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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An outdated theory suggesting personality traits could be determined by skull shape.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.