cognitive W1-W6 Flashcards
(97 cards)
1
Q
What is cognitive psychology
A
the scientific investigation of human mental processes or the way that humans interpret their environment, process info, and form responses
2
Q
Major sub areas in cog psyc
A
- perception
- attention
- memory
- language
- reasoning
- problem solving
3
Q
plato
A
nativism; we’re born with it
4
Q
aristotle
A
empiricism; we learn it
5
Q
empiricism
A
knowledge stems from experience
can be studied with experimentation and observation
6
Q
first cog experiment
A
Donders and reaction time
first to demonstrate that mental processes are not instantaneous
7
Q
William Wundt (introspection)
A
structuralist- wanted to explain conscious processes and experience
- periodic table of consciousness (organize thoughts/thinking into basic elements; was an organizer)
founded the first lab of scientific psychology
8
Q
William James (introspection)
A
functionalist- wanted to know how the mind functions and adapts to new circumstances (was a thinker)
9
Q
introspection, its significance, and the problem
A
a method that different approaches use
the assumption that psyc was something that could be productively studied
cannot test a theory with subjective observations (some things are not available to consciousness)
10
Q
behaviourism and its significance
A
reaction to introspection
believed that all behaviour could be broken down into simple lawful relationships between stimulus and response
everyone started off with a blank slate (tabula rasa) and could be trained to do anything
unconcerned with thought, mind, consciousness; focused on observable quantifiable behaviour
11
Q
behaviourism famous players
A
Watson- proposed that only behaviour is objectively observable
Skinner- saw it as a philosophy of the science of psyc
12
Q
downfall of behaviourism (3)
A
conditioning doesn’t explain all
language
real-world problems
13
Q
computer metaphor
A
infer mental representations and processes
representations: stored info
process: a “program” that takes info as input and transforms it as output
14
Q
hypothesis
A
testable explanation of a phenomenon
critical that it is specific enough that it can be shown to be wrong
15
Q
*order of frontal lobes from anterior to posterior
A
- frontal
- temporal
- parietal
- occipital
16
Q
neuron intensity by __ not __
A
intensity by rate not size
- low intensities: slow firing
- high intensities: fast firing
17
Q
synapse allows..
A
allows for a more dynamic relationship
allows firing to either amplify stimulus or decrease it depending on neurotransmitters
18
Q
*squeeze train demo showed
A
brain plasticity
processing signal faster -> processing motor faster
- synaptic fluency
19
Q
frontal lobe
A
reasoning, planning, emotion
20
Q
parietal lobe
A
perceptions of touch, pressure, temp, pain
21
Q
temporal
A
hearing and memory
22
Q
occipital
A
vision
23
Q
2 key principles of cortical functioning
A
- contralateral
- hemispheric specialization
- hemispheres structurally but not functionally symmetric
24
Q
methods for localizing brain function
A
- lesions (trauma, stroke)
- electrical recording (ERP)
- imaging (fMRI, PET, TMS)
25
lesion studies and limitations
observe behavioural ability given neurological deficit
- when they die, try to correlate behaviour to brain
limitations
- correlation
- 3rd variable
- pre and post
26
electrical recording: single cell and limitations
animal studies, record activity of a single cell while animal performs task
limitations:
- animals brains aren't human brains
- wont tell you everything; narrow
27
electrical recording: event related potentials (ERP) and limitations
electrical activity recorded with sensors on scalp
limitations:
- good temporal, bad spatial
28
functional imaging: PET
injected with radioactive oxygen that is concerned in areas that consume more blood from activity
limitations:
- good spatial, bad temporal
29
functional imaging: fMRI
indirect measure of neural events
measurement of cerebral blood flow, oxygenated and deoxygenated blood have different magnetic properties
limitations:
- good spatial
- bad temoral (worse than PET)
30
*transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
apply a vert strong and direct magnetic field to a region of the cortex (resolution 1-1.5cm2)
magnetic pulse to scalp so all axons fire at once, the pulse causes a temporary lesion of the brain because all axons are resetting in that section
only affects about an inch
dont know long term effects
31
Ebbinghaus's memory experiment
what is the time course of forgetting
used a measure called savings
savings=original time to learn the list - time to relearn after the delay
smaller savings means more forgetting
32
Tolman
called himself a behaviourist because he was focusing on measuring behaviour but in reality he was one of the early cog psychologists bc he used behaviour to infer mental processes
33
Kuhn defined a scientific revolution as a...
shift from one paradigm to another
34
nerve net
network believed to be continuous but is not (cajel found this)
35
basic parts of a neuron
cell body
dendrites
axons
36
action potential lasts about
1 ms
travel all the way down the axon without changing height or shape; good for distances
37
principle of neural representation
states that everything a person experiences is based on representations in the person's NS
38
experience dependent plasticity
the structure of the brain is changed by experience
39
neurons in the visual cortex respond to
simple stimuli like oriented bars
40
neurons in the temporal lobe respond to
complex geometrical stimuli
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neurons in another area of the temporal lobe respond to
faces
42
hierarchical processing
progression from lower to higher areas of the brain
43
cerebral cortex
layer of tissue about 3mm thick that covers the brain
the wrinkled covering you see when looking at a brain
many cog functions served by this
44
cortical equipotentiality
idea that the brain operated as an individible whole as opposed to specialized areas
45
Broca's and Wernicke's observations showed that
different aspects of language production and comprehension were served in diff areas in the brain
46
ST memories last
10-15 seconds
47
what is perception
involves taking the info that is sensed by the sense organs and interpreting it
48
cornea
the clear covering to the eye
49
iris
ring of muscles that controls how much light gets in
50
lens
with the cornea focuses light onto the back of the eye
51
retina
the photosensitive membrane at the back of the eye where transduction takes place
52
fovea
the point of highest visual acuity
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optic nerve
nerve that takes visual info to the brain
54
blind spot
the point where the optic nerve leaves the eye
55
how does light energy get to the brain
transduction
56
transduction
the changing of a physical stimulus into neural energy
takes place in 2 cells in the retina
- rods- light sensitive, poor acuity (peripheral)
- cones- poor light sensitivity, high acuity, colours (in fovea)
57
visual field is
contralateral, not the eyeball itself
58
*blindsight
patients with damage to occipital cortex are blind (no reaction to light)
vision is not entirely seeing
- two seperate pathways
-- one is more sophisticated, eye to thalamus to visual cortex
-- one goes to brain stem to higher centers of brain which allows you to guess movement even though you cannot see it (lizard brain)
59
distal stimulus
the stimulus out in the world
ex. 3D object in world
60
proximal stimulus
the stimulus on the sense organ
ex. 2D representation on the retina
61
solution to problem of visual perception
brain uses info from both eyes (binocular cues) and properties from the proximal stimulus (monocular cues) to make inferences about the relative depth of the distal stimulus
62
binocular cues (2 main types)
convergence: eyes converge and lens accommodates when objects are close
binocular disparity: the slightly different views of the world projected onto each eye
63
monocular cues
perspective
motion parallax
interposition
relative size
textural gradient
aerial perspective
shading
light and shadow
64
Gestalt principles; laws of perceptual organization
law of proximity
law of similarity
law of good continuation
law of closure
law of common fate
law of Pragnanz
65
*bottom up theories of object perception
template theory
- objects are represented by templates, current image is compared to these (cheque reading machines)
- problems that object has to be same size and position as template and do not allow same image to have diff interpretations; doesn't account for variability in the world
feature theory
- analyzed stimuli as a combination of elemental features , combining features can get a representation for whats out there (ex. diff parts of a letter), has lots of evidence
- disadvantages that its hard to know how to define a feature, doesn't account for relative position of feature
prototype theory
- works at higher level
- takes all representations for item and makes an average, perceive object by comparing it to stored prototypes, the "ideal" for a category
- allows room for differences
- more flexible than features but also vaguer
- still have question of how many prototypes
66
bottom up processing is __ driven
data driven
67
top-down processing is __ driven
conceptually driven
68
top down theories of perception
context effects
69
how do we recognize objects
object-centered theories
- modified feature theory
- feature position relative to other features
- can break down all objects into 3D shapes and then come up with interpretations
- Biederman's recognition by components (geons)
viewer-centered theories
- modified template theory
- store mult representations of objects
- perform transformations of stimuli to match stored representations
- multiple view theory (Tarr)?
70
Bayesian theories of object recognition
71
what is selective attention
focusing on one thing while ignoring other stimuli
massive amounts of info in the world but only so much time and space to process it
72
cocktail party effect
we can attend to only one convo among many but will notice critical information
not intentional and that speaks to how the whole system of attention works
dichotic listening experiments examine this phenomena
73
early filter models of attention
filter follows detection but before recognition (meaning)
cocktail party showed this didn't work though, you shouldn't be able to hear your name if this model worked
74
late filter model of attention
detection, recognition, then filter
too heavy
75
Treisman's attenuation theory
takes both ideas and smashes together
messages, attentuator (stuff that matters gets a boost other stuff's signal is dampened), dictionary unit, to memory
leaky filter bc unattended message is let through at a much weaker strength
76
stroop effect demonstrates
you have little control over attention
77
disadvantages of automacitity
hard to override
78
attentional capacity depends on
alertness (awake, optimal level of arousal)
automatic vs. effortful tasks
79
a task is automatic if it
occurs without intention
does not give rise to conscious awareness
does not interfere with other mental activities
80
controlled attention
attention is mental effort and is limited
finite but cannot do it infinitely
81
inattentional blindness
when controlled or conscious attention takes away from noticing other things happening in your environment
outside of your deliberate control
application: magic, ppl use cues to direct attention to certain places and do the trick
82
divided attention
we're not strictly limited to one thing at a time, if 2 things are automatized you can do them at same time
whether the tasks interfere with eachother depends on the cog load
83
dual task study
shadow message
- some hear same message in both ears
- some hear diff messages in same ears
- follow one
this is the primary task
then respond quickly to flashes of light
- secondary task
84
__ takes up the most resources in the car experiment
planning
85
psychological refractory period
period of time where a new process cannot be initiated due to the continued processing of choosing a response to another stimulus
cannot make a selection until the other selection
86
damage to the right parietal lobe causes
attentional neglect, fail to attend to one side
(half drawings)
87
the case of S
perfectly recalled all types of information in any order, had no capacity or duration limits
88
consequences of having really good memory like S
difficulty with faces
too focused on details- bad at understanding stories
struck ppl as dull and dim witted
89
synesthesia
stimulation in one sense leads to an impression in another sense
combination of 2 different senses that normally wouldnt go together (tasting sounds)
or for S, sounds were visual images
90
Clive wearing
only being conscious right in the moment
no recollection of other info
only has conscious awareness of past 30 seconds
91
sensory memory types
iconic and echoic
92
how to measure sensory memory
sperling task
- whole report
- partial report
partial report advantage disappears when there is a second delay
93
iconic memory
visual
capacity is at least 9 items
duration about a second
94
echoic memory
hearing
capacity large ish
duration 1-2 seconds
95
millers magic number refers to
STM capacity
7 plus or minus 2
96
without rehersal how long can you hold onto info
20 secs
97
brown and peterson claimed that forgetting occured from
decay but also interference
