Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Human Learning And Cognition > 1 - Foundations > Flashcards

1 - Foundations Flashcards

1
Q

Define cognitive psychology

A

The scientific study of how the mind encodes, stores, and uses information

Ie. how is knowledge acquired, retained and used?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Cognitive psychology is a _ science

A

A new science

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Give some examples related to cognitive psychology covered in class

A
  • studying for a test is reading info, storing info, applying it back from memory to recite or apply to novel problems
  • driving is mundane but involves a lot of processing
  • lots of things happening, remembering rules from 16 years old and apply info to different environments/cars
  • How experts make their decisions (ex. Physician) who studied things in the past, apply this to solve problems. Do their job well hit sometimes make mistakes which is also a part of cognitive psycholo
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

When did cognitive psychology arise?

A

1950 to 60s

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Cognitive psychology arose partly from previous research traditions. What were they?

A

Introspection and behaviourism

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Who pioneered introspectionism and what did they focus on?

A

Wilhelm Wundt (and Edward Titchener, his student)

Focus on studying one’s own conscious thoughts and experiences

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What are the 2 features of introspectionism?

A

Who can observe thoughts?

What about unconscious thoughts?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Who can observe thoughts? (Introspectionism)

A
  • only you, you are your own observer (not always the best, describe things differently depending on life experiences
  • not everyone can be an introspectionist, has to be trained
  • people are presented with the same experiences and would be asked to describe it
  • this was made a formal method, scientific approach to studying the mind
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What’s another word for introspectionism?

A

Structuralism

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Can we observe unconscious thoughts?

A
  • don’t really have access to that
  • part of the mental processes we don’t have access to if we only use introspection
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

When was behaviorism dominant in psychology? Who was the biggest advocate?

A

First half of the 20th century, John Watson

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What was one of Jon Watson’s most popular beliefs?

A
  • believed behaviour mattered most, not what is happening in the mind
  • thought we learne EVERYTHING through some form of rewards and punishment through stimulus
  • “give me any child and i can raise them to become a doctor, lawyer, etc.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What kind of behaviors did behaviorism focus on?

A

Observable

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is the salt shaker example within the topic of behaviorism?

A

Stimulus response pairs can’t explain all behavior
- there’s a ton of ways to ask for the salt but the response will be the same despite only training a couple ways

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What’s the main limitation for introspection?

A

Methods for studying mental events are not scientific

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What’s the main limitation of behaviorism?

A

To fully understand behavior, we can’t ignore mental events (aka. can’t just focus on observable behaviors)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What heavily influenced future study of psychology after the cognitive revolution?

A

The transcendental method: reason backward from observations to determine the cause (Immanuel Kant)
- don’t just stop at behavior and explain it through external stimulus, considers internal such as thoughts
(Ex. Observe behavior like driving aggressively and make inferences on to what is happening in the mind)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Name 5 people who contributed to the cognitive revolution

A

Noam Chomsky
Edward Tolman
Claude Shannon
George Miller
Donald Broadbent

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Describe Noam Chomsky’s contributions to the cognitive revolution + year

A

1959
- criticized Skinner’s description that children’s language development occurs via conditioning
- was a pioneer in language development
- children understand rules of language and learn at a speed that cannot be explained by conditioning

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Describe Edward Tolman’s contributions to the cognitive revolution + year

A

Demonstrated that reinforcement is not required for learning
(1930)
-(rat experiment - left rats to walk around either with food in a non-specific place or no food at all on the 10th today the rats can really quickly navigate the maze if a reward were to somehow appear) COGNITIVE MAP!

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Describe Claude Shannon’s contributions to the cognitive revolution

A

Demonstrated that the nature and processing of information itself could be studied and analyzed without consideration of the actual content of a message (1948)

  • can convey any info through zeros and ones as long as the center and interpreter both have the same rules/algorithms they can extract info through
    = INFORMATION THEORY
22
Q

Describe George Miller’s contributions to the cognitive revolution+ year

A

(1956) Identified the amount of information people could store (7 plus minus 2)
- ex. if there are more than seven marbles, the estimates get really variable but before it’s easy to guess

23
Q

Describe Donald Broadbent’s contributions to the cognitive revolution and year

A

Built a filter model of attention (1958)
- the idea that information is filtered by different processes based on type of information
- use computer language to understand human processing?

24
Q

Psychology often modelled advances in what subject?

A

Physics
- seen as a gold standard of science, questioned when quantum was introduced
- psychologist thought maybe they should leave some room for uncertainty

25
Q

Rather than the stimulus response connection, what did cognition end up focusing on?

A

Mental processes

Ex. The process of knowing rather than merely responding to stimuli,
- how the mind structures are organizes experiences
- how an individual actively and creatively arranges stimuli received from the environment

26
Q

How is the mind an information processor? How does this relate to cognitive psychology and clinical situations?

A

Everything we experience is a different type of information, from internal and external sources
- cognitive psychology is processing that information
- processing an abnormally can lead to clinical situations if systematic

27
Q

Cognitive psychology aims to understand _

A

Mental representations, action potentials = digital representations
(And the computations performed on them)
*Look on the slide, how the subject you see turns into storage

28
Q

Define cognitive psychology

A

Objective measures of behavior to test how the mind encodes, stores and uses information about the environment

29
Q

Describe the process of research in cognitive psychology (4 steps)

A
  1. Form a hypothesis
  2. Derive predictions from the hypothesis
  3. Collect data to test predictions
  4. Confirm hypothesis or modify (or reject) the hypothesis
30
Q

What are some common measures in cognition research?

A
  • performance (eg. Accuracy)
  • response time (RT)
31
Q

Cognition gains lots of insight from _

A
  • cognitive neuroscience
  • clinical neuropsychology
32
Q

What is capgras syndrome?

A

Patients can recognize loved ones but patience think that they are impostors
- severe and debilitating syndrome
- related to face processing and recognition

33
Q

Normal facial recognition involves two systems, name them

A
  1. Cognitive appraisal
    - bulbs using information of face and comparing it to template a face in your mind in terms of appearance (ie. this person looks like my mom)
  2. Emotional appraisal
    - as you get to know people you develop some emotional response by presence, feel some emotional warmth (associating the feeling with the person for recognition, don’t get these feelings in capgras)
34
Q

What area is in the brain are damaged in capgras syndrome?

A

Associated with amygdala and prefrontal cortex damage

35
Q

What are the 2 types of brain organization?

A

Structural (physical structures) and functional (function of brain regions)

36
Q

What happened to finneas gage?

A

Has a rod that went through his face but he survived, he was acting differently though since part of the frontal lobe is responsible for some parts of personality

37
Q

Where is the hindbrain located?

A

Top of the spinal cord (ie. Brain stem)

38
Q

Name the components of the hindbrain and functions

A
  • cerebellum (largest)
  • pons
  • medulla

Key life functions: breathing, walking, balance, posture, etc (cerebellum is sometimes involved in coordinating complex thoughts)

39
Q

Where is the midbrain located?

A

Connects hind and forebrain

40
Q

Name the midbrain functions

A
  • coordinating precise eye movement
  • relaying auditory information from ears to forebrain
  • regulating pain experiences
41
Q

Describe the structural organization of the forebrain

A
  • 4 lobes
  • the cortex (outer surface of the forebrain)
  • subcortical structures
42
Q

Can you separate the start and end of the forebrain lobes?

A

*Not easy to distinguish but have a lateral and central fissure

  • temporal, occipital and parietal are all connected and it’s hard to draw a line where they start and end
43
Q

Which part of the brain has the biggest implications in cognitive psychology?

A

Forebrain

44
Q

Name the forebrain’s cortical structures

A

Thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic, amygdala, hippocampus

45
Q

What does the thalamus do?

A

Sensory relay station (info goes here before moving somewhere else)

46
Q

What does the hypothalamus do?

A

Controls behaviors that serve specific biological needs (eg. Eating)

47
Q

What does the limbic system include? Name the parts and functions

A

Amygdala: emotional processing
(Dysfunction in capgras syndrome)

Hippocampus: learning and memory (retrograde amnesia, no new memories)

48
Q

What connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain?

A

Several commissures (bundles of axons) including the corpus callosum

Split brain patients have the corpus callosum severed

49
Q

What are 4 methods of studying the brain and nervous system in cognitive neuroscience?

A

Neuropsychology
Neuroimaging
Electrical recordings
Manipulation of brain function

50
Q

Define neuropsychology

A

Studying the behavioral impact of brain damage (can be unnatural like trauma or surgery, or natural)

51
Q

If 2 people will rarely have the same brain damage, how can neuropsychology make inferences about brain function?

A
  • they use areas that all participants have brain damage in
  • if they all have deficits in a certain function, we can infer that the damaged part of the brain is responsible for it
  • this is how Broca’s and Wernicke’s area were discovered
52
Q

Describe the neuroimaging method (name the subsections)

A

Structural neuroimaging techniques:
- computerized axial tomography (CT) scans
- magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans

Functional neuroimaging techniques:
- positron emission tomography scans (PET)
- functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans

Human Learning And Cognition (11 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions