cognitive #1

information management

the process of organizing, storing, accessing, and using information efficiently

judgement and decision-making

involves evaluating information, and choosing among alternatives based on that evaluation

analytical thinking

breaking information or a problem into smaller parts and systematically evaluating how those parts relate

simple

one stimulus, one response

go/no go

respond to one type of stimulus but withhold response to another

choice

different stimuli require different responses

structuralism

attempts to identify the basic elements of conscious experience

analytic introspection

analytic introspection involved trained observers describing their consciousexperiences in response to stimuli

little albert

demonstrated that an emotional response could be conditioned by pairing a neutral stimulus with something frightening

classical conditioning

learning associations between stimuli

operant conditioning

behavior changes because of its consequences, such as reinforcement or punishment

metaphors

provide conceptual models for understanding complex mental processes

scientific revolutions

a major change in scientific thinking in which an existing framework or paradigm is replaced by a substantially different one

cognitive maps

a mental representation of the spatial relationships among locations in an environment

fMRI

imaging measures changes in blood oxygenation associated with neural activity, allowing researchers to identify active brain regions

nerve net

the nervous system was thought to be one continuous network

neuron doctrine

the nervous system is composed of individual cells called neurons that communicate with one another

cell body

contains the nucleus and maintains the cell

dendrites

receive signals

axon

carries signals away from the cell body

action potential

a rapid, temporary change in a neuron's membrane potential that travels along the axon and allows neurons to communicate

neural firing

the generation of action potentials

neural representation

refers to how information about objects, events, or experiences is encoded in patterns of neural activity

specificity coding

one neuron represents one particular thing

population coding

information is represented by the combined activity of many neurons

sparse coding

information is represented by a small subset of neurons within a larger population

microelectrodes

tiny electrodes used to record electrical activity from individual neurons or very small groups of neurons

localized representation

a particular function or representation is primarily associated with a specific brain area

distributed representation

a function or representation depends on activity across multiple brain areas

double dissociation

evidence that two cognitive functions depend on different mechanisms because damage or disruption affects one function but not the other, and vice versa

structural connections

refer to physical pathways between brain regions

functional connections

refer to correlated patterns of activity between regions

default mode network

a network of brain regions that tends to be active during internally focused thought, such as mind-wandering, remembering, imagining, and thinking about oneself or others

hierarchical processing

processing information at multiple levels, from basic features to increasingly complex representations

information processing

the idea that cognition involves processes that receive, transform, store, retrieve, and use information

sensation

is detecting physical stimuli through sensory systems

perception

is interpreting and organizing that sensory information

direct perception

the environment provides sufficient information for perception without extensive inference

constructive perception

perception is actively constructed using sensory information plus prior knowledge and experience

bottom-up

begins with sensory information and builds toward interpretation

top-down

uses knowledge, expectations, and context to influence interpretation

speech segmentation/transitional probabilities

listeners use the probability that one sound or syllable follows another to identify likely word boundaries in continuous speech

unconscious inference

the idea that perception involves unconscious assumptions and inferences about the causes of sensory information

gestalt principles

rules describing how people organize visual elements into meaningful wholes, including proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, and common fate

feature detectors

neurons that respond selectively to specific features of stimuli, such as edges, orientations, movement, or other visual characteristics

bayesian inference

combining sensory evidence with prior knowledge or expectations to estimate the most likely interpretation of sensory input

experience-dependent plasticity

changes in neural structure or function that occur as a result of an individual's experiences and learning

scene schema

a mental framework containing expectations about what objects and events are typically found in a particular type of environment

environmental regularities

repeated patterns or predictable relationships in the environment that help the brain interpret sensory information

what pathway

is primarily involved in identifying objects

where pathway

is involved in determining spatial location and relationships

perception and action streams

one emphasizes identifying and recognizing objects, while the other supports using visual information to guide actions

mirror neurons

neurons that fire when an individual performs an action and, in some contexts, when observing another individual perform a similar action

cognitive load

the amount of mental processing capacity required by a task.

selective attention

focusing on one source of information while filtering others

divided attention

allocating attention to multiple tasks or sources simultaneously

dichotic listening

a task in which different auditory information is presented simultaneously to each ear, often used to study selective attention

broadbent filter model

attention acts as an early filter that selects information based on physical characteristics before the meaning of unattended information is fully processed

treisman attenuation model

instead of completely blocking unattended information, the attentional system weakens or attenuates it, but important information can still pass through

late-selection model

information may be processed for meaning before attention determines which information reaches conscious awareness or controls behavior

sensory memory

very brief storage of sensory information

short-term memory

temporarily holds and processes limited information

long-term memory

relatively durable storage of information

dear aunt jane

a classic example used to illustrate how context can influence perception of ambiguous speech or letters

dictionary unit

a representation in memory corresponding to a word and its associated information, including its meaning and linguistic properties

cocktail party phenomenon

the ability to focus attention on one conversation while still detecting personally significant information, such as hearing your name, from unattended conversations

priming

previous exposure to a stimulus influences how quickly or accurately a person responds to a later related stimulus

processing capacity

the limited amount of cognitive processing that can be performed at a given time

perpetual load

the amount of perceptual processing required by a task

stroop test

demonstrates interference and the difficulty of controlling attention when an automatic response conflicts with the required response

overt attention

directing the eyes toward something you are attending to

covert attention

shifting attention without moving the eyes

saccades

rapid eye movements between locations

fixations

brief periods when the eyes remain relatively still and visual information is processed

attentional warping

the distortion of perceived space or visual characteristics caused by where attention is directed

choking

decline in performance during an important or stressful situation, often because attention or working memory becomes disrupted

inattentional blindness/deafness

failing to notice an unexpected visual or auditory stimulus because attention is focused elsewhere

change blindness

failure to notice a change in a visual scene, especially when the change occurs during a disruption or when attention is elsewhere

seeing coherence

tendency to organize individual visual elements into a meaningful, unified interpretation or scene

feature integration theory

basic features such as color, shape, and orientation can initially be processed separately; focused attention helps bind these features into a unified object

illusion conjunctions

errors in which features from different objects are incorrectly combined—for example, perceiving the color of one object as belonging to another

metacognition

thinking about and monitoring your own thinking and learning