cognitive psychology all weeks

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

consolidation

process that transforms new memories to be more resistant to disruption

cross-cortical consolidation

controlled by the hippocampus-

simultaneous reactivation of several cortical areas that represent different parts of a particular memory

deep processing

attention to meaning, relating an item to something else (elaborative rehearsal)

elaborative rehearsal

thinking about the meaning of items, making connections to prior knowledge

enactment effect

more likely to remember an object when you do something with it

encoding specificity

we learn info along with its context, context can lead to enhanced memory for the info

generation effect

memory better when person generates material themselves, rather than passively receiving it

levels of processing theory

memory depends on how information is encoded, deep processing leads to better memory than shallow processing

long-term potentiation (LTP)

increased firing in a neuron due to prior synapse activity

maintenance rehearsal

repetition without consideration of meaning/connections to other information

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digit span task done forward, no manipulation of information

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shallow processing

multiple trace model of consolidation

hippocampus is involved in remote memory retrieval

paired associate learning

participants presented with pairs of words, one word of each pair is presented, task is to recall the other word

reactivation

process in memory consolidation

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hippocampus replays activity associated with a memory, activity occurs in connections in cortex, results in new connections (stronger memory)

salience tags

label attached to a memory during/after encoding, indicates that it is something worth remembering

spacing effects

advantage in performance caused by short study sessions w/ breaks in between

standard model of consolidation

memory retrieval depends on hippocampus consolidating, but once consolidation is complete, retrieval no longer depends on the hippocampus

synaptic vs. systems consolidation

synaptic: fast, changes at synapses

systems: gradual, reorganization of circuits w/in brain regions

transfer appropriate processing

when type of task that occurs during encoding matches the type during retrieval

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enhanced memory

analytic introspection

early psychologists, trained participants to describe experiences/thought processes in response to stimuli

cognitive revolution

1950s shift, introducing the info-processing approach

empiricist approach

role of experiments

information processing approach

mind processes information through a sequence of stages

logic theorist

Newell-Herbert computer program, able to solve logic problems

multiple resource model

there are separate resources for different stages of info, processing, different modalities and different codes

savings

ebbinghaus: measure to determine memory left from initial learning, higher savings = greater memory

structuralism

perception is the adding up of small elementary units called sensations

broca’s area

frontal lobe, language production

cerebral cortex

higher mental functions

distributed representation

specific cognition activates many areas of the brain

EEG

records summed electrical activity of cortical neurons, measured with scalp electrodes

event-related potential (ERP)

electrical signal recorded with disc electrodes on a person’s scalp

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indicates neuron’s firing in waves occurring in delays, can be linked to different functions

fMRI

brain imaging, measure how blood flow changes in response to cognitive activity

hierarchical processing

processing that progresses from low → high areas of the brain

MRI

brain imaging, creates images of structures through iron content detection

neuron doctrine

individual neurons transmit signals in the nervous system, they aren’t continuous with other cells

spatial vs. temporal resolution

the precision of measurement with regards to place and time

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representation in memory is to scale?

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voxel

small cube shaped areas in the brain used in the analysis of data from brain scanning experiments

action/where pathway

dorsal stream

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occipital lobe to the parietal lobe, neural processing occurs when people take action

bayesian interference

estimate of the outcome probability is determined by the prior probability/initial belief and the likelihood of the occurrence

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likelihood: the extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome

direct pathway model

model of pain perception, pain signals go directly from receptors to the brain

ebbinghaus illusion

the one with the orange circles, one surrounded by big circles one surrounded by small circles.

the one with the big circles looks bigger even though they are the same size

gestalt psychologists

proposed principles governing perception, laws of organization and perceptual approach to problem solving involving restructuring

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heuristics

inverse projection problem

the task of determining the object that cause a particular image on the retina

likelihood principle

helmholtz theory of unconscious inference

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we perceive the object that is most likely to have cause the pattern of stimuli we have received

oblique effect

vertical and horizontal orientations can be perceived more easily than other (slanted) orientations

perception/what pathway

ventral stream, occipital lobe to the temporal lobe

perceiving and recognizing objects

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principles of perceptual organization

by gestalt psychologists,

explain how small elements of a scene or a display become perceptually grouped to form larger units

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laws = heuristics

semantic regularities

characteristics associated with functions carried out in different types of scenes

unconscious interference

Helmholtz: some perceptions result from unconscious assumptions about the environment

visual masking paradigm

studies pre-perceptual processing

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brief image flash preceded and followed by a measure to prevent conscious processing of it

laws of pragnanz

gestalt psychologists

set of rules that can be used to describe visual grouping processes

attenuation model

Treisman’s model:

selection occurs in two stages

middle level meaning processing

attenuator

analyzes incoming message in terms of physical characteristics, language, meaning

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attended messages pass through at full strength, unattended at reduced strength

Balint’s syndrome

brain damage that causes a person to have difficulty focusing attention on individual objects

bottle neck model

model that says that information is restricted at some point in processing so only a portion gets through to consciousness

conjunction search

looking among distractors for a target that involves two+ features

covert attention

attention out of the corner or your eye, shifted without moving

dot probe task

two pictures/words are presented by a fixation point. one of them is replaced by a target, which participants respond to

endogenous cues

in the spatial attention task, appear at fixation of screen and **indicate where** the participant can expect subsequent target

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manipulates top-down attention

exogenous cues

in spatial attention task

appear at locatio**n where subsequent target could appear**

manipulates bottom up/reflexive attention

filter model of attention

proposes a ____ that lets attended stimuli through and blocks some or all of the unattended stimuli

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lowest level of processing

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BROADBENT

flanker compatibility task

measures interference + inhibition of prepotent responses

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respond to central target stimulus, flanked by other stimuli which can be congruent or incongruent to the target

focused attention stage

second part of Treisman’s feature integration theory, attention causes the combination of features into perception of an object

illusory conjunctions

treisman experiment

features from different objects are inappropriately combined

late selection models

models that propose selection of stimuli for final processing doesn’t occur until after the information in the message has been analyzed for meaning

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Deutsch and Deutsch

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highest meaning processing

load theory of attention

proposes that the ability to ignore irrelevant stimuli depends on the load of the current task

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high load tasks result in less distraction

overt attention

shifting attention by moving the eyes

preattentive stage

first part of Treisman’s integration theory, an object is analyzed into its features

saliency map

image that indicates physical properties of areas and objects in a scene

shadowing

repeating a message out loud

used in studies of selective attention with dichotic listening procedures (asked to repeat attended message out loud and then asked questions about unattended message)

stimulus salience

bottom-up factors that determine attention

articulatory rehearsal

process involved in working memory that keeps items in the phonological store from decaying

articulatory suppression

interference while carrying out a task that requires the phonological loop

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occurs when repeating an irrelevant word

delayed partial report

used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, participants only report some of the stimuli presented

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cue tone indicates what to report

the one where there are rows of letters

1 letter remembered after 1 second delay in cue

embedded processes model

Cowan: working memory explained as the cognitive processes that are responsible for retaining information in a temporarily enhanced accessible state

episodic buffer

Baddeley WM model

backup store that communicates with LTM and WM

holds info longer/bigger capacity than phonological loop+visuospatial sketchpad

fMRI decoding procedure

attempts to infer the corresponding stimuli by analyzing the observed brain responses

modal model of memory

Atkinson and Shiffrin

memory processes information in stages

includes STM and LTM

contains features of many models that were being proposed in the 1960s

1) sensory memory

2) STM

3) LTM

perseveration

when someone gets stuck on an idea, difficulty in behavior switching, hinders problem solving skills

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cases of prefrontal cortex damage

proactive vs. retroactive interference

proactive: information learned previously interferes w/ learning new info

retroactive: new information interferes w/ memory for the past

hippocampus

structure that helps in forming long-term memories, plays a role in remote episodic memories, storage of novel information

incidental encoding

presents items that are then tested for memory, participants’ focus is distracted when remembering

lexical decision task

task where a person is asked to decide as quickly as possible whether a particular stimulus is a word/non-word

primacy effect

task where list of words is presented, enhanced memory for words presented at the beginning of the list

priming

a change in response caused by previous presentation of the same or a similar stimulus

prospective memory

remembering to recall a planned intention or to do something at some point in the future

remember/know procedure

subjects are presented with a stimulus they have encountered before, are asked to say if they have a memory of the actual initial encounter or if it seems familiar but they don’t remember the specifics

repetition priming

when an initial presentation of a stimulus affects the person’s response to the same stimulus when it is presented later

serial position curve

participants are asked to recall a list of words, plot of the percentage of participants remembering each word against the position of that word in the list

word completion task

participants state a word that they think of when given the first few letters

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used to test repetition priming

cognitive hypothesis

explanation for the reminiscence bump

memories of adolescents and early adulthood are better because encoding during periods of rapid change is better bc it is followed by period of stability

constructive nature of memory

what people report as memories are constructed based on what actually happened + additional factors (expectations, knowledge, other life experiences)

DRM paradigm

study of false memory in a lab

related words are presented, but not the target word (the critical lure)

when participants are subsequently asked to recall the words they often falsely remember the critical lure

misinformation effect

misleading information presented after a person witnesses an event can change the way the person describes the event later

orienting response

an organism’s reflexive response to a change or novelty in its environment

post-identification feedback effect

an increase in confidence of memory recall due to confirming feedback after making an identification

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why police can’t tell you you did a good job

pragmatic interference

occurs when reading or hearing a statement leads a person to expect something that is not explicitly stated

repeated reproduction

when a person is asked to reproduce a stimulus on many occasions at longer and longer intervals after original presentation

isolation effect

von restorff

when multiple, similar items are presented, item that differs the most is best remembered

anterior temporal lobe

area in temporal lobe, damage has been connected with semantic deficits in dementia patients and with savant syndrome