chapter 7 Flashcards
1
Q
How is mental imagery different from perception?
A
imagery is entirely top down (no sensory input)
- sensory receptors do not receive any input when you create a mental image
- perception combines info thats bottom up and top down
2
Q
what is perception?
A
uses previous knowledge to gather and interpret the stimuli registered by the senses
- registers info through receptors in sensory organs (ex: eyes, ears)
(top down/bottom up)
3
Q
what is mental imagery?
A
mental representations of stimuli that are not physically present
(can have mental imagery for sensory experience)
4
Q
what is visual imagery
A
mental representation of visual stimuli
5
Q
what is auditory imagery
A
mental representation of auditory stimuli
6
Q
when is spatial ability important
A
in STEM disciplines
science
technology
engineering
mathematics
7
Q
2 parts of Paivio’s dual coding theory
A
Propositional and analog
8
Q
what are propositions?
- example
A
statements of fact
ex: duck, (explain it) quack, webbed feet
9
Q
what is a propositional code?
A
abstract, language-like representation
- storage is neither visual or spatial
- does not physically resemble the original stimulus
(store images in terms of propositional code)
(ex: duck)
10
Q
analog code
example
A
representation that closely resembles the physical object
ex: visualize picture of duck
11
Q
what is the dual coding theory?
A
systems can communicate, have option of dual coding and can encode things propositionally and analogous to real images
12
Q
what is the concreteness effect (part of dual coding theory)
A
2 codes better than 1
- some words are more concrete than others
- you translate the verbal representation into mental image, when you do that you have 2 codes representing the concrete words
- some words cannot form good image (trust, freedom– abstract words), hard to remember with only one propositional code
13
Q
do concreteness effects require 2 codes?
A
maybe we just form better verbal descriptions of concrete objects
14
Q
hypothesis of dual coding theory
A
if mental images are represented as analog codes, imagery should resemble perception
(if mental images are like pictures in our heads, mental imagery should share characteristics with perception)
- people often fail to notice precise visual details when they look at an object, these details also missing form their mental image of this object
15
Q
4 examples of dual coding theory
A
1) behavioural effects
2) shared neutral activity
3) neural specialization
4) inference (mental images and perception of images interfere with one another)
16
Q
mental rotation during analog coding
(reaction time)
- activity where?
A
- mentally rotate the object to se if they match the other pair
RT increases with angle (linearly)
- parietal activity increases with angle
17
Q
who researched about mental rotation (analog coding)
A
shepard and metzler
18
Q
what did the PET scans show during mental rotation (analog coding)
- rotate with hands
- watched electric motor
- receive instruction
- imagine rotate themselves
A
- rotated image with hands= primary motor cortex
- watched electric motor rotate= no activity in primary motor cortex
- receive instructions= right frontal and parietal activated
- imagining rotating themselves to “see” the figure from different perspective = temporal lobe, part of motor cortex
19
Q
size (analog coding)
A
quicker to make decision with the bigger picture (answer specific questions)
- rabbit next to elephant then fly (asked specific questions)
20
Q
distance (analog coding)
A
- takes more time to traverse longer distances in real world and mental images
21
Q
what are experimenter- expectancy effects?
A
researches biases and expectations influence the outcomes of the experiment
- cannot account for obtained results
22
Q
what is a cognitive map?
A
mental representation of geographic information, including the environment that surrounds us
- represents areas that are too large to be seen in a single glance
- high ecological validity
- create map by integrating the info that we have acquired from many successive views
23
Q
who is good at using cognitive maps
A
- people tend to be accurate in judging ability to find their way to unfamiliar locations, metacognition about spatial ability is reasonably correct
- people good at mental rotation more skilled at using maps
24
Q
how to improve performance using cognitive maps?
A
people with poor spatial skills can improve their performance by noticing landmarks on route, look back to see return route
- judgements are easier when mental map and physical map have matching orientations
25
what is a heuristic
- used when?
general problem solving strategy that usually produces a correct solution (not always)
- often used when making judgements of cognitive map, tend to show systematic distortions in distance, shape and relative position
26
how are people distance estimates often distorted?
- number of intervening cities, category membership, whether destination is landmark etc.
- 2 cities perceived closer if no intervening cities between them
- tend to shift each location closer to sites in same category (courthouse close to police station, not gold course)
- distortions when estimate large-scale distances (greater when separated by border)
27
what is the border bias?
people estimate that the distance between 2 specific locations is larger if they are on different sides of a geographic border
28
what is the landmark effect?
general tendency to provide shorter estimates when traveling to a landmark (important geographical location) than non-landmark
29
what is the 90-degree-angle heuristic?
represent angles in mental map closer to 90 degrees that they really are
- easier to store schematic version of event, rather than a precise version of that event that includes trivial details
30
symmetry heuristic
remember figures as being more symmetrical and regular than they really are
31
rotation heuristic
we remember slightly tilted geographic structure as being either more vertical/horizontal than it really is
ex: rotating single coastline, country, building clockwise/counter clockwise
32
alignment heuristic
remember series of geographic structures as being arranged in straighter liner than they are
- ex: line up buildings in row, or countries
33
what is the spatial framework model?
above-below framework dimension important in our thinink
front- back framework moderately important
right-left framework least important
34
why is above-below framework important (spatial framework model)
- vertical dimension is correlated with gravity, which has asymmetric effect on world we perceive (objects fall downward)
35
Why is front-back framework moderately important
| spatial framework model
- usually interact with objects in front of us more easily than with objects in back
36
what is the right left dimension? (spatial framework model)
usually perceive objects equally well on left or right
- need additional processing time to ensure not to confuse right with left
37
situated cognition approach
helps understand many cognitive tasks, important when creating mental maps, forming concepts and solving problems
- make use of helpful info in immediate environment
- knowledge depends on context that surrounds us
38
Magnitude (analog coding)
closer angles are the longer it takes to make decision
| - shown clocks
39
masking effect
- see visual target more accurately if they create mental images of vertical lines on each side of the target
40
what are demand characteristics?
cues that might convey the experimenters hypothesis to the participant
(one type= experimental expectancy)
41
what is the imagery debate?
| 2 perspectives
1) analog perspective- create mental image of an object that closely resembles the actual perceptual image on your retina
2) propositional perspective- mental images are stores in an abstract, language- like form that does not physically resemble original stimulus
42
what are topographical representations
| analog coding
- retinotopy in V1
- look at pattern of radioactive tracer in neurons
- if could maintain relationships in V1 to retintopy, then could form mental image
43
fMRI (analog coding)
neural activity in visual cortex
- see changing in V1 activity, when see stimulus come on and when you imagined it came on
44
brain lesions (analog coding)
effect of brain lesion on imagery is mimicked in subjective report of imagery
45
patient with brain lesion (analog coding)
patient MGS- tested before and after surgical excision of right occipital cortex
- person has epilepsy, removed right occipital lobe (vision and perception)
- perception reduced FoV (field of view)
- Overflow test- imagining walking towards horse until fills visual field, how far from it are you?
46
brain damage in basic region of visual cortex
have parallel problems in visual perception and visual imagery
- some cannot distinguish between the colours registered during visual perception and the visual imagery created in a mental image
47
what is prosopagnosia?
cannot visually recognize faces
- able to perceive other objects relatively normally
- cannot use mental imagery to distinguish between faces
48
visuo-spatial neglect (analog coding)
- perception and imagery
- damage to right parietal lobes causes perceptual problems in left space, and also when people reported imaged scenes/objects
49
analog coding: specialization
| fMRI
perception and imagination
perception
- fusiform face area/ visual expertise- gets excited when shown faces
- parahippocampal place area gets excited about places (ex; eiffel tower)
imagination
- when imagined face: see high activity in fusiform face area relative to place area
- when imagining place: see high activity in parahippocampal place area (not fusiform face area)
- specialization in perception holds true when imagining stimuli
50
inferences (analog coding)
| modality specific, design
modality specific
- visual perception and visual imagery interfere with one another, same with auditory perception and imagery
- factorial design
(imagery modality X detection modality)
-- have interaction because it DEPENDS
-- inference when imagine and detection modality is the same, evidence for analog code
51
3 challenges to analog view
1) double dissociation
2) embedded images
3) imagery illusions
52
what is double dissociation (analog challenge)
- imagery and perception are not identical
| - can damage them different (may share some same pathways)
53
what are embedded images (analog challenge)
example
- cant consult imagined image the same as you consult perceived image
- propositional coding?- might have to use words
ex: does star have parallelograms
54
what are imagery illusions? (analog challenges)
- an object has more than one interpretation
| - there is something different about ways we consult image and how we consult real images we are looking at
55
what is spatial ability? (3 components)
- not unitary
1) spatial specialization- ask people to look at sketch of busy street, find hidden drawings of faces
2) spatial perception- dark room adjusting illuminated rod so that it is exactly vertical
3) mental rotation- look at 2 figures, decide whether identical if rotated one (males faster)
56
2 components of auditory imagery
1) pitch
| 2) timbre
57
what is pitch (auditory imagery)
- characteristic of sound that can be arranged on scale of low to high
- need longer to "travel" longer auditory distances (from cat purr to siren (longer) VS cat purr to slamming door- shorter)
58
what is timbre (auditory imagery)
describes the quality of a tone
- cognitive representation for timbre of actual instrument is similar to representation of the timbre of imagined instrument
59
majority of mental imagery used by college students was
visual
60
the imager debate concerns the major, unresolved theoretical controversy in the field of imagery research-- that is, whether people store images...
in terms of an analog code or in terms of a propositional code
61
in early study on mental rotation (shepard and metzler) people judged whether pairs of figures in different orientations were the same or different. What did this study demonstrate?
reaction time is related to the amount of mental rotation necessary to make same-different judgements
62
which variable greatly influences reaction times in experiments on mental rotation
the greater the degrees of physical rotation, the more time is required for mental rotation
63
research on mental rotation found that time to rotate mental image..
was the same as that required to rotate equivalent physical objects
64
some researchers recently conducted PET scans while people manually rotates some geometrical line drawings. Then the same people mentally rotated the drawings. Researchers found that/..
during both manual and mental rotation, neural activity increased in the primary motor cortex
65
judgement of similarity of imagery and shapes (ex; with colorado and Oregon)
judgements of similarity of shape of states comparable when people are presented the actual shape of the states or simply the names of the states
66
various experiments on visual imager, such as one in which participants compared shapes of states of USA, led one researcher (Paivio) to conclude that imagery coding is..
analog
67
what can an imagery task interfere?
visual imagery task can interfere with perception
68
research on mental imagery and ambiguous figures has found that people use..
either analog or propositional code
69
mental imagery uses ... (processing)
top down
70
some cognitive psychologists think imagery representations are stored in analog code, others think that they are based on...
propositional code
71
recent article that summarized previous meta-analysis focusing on gender differences concluded that (3)
- men outperform women on imagery task that require mental rotation
- men and women little/no difference in verbal ability
- men and women little/no difference in mathematics ability
72
recent evidence concerning brain areas involved in imagery suggests that..
visual imagery may activate some of the same pathways that are involved in visual perception
73
when person is engaged in visual-imagery task, one part of the brain that has been recently discovered to be activated is the ...
primary visual cortex
74
cognitive map is..
mental representation of how you remember information
| - fairly accurate, and errors that they contain tend to be rational
75
a systematic distortion seen in cognitive maps is that people tend to construct maps in which...
distances seem longer if the intervening spaces is empty than if it is filed (ex: with many cities)
76
when people receive verbal description of a particular environment, such as directions to someones house, they create representations to represent relevant features of a scene. Representations are called
- cognitive maps
77
according to the spatial framework model
the vertical (above-below) dimension is especially prominent in thinking and reacting
78
according to research on mental imagery, people take longer to make a judgement when 2 mental images have similar shapes than when they have different shapes, this finding tends to support (which approach)
analog-code approach
79
one of the most difficult problems in conducting research on imagery is that
it is difficult to examine such an inaccessible mental process
80
Paivio conducted a study on mental imagery for the faces of clocks. His study demonstrated that
high-imagery people have faster RT than low-imagery people
81
research on visual imagery and interference shows that (and example)
people have trouble seeing blue arrow when they are imagining a tree
82
people saw ambiguous figure (ex: sketch of rabbit/duck). when figure was removed, the people were asked to create mental image of figure, results show that..
people created the mental image
but could not interpret the mental image
83
suppose participate in study in which the experimenter has strong beliefs about how the study should turn out, and these biases influence how you perform. Example of
experimenter expectancy
84
textbook discusses research showing that people have better acuity for mental images that are visualized in the center of the retina (rather than periphery) reason that this research is significant..
research is similar to the results obtained when people perceive actual visual stimuli
85
reed conducted research demonstrating people had difficulty locating a parallelogram in mental image of a star, research supports that
the idea that we use verbal descriptions to store mental images
86
research on cognitive maps suggests that
people create cognitive maps from several successive views, if the area is very large
87
textbook re-examines the analog viewpoint of imagery, according to this discussion ..
mental imagery is somewhat similar to perception, and these 2 processes activate similar structures in the cortex
