PS260 - COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Final Exam

What is the research approach view of cognitive psychology?

Studies intelligent behaviour using an information-processing framework

What is the processes approach in cognitive psychology?

Involves all processes that transform, reduce, elaborate, store and recover sensory input.

What is the domain of inquiry in cognitive psychology?

How people perceive, represent, remember, & use knowledge.

What is a representation in cognitive psychology?

Knowledge stored in memory.

What is a static structure?

Memory that almost never changes.

What is a dynamic structure?

Memory that is always changing.

What is a process in cognitive psychology?

Operation on a stimulus, e.g., creating, manipulating, or updating memories.

How did Plato describe memory?

Like a block of wax that retains or loses impressions depending on their strength.

What is Aristotle’s doctrine of association?

Mental life is ideas (elements) linked by associations.

What are Aristotle’s three laws of association?

Contiguity (same time/place), similarity (conceptually alike), contrast (opposites).

Who first measured “thinking time”?

Franciscus Donders (1868).

What is simple reaction time?

Time to press a key as quickly as possible after a stimulus.

What is choice reaction time?

Time to press a key only for a specific stimulus.

How is decision time calculated?

Choice reaction time − simple reaction time.

What did Wundt & Titchener study?

Conscious mental events: feelings, thoughts, perceptions, recollections.

What is introspection?

Looking within to observe mental content with minimal interpretation.

What is structuralism?

Identifying simplest mental elements & laws of their combination.

Problems with introspection/structuralism?

Cannot observe unconscious thought; lacks testability.

What did Ebbinghaus study?

Quantifying forgetting using nonsense syllables.

What is the method of savings?

Relearning something takes less time than the original learning.

How is savings calculated?

Original learning time − relearning time.

What did William James distinguish?

Primary memory (short-term) & secondary memory (long-term).

What is functionalism?

Define mind by its functions and its role in adaptation.

Key idea of 20th-century behaviorism?

Behavior is objective, observable; mind/consciousness not studied.

Key behaviorists?

Watson & Skinner.

Examples of behaviorist studies?

Operant & classical conditioning.

Problems with behaviorism?

Ignores understanding, equates learning with performance, cannot explain complex learning (e.g., language).

Lessons from introspection & behaviorism?

Mental events must be studied scientifically; objective methods needed.

What is the transcendental method (Kant)?

Work backward from observations to determine best explanation for invisible mental events.

How can mental events be studied indirectly?

Manipulate stimuli/responses, develop hypotheses, design experiments to test explanations.

How did WW2 communication engineering influence cognitive psychology?

Provided analogies for cognitive processes: encoding/decoding, information processing, channels, channel capacity, noise.

What metaphor helped study the mind in the 1950s?

The computer analogy.

How did the computer analogy explain psychological data?

Using buffers, gates, and central processors.

What did the computer metaphor allow researchers to do?

Test hypotheses about information-processing steps.

Key discoveries using the computer analogy?

Intellectual functioning models in the 1960s–1970s.

Name two key models of information processing.

Broadbent’s filter model (1958) & Waugh & Norman model (1965).

How did behaviorists explain language?

Associative chain theory; learning through reinforcement & conditioning.

What was Chomsky’s critique of Skinner’s “Verbal Behavior”?

Language cannot be explained by stimulus-response chains alone.

What is productivity in language?

Ability to produce/understand infinite new sentences.

What is the poverty of the stimulus?

Children’s language input is insufficient to explain complexity.

What is intuitive knowledge of grammar?

Sentences can be syntactically correct even if meaningless.

Example of syntactically correct but meaningless sentence?

“Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.”

What are discontinuous linguistic units?

Units showing long-range dependencies among words.

Example of a discontinuous unit?

“George picked the baby up” vs. “George picked up the baby.”

What marked the cognitive revolution by the mid-1960s?

Cognitive psychology became the dominant field.

Where is the hindbrain located?

Directly on top of the spinal cord.

What functions does the hindbrain control?

Heartbeat, breathing, alertness/sleep, balance.

Functions of the cerebellum?

Movement coordination, spatial reasoning, sound discrimination, integrating sensory input.

Where is the midbrain located?

Above the hindbrain.

Functions of the midbrain?

Coordinates eye movements, includes auditory pathways, regulates pain.

Function of the inferior colliculi?

Relay auditory info to the forebrain.

Functions of the superior colliculi?

Receive visual input, control reflexive eye/head movement, track objects.

What is the forebrain?

Largest brain structure, contains the cortex (~3 mm thick, 80% of brain).

Why are cortical convolutions important?

Increase surface area for neural processing.

Function of deep fissures?

Divide brain into sections.

What does the longitudinal fissure do?

Separates left & right hemispheres.

What does the central fissure do?

Divides frontal & parietal lobes.

What does the lateral fissure do?

Divides temporal lobes from frontal & parietal lobes.

How are occipital lobes connected?

Connect to parietal & temporal lobes.

What does the motor area do?

Sends movement signals to lower brain/spinal cord.

Motor cortex stimulation results in what?

Movement on the opposite side (contralateral).

What gets more motor cortex space?

Body parts requiring precise movement.

Where is the primary somatosensory (touch) area located?

Front of parietal lobe.

What determines somatosensory cortical space?

Sensitivity of the body part.

Where is the primary auditory cortex?

Superior temporal lobe.

How is the auditory cortex organized?

By frequency; adjacent frequencies → adjacent cortical sites.

Which frequencies have larger cortical areas?

Speech frequencies.

Where is the primary visual cortex?

Occipital lobe.

What gets the most visual cortical space?

The fovea.

How much of the cortex do association areas make up?

About 75%.

What do association areas do?

Link ideas/sensations & support complex thought and skilled movement.

What are apraxias?

Difficulty initiating/organizing voluntary actions (frontal lobe damage).

What are agnosias?

Inability to recognize familiar objects (occipital/parietal damage).

Are agnosias modality-specific?

Yes—often limited to one sensory system.

What is neglect syndrome?

Ignoring half the visual world (parietal damage).

What is aphasia?

Language disruption from left frontal/temporal damage.

Damage near motor areas causes what kind of aphasia?

Speech production difficulty.

Damage near auditory areas causes what kind of aphasia?

Speech comprehension difficulty.

Effects of prefrontal damage?

Poor planning, poor inhibition, confusion about events.

Famous case of prefrontal damage?

Phineas Gage.

Function of dendrites?

Receive incoming signals.

Function of the cell body?

Houses nucleus & machinery.

Function of the axon?

Sends signals to other neurons.

What transmits signals between neurons?

Neurotransmitters.

What is a synapse?

Space between presynaptic & postsynaptic neurons.

What affects postsynaptic response?

Neurotransmitter amount, cell sensitivity, multiple inputs.

What is the all-or-none law?

If threshold is reached, signal strength is constant.

How can a neuron increase signal intensity?

By firing more frequently or for longer.

What does a CT/CAT scan do?

Uses X-rays to create a 3D map of brain structure.

What does an MRI measure?

Atomic nuclei alignment → produces detailed structural images.

What does fMRI measure?

Blood oxygen levels (BOLD signal).

Strength of fMRI?

Excellent spatial resolution.

Limitation of fMRI?

Poor temporal resolution.

What is the FFA specialized for?

Recognizing faces.

What is the PPA specialized for?

Recognizing places/houses.

What does TMS do?

Uses magnetic pulses to temporarily disrupt brain activity.

What does TMS help researchers study?

Normal brain function by creating reversible “virtual lesions.”

What does ERP measure?

Electrical activity from groups of neurons firing.

What produces ERP peaks?

Cognitive processing linked to positive/negative voltage shifts.

What does PET scan measure?

Glucose use via radioactive tracer.