Cogn Psych Exam 2

Selective attention

The skill through which one focuses on one input or one task while ignoring other stimuli

An example of Selective attention

Listening to your professor explain a concept while other students are talking

Dichotic listening task

different audio inputs are presented to each ear via headphones

• Participants are instructed to pay attention to one input (the attended channel) and ignore the other input ( the unattended channel)

What is the attended ear in the Dichotic listening task

The message you focus on

what is the unattended ear in the Dichotic listening task

The message you try to ignore

Shadowing (Dichotic Listening Task)

Repeating the the message from the attended ear out loud

How does Dichotic listening tasks help test selective Attention?

Researchers use it to study what happens to information we ignore.

How do we inhibit distraction?

We block unattended inputs with a filter.

• blocks potential distractors (coffee grounds)

• Attended inputs are not filtered out (coffee mm)

• But small pieces of stimuli sneak through ( the small grounds at the bottom of the pot)

Inattentional blindness

the failure to see a prominent stimulus, even if one is staring right at it

Ex: counting basketball passes and failing to notice an unexpected person walking through the scene

Change Blindness

The inability to detect changes in a scene despite looking at it directly

Ex: not noticing that an object has disappeared from a picture after a brief visual interruption

We do not pay equal attention to everything in our environment. If the change isn’t selcted by attention, we may miss it

Early selection Hypothesis

Only the attended input is analyzed and perceived.

• Unattended information receives little or no analysis

Never perceived

Late selection hypothesis

All inputs are analyzed

selection occurs after analysis

• selection may occur before consciousness or later

• - Unattended information might be perceived but it is then forgotten

How does priming influence selection

Because primed detectors fire more readily, it makes information more likely to receive attention because it has already been activated

EX: if you’ve recently been thinking about dogs, you’re more likely to quickly notice or recognize dog-related information

Biased competition Theory

attention creates temporary bias in neuron sensitivity. Attention creates information that is important.

Ex: At a busy part, many voices compete for attention, but your attention may favor the person you’re trying to listen to.

Repetition priming

Priming is produced by a prior encounter with the stimulus

• stimulus-driven

• Requires no effort or cognitive resources

If you see the word APPLE, you will generally recognize it faster the next time you see it

Expectation-Driven Priming

When your expectations prepare you to pay attention to certain information

Ex: If you’re expecting to see a friend wearing a red jacket, you’re more likely to notice red jackets

Spatial attention

Your ability to focus attention on a specific location in space

Ex: Looking toward one side of a crowded room because you expect something to be there

Limited capacity System

Attention is ___, meaning we only have a limited amount of attentional resources available

Limited- Capacity system connection to priming

Priming helps direct limited resources toward information that is likely to be important

Limited- Capacity system connection to spatial attention

Instead of processing every location equally, we can direct our limited attention toward specific location

Control system of attention

responsible for directing, maintaining, and managing our attention. It has three major systems: the orienting system, alerting system, and executive system.

Orienting System

Controls where we direct our attention

Ex: Turning your attention toward someone calling your name in a crowded room.

Alerting System

Controls our level of alertness and readiness to respond to information.

• Helps us maintain attention and stay prepared for incoming stimuli.

-EX staying alert while waiting for your professor to announce an important exam

Executive System

Control voluntary actions

• Studying for an exam while ignoring notifications on your phone

Executive control and its mechanisms

Is the ability to consciously regulate attention, thoughts, and behaviors to achieve a goal

The main mechanism of executive control include

Inhibition: suppressing irrelevant information or inappropriate responses

EX: resisting the urge to check your phone while studying

Conflict monitoring: Detecting when competing responses or pieces of information interfere with each other.

• Trying to read a text while someone is talking to you

Task switching: Shifting attention from one task or mental activity to another

• Shifting from taking notes to answering a professor’s question

Perseveration error

When someone continues using a previously successful response or strategy even when it is no longer appropriate

EX: A person is told to sort cards by color. After successfully doing that, the rules change to sorting by shape. The person continues sorting by color even though the rules have changed

How does ADHD affect the control system of attention?

It can affect the brain’s ability to regulate attention and executive control

Endogenous attention

Internal control

Driven by your goals, experiences, and intentions

Attention is directed voluntarily, also called top-down attention

Ex: Looking for your friend in a crowded room because you intentionally want to find them

Exogenous attention

External control

• Attention is automatically drawn to something in the environment

• Triggered by external stimuli

EX: hearing a loud crash and automatically turning your head toward it

Feature Integration Theory

Explains how attention combines separate features into a unified object

Stage one: Basic features are processed automatically and separately

Stage two: attention is directed toward a specific location

How does Feature Integration Theory resolve the Feature Binding Problem by using

attention?

Attention acts like a glue that binds separate features together to create a unified perception of an object.

Are we always successful at dividing out attention?

No,

Our ability to divide attention depends on the tasks we are performing depend son how much mental effort they require

When we are good at dividing attention

• One or both tasks are highly practiced

• Tasks are relatively easy

• Tasks use different mental or sensory resources

• One task is automatic and requires little conscious effort

When are we BAD at dividing attention?

• both tasks require conscious attention

• Tasks are too difficult or complex

• Task use similar cognitive resources

• Tasks require processing information at the same times

• We are unfamiliar with one or both tasks

Automaticity

The ability to perform a task quickly and efficiently with little conscious attention or effort

• Reading familiar words

• Riding a bicycle after years of practice

How do we develop automaticity

through repetition and practice

Modal Model

memory consists of 3 storage facilities

• sensory memory

• Short-term memory

• Long-term

Sensory memory

The very brief storage of information from our senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste

Duration: Lasts only a fraction of a second

Purpose: Holds sensory information long enough for the brain to decide what deserves attention

Capacity: Very large, but information disappears

Types of Sensory memory

• Iconic: Visual

• Echoic: auditory

Short-Term/ Working memory

A temporary storage system that hold and actively works information that we are currently thinking about.

• Duration: Approximately 15-30s without rehearsal

• Capacity: about 7 ± 2 items, around 4 chunks

• Purpose: Temporarily holds information and allows us to manipulate it

Long-Term Memory

A memory system that stores information for extended periods of time, potentially a lifetime

Duration: minutes, days, years, or a lifetime

Capacity: no limit

Purpose: Stores skills, knowledge, experiences, and information for future use.

Entry of information

How information gets INTO memory

• working memory receives information through attention and sensory processing

Retrieval

How information gets OUT of memory when you need it

• Long-term memory receives information through encoding and consolidation

Free recall procedure

A memory test in which participants are asked to remember as many items as possible from a previously presented list, in any order

Example of Free call procedure

• dog

• apple

• chair

• book

• orange

Afterward, write down as many words as you remember

Primacy Effect (First)

Remembering items at the BEGINNING of a list better

• people usually have more opportunity to rehearse and transfer information to long-term memory

Recency Effect

Remembering items at the END of a list better

• They are still active active in working memory

Digit Span Task

A test that measure working memory capacity by asking someone to repeat a sequence of numbers

EX: 3-8-2-9-0

And you repeat the number sin the same order

• the amount of numbers usually increase until you can no longer repeat the sequence

Operation Span

A working memory test that measures someone’s ability to hold information in memory while simultaneously performing another mental task

• Measures one’s ability to divide attention between processing informaiton and storing information

EX: of Operation span

• Solve math problem: 4+3=?

• Remember the word APPLE

• Remember another word HOUSE

• At the end recall the words in order

Central Executive

The control system, that directs attention and coordinates other parts of working memory

• Manager of your brain

Visuospatial Buffer

Temporarily stores and manipulates visual and spatial information

• Remembering where you parked your car

• Imaging what a room looks like

• Following a map

Episodic buffer

Combines information from different sources into one meaningful, integrated experience

It connects information from working memory, long-term memory, and visual and auditory memory.

• Ex: remembering a birthday party by combining what you saw, heard, and experienced

Articulatory Rehearsal Loop

A working memory system that temporarily stores and rehearses verbal and auditory information

• Ex: repeating words or numbers in your head

How does Articulation Activate the Rehearsal Loop?

Concurrent articulation disrupts verbal rehearsal, making it harder to remember verbal information.

What happens?

• You occupy the articulatory rehearsal process.

• You interfere with your ability to mentally repeat the phone number.

• The information becomes harder to maintain in working memory.

Maintenance rehearsal

repeating information over and over

• little meaning is added

• usually shallow processing

• Keeps information active temporarily

• EX: repeating a phone number

Elaborative Rehearsal

Helps transfer information to meaning

• Helps transfer information into long-term memory

• deep processing

• New associations are created

• EX: Remembering a psychology definition by connecting it to a real-life experience

Incidental Learning

Learning information without consciously trying to memorize it

• learning someone’s name through casual conversation

• Remembering a commercial without trying

Intentional Learning

Learning information with the specific goal of remembering it

Shallow processing

Processing information based on its physical appearance or sound rather than its meaning

EX: noticing whether a word is written in capital letters

• Counting the letters in a word

Deep processing

processing information by focusing on its meaning and connecting it to existing knowledge

EX: explaining a definition in your own words

• connecting a concept to a personal experience

• Thinking of examples for a psychology term

How do connections promote retrieval

Connections and associations create more retrieval pathways, making it easier to access stored information.

How mnemonics help us remember

They work by creating associations, patterns, and meaningful connections.

Using the first letter of each word to create a new word.

Example:

ROY G. BIV = Colors of the rainbow.

• Red

• Orange

• Yellow

• Green

• Blue

• Indigo

• Violet

Context dependent learning

The idea that memory retrieval is better when the environment or context during recall matched the environment where the information was originally learned

Encoding specificity

The principle that memory is best when the cues available during retrieval match the cues that were present when first encoded

• the more closely the retrieval cues match the original learning experience, the easier it is to remember

• EX: You learn someone’s name while hearing a particular song. Hearing that song again might help you remember their name

Spreading activation

When one concept is activated in your memory, activation spreads to related concepts

• EX: If you hear the word “dog” your brain might activate

• cat

• Puppy

• Bark

• Leash

Summation

When multiple sources of activation come together, they increase the activation of a particular memory or concept

• EX: You are trying to remember someone’s name. You remember their face, where you met them, and their occupation. ALL these clues combine to help you remember their name

Why are Hints helpful When we want to remember something?

They act as retrieval cues. They activate related information in our memory network, making it easier to access memory we’re looking for

EX: if you cannot remember where you left your keys, someone mentioning where they last seen you with them might help you remember

Semantic Priming

The process in which exposure to one word or concept makes it easier or faster to recognize a related word or concept

EX: If you see the word “doctor” you may recognize the word “nurse” faster because the two words are semantically related

Lexical Decision Task

A psychological experiment in which participants decide whether a string of letters is a real word or a nonsense word.

• EX:

  Letters shown	Correct response
  DOG	Word
  TABLE	Word
  BLIG	Not a word
  NURSE (after DOCTOR)	Word

  People typically respond faster to a word like "nurse" after seeing "doctor" than after seeing an unrelated word.

  This demonstrates semantic priming.

Recall

Retrieving information from memory without being given the answer or choices

ou must produce the information yourself.

Example of a recall memory test:

• A teacher asks: "What are the three types of memory?"

• You must remember and write down the answer without choices.

Recognition

Definition: Identifying information that you have previously learned or experienced when you encounter it again.

You are given possible answers and must identify the correct one.

Example of a recognition memory test:

• A teacher gives you a multiple-choice question asking which theory explains context-dependent memory.

• You recognize the correct answer from the choices.

Implicit memory

Memory that influences your behavior without requiring conscious awareness or intentional remember

You may use information stored in your memory without realizing it.

Examples:

• Knowing how to ride a bicycle.

• Typing without consciously thinking about each key.

• Feeling familiar with a song without remembering when you heard it.

How we test Implicit memory?

often tested through indirect tasks that measure how previous experiences influence performance.

Examples:

• Priming: Seeing a word earlier makes you recognize or complete it faster later.

• Procedural memory: Testing whether someone can perform a learned skill, such as riding a bicycle.

• Word-stem completion: Showing someone a word like GAR___ and seeing whether they complete it with a previously encountered word, such as GARDEN.

The Illusion of truth

The tendency to believe that a statement is true simply because we have heard or encountered it before

Repeated exposure makes information feel more familiar, and familiarity can be mistaken for truth.

Example: You repeatedly hear someone say that a certain food is unhealthy. Even if the claim is false, you may eventually start believing it because you have heard it so many times.

Explicit Memory

Definition: Memory that involves consciously remembering information, facts, and personal experiences.

You are aware that you are remembering something.

Two main types include:

• Semantic memory: Memory for facts and general knowledge.

  • Example: Knowing that Paris is the capital of France.

• Episodic memory: Memory for personal experiences and events.

  • Example: Remembering your last birthday party.

How Do We Test Explicit Memory?

Explicit memory is tested through direct questions that require conscious remembering.

Examples:

• Asking someone to recall a list of words they studied.

• Asking someone to describe their first day of school.

• Giving someone a multiple-choice test about previously learned information.

How Do Things Become Familiar?

Things become familiar through repeated exposure and previous experiences.

The more often we encounter something, the more easily our brain processes it.

Amnesia

a loss or disruption of memory, often caused by brain damage injury or disease

Retrograde Amnesia

The inability to remember information that occurred BEFORE a brain injury

Someone gets into a car accident and cannot remember events from the weeks leading up to the accident.

past memories are lost.

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to form new long-term memories AFTER a brain injury

EX: Someone suffers a brain injury and can remember their childhood but cannot remember meeting someone new the next day.

difficulty making new memories going forward.

Cognitive Differences Produced by Hippocampal Damage

Main function: Helps form and consolidate new explicit memories, especially memories for facts and personal experiences.

Damage to the ___can cause:

• Difficulty forming new explicit long-term memories.

• Anterograde amnesia.

• Difficulty remembering new facts and experiences.

• Difficulty learning new information consciously.

Cognitive Differences Produced by Amygdala Damage

Main function: Processes emotions, especially fear, and helps create emotional memories.

Damage to the ___ can cause:

• Difficulty processing fear.

• Reduced emotional responses to threatening situations.

• Difficulty forming or remembering emotionally significant memories.

• Reduced ability to recognize fear in other people's facial expressions.

Example: A person with __ damage may not experience a normal fear response when encountering something frightening.