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Cognition
The mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension, including thinking, knowing, memory, judgment, and problem-solving.
Historical Theories in Psychology
Theories from philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle that laid the foundation for understanding the mind and cognition.
Mind
Encompasses all cognitive processes and functioning, studied through various methods.
Psychology as a Science
Psychology evolved from philosophical inquiries to scientific inquiry, using experiments to understand cognitive processes.
Structuralism
A paradigm in psychology focused on the structure of mental processes.
Functionalism
A psychological approach emphasizing the purpose of mental processes in adapting to the environment.
Gestalt Psychology
Focuses on perception and holistic processing rather than individual components.
Psychoanalysis
Emphasizes the unconscious mind and its influence on behavior.
Behaviorism
Focuses on observable behavior and dismisses mental processes as subjects of study.
Cognitive Psychology
Returns to understanding the mind and internal cognitive processes.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Examines how machines can simulate human cognitive processes.
Neurons Communication
Neurons communicate through electrical impulses and neurotransmitter release at synapses.
Phineas Gage Incident
An accident involving a railroad worker that significantly affected his personality and advanced brain function understanding.
Phrenology
An outdated theory suggesting personality traits could be determined by skull shape.
Localization of Function
The concept that specific brain areas are responsible for particular functions.
Cerebral Cortex
Involved in higher functions like thought and action.
Cerebellum
Coordinates movement and balance.
Brain Stem
Controls basic life functions like breathing.
Limbic System
Involved in emotions and memory.
Contralateral Organization
Each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body.
Right Hemisphere
Associated with creativity, intuition, and spatial abilities.
Left Hemisphere
Associated with logical reasoning, language, and analytical tasks.
Split Brain Patients
Individuals who have undergone surgery to sever the corpus callosum, providing insights into hemispherical specialization.
EEG (Electroencephalogram)
Measures electrical brain activity and is useful for temporal resolution studies.
ERP (Event-Related Potential)
A type of EEG that measures brain response to specific stimuli.
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
Provides detailed images of brain structure.
PET (Positron Emission Tomography)
Measures brain activity and metabolism in real-time.
Senses
Gather information from the environment through specialized sensory receptors.
Visual System Function
Converts light into neural signals processed to create visual perception.
What vs Where Pathways
The What pathway identifies objects, while the Where pathway is responsible for spatial awareness.
Perception
The process of organizing, interpreting, and experiencing sensory information.
Sensation vs. Perception
Sensation is the initial detection of stimuli; perception is their interpretation.
Bottom-up Theories
Start with sensory input and build up to perception.
Top-down Theories
Rely on prior knowledge and expectations influencing perception.
Template Matching
Involves comparing incoming sensory data to stored templates.
Feature Detection
Identifies basic features like edges and angles to recognize objects.
Gestalt Psychology Principles
Emphasizes that the brain organizes sensory input into meaningful wholes.
Size Illusions
Challenge perception of object size based on context.
Depth Perception
The ability to perceive distance and three-dimensionality of objects.
Regularities in Perception
Involves recognizing patterns and predicting perceptions based on past experiences.
Bayesian Inference
A statistical approach combining prior knowledge with current evidence.
Physical Regularities
Properties of objects and environments.
Semantic Regularities
Meanings associated with certain objects or scenarios.
Prosopagnosia
The inability to recognize faces, often due to damage to the fusiform gyrus.
Fusiform Face Area (FFA)
Specialized for face processing, highlighted in expert studies.
Treisman's Attenuation Model
Suggests unattended information is attenuated rather than filtered out.
Late Selection Models
Argue selection occurs after perception, context can influence responses.
Divided Attention
The ability to process multiple information sources simultaneously.
Load Theory of Attention
Suggests attention capacity is affected by task perceptual load.
Processing Capacity
The amount of information we can process at any given time.
Perceptual Load
High load tasks consume more resources, affecting distraction capacity.
Stroop Effect
Interference in reaction time when color names conflict with ink color.
Inattentional Blindness
Failing to perceive unexpected stimuli when attention is focused elsewhere.
Change Blindness
Failure to notice changes in a visual scene.
Controlled vs. Automatic Processing
Difference between tasks requiring conscious attention and those that do not.
Signal Detection Theory
Framework for understanding signal detection amidst noise.
Vigilance & Fatigue
Prolonged attention can lead to fatigue and reduced task performance.
Visual Search
The process of looking for a target among distractions.
Selective Attention
Focusing on specific stimuli while ignoring others.
Cherry's Dichotic Listening Task
Experiment demonstrating selective attention by recalling details from one of two messages.
Cocktail Party Effect
Ability to focus on a single conversation in a noisy environment while detecting meaningful stimuli.
Early Selection Model
Broadbent's Filter Model proposes attention acts as a filter based on physical characteristics.
