Perception, consciousness, sleep, memory and associative learning

Question 1

what is perception?

Answer 1

more than sensory discrimination

an active process in which patterns of stimuli are organised and interpreted using high level cognitive processes

Question 2

what is bottom-up processing?

Answer 2

sensory driven processing that organises incoming sensory information

Question 3

what is top-down processing?

Answer 3

knowledge, expectation and experience driven processing. higher level thinking

Question 4

3 properties of visual perception system

Answer 4

adaptation effect eg negative after images
depth perception eg linear perspective, interposition etc
gestalt perception

Question 5

what is gestalt perception?

Answer 5

the basic organisational tendencies in perception, seeking meaningful groupings eg visual grouping, figure-ground organisation

Question 6

what is the ‘assumptive world’

Answer 6

own internal model of the perceived world

Question 7

what do sensory processes limit?

Answer 7

the amount of information available to us. helps us filter out unimportant or irrelevant information

Question 8

who performed the ‘context of madness’ experiment and what was it?

Answer 8

rosenhan 1973
8 pseudopatients went to doctors claiming to hear voices
all diagnosed with schizophrenia

Question 9

what is consciousness?

Answer 9

awareness of self + surroundings

it lies on a continuum from focused alertness to coma

Question 10

what are the 4 things altered states can be caused by?

Answer 10

sleep + dreams
psychoactive drugs
meditation
hypnosis

Question 11

who wrote ‘the hard problem’ and what did it say?

Answer 11

chalmers 1994

explains how physical processes in the brain give rise to subjective experiences

Question 12

what is monitoring?

Answer 12

only conscious of the things you pay attention to (inattentional blindness)

Question 13

what is the controlling view on consciousness?

Answer 13

idea that you can plan, initiate, guide future actions

Question 14

what is unconscious processing?

Answer 14

the ability of the brain to process information while not aware eg subliminal perceprtion, ironic thought suppression

Question 15

what is the stroop effect?

Answer 15

brain’s reaction time slows down when it has to deal with conflicting information.

Question 16

how are psychoactive drugs classified?

Answer 16

on behaviour

Question 17

what are the two forms of meditation?

Answer 17

one-point meditation and open meditation

Question 18

what are the two states hypnosis can induce?

Answer 18

altered consciousness 40% (hidden observer)

focused attention 60% (state of compliance)

Question 19

how many stages of sleep are there?

Answer 19

5 (including REM sleep)

Question 20

how long is a normal sleep cycle?

Answer 20

around 90 mins

Question 21

what is core sleep?

Answer 21

first 5 hrs

no REM

Question 22

what is optional sleep?

Answer 22

next 2+ hrs of sleep after core

mostly stage 2 and REM sleep

Question 23

how long is our circadian clock?

Answer 23

25 hrs

Question 24

describe insomnia

Answer 24

30% of population affected

many different causes (psych, social problems, environmental factors, other medical conditions)

Question 25

describe narcolepsy

Answer 25

0.15% prevalence | causes cataplexy, vivid speed-onset dreams (hallucinations)

Question 26

3 ways to investigate sleep

Answer 26

subjective sleep quality diary movement in sleep EEG output dream characteristics and content

Question 27

effects of sleep deprivation

Answer 27

acute effects both physical and cognitive changes randy gardner - 264 hrs with no sleep

Question 28

what are the 3 stages of memory?

Answer 28

encoding - transformation storage - retention retrieval - recovery

Question 29

what makes up your working memory?

Answer 29

visiospatial, short term, articulatory loop

Question 30

who came up with the multi store memory model?

Answer 30

Baddeley

Question 31

what can the serial position curve show us

Answer 31

recency effect - STM | primacy effect - LTM

Question 32

what characteristics does echoic memory show?

Answer 32

recency effect, sounds linger

Question 33

what characteristics does iconic memory show?

Answer 33

no recency effect, image fades quickly

Question 34

5 characteristics of STM

Answer 34

``` importance of attention echoic and iconic memory has a limited capacity information is lost by displacement retaining of information by rehearsal and elaboration ```

Question 35

4 characteristics of LTM

Answer 35

1. episodic, semantic and procedural memory 2. encoding - adding meaningful connections eg luria 3. alternative memory systems explicit/implicit memory (knowing what/ knowing how) 4. retrieval (recall vs recognition)

Question 36

what is synaesthesia?

Answer 36

crossing of sensory modalities

Question 37

what is hyperthymesia?

Answer 37

superior autobiographical memory

Question 38

what are the two forms of associative learning?

Answer 38

classical and operant

Question 39

define associative learning

Answer 39

learning the relationship between two events

Question 40

what is pavlovs prototype? (sequence)

Answer 40

US > UR leads to CS > CR

Question 41

what is acquisition?

Answer 41

the process of learning a conditioned response to a stimulus | US and CS

Question 42

what is extinction?

Answer 42

the process of forgetting a response/ learning it means something else just US

Question 43

define contiguity

Answer 43

the state of bordering or being in contact with something | classical conditioning must have temporal contiguity between CS and US

Question 44

define contingency

Answer 44

animal learns CS is predictor of US

Question 45

spontaneous recovery

Answer 45

after extinction - use CS again and the animal remembers the previous association (not as strong)

Question 46

latent inhibition

Answer 46

past learning changes acquisition of new associations

Question 47

biological preparedness

Answer 47

soma associations have biological advantages eg phobias, taste aversions

Question 48

what is second order conditioning?

Answer 48

new CS successively paired with old CS | new CS elicit same CR eg effect of chemotherapy

Question 49

what is generalisation?

Answer 49

the greater the similarity between stimuli the more likely the same response will be elicited

Question 50

what is operant conditioning?

Answer 50

the relationship between an action and a reinforce

Question 51

3 types of reinforcer

Answer 51

primary - unconditioned - inherently reinforcing secondary - conditioned - becomes reinforcing social - consequence of behaviour

Question 52

define shaping

Answer 52

reinforcement of successive approximations of desired behaviour

Question 53

define chaining

Answer 53

the breaking down of complex tasks so they are easier to learn

Question 54

which reinforcement increases a response?

Answer 54

positive and negative reinforcement

Question 55

which reinforcement decrease response?

Answer 55

extinction and punishment