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PSY245 Cognitive Psychology > Chapter 1 - Approaches to human cognition > Flashcards

Chapter 1 - Approaches to human cognition Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the four (4) main approaches to studying human cognition.

A
  1. Cognitive Neuroscience
  2. Cognitive Psychology
  3. Cognitive Neuropsychology
  4. Computational Cognitive Science.
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2
Q

Most cognitive scientists have adopted the information processing approach, during which an…

A

External stimulus causes internal cognitive processes to occur.

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3
Q

Processing directly affected by the input is known as…

A

Bottom-up processing

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4
Q

Serial processing is when…

A

Only one process occurs at a given time.

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5
Q

Most human cognition involves a mixture of…

A

Bottom-up and Top-down processing.

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6
Q

Parallel Processing

A

Processing in which some or all of the processes involved in a task occur at the same time.

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7
Q

Experimental design issue TASK IMPURITY…

A

A task may rely on a complex mixture of cognitive processes making interpretation of results difficult.

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8
Q

Ecological validity

A

A measure of how test performance predicts behaviour in the real world.

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9
Q

Paradigm Specificity

A

Findings obtained in a given task are sometimes specific to that task and do not generalise to other tasks.

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10
Q

Cognitive Psychology limitations

A

Laboratory studies sometimes lack ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY (behaviour differs from everyday life);

Findings obtained in a given task are sometimes specific to that task and do not generalise to other tasks (PARADIGM SPECIFICITY).

A comprehensive theoretical architecture linking different components of the cognitive system have been lacking.

Theories may apply only to a narrow range of cognitive tasks and tend to be expressed in rather vague terms.

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11
Q

Cognitive Neuropsychology is concerned with…

A

The patterns of cognitive performance shown by patients with brain damage. The study of brain damaged patients can tell us much about normal human cognition.

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12
Q

Ventral

A

Inferior, or towards the bottom of the brain

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13
Q

Bold

A

Blood oxygen level-dependent contrast; this is the signal measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

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14
Q

Bottom-up processing

A

Processing that is directly influenced by environmental stimuli

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15
Q

Case-series study

A

A study in which several patients with similar cognitive impairments are tested; this allows consideration of Individual data and variation across individuals

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16
Q

Sulcus

A

A groove or furrow in the surface of the brain

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17
Q

Syndrome

A

The notion that symptoms that often co-occur have a common origin

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18
Q

Top-down processing

A

Stimulus processing that is influenced by factors such as the individual’s past experience and expectations.

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19
Q

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

A

A technique in which magnetic pulses briefly disturb the functioning of a given brain area. It is often claimed that it creates a short-lived “lesion”. More accurately, TMS causes interference when the brain area to which it is applied is involved in task processing as well as activity produced by the applied stimulation.

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20
Q

Cognitive neuroscience

A

An approach that aims to understand human cognition by combining information from behaviour and the brain.

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21
Q

Cognitive Psychology

A

An approach that aims to understand human cognition by the study of behaviour; a broader definition also includes the study of brain activity and structure.

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22
Q

Cognitive Architecture

A

A comprehensive framework for understanding human cognition in the form of a computer program

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23
Q

Connectionist models

A

Models in computational cognitive science consisting of interconnected networks of simple units; the networks exhibit learning through experience and specific items of knowledge are distributed across numerous units.

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24
Q

Converging operations

A

An approach in which several methods with different strengths and limitations are used to address a given issue.

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25
Computational modelling
This involves constructing computer programs that simulate or mimic human cognitive processes.
26
Implacable experimenter
The situation in experimental research in which the experimenter’s behaviour is uninfluenced by the participant’s behaviour.
27
Lateral
Situated at the sides of the brain
28
Lesions
Structural alterations within the brain caused by disease or injury
29
Magneto-encephalography (MEG)
A non-invasive brain-scanning technique based on recording the magnetic fields generated by brain activity
30
Modularity
The assumption that the cognitive system consists of many fairly independent or separate modules or processors, each specialised for a given type of processing
31
Meta-analysis
A form of statistical analysis based on combining the findings from numerous studies on a given issue.
32
Parallel processing
Processing in which two or more cognitive processes occur at the same time.
33
Medical
Situated in the middle of the brain
34
Paradigm specificity
This occurs when the findings with a given experimental task or paradigm are not obtained even when apparently very similar tasks or paradigms are used.
35
Serial processing
Processing in which one process is completed before the next one starts.
36
Single-unit recording
An invasive technique for studying brain function, permitting the study of activity in single neurons.
37
Artificial intelligence
This involves developing computer programs that produce intelligent outcomes
38
Association
The findings that certain symptoms or performance impairments are consistently found together in numerous brain-damaged patients.
39
Back-propagation
A learning mechanism in connectionist models based on comparing actual responses to correct ones.
40
Domain specificity
The notion that a given module responds selectively to certain types of stimuli (e.g. faces) but not to others.
41
Dorsal
Superior, or towards the top of the brain
42
Dissociation
As applied to brain-damaged patients, intact performance on one task but severely impaired performance on a different task.
43
Double dissociation
The findings that some brain-damaged individuals have intact performance on one task but poor performance on another task, whereas other individuals exhibit the opposite pattern
44
Ecological validity
The applicability (or otherwise) of the findings of laboratory studies to everyday settings.
45
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Recording the brain’s electrical potentials through a series of scalp electrodes.
46
Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (efMRI)
This is a form of functional magnetic resonance imaging in which patterns of brain activity associated with specific events (e.g. correct vs. incorrect responses on a memory test) are compared.
47
Event-related potentials (ERPs)
The pattern of electroencephalograph (EEG) activity obtained by averaging the brain responses to the same stimulus (or very similar stimuli) presented repeatedly.
48
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
A technique based on imaging blood oxygenation using an MRI machine; it provides information about the location and time course of brain processes.
49
Functional specialisation
The assumption that each brain area or region is specialised for a specific function (e.g. colour processing, face processing)
50
Gyri
Prominent elevated areas or ridges on the brain’s surface (“gyrus” is the singular)
51
Plasticity
Changes in brain structure and function dependent on experience that affect behaviour
52
Positron emission tomography (PET)
A brain-scanning technique based on the detection of positrons; it has reasonable spatial resolution but poor temporal resolution.
53
Posterior
Towards the back of the brain
54
Production rules
“If...then” or condition-action rules in which the action is carried out whenever the appropriate condition is present.
55
Production systems
These consist of very large numbers of “if...then” production rules and a working memory containing information.
56
reverse inference
As applied to functional neuroimaging, it involves arguing backwards from a pattern of brain activation to the presence of a given cognitive process
57
Rostral
Anterior, or towards the front of the brain
58
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)
The administration of transcranial magnetic stimulation several times in rapid succession
59
Which cognitive task is designed to tap inhibitory processes and ask participants to name the colour in which colour names are presented?
Strop
60
Early versions of the information-processing approach assumed that all processing was:
Serial and bottom-up
61
Parallel processing is most likely to occur when:
People are highly practised at a task.
62
Which research field attempts to construct computer systems that produce intelligent outcomes, but without necessary regard as to whether the process involved bear a resemblance to those used by humans?
Artificial intelligence
63
Which neurologist produced a cytoarchitectonic map of the brain, with many of these numbered regions corresponding to functionally distinct areas?
Brodmann
64
The extent to which laboratory findings are applicable to everyday life is called
Ecological validity
65
Which ERP component has been used as a measure of the time to detect a semantic mismatch by researchers such as hagoort et al. (2004)?
N400
66
A processor in the cognitive system that functions in an independent/separate fashion is termed a
Module
67
The notion that parts of the processing system can be impaired by brain damage, but parts cannot be added, form the basis of which cognitive neuropsychology assumption?
Subtractivity
68
If one patient performs well on task A, but poor on task B, and another performs poorly on task A, but will on Task B, we say that we have a:
double dissociation
69
A group of symptoms or impairments commonly found together is known as a
Syndrome
70
In order to address the problem that brain-damaged patients do not represent a homogenous group, many cognitive neuropsychologists use:
Case studies
71
The mistaken view that patterns of brain activation provide direct evidence concerning cognitive processing is called:
Neuroimaging illusion
72
Technically, the signal measured in fMRI is known by which acronym?
BOLD
73
Which computational modelling theory was developed by Anderson (1993)?
ACT-R
74
A unit in a connectionist network will produce an output when:
The weighted sum of all inputs exceeds a threshold.
75
The process whereby a neural network learns to associate an input pattern with an output pattern, by comparing actual responses against correct ones, is called:
Backward propagation
76
Which of the following divides the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain?
Central sulcus
77
Which term is used to describe structures that are located at the sides of the brain?
Lateral
78
The term that describes how precisely a technique can identify where in the brain a task is being performed is:
Spatial resolution
79
Which technique was famously used by Huber and Wiesel (1962, 1979) to investigate visual processes in cats and monkeys?
Single-cell recording
80
Averaging together time-locked portions of recordings of the brain’s electrical activity, to produce a single waveform, produces:
Event-related potentials
81
PET scans are used to detect changes in:
Regional cerebral blood flow.
82
Which of the following techniques can only be applied to brain areas lying just beneath the skull but not to areas overlying muscle?
TMS
83
The technique in which a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) is used to measure brain activity is:
MEG
84
Which of the following techniques allows us to make the most confident CAUSAL statements?
TMS
85
When we find similar results using several different brain-imaging techniques, we say that we have:
Converging operations

PSY245 Cognitive Psychology (1 decks)

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