Cognitive K/U

Multi-Store Memory Model

• Sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory are the three stores of memory in the mind

  • Sensory memory is the immediate perception of stimulus and can last for up to 3 seconds

  • Short-term memory is a memory store that can contain about 4 objects at a time and lasts for up to 30 seconds

  • Long-term memory lasts indefinitely and is virtually unlimited in capacity

• Sensory memories move to the short-term memory store when attention is paid to them

• Short-term memory can last for longer than 30 seconds if they are rehearsed and may eventually be transferred to the long-term memory

  • Long-term memories can be retrieved back to the short-term memory to be accessed 

Working Memory Model

• Consists of the phonological loop (phonological store, inner voice, inner ear), visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, and episodic buffer

  • The phonological loop holds sound information

    • Sound information can be stored in the phonological store (consists of inner ear and voice)

    • The inner ear passively holds sound information

    • The inner voice can repeat sound information so that it can be stored for longer 

  • The visuospatial sketchpad and passively hold visual information

  • The central executive coordinates the other parts of the working memory model

  • The episodic buffer transfers short-term memories to the long-term memory

• Articulatory suppression occurs when multiple parts of the phonological loop are being used at the same time

• The phonological similarity effect worsens the ability of the phonological loop to do its job

Schema

• An umbrella term for representations in the mind that organize knowledge, beliefs, and information

  • Are affected by previous experiences and knowledge

Types of Schema

Social schemas: representations of groups of people and their traits

Scripts: representations of the sequence of expected events in certain situations

Self-schemas: representations of oneself

Influencing Schema

Accommodation: the modification of existing schemas to incorporate new knowledge and experiences

Assimilation: the addition of new information to an existing schema

Priming: an experience that causes a specific schema to exist at the forefront of one’s mind, allowing it to have a greater impact on behaviour and cognition

Leveling: removing/forgetting certain information from a memory that does not fit with existing schemas

Sharpening: the addition of fabricated information to memories so that they better align with existing schemas

Models of Thinking and Decision Making

• Thinking is the process of modifying and interpreting information through categorization, analysis, synthesis, ect.

• Decision making refers to the process of making choices from a list of alternatives

  • This can either be an implicit or explicit process

Types of Models

Normative models: aim to model how the decision process should be in order to achieve the ‘best’ results, tend to reflect the choices of a computer

Descriptive models: describe how human decision making is done and can be evaluated by comparing it to observed data

Adaptive Decision-Maker Framework Model

• An individual may choose to look at each alternative holistically (alternatives) or look at particular attributes of all alternatives (attributes) to come to a decision

Decision Making Strategies

Weighted additive strategy: choosing a set of important attributes and choosing an alternative based on which one has the highest overall score (requires a lot of effort)

Satisficing strategy: determining a cut-off point for each attribute and pick the option that is above the cutoff point for each attribute

Lexicographic strategy: choosing the most important attribute and picking the alternative that scores the highest for that attribute (a very easy method)

Elimination by aspects: pick an attribute with importance and eliminate alternatives that score poorly in that attribute and pick another attribute and repeat

4 Meta-Goals

1. Maximize decision accuracy

2. Minimizing cognitive effort

3. Minimize the experience of negative emotion

4. Maximizing the ease of justification of the decision

Heuristics

• Heuristics are shortcuts or incomplete rules to making decisions in order to save energy

  • They tend to cause cognitive biases

• The definition of heuristics is rather vague with no widely accepted root cause

  • Possible causes may be a tendency to focus on small amount of information, avoiding mental stress, and confirming pre-existing beliefs

• David Kahnmann (2013) theorised that people have two pathways of thinking

  • System 1 thinking is fast and impulsive while system 2 thinking is more slow and analytical

  • System 1 thinking happens before system 2 thinking

Illusory Correlations

• The belief that two things are connected despite evidence or logic indicating otherwise

Reconstructive Memory

• A theory stating that memories can be altered by schema during retrieval

  • Indicates that memories are influenced by one’s own perceptions, beliefs, and experiences

• This phenomenon is generally applied to episodic memories only (memories of personal experiences)

Flashbulb Memory

• A vivid recollection of an important, surprising, and emotionally arousing event 

• Flashbulb memories have the same reliability as normal memories despite the fact that they are more vivid

• The maintenance of flashbulb memories may be through overt and covert rehearsal

  • Talking to friends about this important event and thinking about the event

• The mechanism of formation may be of a unique neural network coded for flashbulb memories

  • The area of the brain associated with flashbulb memories is the amygdala (deals with fear and memory)

Research Methods

True Laboratory Experiment

• Used to establish a cause and effect relationship between variables

  • Researcher manipulates the independent variable to observe its effect on the dependent variable

  • Usually measures are put in place to diminish the impact of confounding variables

• Participants are often randomly allocated and the study’s environment is controlled to reduce the impact of extraneous variables, improving internal validity

• Results can often be quantified, allowing for researchers to determine if the data is significant

Ethics

Deception

• Refers to intentionally misinforming or withholding information from participants

  • Generally used to conceal the experiment’s true aim and thus avoid demand characteristics

• Undermines the concept of informed consent and violates the trust between researchers and participants

  • May worsen people’s perception of the field of psychology

  • May increase the chances of participants withdrawing data

• Debriefing after the experiment restores trust, provides justification for deception, and ensure no harm occurred

• May be necessary to carry out certain research