Cognition Final

henry molaison case

part of temporal lobe removed (hippocampus and amygdala), no longer able to form new memories. sponsored theories about localization of brain parts, and that memory is processed in different brain areas

anatomic dissociation

different tasks are supported by different parts of the brain

anterograde amnesia

the inability to form new memories after the onset of amnesia, often associated with damage to the hippocampus.

mirror tracing task

A cognitive task used to study motor learning and implicit memory, where individuals trace a shape while only seeing their hand in a mirror.

explicit memory

there should be memories related to events, dates, names; consists of facts and events that can be explicitly stored and consciously recalled; episodic and semantic

implicit memory

there should be memories related to motor skills that we learn or a type of knowledge that we’re not aware of; part of the long-term memory that is responsible for knowing how to do things

type of memory information

explicit and implicit

duration of information

short-term(seconds), long-term(minutes, days, years, etc.)

stages of remembering

encoding, storage, retrieval

process of memory

controlled/deliberate and automatic

episodic memory

information acquired in specific episodes of life (when, where…); biographical information, “happened to me” feeling; involves consciousness, the past, events, rapid and automatic encoding, retrieval required and dependent on cues, fallible and reconstructive

California Verbal Learning Task

A lab task of episodic memory that shows the early signs of dementia by assessing verbal recall and recognition over multiple trials. It involves learning a list of words and measuring how well they are recalled immediately and after delays, providing insight into the encoding and retrieval processes. (free recall vs cued recall and immediate recall vs long-term recall); different conditions lead to different performances, amount of cues may enhance the performance, and a strong memory needs few cues

visual stimulus task

a lab task of episodic memory that shows new and old images to assess our memory ability

semantic memory

general knowledge, principles and rules. individual is seldom aware of when/where the material was acquired; set of units with a state of activation of 0-1, output function, pattern of connectivity, activation rules that determine the strength of associations and retrieval of information.

controversies about episodic vs. semantic

all semantic memories must start as episodic; may not be separable systems; some memories can be both semantic and episodic —> semantic and episodic memory are not perfectly distinct systems, but it’s possible to study about how each of them work at once

semantic memory in the lab

can name objects, but is seldom aware of when they learned that

hierarchical theory of memory organization

proposes that memories are structured in a hierarchy, with broader categories at the top and more specific details below them.; nodes are concepts and lines link the nodes; must always inherit properties above it (property inheritance)

spreading activation theory of memory

suggests that activating one memory will trigger related memories, facilitating retrieval of associated information. links represent associations between the nodes as concepts are associated by meaning (semantic network)

motor skills and sequence of actions

“how” information as opposed to “what, when and where’

repetition priming

recently used information is more available for reuse

conditioning effect

classical conditioning/emotional conditioning

memory encoding

the process of converting sensory input into long-term storage.

penny research

studies examining how people recognize and remember the design of U.S. pennies, highlighting issues related to perception and memory; most people never encoded this information and it was not transferred to long-term memory

what improves memory enconding

characteristics, not intention. attributing meaningful information to associate information with already encoded information; depth of processing (superficial vs deep); strategies such as elaboration, visual imagery, and rehearsal.

emotional events

most vivid memories are associated with strong emotions, making them easier to recall; intensity not positive/negative; not because we pay more attention but because it causes a boost in memory consolidation because of hormones released

flashbulb memories

detailed, vivid memories of emotional events that people can recall with high accuracy, often despite the passage of time; may not be accurate

what doesn’t help encoding

intention to learn and repetition

incidental memory task

instructor provides information to participant but doesn’t tell him he’ll need to recall it later

intentional memory task

the participant is previously asked to recall the information

prior knowledge

reduces the load that needs to be remembered; guides the interpretation of details; makes unusual things stand out

schema

memory representation containing information about a type of event

memory retrieval

the process of accessing and bringing to mind information stored in memory; active, reconstructive, assembly process

Donald thompson

A cognitive psychologist known for his research on memory and the misinformation effect, particularly regarding how prior knowledge influences the accuracy of memory retrieval; wrongly accused of rape

why is memory retrieval unreliable

depends on the amount of cue provided by the environment and false memories

transfer appropriate processing

a theory suggesting that memory performance is enhanced when the cognitive processes engaged during encoding match those used during retrieval.

car hit task

A method used in cognitive psychology to study eyewitness testimony and the impact of leading questions on memory recall.

false memories

suggestibility (creation influenced by someone else), misattribution (confuses source of information); as much perceptual details there is in a memory, the higher change there is to recall it; sense of truth can be stronger with delay; works better with peripheral details

possible explanations for false memories

reconstructive aspect of memory, may occur during encoding

occlusion

a phenomenon where a memory is inaccessible due to interference from other memories or events.

tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

a retrieval failure where an individual is unable to access a known word or name but feels that retrieval is imminent.

proactive interference

old information hinders recall of new

retroactive interference

new information hinders recall of old

decay

unused information can fade over time (Ebbinghaus forgetting curve); 50% after 20 minutes and 70% after 24 hours; all memories decay, but some are stronger than others

repression

a defense mechanism whereby unwanted memories are unconsciously blocked from retrieval. active but not intentional

persistance

involuntary recall of unwanted memories that persist despite attempts to forget them.

permanence of memory

some memories spontaneously recovered by a cue doesn’t prove that everything is recorded and can be retrieved

letters

basic unit of language. special object recognition; visual recognition of the letter is associated with its sound

phonemes

individual speech sounds

words

combinations of phonemes that form meaningful units in a language.

sentences/text

combinations of words that express a complete thought or idea.

grammar

the automatized mental rules of language

competence

people’s knowledge about grammar

performance

how people actually speak

word-chain grammar

rules determined by the strength of association between words. (not a good theory)

universal grammar rules

set of grammatical rules are inherited by the individual at birth, suggests every language has the same laws (gender, question, negative, past/present, grammar), anatomical locations have never been found

phrase-structure grammar

flexible model, captures complex meanings, deep vs surface structure

properties to be considered a language

arbitrary, structured, generative, dynamic

arbitrary property of language

there is no inherent connection between sounds and their meanings, allowing for a variety of expressions.

structured property of language

refers to the organized arrangement of symbols and rules that govern their use, providing clarity and understanding in communication.

generative property of language

the ability to create an infinite number of sentences and ideas using a finite set of linguistic elements and rules, enabling creativity in language use.

dynamic property of language

the ability of language to evolve and change over time, adapting to new contexts, cultures, and technological advances.

characteristics of language

no explicit instruction, unique to humans, influences other processes, supported by biology

stages of language learning

cooing, babbling, first word, 2-word combinations

cooing

long vowel sounds/consonants, can here differences between al phonemes

babbling

consonants and vowels with repetition with rythyms of native language

first word

vocabulary of 50 words at 18 months, learn 5-10 every day

2-words combination

telegraphic speech: no verbs, prepositions, and articles

language errors

overextension and overregularization

overextension

using the same word to describe different objects and situations

overregularization

applying the rules to exception words

critical period theory

ideal age to assimilate language goes form childhood to puberty

proof that language is supported by biology

all babies go through same language learning process, parents rarely correct children’s grammar, and all children tend to make the same grammatical mistakes while learning

language deprivation (Genie)

after four years of language simulation, her linguistic performance was similar to a two-year old child

Nim Chimpsky

was able to learn 125 ASL throughout life and could combine words/phrases, but researchers concluded he was unable to learn grammar (mimicked symbols, did not understand)

savage-Rumbaugh

bonobos achieved vocabulary of several hundred words, but concluded that this was just imitation for reward

additional property of language

communicative property; non-human animals have this

how do we overcome differences in pronunciation

categorizing phonemes, using the context, including visual information

categorizing phonemes

phonemes exist in a continuum, but when it comes to speech sounds, we perceive them as belonging to categories that help in distinguishing meaning. This categorization allows us to understand and produce speech despite variations in pronunciation through sudden shifts

using the context

phoneme restoration effect (fixed by context)

including visual information

integrating visual cues, such as lip movements, to enhance speech understanding and eliminate ambiguity.

what makes speech difficult

speech stream is continuous

continuous speech stream

refers to the way spoken language flows without clear pauses between words, making it challenging for listeners to identify individual words and meanings, begin to resolve as children; words are read as entire units

reading words

recognizing letters, figuring out which sound is associated with which phoneme

dual route model

lexical route, letter to phoneme

lexical route

written word corresponds with lexicon entry that corresponds with meaning

letter to phoneme

graphemes interpreted as phonemes, helps interpret new words

acquired dyslexia

surface and phonological

regular words

standard pronunciation

irregular words

violate letter-sound correspondence

surface dyselxia

lexical route is impaired, can read non-words/regular words, cannot read irregular words/exception words

phonological dyslexia

difficulty with the letter-to-phoneme route, can read irregular and irregular words in lexicon but struggle with non-words/unknown words

what makes sentence processing difficult

the order of the words, interpretation of spoken/written sentences

garden path sentence

a grammatically correct sentence that initially leads the reader to interpret it in a misleading way, often requiring reanalysis.

syntactic cues

we rely them to interpret key-words, word order, and active versus passive voicepri

principle of minimal attachment

a principle in sentence processing that suggests people tend to attach new information to the structure of a sentence in the simplest way possible, minimizing the complexity of sentence parsing. we’re biased to add new words to a node that already existed rather than create new nodes

levels of representation in text processing

surface code, text base, proposition, situation model

surface code

representation of the words in the exact order that they appear, we typically do not memorize a text in its surface code

textbase

semantical level in which we infer the meaning of the sentences and how they are related to one another

proposition

the most basic unit of meaning in representation, it is an abstract idea that represents the whole text; propositions are not stored in the mind. knowledge stored in the format of an abstract and general idea. once it is accessed, it is converted into understanding

situation model

coherent representation of the words in a text (summary), lasts much longer, previous information is added to the text to contextualize it and make it make sense