PSY 260 Cognitive Psychology SBU Zelinksy Exam 1 Diagram | Quizlet

What is cognitive psychology?

The study of the mind controls our perceptions, attention, memory, emotions, language, decision making, thinking, and reasoning.

What does cognitive psychology refer to?

Cog. Psychology refers to all the processes by which sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, retrieved, and used.

What is at the root of cognition?

Sensation

Reduction

filtering out task irrelevant sensory information

Elaboration

Adding more information to the sensory input to perform a task.

Retention

The encoding of information in memory where it can be used in behavior.

Recall

Involves using a deliberate act of will to retrieve information from memory.

Reaction Time (RT)

How long it takes to press a button in response to a stimulus.

Simple RT

A person presses a button as soon as some stimulus appears. There is only one stimulus and one button - no decision or choice. Time to detect stimulus + press button.

Choice RT

Press one button for one stimulus and another button for another stimulus. Two possible stimuli and two buttons; subjects have to make a choice. Time to detect a stimulus + decide what button to press.

Forgetting Function/Curve

Most forgetting occurs soon after initial learning. After about 3 days the function flattens and very litter is forgotten from then on.

analytical introspection

Perception and cognition was studied by having trained observers describe their mental states.

Behaviorism

Only directly observable behavior, and the factors affecting behavior, should be studied, not "mental states." Founded by Watson.

Operant Condtioning

How a behavior can be strengthened or weakened using positive or negative reinforcement.

information processing model

model of memory that assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer processes memory.

Sensory Memory

a memory for unprocessed sensory information. Only held for a very short time, about 250 msec in the case of vision.

short-term memory (STM)

A memory for processed (recognized) information. Can only hold about 7 things for only about 20-30 secs.

long-term memory (LTM)

A permanent and unlimited capacity memory system.

Attention

Reduces information by selecting only what is relevant to a task. First stage of attention filters out sensory info (helping recognition), the second stage filters our recognized info (helping STM)

TERM

Dendrite

DEFINITION

Collects signals from other neurons.

TERM

Cell Body

DEFINITION

Largest part of a typical neuron; contains the nucleus and much of the cytoplasm

TERM

Axon

DEFINITION

Signal transmission within a neuron.

TERM

Terminal Branches

DEFINITION

Transmits a signal to the dendrites of another neuron

cognitive neuroscience

The study of cognitive behaviors and processes in the brain.

Neurons

Cell specialized to receive and transmit info in the nervous system.

Neural Doctrine (Ramon y Cajal)

this network consists of interconnected neurons

Electron Potential of a Neuron

When a neuron is at rest, the inside of the cell has an electrical potential of -70mV relative to the outside of the cell. When a neuron fires, sodium ions (na-) rushes into the cell causing electrical potential to change from -70mV to +40mV. Ions flow through protein channels in the cell membrane. Potassium ions (K+) then floods out of the neuron, restoring the -70mV gradient.

Action Potential (AP)

Primary method of neural communication. The AP starts at the axon hillock, then moves down the length of the axon in a propagating wave. When the AP reaches the end of the axon, it triggers the release of neurotransmitters from the terminal branches.

The Synapse

The gap between two neurons, typically between the terminal branches of one and the dendrites of another.

Neurotransmitters (NT)

A neurotransmitter can either excite or inhibit another neuron. Excitatory and inhibitory signals from pre-synaptic neurons are summed by the post-synaptic neuron.

Excitatory NT

increase firing rate of a neuron

Inhibitory NT

Reduce firing rate of a neuron

Firing rate

will generally be slow for low intensity stimuli and faster for high intensity stimuli.

localization of function

specific functions are served by specific areas of the brain

Cortex

A thin layer of cells that encloses the brain, is most responsible for perceptual and cognitive functions

Four lobes of the brain

Occipital = vision, temporal = language, speech and vision, parietal = body sensations, frontal = decision making and problem solving

Brain Lesions

If a part of the brain is damaged, the function coded by that part is lost.

Visual Neglect

Damage to the right parietal lobe sometimes results in a syndrome known as visual neglect. Refers to a perceptual suppression of stimuli appearing in the visual field opposite the lesioned brain hemisphere.

single cell neurophysiology

The activity of a single neuron is recorded in response to a stimulus.

A microelectrode is inserted

into a neuron; the firing rate

of the neuron is recorded. of the neuron is recorded.

The experimenter notes

which types of stimuli make

the neuron fire best. the neuron fire best.

Neurons have preferred

stimuli, and only respond

when these stimuli are in

their receptive field.

□ Pros: Enabled the discovery of feature detectors, and their

localization in the brain localization in the brain.

□ Cons: The technique can only be used on animals.

It is also limited to single cells; brain circuits involving

multiple cells are harder to study multiple cells are harder to study.

event-related potential (ERP)

Electrical brain activity is measured from the scalp following the presentation of a stimulus. The greater the response to a stimulus, the more active the

brain and the larger the electrical signal.

□ Pros: Can be used with human subjects; fairly easy; very good : Can be used with human subjects; fairly easy; very good temporal resolution (shows how the brain changes every msec)

□ Cons: Very poor spatial resolution (requires summing over

many cells to get a signal) Also, because only scalp activity is

measured, it doesn't show activity from deeper brain regions.

scalp topography map

A visualization A visualization

of the electrical activity from millions of millions of neurons.

Red is more active, blue is less active

Zero on the x-axis corresponds to the presentation the presentation of a stimulus.

The waveforms indicate how the indicate how the brain responded

to this stimulus

Different waveforms indicate different mental operations

N400

Is sensitive to the meaning of a sentence (semantics)

P600

is sensitive to the sentence form (syntax)

hemodynamic response

measures blood flow to the brain

Subtraction Logic

Control activation is subtracted from the experimental activation. This isolates the brain activity resulting from the stimulus.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

A radioactive glucose A radioactive glucose

-like substance is injected into the like substance is injected into the

bloodstream.

Because it is radioactive, it can be tracked as it moves

through the body (i e captured on film) through the body (i.e., captured on film).

Because it is glucose-based, it will be taken up by

metabolically active regions in the brain.

Big Picture: stimulus

→ firing in brain

→ r-glucose uptake

→ active regions are labeled

Pros: Relatively good spatial resolution.

Cons: (1) Relatively poor temporal resolution- relies on a

hemodynamic response, and this introduces a delay. (2) because it exposes people to radiation, there are limits on how often it can be used on the same subjects.

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

An active brain requires more oxygen; oxygen in the blood can be imaged by MRI

Brain activity (color) due to the stimulus is superimposed over a standard MR image.

Highly precise spatial localization of stimulus-related activity throughout activity throughout the brain.

BOLD Signal (Blood Oxygen Level Dependency)

How much oxygen there is in the blood; what the fMRI technique measures.

fusiform face area (FFA)

Brain area in the temporal love specialized for perceiving faces; more likely to activate to a face than a non-face pattern.

parahippocampal place area (PPA)

Brain region specialized for the perception of spatial layout. More likely to activate to a visual scene compared to an equally complex non-scene.

extrastriate body area (EBA)

Brain region specialized for the perception of the human form.

Specificity code

Each face is coded by a dedicated group of neurons; when these neurons fire, a specific face is perceived or recognized.

Grandmother cell

a neuron that responds only to a specific stimulus

Distributed code

The neural code for a pattern is distributed across several neuron groups, not just one.

information processing

transforming low-level sensory representations into higher level representations capable of mediating cognitive behavior.

Sensation

Absorbing raw energy through our sensory organs

Transduction

Conversion of environmental energy into neural signals.

Perception

Selecting, organizing, and interpreting these sensory signals to create some "theory" of reality.

bottom-up processing

perceptions are assembled

systematically from a series of analyses of the stimulus.

□ A low-level process acts on the sensory representation to

create a new, slightly more abstract representation. Another

process acts on this one to create an even more abstract

representation, and so on until the percept is constructed.

□ This is how your perceptual system builds an apple.

top-down processing

perceptions are assembled from

pre-existing knowledge or expectations or memories,

and are less directly tied to the stimulus.

□ This is how your perceptual system built the Dalmatian. If

you didn't have knowledge of what a Dalmatian looked like,

you would never have perceived a dog because there was no you would never have perceived

a dog because there was no

dog in the physical stimulus.

Photoreceptors

the light-sensitive neurons responsible for transducing light energy into neural firing.

primary visual cortex

transforms the neural signal from the eyes to create visual patterns.

Simple cells

Simple cells respond best to an oriented bar, with different cells coding for different orientations. This transformation results in the extraction of edges.

Complex cells

code for bars of a particular orientation moving in a particular direction.

End-stopped cells

code for bar length and width, in addition to orientation and direction of motion.

recognition by components theory

Object recognition results from matching a visual pattern to three-dimensional features called geons.

Geons

volumetric features used to represent objects for recognition, things like: cylinders , rectangular solids, cones, pyramids, etc.

Different objects are represented by combining different geons. Because there are so many possible combinations, any object can be represented in terms of its component geons.

Light-from-above heuristic

the assumption that light is coming from above affects how patterns are recognized.

theory of unconscious inference

Our perceptions are often influenced by unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment. We use knowledge to inform our perceptions.

likelihood principle

we perceive the world in the way that is "most likely" based on our past experiences

gestatlt psychology

"The whole differs from the sum of its parts." Perception is not built entirely from sensations, it is also the result of perceptual organization.

perceptual organization

the process by which stimuli are organized into meaningful units.

Pragnanz

Patterns are perceived in their simplest form.

Similarity

similar things are often grouped together

good continuation

points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together, and the lines tend to be seen in such a way as to follow the smoothest path

Grouping by meaning

Things are grouped to form meaningful or familiar patterns. We may see a bear, even when it's not there.

Perception and Action

Perception guides action; action changes perception

what vs. where pathways

There are separate cortical pathways in the brain coding for object recognition (what) and object position (where)

Temporal lobe lesion

knocks out "what" pathway. A "what" judgement (object discrimination) was disrupted by knocking out the ventral pathway (temporal lobe), but a dorsal lesion (parietal lobe) had no effect.

Dorsal lobe lesion

A "where" judgement (landmark discrimination) was disrupted by knocking out the dorsal pathway (parietal lobe), but a ventral lesion (temporal lobe) had no effect.

Selective attention

Our ability to focus on a particular thing, and ignore everything else (give one thing all your coins)

Divided attention

Our ability to simultaneously process multiple things (give two or more things a coin at the same time).

The shadowing task

Evidence for perceptual limitations. People are unable to process a message going into their unattended ear when they are shadowing a message going into their attended ear.

Perceptual Channels

Information arriving from the senses

Single Central Channel

Processing here is serial, like in your computer.

Bottleneck

The rate of input to the system (info from the perceptual channels) exceeds the rate of output (info passing through the central channel).

Attentional flap

The most important info is selected, then preferentially directed down the central channel for more processing.

Broadbent

First model of attention.

Attentional limitations

result from a single central

channel imposing serial

processing on our system.

Information from feature

analyzers (color, size, etc.)

enters the system in

parallel through the

perceptual channels.

Before meaning can be

attached to this info

(recognition), it must pass

down the central channel.

early selection theory

Processing turns from parallel to serial early (before recognition)

parallel processing

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

serial processing

occurs when the brain computes information step-by-step in a methodical and linear matter

late selection theory

processing turns from parallel to serial later (before short term memory)

cocktail party effect

If someone says your name at a party, you are likely to hear it even if you are attending to something else.

Attenuation

the lessening or weakening in strength, value, or quality of a sr

recognition threshold

the concentration at which quality can be recognized

resource theory

• Goal: To explain To explain "why" processing bottlenecks exist processing bottlenecks exist,

not "where" they are located.

• Motivation: Doing two things at the same time

generally leads to worse performance than doing each

task individually.

• Assumption 1: Assumption 1: There is a limited amount of attention There is a limited amount of attention

that can be allocated to tasks. Once it is used, trying to

do another task will result in worse performance.

• Assumption 2: The more attention you allocate to a

task, the better you will perform that task.

Innatentional Blindness

The failure to perceive an object or event due to the direction of attention.

change blindness

The failure to perceive some salient change across two views of a scene.