Exam 3 Cognitive Processes

What are flashbulb memories? Give some examples of the types of events that tend to lead to flashbulb memories. Based on the research discussed in class and in the text (pp. 290-292), are flashbulb memories more
accurate than memories for less emotional events? Explain using the research results.

Flashbulb memories are memories that are formed after highly emotional events that produce intense emotions.

JFK assassination, challenger shuttle explosion, OKC bombing, 9/22 attacks, and personal tragedies or joyful events.

Follows a typical forgetting curve and is distorted, like any other memories. Sometimes remembered less well because attention is narrowly focused. 

9/11 Hirst study: Rapid forgetting occurs in the first year and then levels off, but confidence remained high.Looked at attention to media, the amount of discussion, residency, personal loss and/or inconvenience, and emotional intensity.

Discuss the classical view of concepts and categorization as well as the major problems with this view. Then explain the prototype view of concepts and how the exemplar view is different. When explaining each view, be sure to explain how category judgments are made according to all 3 views, providing examples to clarify.

Classical view: Members of a category all share certain features, some features are necessary for something to be considered a member of the category, and when a set of features exist together, it is sufficient to determine whether something is an instance of that category.

Issues: Necessary features cant be determined, category membership is not always clear cut, and some members are judged as more typical than others.

Example: Robins are more representative of birds than penguins when asked to compare potassium levels with humans.

Prototype view: Categories have prototypes (idealized representations) that include typical aspects. Category membership is determined by comparing new object to prototype for category.

Issues: without constraints, can have a hard time explaining some real-life categories and does not account for context. pomeranians are not cats?

Example: Wittgenstein’s family resemblance - no defining features, but characteristic features

Exemplar view: Concepts and categories are made up of actual instances rather than abstractions... category membership is judged by similarity to stored representations.

Issues: Too unconstrained. Does not mention which exemplars should be stored, how they’re organized, or which ones are selected for use.

Example: Comparing a bird in the shop to seeing one you have seen in the park

Describe what a semantic network is and then explain the concept of spreading activation in a semantic network. Then describe how this concept explains the semantic priming effect shown by Meyer and Schvaneveldt (1971)
in their lexical decision task. In your answer, be sure to explain what a lexical decision task is, what results Meyer and Schvaneveldt found, and how their results can be explained using the idea of spreading activation.

Semantic network: Concepts can be represented as an interconnected network of related ideas. Each concept is a node, and connections among nodes are semantic associations. 

Spreading activation: When one node is activated, activation spreads to associated nodes, and retrieval happens when a threshold is hit. 

Explains semantic priming: Lexical decision task is when the participant sees 2 strings of letters (words or non words). They must say yes or no whether both are real words. Reaction time measured, and would have quicker reaction to related words.

emotion and memory consolidation

Emotional memories stimulates the amygdala, causing better memory consolidation

'“family resemblance” idea applied to categories

Members of categories share a family resemblance with no defining features

typicality effects

Instead of all members of a category being equal, certain members are judged as more typical than others

sentence verification task

“A robin is a bird” vs “a penguin is a bird”

Exemplifies the typicality effect

production task

lists of instances generated from a category name

basic level of categorization

Default for naming objects, and typically represented by a single word

Musical instruments (superordinate) → guitar (basic level) → classical guitar or folk guitar (subordinate category)

knowledge-based view of concepts

Complex knowledge is used in making category judgements, not just a list of features, a prototype, or exemplars.

e.x: Things to save in a fire, topics to avoid discussing with your parents.

Knowledge about somethings function, value, and relation to other things is considered

hierarchical semantic network model

Each concept is a node in the network, semantic features attached to the conceptual nodes, and concepts are stored in a hierarchy

cognitive economy

the idea that it would be a waste of mental space to represent all of the features of ‘animal’ with each animal instance.  Storing the information at the highest possible node would be more economical.

Explain what it means for language to be symbolic, structured, generative and allow for displacement.

Symbolic: Words, signs, gestures represent objects, ideas, and emotions.

Structured: Specific rules govern how symbols can be combined to convey meaning.

Generative: An infinite number of messages can be created, with different and sometimes novel meanings, from a finite number of symbols.
Displacement: Language can be used to communicate about things not in the here-and-now

Define coarticulation and give an example. Then explain why categorical perception of speech sounds helps us avoid the difficulties in understanding speech that might result from coarticulation.

Coarticulation: The assimilation of the place of articulation of one speech sound to that of an adjacent speech sound.

Example: The s in spoon causes rounded lips to compensate for the p and a smoother transition

Categorical perception: Helps us determine the differences between categories of sounds but not within categories. The study in the book kept making (ba) progressively sound more like (pa), but people had a hard time distinguishing the point it switched fully.

What is sentence parsing? Why is it sometimes difficult, and how do we usually resolve these difficulties? What are garden-path sentences, and what can they tell us about sentence parsing? In each part of your answer, provide
examples to illustrate the ideas as you are explaining them. (from lecture and the textbook; see pages 360-364)

phonology

How languages organize their sound and how they convey meaning

morphology

How parts of words are arranged

syntax

specific rules about language

pragmatics

how context influences the meaning of language

The structure of language (5)

Pragmatics, semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology

surface vs. deep structure

Surface structure: Specific words used and their order in the sentence

Deep structure: underlying meaning of the sentance

McGurk effect

When the visual cue overrides the auditory cue

Grice’s maxims of cooperative conversation

phonemic restoration effect

prosody

A general term that refers to the aspects of an utterance’s sound that are not specific to the words themselves

brain imaging techniques

Structural imaging: CT and MRI

Functional imaging: PET and fMRI

rods and cones

Rods: Sensitive to low light. Poor acuity. Packed on outside.

Cones: Sensitive to hues. High acuity. Packed in middle.

prosopagnosia

Inability to place faces to names. Suggests implicit neural structure for facial recognition

retrograde vs. anterograde amnesia

Retrograde amnesia: disrupts previously made memories

Anterograde amnesia: disrupts memory for experiences made after the injury

semantic vs. episodic memory

Semantic memory: Memory of facts, concepts, and knowledge

Episodic memory: Memory of personal experiences and events