Cognitive Psychology Practice Flashcards

Exactly 395 flashcards in vocabulary style based on the provided lecture transcript.

Phylogenic Division

A system that organizes brain structures based on the chronological order in which they are thought to have evolved.

Subcortical Structures

A group of brain structures including the thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala.

Pons

A neural relay centre that facilitates the crossover of information between the left side of the body and the right side of the brain, and vice-versa.

Modal Model of Memory

The theory by Atkinson and Shiffrin stating memory consists of three components: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Paired Associates Learning

An experimental task where participants learn word pairs (e.g., flag-spoon) and must recall the second word when presented with the first.

Hierarchical Storage

The principle that common characteristics (e.g., traits for dogs) are stored under a broader common object or topic (e.g., animal).

Rosch's Categorization Findings

Evidence that people judge category members as 'better' (robin) or 'worse' (penguin) representations, suggesting categorization is graded and prototype-based.

Continuity of Speech

One of the fundamental problems with speech perception, referring to the fact that speech does not have discrete breaks between words.

Phoneme Variability

The problem in speech perception where a single phoneme sounds different depending on the surrounding phonemes, such as the letter 'p' in 'pumpkin' versus 'phone'.

Mental Models Approach (Utility)

An approach most useful when dealing with abstract material during reasoning tasks.

Individual Differences

Stable patterns of performance that differ quantitatively or qualitatively across individuals within a group.

Intelligence-Based Cognitive Differences

The observation that more intelligent people often carry out basic cognitive processes more efficiently, which is associated with higher achievement.

Cognitive Psychology

The branch of psychology concerned with how people acquire, store, transform, use, and communicate information.

Mental Processes of Interest

Processes including perception, attention, memory, categorization, pattern recognition, communication, and decision making.

Task of a Cognitive Psychologist

To examine complex cognitive processes and discover the key mechanisms underlying them.

Cognitive Revolution Era

The period during the 1960s when cognitive psychology developed from other areas of psychological study.

Empiricism

The philosophical tradition that knowledge comes from an individual's own experience, observations, analysis, and environmental interactions.

Nativism

The philosophical tradition that biological factors and hardwired brain processes determine cognitive abilities, making them difficult to modify via experience.

Empiricist Figures

Notable scholars including John Locke, Stuart Mill, and David Hume.

John Locke's Associationism

The idea that two distinct experiences can be joined in the mind simply because they occur or are presented at the same time.

Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)

A dynamic imaging technique used to measure electrical activity as a function of cognitive tasks.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

A dynamic imaging technique that measures metabolism or blood flow as a byproduct of electrical activity.

Functional MRI (fMRI)

An imaging technique that measures the magnetic properties of blood to track the inflow and outflow of oxygenated blood.

The Subtractive Method

A research technique used to isolate brain activity related to a specific task by subtracting out background 'control' activity.

Dual-Task Performance Example

A real-life instance of competing cognitive demands, such as using a cell phone while driving.

Conditional Reasoning

Reasoning that involves drawing conclusions from propositions that are either true or false.

Mental Models Representation

A quasi-pictorial representation of relationships between information and conclusions used during reasoning.

Effective Reasoning Strategy

The process of checking a hypothesized conclusion by attempting to construct alternative models consistent with the premises but inconsistent with that conclusion.

Heuristics of Decision Making

The six mental shortcuts: availability, representativeness, anchoring, illusory correlation, confirmation bias, and overconfidence.

Neuroeconomics

The study of how the brain interacts with the environment to make complex decisions and the role emotions play in that process.

Cognitive Recognition Example

The ability to recognize someone in a public space, which requires knowing who they are and their origin.

Key Cognitive Processes

The primary functions including memory, perceptual recognition, pattern recognition, communication, and decision making.

Nativist Figures

Philosophers such as Rene Descartes and Immanuel Kant.

Wilhelm Wundt

The founder of the first research institute for experimental psychology, focused on finding the elemental 'building blocks' of the human mind.

Structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt's approach of creating a table of mental elements to determine how they combine into complex phenomena.

James Baldwin

The psychologist who set up the first experimental psychology lab in North America at the University of Toronto in 1889.

Introspection

A technique involving highly trained observers describing their conscious experiences when presented with various stimuli.

Limitations of Introspection

Technique is subjective and unfalsifiable, and cannot access many cognitive processes that occur without conscious awareness.

William James

The psychologist who argued that the primary goal should be explaining the functions of the mind (how and why it works).

Functionalism

William James's approach, which emphasizes studying the whole organism in real-life settings rather than just controlled lab environments.

Structuralist Laboratory View

The conviction that the lab was the only proper setting for psychology to allow for complete control of stimuli.

Behaviourism

A purely objective natural science focused on predicting and controlling behavior by studying observable stimuli and responses.

Gestalt Psychology Assumption

The belief that psychological phenomena must be studied in their entirety and cannot be reduced to simple elements.

Gestalt Focus

The emphasis on the holistic aspects of conscious experience.

Sir Francis Galton

A researcher of individual differences who studied family trees of eminent men and invented cognitive ability tests for mental imagery.

Empiricism vs. Nativism (Comparison)

Empiricism views people as 'blank slates' shaped by experience, while nativism emphasizes innate, biological cognitive differences.

Behaviourist View on Unobservable States

The belief that states like consciousness cannot be studied; only overt behaviors are scientifically valid.

Human Factors Engineering

A precursor to the cognitive revolution that shifted focus to designing machines optimal for human use.

Computer Metaphor of the Mind

A central idea of the cognitive revolution comparing the way both computers and the human mind store and process information.

Noam Chomsky's Linguistic Theory

The argument that humans have an innate capacity to acquire language, independent of the laws of conditioning.

Donald Hebb's Cell Assemblies

The theory that functions like visual perception are constructed by building connections among sets of cells in the brain over time.

Hubel and Wiesel

Researchers who demonstrated that specific visual cortex cells in cats are specialized to respond to specific stimuli.

Framing Humans as Processors

The contribution of human factors engineering to the cognitive revolution, defining humans as 'limited capacity processors.'

Agents of Change in Cognitive Revolution

The work of Noam Chomsky on linguistics and developments in the localization of brain function.

Paradigm

A body of knowledge structured by specific assumptions, experimental methods, and measures considered appropriate by its proponents.

Information Processing Approach

A paradigm based on the computer analogy, viewing cognition as information that is received, stored, and processed.

Symbol Manipulators

A key assumption of the information processing approach that views people as processors of symbolic representations.

Connectionism

A model proposing that cognitive machinery consists of a highly interactive network of connections among simple processing units.

Neural Networks

A term for connectionist processing units because they are compared to the function of biological neurons.

Connection Weights

Modifiable values in a connectionist model where positive weights lead to activation and negative weights lead to inhibition.

Information Processing vs. Connectionism (Timing)

Information processing occurs in a step-by-step fashion; connectionism assumes processes happen simultaneously.

Evolutionary Approach

A paradigm focusing on how the human mind changed and responded to evolutionary pressures faced by ancestors.

Cosmides and Tooby

Researchers who argued that the most significant evolutionary pressures for humans involve social issues.

Social Reasoning Prediction

The hypothesis that reasoning and decision-making are enhanced when the context involves social situations.

Ecological Approach

The view that cognitive activities are shaped by culture, context, and the specific situation in which they occur.

Smilek and Kingstone

Researchers who used eye movement measurements to investigate attention in natural contexts.

Traditional Information Processing Assumption

The belief that people process complex information using relatively few operations applied to symbols.

James Baldwin's Mental Development Work

Psychologist known for studying the mental development of children.

Psychology Proper (Behaviourist Context)

The belief that the scientific study of psychology should be restricted strictly to observable behaviour.

B. F. Skinner

A famous behaviorist who agreed mental events exist but argued they should be treated the same as behavioral events.

Individual Differences Origin

The research area pioneered by Sir Francis Galton regarding human cognitive ability.

Charles Darwin's Natural Selection

The process where inherited traits are preserved because they help individuals survive and reproduce.

Limited Capacity Processors

The concept that humans are restricted in how much information they can handle or how many tasks they can perform at once.

Magic Number $7 \times 2$

George Miller's observation that normal adults can process between 5 and 9 unrelated items or stimuli simultaneously.

Generative Grammar

Noam Chomsky's term for the implicit system of rules that allows humans to construct and understand an infinite number of 'legal' sentences.

Naturalistic Observation

A research method where the observer watches people in everyday contexts while remaining unobtrusive.

Naturalistic Observation Disadvantage

The lack of experimental control and the potential for observer bias in deciding what to record.

True Experiment

A study where the experimenter manipulates independent variables to observe changes in recorded measures.

Between-Subjects Design

An experimental setup where different participants are assigned to different conditions to look for performance differences.

Within-Subjects Design

A setup where the same participants are exposed to multiple conditions for performance comparison.

Quasi-Experiment

A study that uses naturally occurring independent variables, such as sex or ethnicity.

Hindbrain

The most primitive phylogenic division of the brain, responsible for lower-level non-cognitive functions.

Midbrain

A section of the brain, along with the hindbrain, that is primarily responsible for non-cognitive functions.

Forebrain

The highest phylogenic division, containing structures like the cerebral cortex that are central to cognitive activity.

Cerebral Cortex

The outermost layer of the forebrain containing packed neurons and white matter; the site of most cognitive activities.

Thalamus

A switching or relay station for sensory information that is also involved in memory.

Hypothalamus

The structure regulating hunger, thirst, temperature, sexual arousal, and basic emotional reactions.

Hippocampus

A critical structure for learning, memory, and emotion; damage here leads to a loss of the ability to form new recollections.

Amygdala

The brain structure involved in the emotional content of memory, general emotion, and aggression.

White Matter Function

Tissue that connects the cerebral cortex to the subcortical regions of the brain.

Frontal Lobe

The lobe supporting spatial processing, attention, and executive functions like planning and decision making.

Somatosensory Cortex

The part of the frontal lobe involved in sensing information from the body, such as pain, pressure, and temperature.

Occipital Lobe

The region responsible for processing visual information, ranging from simple features to complex object recognition.

Temporal Lobe

The region that processes auditory information and supports encoding and retrieval of long-term memory.

Motor Cortex

A component of the frontal lobe that directs fine motor movements.

Premotor Cortex

The part of the frontal lobe involved specifically in the planning of movements.

Prefrontal Cortex

The area supporting executive functioning, including inhibiting inappropriate behavior and implementing strategies.

Subcortical Forebrain (Cognitive Trio)

The hypothalamus, thalamus, and hippocampus; three subcortical structures critical for cognition.

Franz Gall

The proponent of phrenology, who believed autonomous brain regions determined specific human traits and abilities.

Phrenology

The defunct study claiming that the size of a brain portion is relative to the 'power' of the associated trait.