Cognitive Psychology

Question 1

What are perceptions?

Answer 1

The way we interpret our surroundings with the stimuli that we receive through our sensory organs

Question 2

What are the two phases of visual perception?

Answer 2

Early (extraction of shapes and objects) and later (recognition)

Question 3

What are the steps of the early phase of visual perception?

Answer 3

Retina -> Photoreceptor cells (cones and rodes) -> Bipolar cells -> Ganglion cells (axons from the optic nerve) -> Optic chiasm (crossing over of axons from inside) -> Primary Visual Cortex

Question 4

Apperceptive visual agnosia

Answer 4

Inability to recognize simple shapes (early processing)

Question 5

Associative visual agnosia

Answer 5

Inability to recognize complex objects (pattern recognition)

Question 6

What are on-off and off-on cells?

Answer 6

Ganglion cells and cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus which increase/decrease their firing rate in response to light falling on center or the surrounding receptive field.

Question 7

Edge and bars detectors are located in V1. True or false?

Answer 7

True

Question 8

What are the 3D representation cues?

Answer 8

Texture gradient, stereopsis, motion parallax

Question 9

What are the 5 Gestalt principles?

Answer 9

Proximity, Similarity, Good Continuation, Good Form, Closure

Question 10

What are the 3 types of perception theories?

Answer 10

Template, Prototype, and Feature

Question 11

Describe Marr’s computational theory of perception

Answer 11

Transduction-> (feature extraction) -> Primary Sketch-> (depth info) -> 2 1/2D sketch-> (Gestalt principles)-> 3D model

Question 12

What is attention?

Answer 12

Ability to focus on specific stimuli which has different aspects such as selective attention, divided attention, distraction

Question 13

What are the 2 types of attention?

Answer 13

Stimulus-directed/exogenous (more left lateralized) and goal-directed/endogenous (more right lateralized)

Question 14

Attentional networks

Answer 14

-ventral-salience based (TPJ and parietal lobe, VFC)
-dorsal-top-down processes (parietal cortex, DFC)
-executive-central cognition, intentions, inhibition

Question 15

Describe early selection models

Answer 15

1. Broadbent’s filter (Cherry’s dichotic listening experiment-shadowing procedure): filter based on physical characteristics just as in cocktail effect
2. Treisman’s attenuation (attenuator for messages- dictionary unit for salient words in memory): attenuated messages get through in a weaker form

Question 16

Lavie’s Load Theory of Attention is related to?

Answer 16

Processing capacity and perceptual load (difficult of task: low- vs high-load tasks)

Question 17

What is the difference between overt and covert attention?

Answer 17

Overt is bottom-up or top-down, and covert is top-down (Posner’s precueing tasks)

Question 18

Treisman’s feature integration theory states that:

Answer 18

There is a preattentive processing of focused attention and binding.

Question 19

Memory is involved in retaining, retrieving and using information. True or false?

Answer 19

True

Question 20

Modal Model of Memory (Atkinson & Shifrrin) is made up of:

Answer 20

structural features (sensory memory, STM, LTM) and control processes (rehearsal)

Question 21

What are two types of sensory memory and how long is information stored in them?

Answer 21

Iconic memory (<1s) -Sperling’s experiment
Auditory/echoic memory (2-4s)

Question 22

What does the short-term memory do?

Answer 22

Stores small amounts of information (5-9) for a brief period of time (this is why we can say it is a window to the present)

Question 23

WM consists of:

Answer 23

-Phonological Loop (Phonological Store+ Articulatory/Rehearsal Processes)
-Visuospatial Sketchpad (Coordination and Visual Imagery)
-Central Executive (pulls info from LTM, decides how to divide attention between PL and VSP, inhibits information)
-Episodic Buffer (stores informations, connected to LTM)

Question 24

Evidence for PL

Answer 24

Phonological similarity effect, word-length effect, articulatory supression

Question 25

Evidence for VSP

Answer 25

Mental Rotation Experiment (Shepard and Metzler)

Question 26

LTM is made up of:

Answer 26

Explicit (epsiod+semantic) and Implicit memory (procedural+conditioning+priming)

Question 27

Serial position curve of primacy and recency effects do not provide evidence for the distinction between LTM and STM. True or false?

Answer 27

False

Question 28

What did patient H.M. suffer from?

Answer 28

He was not able to form new long-term memories because of the removal of hippocampus. STM remained intact, but transfer to LTM was not possible anymore

Question 29

What did patient KF suffer from?

Answer 29

Damage to parietal love (effect on STM: reduced digit span, reduced recency effects, LTM functioning good)

Question 30

What did patient KC suffer from?

Answer 30

Damage to hippocampus and surrounding structures (loss of episodic memory, but not of semantic memory)

Question 31

What does the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis states?

Answer 31

That episodic memory is involved in mental time travel and anticipation.

Question 32

What did patient LP suffere from?

Answer 32

Encephalitis at age 44 (severe impariment of memory for semantic information, episodic memory intact)

Question 33

EM and SM interact. True or false?

Answer 33

True (knowledge affects memory, autobiographical memory contains both types)

Question 34

LTM and STM are not so straightforwardly separated. True or false?

Answer 34

True (hippocampus is involved in STM for instance)

Question 35

Recollection corresponds to _______, and familiarity corresponds to ________.

Answer 35

recollection; familiarity (rember vs know procedure)

Question 36

The semanticization of remote memories. Do you remember?

Answer 36

Yes.

Question 37

What are the 2 types of consolidation?

Answer 37

Synaptic (minute to hours; Hebb's law) and systems (months to years; stronger cortical connections replace hippocampus and cortex connections according to classical/standard model)

Question 38

Multiple Trace Model of Consolidation states that:

Answer 38

Hippocampus remains in active communication with the cortical areas, even for remote memories

Question 39

Inductive reasoning is _____, while deductive reasoning is _____.

Answer 39

probabilistic; certain, logical

Question 40

Availability heuristic (Tversky & Kahneman) states:

Answer 40

Info that comes easier to the mind is considered to be more probable (e.g. illusory correlations stereotypes)

Question 41

Representativeness heuristic (Tversky & Kahneman) states:

Answer 41

Different events that seem similar have a similar likelihood of occurance (e.g. ignoring base rate, conjucation rules, large numbers rule)

Question 42

Belief bias states:

Answer 42

A syllogism is valid if the conclusion is beliavable

Question 43

Modus ponens affirms the antecendent, while modus tollens denies the consequent. True or false?

Answer 43

True

Question 44

Dual-Process Theories claim there exists two processes that have the following characteristic:

Answer 44

Type 1 (rapid, automatic) Type 2 (slow, deliberative)

Question 45

According to the rational-utilitarian approach what can we say about emotions?

Answer 45

They affect decisions (e.g. expected emotions=> risk aversion, incidental emotions)