Chapter 1: History Flashcards
mind vs. brain
mind = cannot be touched, not physical
brain = can be touched, physical
What is Cognition?
Cognition is the process that happens inside your head during memory, thinking, learning etc.
Empiricism
position that all science should be based on observation
What was the first cognitive psychology experiment and who conducted it?
reaction time experiment - How long does it take to make a decision? By Donders
Donders experiment about decision making measured reaction time (how long it took for participant to respond to stimulus) by using two different methods simple reaction time (participants push button as soon as they see stimulus) and choice reaction time (two stimuli presented and participant is told which one to press). What were the significant conclusions/results from this research experiment?
1) It takes 1/10th of a second to make a decision
2) Mental responses cannot be measured directly but can be inferred from the participant’s behaviour.
3) First cognitive psychology experiment
4) Choice reaction time was longer by 1/10th of a second compared to simple reaction time
The study of behaviour that provided different insights into functioning of different parts of the brain is ________________________.
Neuropsychology
Cognitive psychology is the study of ___
a) human-computer interaction
b) the brain and its functions
c) human behaviour
d) the mind and its functions
D, the MIND and its functions
Why can we not use the results of Donder’s go/no-go experiment to infer decision time?
What is cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes by which sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used
What is response accuracy?
response accuracy measures whether or not a participant makes a correct response in a specified period of time when placed in a challenging situation
What are process models?
Represent the processes that are involved in cognitive mechanisms
What was Donder’s experiments of reaction time? Describe his most recent one.
reaction time experiments & most recent one was = go/no-go (presented with two shapes and press button only when desired shape appears (no-go), presented with two shapes and press button when any shape appears (go)) = this was a better study because he fixed mistakes from previous study but the quality of decision being made was poor so can’t infer decision making time from this study
what were the findings in Donder’s go/no-go task experiment
go/no-go task had longer reaction times compared to simple go condition
Who is Aristotle? What did he believe?
He was an empiricist, stated that we need to observe the world in order to learn about the world
-He thought that the mind is blank at birth and it must be learned thru experience
(we use experience to learn things about the world)
What were Aristotle’s laws of association?
- Contiguity: if A and B appeared together, experience of A will elicit recall of B
(If two things appear together at the same place and same time, that is enough for mind to form an association) - Similarity: if A and B are similar, experience of A will elicit recall of B
(Ex: If I hear the song today that’s similar to the one I heard last week, hearing the song today will elicit a memory from Wednesdays class where a similar song was played) - Contrast: if A and B are opposites, experience of A will elicit recall of B
(Ex: if I experience something very hot I will think of very cold things (me in the summer thinking about the winter))
The law of frequency states ___________________.
the probability that the experience of A elicits B increases with the frequency that A and B appeared together before (example: If I see two people together once I may or may not form an association btw them but if I keep seeing the same two people again and again more likely to form strong association)
What did Descartes believe?
Mind-body dualism (view that separation between mind and body) = he separated the mind from the body and said they are distinct but related,
Who developed the approach called structuralism
Wundt (Wilhelm Wundt)
What is structuralism?
Structuralism is a theory of consciousness states overall experience is determined by combining basic elements of
experience (mental images, feelings, etc.) called sensations
What was analytic introspection? What this good or bad?
An technique that Wundt used to train participants to self-reflect so that, when presented with external stimuli, they can explain their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and sensations
not a good approach and was abandoned b/c data collected could not be verified (no reliable results), and data was highly subjective
Name two scientists that studied behaviour to determine properties of the mind and what were those properties?
- Wundt = ability to retain information
- Donders = decision making
What did William James conclude?
He did not experiments and reported observations based on his own experiences
What happened in John Watson’s experiment “Little Albert”?
Watson used classical conditioning to argue that behaviour can be analyzed without any reference to the mind /Studied behaviour directly by paring one stimulus (rat) with another (loud noise) affected behaviour (Albert).
subjected a 9-month-old boy named Albert to a loud noise every time a rat came close to the child (the child originally liked the rat) but after being exposed to loud noise several times the child reacted by crawling away as fast as possible when the rat came close
Following the initial popularity of the work of Wundt, Ebbinghaus, & James, Watson argued for
the importance of ___
a) analytic introspection
b) behaviourism
c) structuralism
d) functionalism
B, behaviourism
