Psych 20 Final

Second half of class

Global workspace hypothesis

Consciousness functions as the “theater” of the mind, with explicit processing (consciousness) allowing for information to move into the working memory

Utilization behavior

Acting on objects w/o being conscious of acting on them

Seen with damage to frontal lobes (Exec func disorders, schizophrenia, infants)

Anarchic Hand (“Alien hand syndrome”)

Loss of conscious control of hand due to severe brain damage

The hand engages in utilization behavior on its own

Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC)

The unknown link between neurons in our brain and how that gives raise to consciousness

Blindsight

Cannot mechanically see (consciously) but can still respond to visual stimuli unconsciously

Due to damage/removal of primary visual cortex (V1)

Visual processing activity happens before V1

Affective blindsight

People with blindsight respond emotionally to stimuli presented in blind area

Galvanic skin response

Cannot identify, but can recognize familiarity and emotion

Since the amygdala is active, it must be before V1

Galvanic skin response

Physical response to scary faces, measuring sweat as a correlate to arousal

Neglect

Damage to temporal-parietal junction (dorsal stream) —> no subjective blindness, but rather the inability to attend to the visual field

Unilateral neglect

Unilateral Neglect

Neglecting ½ the visual field; opposite to the side of damage on the temporal-parietal junction (associated with switching attention)

Can still respond to the neglected half

Attention-switching issue

Priming effects

Information that is “known” without being consciously perceived

Works if people aren’t explicitly aware they are being primed

Semantic Priming

Exposing a person to one word or concept makes them recognize or process a related word faster

Semantically related pairs (ex: monkey-banana) leads to a faster response than non-semantically related pairs (ex: car-banana)

Backwards Masking

Presentation of a mask (in the future) overrides perception of something in the past, before the stimulus before can be percieved

Priming stimulus —> masked by consciously perceived stimulus

Masked Priming

People still show priming effects (in behavior) even if they don’t consciously perceive the prime

Subliminal Advertising

Advertising through subliminal messages, unconsciously affecting your behavior to be more inclined to purchase a product

Original Vicary “study” with popcorn is a hoax; never in replicated experimental setting

Not more effective than normal priming
Can impact brand choice, but mainly for those already intending to purchase the relevant product

Saccadic suppression

Eye jumps that our vision perceives as motion blur, otherwise they would make the world appear smeared

When our eyes jump, conscious vision is suppressed

Gist

The “big picture”; accessible before details (not verbatim)

We recognize general categories before objects

Intrusion errors can arise from this, if it fits with the general schema

Reverse hierarchy model

Models conscious vision as a domain general process that first outputs the most high-level broad output (feedforward), then goes back to determine fine details (feedback)

Perception vs Action

There can be discrepancy between what you see something as and how you act on it

Visual perception is conscious, but action on visual stimulus doesn’t have to be

Grasping vs looking in Ebbinghaus illusion, flicking vs pointing in hollow mask illusion

Dual Visual System Theory

Serial Position Curve

U-shaped graph demonstrating that a person's ability to recall items from a list depends on the item's position

Primacy effect

Recall advantage with words presented at the beginning of list

Words untouched in LTM before other words wipe them

Does not disappear after 30 seconds

Recency effect

Recall advantage with words presented at the end of a list

Words you just heard, still in your STM

Disappears after 30 seconds

Anterograde Amnesia

Inability to form new long term memories

Does not show primacy effect and wipes out intermediates, but shows recency effect

Short term memory (STM)

The “working memory”

Requires active rehearsal of material to remain here

Key component of many cog abilities: language comprehension and production, thought, arithmetic, goal-oriented behavior, consciousness (global workspace hypoth)

Baddeley & Hitch Model (aka Multi-Component Model)

Model for “working” memory: emphasizes the role of active maintenance and manipulation

Top: Central Executive

Below: Phonological loop, Episodic buffer, Visuospatial sketchpad

Central Executive

Baddeley & Hitch Model

Putting in/taking out information (filtering relevant info) + rehearsing what’s in working memory

Directs attention, places info into proper short-term store (audio or visual)

Phonological loop

Baddeley & Hitch Model

Short term storage for auditory information, updated through rehearsal

Repeating information in your head to yourself

Episodic buffer

Baddeley & Hitch Model

Newest addition: bridge between working memory and LTM, allowing for chunking

Visuospatial sketchpad

Short term storage for visual/spatial motor information, updated through rehearsal

Span task

Quantifies working memory capacity

Found the average items to be 7 (+/-) 2 that can be held in working memory

Tests for WM (working memory)

Span task

Reading comprehension

Accuracy for spatial locations (tracking objects in space)

Recall tasks (immediate or small delay)

Chunking

Random digits are easier to remember in chunks of larger, familiar units (like a phone number, area code, etc)

4 (+/-) 1 can be held in working memory

Temporal grouping

Random digits are easier to remember when there are spaces in time between reading of digits

Overt rehearsal

Observable learning/memory process involving active practice of actions, words, or tasks out loud or through physical movements

Covert rehearsal

Mental technique involving imagining or practicing a behavior, conversation, or skill in the mind without any outward physical action

Longer words (in terms of articulatory duration - how long they take to speak) are harder to remember than short

Phonological loop capacity is related to the length of the items (capacity is temporal; chunking is too vague)

If unrehearsed, info lasts 2 seconds

Digit span variations across language

The more digits there are in a word, the less it is remembered throughout languages

Bilinguals are affected by this: the longer the word, the worse recall

Wing vs Ring

Children were told to remember a list of words including “ring”

Children that pronounce “ring” as “wing” chose a picture of “wing” after a pause

Testing immediately after presented, children chose “ring”

Shows that working memory relies of memory rehearsal, not pure perception

Chunking in VSWM (visual-spatial)

Chess experts can remember detailed chess positions better than amateurs, but only for game-appropriate formations

Corsi Blocks

Task used to assess VSWM function

Task: remember the order the colors flash, click the order blocks flash

Cognitive tradeoff hypothesis

Old theory that humans traded off bad visuospatial WM for good phonological WM (for language)

Supported by chimp preforming much better than humans on VSWM tasks, but this was only because it had much more practice

Concurrent tasks

Doing a verbal task during verbal rehearsal or spatial with spatial rehearsal reduces performance

But, doing verbal task during spatial rehearsal or vice versa doesn’t affect preformance

Executive Function

Includes willed attention, managing WM through central executive, planning, goal-oriented behavior, inhibiting impulses and emotions/behavior

Associated with frontal cortex

Inhibition

Inhibiting impulsive behavior (“raw” emotion produced in limbic system)

To evaluate in lab: teach participant to do one thing and have them do something else; it requires inhibition to '“unlearn”

Develops until adulthood, requires developed EF

A-not-B error

Inhibition experiment with babies:

Toy is always hiding under blanket A —> action is learned so strongly that even when hiding under B, baby still checks A

Baby has to inhibit response of checking A

Wisconsin card sort test

Inhibition experiment with adults:

Cards are sometimes sorted by number, shape, color etc. As new rules are introduced (not explicitly told), participants must adapt to these rules

People with worse executive functions cannot unlearn old rules and adapt to new ones

Marshmallow task

Inhibition experiment with children:

Eat now = 1 marshmallow, wait = 2 marshmallows

Performance on this task positively correlated with: academic achievement, socioemotional behavior, lots of good stuff (.. for rich kids)

From diverse sample: no correlates between delayed gratification and success

Delaying gratification

Do it right now, get reward. Wait for later to get bigger reward

Lead to a big emphasis on emotional intelligence

Disorders of Executive Function

Lower WM capacity and Wisconsin card sorting in: Major depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, dementia

Related to dopamine

Alcohol and Executive Function

Alcohol acts as neural inhibitor —> reduces activity in frontal cortex —> lowers EF abilities

Factor g (general fluid intelligence)

Highly correlated with IQ test scores and academic performance

Likely a genetic component and related to function of prefrontal cortex

Related to WM capacity and attention

Brain training games

Games designed to increase working memory / attention capacities because they are related to general intelligence (gF)

Performance on similar tasks improved, but not on dissimilar tasks —> benefits do not transfer

Near transfer

Get better at similar skills with improvement of one specific skill

Far transfer

Get better at more unrelated skills with improvement of one specific skill

Long-term memory

Consists of implicit memory and explicit (declarative) memory

Implicit memory

Memory for motor skills (aka procedural memory)

Memory for perception

Priming

Explicit (declarative) memory

Semantic memory - facts, concepts, information

Episodic memory - life events, first-hand experiences

Recall tasks (3 types)

Used to study LTM

Free recall - write down as many items as you can remember, any order

Serial recall - write down items in correct order

Cued recall - write down the word that was paired with ____

Recognition tasks

Used to study LTM
More sensitivite than recall (easier to recognize than recall)

LTM Process (3 steps)

Encoding (getting info into LTM) —> Storage (store info in LTM) —> Retrieval (retrieveing info from LTM)

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model (aka Multi-store Model)

Model of encoding information from STM to LTM

Emphasizes rehearsal: more time in STM = more time rehearsed = stronger LTM encoding

LTM encoding is largely automatic (just straight repetition)

However: there is no correlation between time word has been rehearsed and rate recalled

Shallow processing

Shallow level of processing —> not encoded as well in LTM

Superficial ways of thinking about words that doesn’t relate to their meaning

Ex: does the word rhyme with another word?

Deep processing

Better quality of rehearsal —> better encoding in LTM

Thinking about words by their actual meaning

Ex: does the word fit into the sentence?

Levels of Processing (LOP) Task

Deep encoding vs shallow encoding —> Cued recalled tasks after

Deep encoding is usually, but not always, better than shallow

Cued recall

Tasks to test shallow and deep encoding on a list of items:

Shallow: “Was there a word that rhymed with ___”?

Deep: “Was there a word that meant ___?”

Encoding and recall tasks work best when they match (deep-deep & shallow-shallow)

Elaborative encoding

Method of encoding that involves linking new information to already stored (old) information

Elaboration = process of linking new information to old

Semantic Networks

A complicated web within your memory, connecting all concepts together

New information fits into this web by linking it with old info

Best way to remember new info is to link it with old

Non-hierarchical, local representation (associative)

Mnemonics

Conscious effortful strategies for memory, connecting new information to familiar, easy to remember concepts

Can dramatically increase memory capacity

Method of Loci, Peg method, Linguistic elaboration

Method of Loci

“Memory Palace” —> storing memories around an imaginary palace

Visual and spatial associations

Mnemonic

Peg method

Take a sequence you already know and “peg” new info to each item in that sequence

Ex of sequence: numbers, days of the week, etc

Mnemonic

Linguistic elaboration

Connecting new words to old, familiar words through acoustics, imagery, etc

Mnemonic

Testing effect

Learning method involving asking questions while learning, studying, reviewing

The more retrieval practice, the easier it’ll be to retrieve info in the future

Interleaving

Learning method involving interspersing old material with new material

Mixing and relating old material w new material

Generative learning

Learning method involving teaching the topic to someone else

Allows for new questions, different understandings

Re-learning

Learning method involving forgetting material and learning it again

Each new time you learn info, it becomes stronger

Distributed studying > cramming

Happens with addiction and relapse cycles —> stronger relapses

If given a set of digits to remember, people better recall repeated sequences, even if they don’t remember learning them the first time

Decay

Information decays with time (forgetting)

The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve

Illustrates natural exponential decay of memory over time when there’s no active attempt to retain it

Interference

New info/experiences interfere with old info/experiences or vice versa —> forgetting

Retroactive - new interferes with old —> forgetting old info

Proactive - old interferes with new —> harder to learn new info

Forgetting

Information must be first encoded in the LTM to be considered forgotten

Forgotten info isn’t completely gone, it’s just inaccessible

Memory consolidation

Long term memories consolidate gradually

SLEEP is super important for consolidation

Reactivating memory helps consolidate it

Interference can disrupt consolidation

Perma-store

Memories that stick along for a very long period of time —> the long, long term memory

State-dependent memory

Memories are more easily recalled if you are in a similar state (emotional, mental, state of consciousness) as when encoding

Internal similarity

Context-dependent memory

Memories are more easily recalled if you are in a similar environmental context (location, people, activity, objects) as when encoding

External similarity

To avoid, study in many different environments

Retrieval interference

Retrieving some items in a category interferes with retrieving the others

Ex: you keep thinking of the same retrieved items, blocking you from retrieving other items

Tip of the tongue phenomenon

You know you know a word, but you just can’t quite remember

Partial retrieval; word isn’t retrieved as one full unit

Pollyana effect

Pleasant items are usually processed more efficiently and accurately, compared to neutral or unpleasant info

Positivity bias

Rosy view

Events are remembered as more positive / less negative over time

Positivity effect

Source of nostalgia? (people attribute old times to being “good”)

Depressive realism

Individuals with depression may perceive certain aspects of the world more accurately than those without depression

No positive bias

Schema / Shemata

Mental model of the world and particular aspects about it, developed over our lifetime

Becomes more fixed/unchangeable with age and experience (as it’s reinforced)

Can allow us to navigate world in cognitively efficient manner but also distorts memory/perception (to fit schema)

Predictive processing

Brain is a prediction engine —> predict the next stage of the world based on new sensory info and past schemata

“Grand unified theory” of the brain

Correct = reinforce schema, incorrect = revise schema —> maximized accuracy

Everything our brain does is to minimize surprise

Bayesian statistics

Determining probability/likelihood of events given all old and new scientific or worldly knowledge

Takes schemata into account

Not just looking at isolated p-values; context matters

Serial reproductions

Experiment method where information is passed down sequentially from one person to the next

Ex: telephone game

Intrusion errors

Mistakes made in memory, not by random, but due to a schema

Reconstructive memory

Memory is a reconstructive process

When we retrieve memories, we reconstruct them based off of our schemata

—> Intrusion errors and filling-in effects

Seven sins of memory - Schacter

Classifies memory errors:

Transience

Absent-mindedness

Blocking

Misattribution

Suggestibility

Bias

Persistence

TABMSBP

(1) Transience

Memories degrade over time

Impermanent

(2) Absent-mindedness

Memory is dependent upon attention

No attention —> no memory of event

(3) Blocking

Irrelevant knowledge can interfere with (block) retrieval

(4) Misattribution

Failure to remember where information was obtained

Misattribute context but remember event

Ex: '“sleeper effect” - read fake news but forget it’s fake

(5) Suggestibility

Information from others distorts our own memory