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Psyc 221 > Week 1 > Flashcards

Week 1 Flashcards

1
Q

what is the relationship of cognition and the mind

A

cognition are the mental processes that the mind creates

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2
Q

what is the responsibility of the mind

A

the mind makes representations of the world around us and helps us to control mental functions (cognitions) - this helps us to act within the world and achieve our goals

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3
Q

who did the first cognitive psych experiment by measuring reaction time

A

Donders

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3
Q

what was the significance of Donders experiment

A

that mental processes can be inferred from observable behaviour

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4
Q

Describe the components of the information processing model

A

How we acquire knowledge

How we store knowledge

How we use knowledge

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5
Q

Describe Wundt’s Structuralism approach

A

overall experience is determined by combining basic elements of experience (sensations)

used analytic introspection (trained participants to describe responses and thought processes)

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6
Q

Problems with analytic introspection

A

variable results that are difficult to verify

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6
Q

What is Watsons Behaviourism

A

Observable behaviour provides the only valid data for psychology (consciousness and unobservable mental processes not worthy of study)
○ Purely objective
○ Goal is prediction and control of behaviour

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6
Q

William Jame’s Principles

A

Best known for observations of the nature of attention
Paying attention to one thing involves withdrawing from other things

Considered thinking, consciousness, attention, memory, perception, imagination and reasoning

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7
Q

Philosophy views of nativism vs empiricism

A

Nativism (Plato)
- We have some understanding when we are born

Empiricism (Aristotle)
Born with nothing, all acquired

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7
Q

what is the way of thinking that focuses on how behaviour is strengthened or weakened by positive or negative reinforcers

A

Operant conditioning

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7
Q

What was Tolmans rat behaviour experiment and its significance

A

Rats develop a cognitive map - a layout of the maze they are placed in
○ Cognition was occurring (rat knew where food was even when placed in a diff starting point)

Something other than stimulus-response connection is occurring
□ Outside of behaviourism

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8
Q

What was the big paradigm shift of the cognitive revolution in the 1950s

A

shift from the behaviourism system to the cognitive system to account for the minds role in creating behaviour

very influenced by the digital computer

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8
Q

what is the methodology of introspection

A

psychology is something that can be productively studied

how to study the mind in a strict hard science way - goal to figure out the basic elements of thought

functionalism has an eye toward survival

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8
Q

The famous players in introspection

A

Wundt: structuralism (processes and experiences)

James: functionalism (how mind functions)

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9
Q

Issues with introspection

A

cannot test subjective observations

inconsistent results

some things are unconscious

some processes too rapid

training bias in reports (what experimenter wants to hear)

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10
Q

what does behaviourism assume about behaviour (especially Skinners view)

A

it can be conditioned/learned if someone is exposed to the right stimulus at the right time

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10
Q

significance of behaviourism

A

unconcerned with mind/conscious, just on observable behaviour
- wants to explain complex behaviour from learning about simple behaviour
- logic is that if you know simple behaviour and have a theory for learning, you can predict complex behaviour

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11
Q

What goes against behaviourism

A

Instinct: implicit knowledge

Language: generative and cannot be accounted for by stimulus-response reward notions
- can make sense of or say sentence you have never heard before

Real-world problems: info overload in WWII pilots

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12
Q

what is the computer metaphor for cognitive psychology

A

mind has representations: stores of info/content

mind has processes: program that manipulates info

mind stores info as patterns of neural activity

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13
Q

Atkinson and Shiffrins modal of memory

A

3 stages
- sensory memory
-STM
-LTM

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14
Q

what is neuropsychology

A

the study of people with brain damage

provides insight to functions of different parts of the brain

14
Q

Tulving proposed that LTM is subdivided into 3 compartments which are

A

Episodic memory
§ Memory for events in life

Semantic memory
§ Memory for facts

Procedural memory
§ Physical actions

15
Q

What is positron emission tomography

A

PET: good spatial, bad temporal

see which areas of the brain are activated during certain cognitive activity
involves radioactive tracers - a limitation to speed

15
functional magnetic resonance imaging
fMRI capable of higher resolution: fantastic spatial resolution, a bit limited by temporal paradigm shift oxygenated blood consumption in brain during activity (binds to Hb, increases magneticness)
16
Explain the concept of levels of analysis
the idea that there are multiple ways of looking at or studying something, and that each dimension of doing so offers new information to our understanding - Whole brain - Structures within the brain - Chemicals in the brain
16
what did the description of a nerve net imply
the brain/neurons are conitnuous and interconnected network
16
What is the neural doctrine
The idea that individual cells transmit signals in the nervous system, and that these cells are not continuous with other cells as proposed by the nerve net theory
16
what were Cajals techniques and what was the main finding
Golgi stain - come cells fully visualized Compare brain of baby animals to adults Determined nerve net was not continuous introduced the idea of neural circuits
17
why do we have to be careful with correlations
they're not causational and do not tell us the direction of the relatedness could be confounding variables
17
what are the two key principles of cortical functioning
contralateral functioning: receptive/control centres for one side of body in opposite side of brain (exception eyeballs, visual field is contralateral) hemispheric specialization: structurally but not functionally symmetric (although have similar representations)
18
the brain and plasticity, short term retentiation
Actions/responses have immediate consequences on the connections of neurons responsible for it - Improve and increase the rate of the reaction ○ Short term retentiation: Efficiency of communication between the neurons gets better ○ Can create structural changes to the brain § Doesn’t take long § Increase number of synapse, making new connections, and often new pathways
18
Big difference in experiments to correlational studies
Experiments use random assignment. - takes away biases of groups
19
what does localizing of brain function mean
the idea that specific areas of the brain are responsible for specific functions methods: lesion, trauma, surgery- - l -limited to case studies supported by double dissociations (Broca's and Wernicke's
19
main functions of the four areas of the cortex
frontal: reasoning, planning, emotion Parietal: sensory info perception Temporal: hearing and memory Occipital: vision
19
principles of neural representation
everything a person experiences is based on representations in the persons nervous system - likely based on an interaction of multiple neurons
20
electrical recordings have high or low temporal resolution?
high, low spatial
20
transcranial magnetic stimulation
temporary lesions to the brain to prevent AP - test certain pathways/functions to see what is affected
20
different brain recording mechanisms have different strengths and weaknesses, so how should we get around this
converge methods
21
representations
Representations: everything we experiences is the result of something that stands for that experience
22
what is an experiment that demonstrates experience-dependent plasticity
kitten study (horizontal or vertical stimuli) by Hubel and Wiesel supports the idea that neurons in the visual system fire to specific types of stimuli, and each can be used as building blocks for putting together the whole image
22
what is the problem of neural representation for the senses?
sensory coding: how neurons represent various characteristics of the environment
23
Hierarchal processing
Progression of processing from lower to higher areas of the brain (ex. simple visual in occipital, complex visual in temporal) - gross's monkeys
24
what is the unit of measurement in fMRI
voxels
24
the types of sensory coding
Specificity coding - unlikely - object represented by firing of a neuron that fires only for that object Population coding ○ Representation of a particular object by the pattern of firing of a large number of neurons Sparse coding - well supported ○ Representation of a particular object by the pattern of firing of a small number of neurons, with majority of the neurons remaining silent
24
prosopagnosia
difficulty perceiving faces - damage to the fusiform face area
25
parahippocampal place
perceives indoor and outdoor scenes by providing info about spatial layout
25
Extrasiate body area
activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies
25
the principle in cognition of multidimensionality means __
experience is multidimensional, and a specific cognition activates many areas of the brain (distributed representation)
26
4 principles of neural networks
1. complex structural pathways that are an information highway 2. in these structural paths there are functional paths 3. operate dynamically 4. resting state of brain activity, so parts of brain are active all of the time even when there is no cognitive activity
27
Track weighted imaging
detection of how water diffuses along neurons
28
the structural description of the network of elements and connections forming the brain is called the
connectome
29
functional connectivity is determined by __ and measured by
the extent to which neural activity in two brain areas are correlated, resting state fMRI
30
Default Mode Network
network that responds when people are not engaged in tasks (brain function at rest) when active - mind wandering

Psyc 221 (10 decks)

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