to behaviourism.

27
Q

Who is B. F. Skinner?

A

Discovered operant conditioning. Wrote 1957 book ‘Verbal Behaviour’ to explain human language acquisition through behaviourist S-R principles.

28
Q

Who is Edward Tolman?

A

Behaviourist who demonstrated cognitive maps in rats.

29
Q

Who is Noam Chomsky?

A

MIT linguist who wrote 1959 influential critique of Skinner’s ‘Verbal Behaviour’.

Provided examples that language is generative and not bound by S-R principles.

Provide arguments for importance of internal grammar in language acquisition rather than general learning principles.

30
Q

What is Posner famous for?

A

Introducing cognitive science in 1989.

31
Q

What disciplines make up cognitive science? (Hint: CCPLAN)

A
Cognitive psychology
Computer science
Philosophy
Linguistics
Anthropology
Neuroscience
32
Q

What are the three basic assumptions of cognitive psychology?

A
  1. Mental processes exist.
  2. Mental processes can be measured and understood using science.
  3. Humans are information processing systems.
33
Q

What are the three traditional methods of measuring mental processes?

A
  1. RT’s.
  2. Errors.
  3. Verbal protocols.
34
Q

What are RT’s and how are they used in cognitive research?

A

Reaction times, which are measured via response speed (ms) using simple equipment like buttons or more sophisticated devices like eye-trackers.

35
Q

What are errors and how are they used in cognitive research?

A

There are two types, error rates and types of errors, such as those seen in speech production.

36
Q

What are verbal protocols and how are they used in cognitive research?

A

Participants are asked to complete a task whilst ‘think aloud’ protocols are recorded.

37
Q

What are the three non-traditional (modern) methods of measuring mental processes?

A
  1. ERP’s
  2. fMRI
  3. TMS
38
Q

What are ERP’s and how are they used in cognitive research?

A

Event-Related Potentials use electrodes to measure brains electrical activity on the scalp.