Module 01: History, Methods, and Paradigms

Question 1

perception

Answer 1

sensory info -> meaningful info

Question 2

memory

Answer 2

storage facilities ad retrieval processes of cognition

Question 3

pattern recognition

Answer 3

classifying stimulus into known category

Question 4

empiricism

Answer 4

knowledge from individual’s own experience (blank slate)

learn through mental association

Question 4

mental association

Answer 4

locke: two distinct ideas joined bc presented to individual at the same time

Question 5

nativism

Answer 5

native ability, constitutional factors in learning, tendencies, biological capacities, ‘hard wired’ functions (ex STM)

Question 6

willhelm wundt

Answer 6

structuralism

Question 7

structuralism

Answer 7

essential units of mind to combine mental phenomena

conscious thought form combo of sensation

basic elements -> perceptual experience

Question 8

4 parts of sensation

Answer 8

mode (visual, tactile, etc), quality (shape, colour, etc), intensity, duration

Question 9

who was the first person to conduct controlled experiments with children

Answer 9

james baldwin

Question 10

who came up with introspection idea

Answer 10

james baldwin

Question 11

functionalism

Answer 11

william james

mind works bc of functions and purpose of various operations

habits are inevitable and powerful

study phenomena in real life situations

Question 12

what theory does functionalism use

Answer 12

dawinian evolutionary theory

Question 13

what are two types of conditioning in behaviourism

Answer 13

classical conditioning — Ivan Pavlov

intsrumental conditioning – Edward Thorndike

Question 14

what did b.f. skinner do

Answer 14

relationship between behaviour and stimuli

reinforcement

Question 15

john watson

Answer 15

believed that mental phenomena is reducible to behavioural and physiological responses

Question 16

who found that rats in a maze show goals (guided behaviour) and have mental images/representations

Answer 16

edward tolman

Question 17

gestalt psychology

Answer 17

psychological phenomena not reduced to simple elements but have to be studied in their entirety

perceptual experience -> basic elements

Question 18

what are the 5 principles of gestalt psychology

Answer 18

proximity

similarity

continuity

closure

connectedness

Question 19

what was the cognitive revolution

Answer 19

new series of psychological investigations that rejected behaviourist assumptions

included:
human factors engineering
linguistics
neuroscience
computers and ai

Question 20

explain human factors engineering (cognitive revolution)

Answer 20

in war, military personnel trained to operate complicated equipment

the person-machine system: machinery must align with operator’s physical and cognitive abilities and limits

humans as limited-capacity processors of info (“communication channels”)

Question 21

explain linguistics in cognitive revolution

Answer 21

noam chomsky – how we acquire, understand, and produce language could not be explained by behaviourism

there exists some sort of implicit systems of rules (generative grammer)

Question 22

neuroscience in cognitive revolution

Answer 22

idea of localization of function: neural structures in specific brain areas to support function

donald hebb – some functions (like visual perceptions) constructed over time, cell assembly

david hubel – visual cortex of cats specialized to respond to specific kinds of stimuli (vertical and horizontal line tests)

Question 23

computers and ai in cognitive revolution

Answer 23

alan turing

universal machines: math entities simple in nature but capable in solving logic problems

the computer metaphor: human cognitive abilities vs OS, both computer and human must store info and have storage facilities and processes for this

Question 24

what is naturalistic observation

Answer 24

observer watching people in everyday circumstances (unobtrusive)

Question 25

advantages and disadvantages to naturalistic observation

Answer 25

advantage: ecological validity -- things studied do really occur in real world, cognitive processes in natural setting disadvantage: experimental control -- no means of isolating different behaviours and must infer

Question 26

define introspection

Answer 26

observer observes their own mental processes and reports back

Question 27

advantages and disadvantages to introspection

Answer 27

advantage: give better insight into experience and factors that influenced it disadvantage: bias, unwilling to admit flaws, demanding tasks leave little resources left to observe and record

Question 28

between subjects design vs within subjects design

Answer 28

between: different participants assigned to different experimental conditions and researcher looks for differences in performance for the two groups within: exposes participants to >1 condition

Question 29

define quasi experiment

Answer 29

subjects assigned to groups based on non random criteria (sex, race, etc)

Question 30

what are the four paradigms of cognitive psychology

Answer 30

info processing approach connectionist approach evolutionary approach ecological approach

Question 31

info processing approach

Answer 31

analogy between human cognition and computerized processing of info cognition: info passing through a system (mind) to be processes and stored in specific places cognitive abilities as "systems" of interrelated capacities people are general purpose manipulators info is store symbolically (way it is stored affects ease of use later) rooted in structuralism COGNITION OCCURS SERIALLY

Question 32

connectionist approach

Answer 32

derived from models depicting cognition as network of connections among processing units (compared to neurons) sometimes called neural networks each unit has some level of activiation connections have 2 weights, positive (excite) or negative (inhibit) COGNITIVE PROCESSES OCCUR IN PARALLEL

Question 33

evolutionary approach

Answer 33

human mind biological system evolved over generations human mind responded to evolutionary pressures to adapt Losmides and tooby -- issues faced in passed are social (social contracts) -- good at cost/benefit reasoning

Question 34

evolutionary approach think i actually meant ecological???

Answer 34

all cognitive abilities shaped by culture and context in which they occur consider context of cognitive processes Jean Larc -- third grade arithmetic vs adult at grocery store

Question 35

who is sir francis galton

Answer 35

study of individual differences and human cognitive abilities pressures of natural selection found that people differ in ability to conjure up mental representations of objects