Chapter 4, 5, 7, 8 Flashcards
1. Sensation and perception, C5 2. Attention and awareness, C4 3. Sleep, C4 4. Altered states of consciousness, C4 5. Thinking and intelligence, C8 6. Short-term memory, C7 7. Longterm memory, C7 8. Decision-making, C8 (152 cards)
1
Q
What are the two types of receptor cells in the eye
A
photoreceptors; rods and cones
2
Q
characteristics and roles of the Rod
A
Sensitivity; respond to extremely low levels of light and are responsible primarily for night vision.
Do not support color vision and are poor at fine detail
Objects appear in shades of grey
3
Q
characteristics and roles of cones
A
Acuity; responsible primarily for vision under brighter conditions and for seeing both color and detail
4
Q
Cones are densely packed in a small region called the … Conversely, rods are concentrated at the …
A
fovea; retina’s edges
5
Q
Trichromatic theory
A
color vision results from activity in three types of cones that are sensitive to different wavelengths.
6
Q
Describe how the brain makes assumptions about the world
based on experience
A
The brain makes four main assumptions
*Light and shadows;
*cues to size and depth
* Object structure
*certainty over ambiguity– faces
7
Q
Scenario of Gestalt Principle: 16 squares “appear” to be grouped as three objects
A
Proximity: The closer two figures are to each other, the more likely we are to
group them and see them as part of the same object
8
Q
Scenario of Gestalt Principle:: rectangle appears to consist of two locked pieces
A
similarity
9
Q
A
10
Q
Illusions prove that…
A
the brain makes assumptions about the world without conscious input; the brain has built-in assumptions that influence perceptions; sensory input differs from experience.
11
Q
How do the Gestalt principles of proximity and similarity help explain our visual perceptions of crowds
A
When we see people (similar objects) gathered closely together (organized proximally) we perceive them as a “crowd” rather than individuals
12
Q
Describe the impact of ames boxes and ponzo illusion
A
powerful depth illusions that played with depth cues to create size illusions
13
Q
Describe change blindness
A
When we often miss things because we are often focusing on something else; beacause we cannot attend to everything in the vast array of visual information available, we become blind to large changes in our environments
14
Q
conciousness
A
a person’s moment-to-moment subjective experience of the world
15
Q
A
16
Q
Inattentional blindness
A
is the failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task, event, or object.
17
Q
Divided attention
A
whether observers notice a fully-visible object now that it is expected (they know it can appear); because they were primed
18
Q
What is the role of attention in awareness?
A
Attention involves being able to focus selectively on some things and not others. Attention and consciousness go hand and hand because since conscious is limited, attention chooses what goes in and what does not.
19
Q
change blindness vs inattentional blindness
A
Change blindness refers to the failure to notice something different about a display whereas inattentional blindness refers to a failure to see something present in a display.
20
Q
People tend to sleep …. as they age
A
less
21
Q
According to our circadian rhythm, bright light …. the production of… whereas … triggers its …
A
suppresses; melatonin; darkness; release
22
Q
How does conscious experience change when you are asleep?
A
One’s conscious experience of the outside world is largely turned off, however, to an extent you remain aware of surroundings such as potential dangers, shifting body to be comfortable, and the edges of the bed.
23
Q
beta waves
A
short, frequent, irregular brain signals that happen in alert wakefulness
24
Q
alpha waves
A
brain signals that are regular which happens when people are relaxed and focused on something/ meditation– just before sleep
25
Describe REM sleep
Rapid eye movement, stage of sleep when eyes dart back and forth. Has a strong relation to dreaming; when people are awakened during REM sleep they are more likely to report dreaming than when awakened during non-rem sleep
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Circadian rhythms
biological sleep patterns that occur at regular intervals as a function of time of day
27
activation-synthesis hypothesis
A hypothesis of dreaming proposing that the brain tries to make sense of random
brain activity that occurs during sleep by synthesizing the activity with stored
memories
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Non-rem dream characteristics
dreams are dull
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rem sleep dream qualities
dreams are bizarre
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Why do we need sleep?
research suggests that sleep is adaptive for three functions: restoration, avoiding danger at certain times of the day (circadian rhythm), facilitation of learning
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restorative theory of sleep
sleep allows the body, including the brain, to rest and repair itself; sleep replenishes energy, strengthens immune system, and
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Effects of sleep deprivation
- difficult to perform quiet, mundane tasks
- attention lapses
-reduced short term memory
-depressed people are alleviated from their depression, because deprivation increases activation of seretonin receptors
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how does circadian rhythm explain how we use sleep to avoid danger
We are adapted to sleeping at night because our early ancestors were
more at risk in the dark. That is, early were the ones who survived long enough to reproduce and thus
became our ancestors.
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Obstructive sleep apnea
a disorder where people stop breathing for short periods of times because their throat closes
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narcolepsy
excessive sleepiness that lasts from several seconds to minutes and occurs during normal waking hours
34
the difference between insomnia and a common inability to go to sleep
Insomnia affects mental health and causes functional impairments in a person’s daily life.
35
Beta waves are associated with REM-Sleep or Non-Rem Sleep?
Rem Sleep
35
What are the two types of mental representation's theorized in cognitive psychology
Analogical: mental representations that have some of the physical characteristics of waht they represent
Symbolic: abstract representations that are usually words, numbers, or ideas. No relationships to physical objects in the world
36
When an architect produces a blueprint for a new house, is this
representation analogical or symbolic?
symboli; abstract representation: 2D image physically and spatially corresponding to a 3D house
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Your brain forms a mental image
(...representation) of a lemon and provides you with the word lemon
(....representation). So far, so good.
analogical; symbolic
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Gropung something based on shared properties is called...
categorization
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What is a concept
category or class of related items consisting of mental representations of those items
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What are the two leading models explaining the ways that people form concepts?
1. Prototype model: when we think of a category, we look for abest exemplar of that category, and then assign similar objecting to that model depending on how much it resonates with the best exemplar.
2. Exemplar model: through experience, people form a fuzzy representation of a concept using various exemplars because there is no single representation of any concept.
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Heuristics
quick, dirty, often unconscious shortcuts in thinking
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consequences of heuristics
biases that lead to errors, faulty decisions, false predictions, and erroneous beliefs
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anchoring
when people rely on the first pieces of evidence they encounter to make a judgement
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Framing
emphasis on the potential losses or potential gains from at least one alternative to influence decision making
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availability heuristic
to make a decision based on the answer that readily comes to mind
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representativeness heuristic
Placing a person or an object in a category if that person or object is similar to one's prototype for that category
47
Why might someone be more inclined to buy an item with an expensive
regular price that is on sale than a similar item at a reasonable and
equivalent regular price?
expensive price serves as an anchor for what a price should be for an item, so the sale price seems more attractive.
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subgoals
steps towards solving particular problems and acheiving a larger goal
- example: The tower of Hanoi: moving one disk at a time...
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mental sets
solving problems persistently using past strategies of how we solved similar problems
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Functional fixedness
fixed ideas about the functions of objects
Example: Duncker’s Candle Problem in which participants had to overcome their fixed ideas of objects provided to them in order to attach a candle to a buletin board.
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insight
the metaphorical mental lightbulb that goes off when you suddenly realize the solution to a problem
53
Your aunt is outside in the wind and wants to fix her hair, but she does not have a
mirror to help her see what she is doing. You suggest using her phone’s camera.
Why did she fail to think of this?
because of functional fixedness, she only thinks of using her phone for texts, calls, and taking pictures
54
two approaches to decision making
maximizing: identify the perfect choice among a set of options.
satisficing: find a choice that is "good enough" and meets minimum personal requirements (satisfactory).
55
When chef Gordon Ramsay tries to save a failing restaurant, he often reduces the
number of items on the menu. Why might fewer options be better for maximizing
customers?
With too many options, maximizers find it difficult to choose, causing stress
and dissatisfaction. Limiting the menu can reduce negative feelings and thoughts
during and after the decision-making process.
56
Identify common measures of intelligence and discuss their validity
Intelligence Quotient (IQ): while a way to quantify intelligence, providing a
single IQ score reflects the idea that one general factor underlies intelligence.
General Intelligence: is the underlying factor of IQ that identifies clusters of related items on a test (factors) [a person good at writing might be good at something else]
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Describe general intelligence
single general factor proposed to underlie IQ
58
Discuss the relationship between intelligence and cognitive performance.
When people are good at using knowledge say for a standardized test, they are intelligent.
59
Summarize research examining genetic and environmental influences on
intelligence.
Based on studies of identical, fraternal twins and adopted siblings;; there is a correlation between genetic influence on intelligent but environment matters too!
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intelligence
he ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, problem slove, and adapt to environmental challenges
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intelligence quotient
AKA IQ, computed by dividing a child's estimated mental age by the chronological age and multiplyign the result by 100; How we quantify intelligence
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importance of general knowledge (g)
studies show that g is related to predicting important life outcomes such as school and work performance
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emotional intelligence
form of intelligence that emphaiszes managing, recognizing, and understanding emotions and using them to guide thought and action
64
How do working memory and speed of mental processing relate to
intelligence?
Quicker reaction times and working memory capacity, especially for
more complex tasks that require secondary processing, suchas problem solving and criitical thinking, correlate to general
intelligence
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What is working memory
working memory is an active processing system that actively retains and manipulates multiple pieces of temporary information from different
sources, through constant repitition and represents what we are consciously focusing on at any point in time. Duration 20-30 seconds
66
What tests best/ negatively show the relationship between working memory and intelligence
Neg: simple tests of memory such as listening to a list of words and repeating the list in the same order.
Best: remembering a target item and updating the target items on every trial
67
What is the evidence that environment influences how genes involved in
cognitive development and IQ are expressed?
An enriched environment will enhance cognitive performance. Since
genes cannot have changed much in modern humans, the increase in cognitive
performance and IQ during this period must be due to environmental factors.
68
which theory of intelligence has the least evidential support
multiple intelligences: different abilities in different domains (bodily, linguistic)
emotional intelligence; some think that EI stretches the concept of intelligence too far
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Savant syndrome
individuals who have amazing abilities in a specific skill but who cannot perform mundane tasks such as morning routines; have some exceptional intelligent processes but not intelligent in others.
-ex: steven wilshire
71
Describe Amnesia
an inability to retrieve vast quantities of information from memory as a result of brain injury or psychological trauma. There are two types, retrograde and anterograde.
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Describe Retrograde Amnesia
When people lose past memories for events, facts, people, or even personal information. Most movie portrayals of amnesia mimics retrograde amnesia, when characters wake up from a coma and don't know who they are.
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Describe Anterograde amnesia
When people lose the ability to form new memories.
- H.M., a man who underwent surgical removal of is medial temporal lobes because he had continuous seizures in that area, suffered from anterograde amnesia. He could not remember details of his life past a specific point of being 27.
74
What is particularly interesting about H.M's amnesia? What does it reveal about the way memory is organized?
1. He knew that he remembered nothing
2. Over time, he could learn some new things although he did not seem to know he had learned them-- such as motor skills.
- The temporal loves are important for being able to say you remember what happened but are less important for memories expressed by motor skills.
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Each memory system is ... for specific types of information
and/or memory expression.
specialized
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Describe Chunking
process of breaking down information into meaningful units. The greater your expertise with the material, the more efficiently you can chunk information during encoding, making it easier to remember.
77
Define Mnemonics
learning aids or strategies to improve memory through use of retrieval cues. Organiz new information by creating cohesion between the items, deepening their meaning, or linking them with existing knowledge.
78
Describe sensory memory
temporary, brief memory system tied with sensory systems. Lasts for a millisecond. Two types of memory within it: the ability to briefly picture an image quickly shown to and hidden from you is iconic memory. Being able to repeat the last few words a person spoke even if you were thinking of something else is called echoic memory.
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Misconceptions about amnesia
1. not a general loss of identity, personality
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3 stage model of mental processes
AKA Atkinson-Shiffrin model that describes three process of how sensory inputs becomes memory: Attention, rehearsal, and encoding and retrieval/
81
Describe the processes of the 3 stage model of mental processes, and the component that can happen at any stage
Attention: encodes sensory input into STM
Rehearsal: keeps information in STM
Encoding and retrieval: between STM and LTM
forgetting: can occur at any stage
82
What did the George Sperling experiment teach us about the duration of sensory memory?
The experiment involved flashing an image of a row of letters and tested the probability of reporting the whole image or parts of it (partial report). The study showed that although our sensory memory can represent the rows, we are unlikely to report the whole thing than partially. Thus, sensory memory has a limited duration.
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Sensory memory is ... specific and each ... has varying ...
sense; sense; durations
84
Limits of sensory memory
- change blindness
- needs attention to reach short term memory
85
Name a prominent STM attention processand why it is prominent
chunking; expands the capacity of working memory
86
Chunking limits
Chunking depends on experience; a presentation of random configurations lessens the correlation between experience and memorization (i.e: an expert in chess can glance at a scenario on a chess board and chunk the board into a number of meaningful subunits based on their past experiences with the game, however, If the pieces are arranged on the board in ways that make no sense in terms of
chess, however, experts are no better than novices at reproducing the board.)
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Can classical condiitoning influence memories?
Yes, learned associations can influence your reactions. For example, hearing holiday music produced joy because you have past associations between the holidays and having fun
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90
Describe procedural memory
Procedural memories are memories that include skilled and goal-oriented behaviors that become automatic. These include motor skills, cognitive skills and habitual behaviors that reflect in knowing HOW to do something. For example, if you are an experienced driver, you might drive home without thinking about it becasue it is a motor skill. At times, consciously being aware of automatic behaviors can interfere with the smooth production of those behaviors.
91
Your ability to understand the words on textbooks and books is involved with what kind of memory and grouping
"symbolic" and cognitive skills of procedural memory
92
Practicing a dance routine requires what type of implicit memory?
procedural memory
93
Describe Episodic memory
Memory of a person's past experiences that can be identified as occurring at a time and place, or an episode when the event occurred. For example When one remembers aspects from their 16th birthday, such as where you were and what you did
94
Describe semantic memory
knowledge of concepts categories, and facts independent of personal experience. This is a vast store of knowledge about the world acquired throughout your life without remembering where or when you learned the information.
95
When someone knows the capitals of countries they have never visited, and even have never played baseball but know that three strikes mean the batter is out, what type of memory is this
semantic memory
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What are traits that make for better encoding of memories
1. The more attention paid to an event, the more you will remember it
2. Levels of processing model of encoding: Larger extent to which the to-be-remembered information taps into existing knowledge structures in the brain
3. Dual Coding Hypothesis: Information coded verbally and visually will be easily remembered more than info coded only verbally.
99
According to the dual-coding hypothesis, would a presentation of the word
car or the word ride be more likely to encode into memory, and why?
Car, because it includes an easily visualized concept, which allows for
both visual and verbal encoding
100
Different types of rehersal methods to lead to different levels of encoding
Maintenance rehearsal: simply repeating the item over and over
Elaborative rehearsal: encoding the information in more meaningful ways by thinking about the item conceptually or deciding whether it refers to oneself (visual processing, acoustc processing, semantic processic (what the word means))
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102
According to the levels of processing model of encoding, does maintenance
rehearsal or elaborative rehearsal of information encode more deeply, and
why?
elaborative rehearsal, because it makes the information more meaningful
by attaching it to existing knowledge and beliefs
103
Distinguish long term memory from working memory
It has a longer duration, and it has far greater capacity.
Controversy exists, however, as to whether long-term memory represents a truly different type of memory storage from working memory.
104
What phenomenon supports the idea the long term memory and working memory are seperate storage systems, Describe it
Serial position effect. This effect consists of the primacy effect (better memory for earlier items) and the recency effect (better memory of items presented at the later items). The serial position effect is seen in research studies in which when participants are presented a list of words and ask to repeat the words-- they are likely to rehearse the earliest items (primacy) the most because that information is more likely tobe stored in long term memory
105
Define long term memory.
the storage of information that lasts from minutes to forever
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define retrieval cues
encountering stimuli that helps a person recall a memory
110
Describe the encoding specificity principle
Any stimulus encoded along with an experience can later trigger a memory of the experience; When the retrieval context is similar in some way to the encoding context by experience. This kind of memory enhancement is called context-dependent memory.
111
When people are likely to recal something when tested in the encironment where they learned the event, it is called
Context dependent memory explained by the encoding specificity principle
112
Why might a student remember the information on a test more accurately
after taking the test?
Taking the test served as practiced recall, an effective process for
strengthening memory.
113
Why do people often forget where they left their keys?
Absentmindedness: They are not paying attention when they put their
keys down.
114
Describe memory bias
MB is the changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with current beliefs, knowledge, or attitudes
115
Someone who acted as a bully in middle school now has an antibullying attitude in college. How might this attitude change affect their
memory?
According to memory bias, they might remember their bullying behaviors in a way that justifies the behaviors or minimizes their negative impact.
116
Sensory memory is only available for ... of a second
1/3
117
Working memory can hold and manipulate information from .... ...., such as ideas from visual and audio info
several sources
118
Heuristics
unconscious shortcuts in thinking that are fast and efficient ways that people typically make decisions. Proving that people sometimes make irrational decisions that are unfocused on what they should do
119
Describe loss aversion and how it is intertwined with integral emotions.
Loss aversion is the tendency to weigh potential losses more than gains when making decisions. One hypothesis is that emotional value is considered more with loss aversion because losses hurt more than gains that feel good
120
affective forecasting
The tendency for people to overestimate how events will make them feel in
the future. For example, we overemphasize how happy we might feel in certain events such as having children, or how sad we will feel when we experience things such as breakups.
121
Sensation
sensory info from our environemnt
122
What is the type of photoreceptor that processes black, white, and gray light; clustered in the retina’s periphery.
rod
123
What is the type of photoreceptor that distinguishes colors and detects fine details in well-lit conditions
cone
124
Name three ways that attention is limited
1. Spatial limits (Visual crowding: difficulty recognizing objects in a clutter)
2. Objects: Multiple object tracking
3. Time: attentional blink-- difficulty selecting 2nd target after 1st target
125
What is sleep stage 1 and define the waves within it
Light Sleep; Theta waves: happen as you drift off. Short and irregular
126
What is sleep stage 2 and define the waves within it
Sleep maintenance; Sleep spindles and K Complexes
127
What is sleep stage 3 and define the waves within it
Slow Wave Sleep; delta waves-- deep sleep, hard to wake up, very disoriented if you are woken up
128
What is the final sleep stage, what kind of sleep do you get?
REM Sleep; paradoxial sleep-- active brain, sleeping body
129
What is the time sequence of sleep stages
90 min cycles throughout night
130
most deep no-Rem Sleep occurs late or early?
early
131
Rem behavior disorder
lack of muscle paralysis despite REM state
132
insomnia
inability to initiate or maintain sleep
133
How does sleep facilitate learning?
sleep strengthens neural connections made during waking period, consolidates memories
134
What is hypnotism? What defines it?
is a social interaction during which a person, responding to suggestions,
experiences changes in memory, perception, and/or voluntary action; a willingness to participate, relinquish control of your behavior, and show overly focused attention
135
hypnotic analgesia
can inhibit pain
136
Hypnosis cannot
- compel you against your wishes
- recall past lives or childhood self
- produce more accurate memories
137
Two factors of hypnotizability
suggestibility: relinquishing control of your behavior
absorption: ability to become totally absorbed in some experience, thought, or memory
138
Sociocogntiive theory of hypnosis
people behave how they expect hypnotized people to behave
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disassociation theory of hypnosis
no alteration of conscious state, instead conscious awareness is divided from other aspects of consciousness
140
Describe monocular depth cues
image cues can signal depth, cues of depth perception availble to each eye alone.
141
Describe the monocular depth cue principle occlusion
Occlusion: A near object occludes (blocks) an object that is farther away.
142
Describe the monocular depth cue principle of relative height & size
Size perception depends on distance: Far-off objects project a smaller retinal image than close objects do, if the far-off and close objects are the same physical size.
143
Describe the monocular depth cue principle of linear perspective
Seemingly parallel lines appear to converge in the
distance.
144
Name two size illusions and what they describe
Ponzo illusion and ames room; how we determine size is based on our judgement of distance
145
How can we improve LTM
levels of processing:
1. Elaborative rehearsal-- think conceptually about material by making connections
2. Distributed practice by studying in different places and different times
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status quo bias
People prefer status quo even when it is not better, because change from status quo is percieved as a loss
148
Paradox of choice
We have limited cognitive resources, when presented with a large amount of options, choices become daunting.
149
Describe the power of our peers in decision making
Social norms can nudge our behavior, because we want to keep up with everyone else
