PSYC3030 Exam 2

CHAPTER 2 - COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

What is double dissociation?

• when damage to one area of the brain causes function A to be absent while function B

  • brain area A is important for function X, but not function Y

• when damage to another area causes function B to be absent while function A is present

  • brain area B is important for function Y, but not function X

Examples of double dissociation from brain lesion patients.

Example of double dissociation form brain imaging.

What are structural brain imaging methods?

• static brain images of various tissues and characteristics of the brain, typically correlation between brain structures and behaviors/cognitive abilities

• includes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

What is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)?

• measures the volume of the brain and individual structures

• correlational research method

What are functional brain imaging methods?

• focuses on what is happening in the brain while performing cognitive tasks

• includes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

What is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?

• measures changes in blood flow in regions of the brain following task-evoked changes in neural activity

• measures brain activity

• correlational research method

What are neurostimulation methods?

• modulating (increasing or decreasing) neural excitability over specific regions to determine effects on behavior

• includes transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

What is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)?

• electromagnetic coils used to induce electric activity underlying brain tissue, typically to disrupt or enhance neural activity on brain structures accessible from the skull

What are the effects of brain damage to Broca’s area?

damage impairs language production, but not language comprehension

What are the effects of brain damage to Wernicke’s area?

damage impairs language comprehension, but no language production

What does dissociation tell us about how speech processing is organized in the brain?

What is the fusiform face area (FFA)?

region of the brain associated with identifying and perceiving faces

What is the result of damage to the fusiform face area (FFA)?

• prosopagnosia

• the inability to recognize faces

• face blindness

What is the parahippocampal place area (PPA)?

region of the brain associated with identifying and recognizing places or locations

What is the extrastriate body area (EBA)?

region of the brain associated with responding to parts of the body that are not the face

What types of questions can be answered by neurophyschological (lesion) methods?

• identifies specific cognitive functions that are associated with specific areas of the brain

• identifies double dissociation within brain regions and their functions

What is localization of function?

specific cognitive functions are enabled by specific areas of the brain

What is distributed representation?

specific cognitive functions involve many areas of the brain

What types of questions can be answered by structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)?

answers correlations between brain structures and behaviors/cognitive abilities

What types of questions can be answered by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?

answers correlations between blood flow and task-evoked changes

What types of questions can be answered by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)?

answers possible causal claims about the role of certain regions

Which brain imaging methods are correlational?

• magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

• functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Which brain imaging methods are causal?

• transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

• lesion studies

How is the subtraction method used in brain imaging studies?

Which assumption of the subtraction method is particularly problematic for brain imaging?

the assumption of pure insertion

CHAPTER 3 - PERCEPTION

What is speech segmentation?

the ability to tell when one word in a conversation ends and the next one begins

How does speech segmentation provide evidence that top-down processing contributes to speech perception?

• if a speaker understands the language, their knowledge of the language creates the perception of individual words

• speakers that do not understand the language might merge of the words together and be unable to experience speech segmentation

Explain the Gestalt psychologists’ approach to understanding perception.

How did the Gestalt approach differ from approaches taken by the Structuralists?

rejected the idea that perceptions were formed by “adding up” sensations

Describe good continuation as it relates to perception.

connected points resulting in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together

Examples of good continuation.

• a bundle of rope being perceived as a single strand

• shoelaces being seen as a single line

Describe simplicity/Pragnanz as it relates to perception.

every stimulus pattern is perceived as simplistic as possible

Examples of simplicity/Pragnanz.

• the Olympic symbols being seen as 5 circles, rather than 9 shapes

• viewing overlapping shapes as a square, triangle, and circle

Describe similarity as they relate to perception.

similar things appear to be grouped together

Example of similarity.

• grouping red circles together and green circles together despite all of the circles being the a grid pattern

• grouping large circles separately from small circles

In perception, what is a distal stimulus?

• the real thing in the world triggering a perception

• can be 2D or 3D

In perception, what is a proximal stimulus?

• the image created on your retina from outside stimulus

• 2D sheet of cells

In perception, what is a representation?

the mental representation from the proximal stimulus

In perception, what is the response?

What is lack of correspondence?

• representation that does correspond to the stimulus

• we do not correctly perceive what is our there and experience a visual illusion as a result of the correspondence

What is paradoxical correspondence?

• when proximal and distal stimuli do not correspond, but representation and distal stimulus do correspond

• we correctly perceive what is out there when we shouldn’t be able to

What is perceptual constancy?

• an object is correctly perceived as constant even when under changing conditions

• includes size constancy, color constancy, and shape constancy

What is size constancy?

our perception of objects at different distances changes the proximal stimulus but not the distal stimulus

What is color constancy?

our perception of color is the same despite differences in illumination or shades

What is shape constancy?

our perception of an object’s shape is the same even when they are at different angles

How do the distal, proximal stimulus, and representation correspond to one another in lack of correspondence?

How do the distal, proximal stimulus, and representation correspond to one another in paradoxical correspondence?

What is the inverse projection problem?

What does it mean to say that our perceptual systems integrate bottom-up and top-down information?

What is bottom-up processing?

information that begins in the senses

What is top-down processing?

information that begins in the brain

What is the Muller-Lyer illusion?

• expectation if arrows are pointing inwards, the length of lines are shorter

• expectation if arrows are pointing outwards, the length of lines are longer

How does the Muller-Lyer Illusion relate to perception?

• not all cultures experience this illusion, specifically those that do not live in rectilinear environments

• correlation w/ “away-sloping” angles and closeness is learned through experience

What is the Necker Cube illusion?

the perception of the cube is different based on how it’s “opened” or positioned

What is the Oblique Effect?

perceptual advantage for horizontal and vertical (cardinal) versus diagonal (oblique) orientations

How does the Oblique Effect relate to perception?

based on environmental influences as cardinal angles are more common in natural and man-made environments than oblique angles are

What are perceptual environmental regularities?

perception is influenced by aspects of environment that are more common than those that are uncommon

Define the light-from-above assumption as it relates to perception.

What are scene schemas?

knowledge of what a given scene ordinarily contains

How do scene schemas relate to perception?

perception is shaped by what is expected to be found in certain scenarios

Define the “multiple personalities of a blob” as it relates to perception.

How does top-down processing (attentional biases, perceptual regularities in the environment, semantic regularities in the environment) contribute to perceptual constancies?

What are attentional biases?

What are perceptual regularities in the environment?

• cardinal angles are more common

• oblique angles are less common

What are semantic regularities in the environment?

What is size constancy?

we can generally account for the fact that when we view objects at different distances the proximal stimulus changes not the distal stimulus

What is shape constancy?

our perception of an object’s shape is the same even when they are at different angles

What is color constancy?

our perception of color is the same despite differences in illuminations or shades

What is experience-dependent plasticity in the brain?

• the mechanism by which the structure of the brain is changed by experience

• much more likely to occur when the brain is still young, typically in early childhood

Describe experimental evidence that experience-dependent plasticity may contribute to the oblique effect.

Describe experimental evidence that experience-dependent plasticity may contribute to the existence of the fusiform face area (FFA).

SHORT TERM AND WORKING MEMORY

What is proactive interference?

What is retroactive interference?

examples of proactive interference

examples of retroactive interference

What is sensory memory?

• retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of sensory stimulation

• includes iconic memory and echoic memory

What is iconic memory?

retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of visual stimuli

What is echoic memory?

retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of auditory stimulation

example of sensory memory

example of iconic memory

example of echoic memory

What is Sperling’s use of the whole report method?

participants were asked to report as many letter as possible from the entire 12-letter display

What is Sperling’s use of the partial report method?

participants were asked to just report the letters in a single 4-letter row

What is Sperling’s use of the delayed partial report method?

participants were asked to just report the letters after they flashed on and off then the cue tone was presented after a short delay

What did he conclude from these experiments about the duration and capacity of iconic memory?

What is chunking?

small units can be combined into larger meaningful units

What constitutes a chunk of information?

collection of elements that are strongly associated with one another but are weakly associated with elements in other chunks

In what ways did change detection research challenge the idea of the “magical number 7 ± 2”?

What is the maximum capacity of short-term/working memory as estimated by change detection studies?

What happens to the capacity of short-term/working memory as item complexity increases?

Why have some researchers argued that short-term/working memory capacity should be measured in amount of information rather than in number of items?

Describe the Atkinson & Shiffrin’s Modal Memory Model

What types of memory does Atkinson & Shiffron’s Modal Memory Model include?

What are the ways in which information can travel from one memory store to another within the Atkinson & Shiffrin’s Modal Memory Model?

What roles do control processes play in the Modal Model?

examples of roles in the modal model