Cog Psych Lec 1

Attention

Focused, Selective, Multitasking and limited resources or capacity

Multiple levels and types of memory storage

(STM, LTM, semantic, episodic, procedural) and the interactions between the different levels to generate learning, reasoning, problem solving and intelligence.

Automatic Processing

Information is quickly processed without awareness and does not require a demanding amount of attention

Conscious processing

Information is deliberately processed with the use of awareness and requires a demanding amount of attention

Information processing approach

Cognition and learning emerges from the coordinated operation of active mental processes within a multi component memory system

Bottom-up processes

processing of information that is driven by the available and immediate information from the environment.

Stroop Effect

- Automatic process of reading interferes with controlled process of naming aloud the color of a

word.

- Successful performance on the Stroop task involves suppression of automatic processing of

information

Top-down processes

processing of information that is driven by background knowledge, preconceptions, and expectations

• Ex filling in the gaps between letters

Gestalt level of processing info

Global- the big picture

Focused, detailed level of processing information

Local- identifying the details

Parallel Processing of Information

multiple cognitive processes can co-occur at the same time. This helps promote cognitive efficiency and emerges through the activation of multiple brain regions or through extensive practice.

• listening to a professor while taking notes(wernicke and brocca’s areas)

Three levels of Analysis(Hint: FAH):

Functional level: What is the goal of computations?

• (The function/purpose of the cognitive processes.

Information inputs and behavioral outputs of the

system)

• Algorithm and computational level: What are the

representations of storing inputs, and the steps and

rules that transforms inputs into outputs? (The

cognitive processes such as memory and attention)

• Hardware level: How is the algorithm and

computation implemented? (The parts of the brain that

processes memory and attention)

Reaction time (RT)

The time elapsed when a stimulus is presented and the person’s response to the stimulus.

• Typically measured in milliseconds.

• Faster reaction times represent the automatic processing or highly accessible information.

Reading times

The time needed to read through a sentence or a passage.

Verbal Protocols

A description and analysis of a participant’s verbalizations of their thinking processes during reasoning or problem solving. (This provides a window at the self-awareness about our own mental/thinking processes)

Preference method

Involves the ability of a stimulus to be chosen by a participant given an available competitive stimulus(this is measured via a probability choice)

Eye tracking

The process of measuring either the point of gaze ("where we are looking") or the motion of an eye relative to the head. An eye tracker is a device for measuring eye positions and eye movements.

Accuracy Measures

The number and type of errors a participant makes. (ex. How many items a participant correctly recalled? Which items were omitted? What type of information is recalled?)

• Often measured as a probability or percent correct.

Priming

A process where an initially presented stimulus might influence some later cognitive process

• Priming can activate automatic, unconscious cognitive processes.

Neurocognition

Interface between the cognitive processes and the regions of the brain responsible for a given cognitive process

Localization of function

Specific areas of the brain perform specific functions. Makes processing of information more efficient.

Contralaterality

The receptor and control centers for one side of the body are in the opposite hemisphere of brain.

Hemispheric Specialization

Different brain functions tend to rely more heavily on one hemisphere or the other. (Ex. The left hemisphere controls most language functions and the right hemisphere handles most visuo-spatial processing for most right-handed people.)

Cognitive Neuropsychology

researchers examine the behaviors and high level processes (attention, memory, language) of patients with unique brain damage in different contexts, or with different stimuli. (Case studies, Animal models of Cognition)

Cognitive neuroscience

researchers perform experimental manipulation of stimuli presented to human participants and then observe the parts of the brain that gain a boost in physiological activity. (Use of advanced brain imaging methods)

Subtraction method

baseline activity for a specific task is recorded (control stimulus), neural activity for an experimental task is recorded (experimental stimulus). Subtract the brain activity during baseline task from the experimental task.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Use electrodes placed on the scalp to measure brain electrical activities. Used to diagnose epilepsy.

Event-related potential (ERP)

an averaged measurement of EEG’s that is directly the result of a thought or perception experienced by a participant. This highlights the specific timing involved in a cognitive process, but it can only approximate the location of the brain activity.

What is the similarity between EEG and ERP?

Both EEG and ERP give an excellent description of the timing of cognitive processes in the brain, but it does not describe where the cognitive processes occur

Positron-emission tomography (PET) scan

Metabolism of glucose (via mild radioactive isotope marker (2 deoxyglucose) and a special scanner)

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Scanner measures the oxygenated bloodflow in the areas of the brain.

What do PET and fMRI have in common?

Both PET scans and fMRI scans give excellent descriptions where in the brain cognitive processes occur, but it does not describe the timing of the cognitive processes.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

using a powerful magnetic field to inactivate patches of neurons

• same testing that’s used for therapy esp for those with treatment resistant depression

Occipital lobes

(back of the brain) processing of visual information

Parietal lobes

Integrates information from the world. It contains the somatosensory cortex that receives information about pain, touch, pressure and temperature from the body. It also processes spatial representation

Temporal lobes

Processing of auditory(hearing) info, memory, perception, and emotion(behind ears)

Frontal lobes

Contains the motor cortex and premotor cortex that initiate voluntary muscle movement. Also involved in short-term memory and speech production.

Prefrontal cortex (of the Frontal lobe)

this serves in advanced planning, self-control, short-term- working memory, impulse control and other higher order cognitive functions. It coordinates the activity of various parts of the brain.

• Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

• Medial Prefrontal cortex (Anterior Cingulate cortex)

• Ventral Prefrontal cortex (Orbital Prefrontal Cortex)