Unit 1

Cognitive Psychology

The branch of psychology that is concerned with how people acquire, store, transform, use, and communicate information

Cognitive psychology is the study of ___________________________ by which humans learn about and interact with the world

mental processes

Subtopics of cognitive psychology

perception, attention, memory, language, problem-solving, and planning

empiricism

nurture

nativism

nature

Environment/experiences side

Aristotle and Locke

Biology side

Descartes and Plato

Gestalt psychology

the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Pavlov

classical conditioning

Thorndike

operant conditioning

engineering

ideas of humans as information processors

thinking as computation

development of computers made concept of thinking-as-computation more plausible

artificial intelligence

computers’ ability to do “smart” things (chess)

cognitive science is the intersection of several disciplines including

psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and computer science

neuroscience aims to

integrate cognitive science, neuroimaging, neuropsychology

cognitive psychology today increasingly places emphasis on

formal models, neuroscience, find-grained measures, and statistical analyses

what is A

dendrites

what is B

soma

what is C

nucleus

what is D

axon

what is E

presynaptic cell

what is F

dendrite

what is G

axon terminal

what is H

synapse

what is I

postsynaptic cell

information transmission

1. presynaptic action potential

2. neurotransmitter release

3. neurotransmitter binding

4. ion flow

5. postsynaptic potential

6. excitatory postsynaptic potential may - action potential (spike)

7. inhibitory postsynaptic potential may - prevent spike

changing information flow

change synaptic strengths

consequences of changing information flow

postsynaptic action potential is more likely and long term change in response

methods for linking brain and cognition

brain imaging, neuropsychology, and brain imaging

process flow of information processing

External World → Stimulus → Response

Single-cell recording enables understanding the response properties of

One or a relatively small number of neurons at a time

patterns of EEG are triggered by a

stimulus

single-unit recording

insight into inner workings, individual neurons’ responses

ERP

aggregated data, equivalent to crowd noise within a stadium

Kissler et al. (2007)

study on emotional word responses

Higher emotional words trigger greater responses 200-300 mc in left occipital areas

increased brain activity correlates with

higher oxygen utilization in blood

greater changes in blood oxygen content

fMRI

detects magnetic properties of blood

good spacial resolution, poor temporal resolution

fNIRS

tracks optical properties of blood

similar to ERP in pros and cons

fMRI and fNIRS enable imaging of

blood oxygen changes in the brain

neuropsychology

study of cognitive processing in patients with brain injuries or deteriorations

conditions leading to brain damage

blood flow reduction

cerebrovascular disorders/strokes

head injuries

tumors

infections

degenerative disorders

Broca’s aphasia

characterized by halting and effortful speech

left fronal damage linked to speech impairment

Wernicke’s aphasia

damage in the temporal lobe affecting comprehension, resulting in fluent yet nonsensical speech

spatial cognition

right parietal lobe injury disrupts visual-spatial tasks

memory

Hippocampal injury alters specific memory types

sensation

the process of receiving external stimuli through sensory receptors

perception

the cognition process of interpreting what is sensed, allowing us to understand our environment. this process builds upon the sensory input and elaborates it into a comprehensive interpretation

constructivist view

Proposes that perception is constructed through cognitive processes, emphasizing the role of mental interpretation and context.

ecological view

Suggests that perception is inherently linked to a rich environmental structure that can be processed directly, with both traditional (direct perception with no mental processing) and modern (involving cognitive complexity) perspectives

light enters through the

cornea

light then passes through the

pupil

the pupil is controlled by the

iris

the light is finally focused by the ______ onto the _________

lens, retina

retina

contains photoreceptors that convert light into neural signals

cones

neural signals for color and detail, primarily located in the fovea

rods

neural signals for sensitivity to light and motion but color-blind, located in the periphery

optic nerve

Transmits visual information from the retina.

thalamus

Acts as a relay station for sensory information before reaching the cortex.

primary visual cortex (V1)

Located in the occipital lobe, responsible for initial visual processing.

secondary cortical areas

Further processing occurs in areas associated with visual perception, with parallel processing pathways

occipital-parietal pathway

where

involved in spatial processing

occipital-temporal pathway

what

involved in object recognition

perceptual grouping

The challenge of organizing visual stimuli into distinct objects involves understanding which elements group together and which do not.

gestalt principles

Provide rules on how objects are perceived together, emphasizing higher-level organizational principles

pragnanz (simplicity)

Visual inputs are interpreted in the simplest way.

similarity

Objects that are similar tend to be grouped together.

parallelism and symmetry

Shapes that are parallel or symmetrical are likely seen as part of the same object.

proximity

Closer objects are seen as forming a group

common fate

Objects moving in the same direction are grouped

figure-ground organization

This involves segregating a visual scene into a foreground (figure) and background (ground).

Factors that influence figure-ground assignment include geometric cues such as size, symmetry, and familiarity.

visual object recognition

a fundamental process whereby sensory input is linked to representations stored in memory

template matching

Proposes that the brain compares incoming sensory information to templates stored in memory, looking for a precise match

structural description theories

Objects are represented abstractly in terms of their parts and the spatial relations among those parts. Recognition involves creating a structural description of the input and comparing it with existing memory representations.

feature analysis/detection theories

Focus on the identification of distinct features within a visual input and the comparison of these features with stored descriptions in memory.

recognition by components

Developed by Irving Biederman, this theory suggests that objects are recognized by the geons (geometric icons) that make them up

view-based theories

These theories assert that object recognition is dependent on specific views or perspectives of an object, with multiple angles stored in memory for comparison

Recognition

forming a structural description and comparing it with memory to identify the possible parts of the object and how they can be recognized.

featural analysis in object recognition

This approach analyzes incoming visual images by breaking them down into features, which are then compared with stored descriptions

recognition-by-components theory

This is a renowned structural description theory that suggests we identify objects based on their components known as geons. Geons are simple geometric shapes that serve as the building blocks of objects.

types of geons

wedges

bricks

cubes

cylinders

cones

viewpoint invariance

Geons remain recognizable from various angles and are sturdy against visual noise

robustness to occlusion

Geons can still be recognized even when partially obscured. For instance, concave regions are critical cues for identifying an object

discriminability

This is associated with nonaccidental properties that remain consistent despite changes in the viewpoint. Examples include specific edges, vertices, and parallel lines that help in object identification.

stages in recognition-by-components theory

detection of non accidental properties

edge extraction

determination of components

parsing at regions of concavity

matching of components to object representations

object identification

view-based theories

While geons are significant, recognition can also be highly viewpoint-dependent. It’s suggested that the brain may store only a few specific views of an object and utilizes mental rotation to comprehend them from different angles

Wilhelm Wundt and structuralism

father of psychology and developer of structuralism

focuses on breaking down mental processes into the basics

Hermann von Ebbinghaus

experimental psychology and memory

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve

William James and functionalism

founder of functionalism

emphasizes mental processes’ purpose in adapting to the environment

Karl Popper and falsifiability

proposed as a criterion to differentiate scientific theories from non-scientific theories

John Watson and radical behaviorism

emphasizes that behavior is determined by environmental stimuli rather than internal thoughts

B.F. Skinner

developed the theory of operant conditioning

behaviorism

Edward C. Tolman

cognitive maps and learning in behaviorism

Noam Chomsky

theories on language and language acquisition device

information processing approach

making human thinking more like computer operations, promoting the flow and transformation of information

computer metaphor

comparing human cognition to computer operations

action potential

neuron sends info down the axon

neurotransmitter

chemicals that transmit signals across synapses

learning at the neural level

changes in neural connections due to experience, enabling memory and skill acquisition

what major division of the brain is the highlighted area

hindbrain

what major division of the brain is the highlighted area

midbrain