PSYCH207 module 1-7

combining all the modules for easier studyin'

selective attention

we usually focus our attention on one or a few tasks/events rather than many

Moray’s Cocktail Party Effect

hearing one’s own name disrupts shadowing a performance in either attended or unattended messages

Broadbent’s Filter Theory

argues there’s limitations to how much info a person can attend to at any given time; one uses an attentional filter to let some info through and block the rest

Dichotic listening task

participant listens to 2+ different messages played in opposite ears and asked to repeat one of them, then asked what info they remember from either message

Treisman’s counterfindings to Cocktail Party Effect

Treisman discovered that when messages switched ears, the attention would stay on the message from the ‘unattended ear’

Treisman’s Attenuation Theory

unattended messages had the volume turned down; some meaningful info might still be available (but possibly hard to recover)

primed words

expected to be used based on context and easy to recognize w/ little mental effort

Deutsch² Late-Selection Theory

all messages are routinely processed for some aspect of meaning and attentional selection occurs afterwards; Automatically process all recognizable objects and info that’s important is elaborated more (unelaborated material is forgotten)

automaticity

The more practice you have in a task, the less attention it takes to perform

The Stroop Effect

adult participants are so good at reading that they stumbled through reading words of colours when the font was a different colour from the word

automatic processing

doing something without being aware of it; must occur without intention + conscious awareness and mustn’t interfere with other mental activity

controlled processing

processing that operates serially, requires attention and is capacity limited and under conscious control; used for unfamiliar and nonroutine tasks

divided attention

performing 2+ tasks at once

Psychological Refractory Period (PRP)

the slowed response time of the second stimulus at short intervals between the presentation of the 1st + 2nd stimuli; time btwn 1st + 2nd task gets shorter = time to complete task gets longer

Attention Hypothesis of Automatization

attention is needed during the practice phase of a task and determines what gets learned + remembered during practice

Dual-task Performance

performing 2 tasks at once (e.g. talking on the phone and driving); When tasks become more demanding of attention, it becomes harder to do them simultaneously

Visual search

looking for a specific target in a field of distractors (e.g. looking for you family amongst a crowd in the airport)

Spatial Cue

directing attention to a particular area un/intentionally and regardless of goal (e.g. eyes drawn to flash of light while looking for family in airport)

Treisman’s Feature Integration Theory

we perceive objects in 2 stages; preattentive (registering features of objects) and 2nd stage (gluing features together to create unified object)

Inattentional Blindness

not perceiving a stimulus unless paying attention to it (could literally be right in front of you)

Encoding

acquiring information; occurs when info is first translated into a form that other cognitive processes can use

Retrieval

calling to mind previously experienced info

Storage

encoded info is held in one form or another for later retrieval

Forgetting

when one cannot retrieve info

Modal Model of Memory

Sensory, Short-term, Long-term

Sensory Memory

Unattended info presented very quickly is stored briefly; different memory for each sense

Icon (sensory memory)

the brief afterimage of a visual stimulus, like lightning/sparkler name

Echo (sensory memory)

sensory memory for auditory info; could last longer than icons up to 20 secs; lag of answering question after it’s been asked and you go ‘huh?’

Short-term memory

Attended info held for up to 20-30 seconds

Serial position effect

recalling more words at the beginning and end of list

Primacy effect

 improved recall of words near the beginning of list

Recency effect

better recall for words near the end

Rehearsal

repetition of items thought to help store them long-term

STM Capacity

the maximum number of independent units that can be held is 7 +/- 2

Chunking

to overcome the STM capacity, units can be combined into larger units

Coding

 the way info is mentally represented and which form it’s held in

Retention duration

if not rehearsed, info is lost from STM in 20 secs

Memory trace

 the encoded mental representation of the to-be-remembered information

Decay

 the mental representation breaks apart and is forgotten

Interference

the displacement of info w/ other info, making it harder to retrieve (e.g. a cluttered desk makes it hard to find what you’re looking for)

Proactive interference

material learned first can disrupt retention of material learned after

Parallel Search

examining a list of things at the same time and comparing them simultaneously to find the target item

Serial search

comparing items on the list one at a time

Self-terminating search

a comparative search which stops when a match is found

Exhaustive search

even if a match is found, one continues to search through every item on the list

Long-term Memory

Info needed for longer periods of time (days-years); can store large amounts

Paired associates learning

participants hear lists of randomly paired words then is presented with the first word and must recall the second word it’s paired with

Retroactive interference

 forgetting a previously learned task because it gets overridden with new info

Proactive Interference

when you cannot learn a new task because the old memories interfere with the learning of new ones

Anderson’s fan effect

participants who study more facts about a concept will have their recall time for any individual fact in that category slowed

Categorization

material organized into categories are more easily recalled than scattered info

Encoding specificity (Thomson & Tulving)

memory is improved when info available at encoding is also available at retrieval

Context Effect (Godden & Baddeley)

recall is best performed in the original environment

State-dependent learning

material learned while in a chemically-altered state is recalled better when that state is recreated

Working Memory

A limited capacity workspace that can be divided between storage + control processing

Working Memory’s 3 components

central executive, directs flow of info and choosing what, when + how it’s operated on; phonological loop, subvocal rehearsal to maintain language, vocab, learning to read; visuospatial sketch pad, maintains visual material thru visualization

Memory Systems

semantic and episodic; operate on different principles + hold onto diff kinds of info

Semantic memory

stores general info about language and world knowledge; used for recalling generic info (e.g. 2+2=4)

Episodic memory

 memories of specific events where one has personally participated (e.g. graduation)

Anterograde amnesia

amnesia for new events; cannot hold onto new memories for long/after attention is lost

Retrograde amnesia

amnesia for old events

Long-term Potentiation

a process by which the neural circuits in the hippocampus are subjected to repeated, intense electrical stimulation then develop hippocampal cells that become more sensitive to stimuli

Levels-of-processing theory of memory

memory depends on the different kinds of cognitive processing that are performed when encoding + retrieving info

Incidental learning

learning that happens while ‘studying’ for a memory test unbeknownst to the participants by answering questions about particular words; (e.g. if they rhymed w/ a certain word, font type, whether it would fit the context of a certain sentence)

__ of material aids recall. why?

elaboration: more precise specifications related to the target word and context increase probability of recalling it

Schemata

frameworks for organizing info

flashbulb memory

a long-lasting, vivid memory of a shocking event (e.g. 9/11; where you were when you first saw/heard about it)

Eyewitness memory

the episodic memory of a witness who experienced a crime/dramatic event, often confidently inaccurate yet stilled believed by jurors

Recovered memories

uncovering/retrieval of memories lost to repression due to trauma/abuse

Repressed memories

memories of traumatic events that are buried in the unconscious mind for long periods of time-forever

False memories

memories of things that never happened

Amnesia

the collective term for memory disorder

anterograde amnesia’s 5 features

1. Affects LTM but NOT working memory

2. Affects memory regardless of modality (visual, aural, tactile, etc.)

3. General knowledge is kept (esp acquired well before amnesia onset) but impairs recall for new facts + events

4. Spares skilled performance and patients can be taught to perform new skills (muscle memory intact)

5. When new skills are learned, patients use hyperspecific memory; the skill can be replicated only in the context extremely similar to the conditions of learning it

retrograde amnesia’s 4 features

1. The temporal extent (time span memory is lost in) varies significantly

2. Compromises episodic memories

3. Spares ‘overlearned’ info: semantic memories, language + perceptual + social skills

4. Does NOT affect skill learning

Memory consolidation

the storage of info requires the hippocampus to link different aspects  (sight, smell, sounds) to the event and to retrieve those later

Cognitive economy

properties + facts are stored at the highest level possible, recovering info requires inference (e.g. we know that all mammals have live young so we store that instead of individual facts about every mammalian species)

Semantic network

the collections of nodes associated with all the words and concepts one knows

Lexical decision tasks

an experiment where participants see a series of letter strings and are asked to decide if the letter strings are words as quickly as possible

Spreading activation

excitation spreads along the connection of nodes in a semantic network, thus priming related words (e.g. bread primes activation for butter)

Implicit memory

memory recollection that is unconscious and indeliberate but shows evidence of prior learning and storage

Explicit memory

consciously recollected memories that recount a specific time, event or series of events; something you’re aware of and is deliberate

Semantic priming

exposure to a word facilitates recognition/cognitive processing of a semantically related word

Repetition priming

facilitation of the cognitive processing of info after a recent exposure to that same info; increased probability of responding with the primed word to the stimulus given

Process dissociation framework (Jacoby)

implicit and explicit memory represent two distinct memory systems, implicit requires more automatic processing and explicit more controlled processing

what is cognitive psych?

examination of key mechanisms underlying complex cognitive processes like perception, attention, pattern recognition, memory, comms and decision-making

empiricism (locke, hume, mill)

knowledge comes from own experience; acquired thru observation and analysis of experienced events

nativism (descartes, kant)

cognitive abilities come from biological roles/factors, hardwired into brain and difficult to modify w/ experience; individual differences attributed to innate abilities

wilhelm wundt + structuralism

found first experimental psych institute; goal to discover building blocks to conscious experience of the mind

structuralist’s preferred experimental enviro

in a lab where stimuli could be highly controlled

James Baldwin + introspection

wundt’s student; presented highly trained observers (grad students) w/ various stimuli and asking them to describe conscious experiences

caveats of introspection (baldwin)

believed basic elements of human consciousness could be uncovered; many aspects of cognition occur w/o conscious awareness though

william james + functionalism

one must study the whole organism irl to understand key functions of its mind

behaviourism (watson)

focus on overt, observable behaviour and relationships btwn environmental stimuli and behavioural responses; REJECTED INTROSPECTION + developed rigourous research methods w/o reliance on subjective measures

gestalt psych

Phenomenon can’t be reduced to simple elements but rather studied in their entirety; top-down method of breaking down perceptual experience into its basic elements

Sir Francis Galton

wondered if cognitive abilities could be inherited or subject to natural selection; known for study of mental imagery as cognitive ability and created many cognitive ability tests

4 eras of the cognitive revolution

human factors engineering > chomsky’s linguistics > localization of function in the brain > computers + AI systems

human factors engineering (cognitive revolution)

WWII developments required knowledge of the mind to understand operator’s physical and cognitive limitations while working in tandem with machines; finding most optimal way to design machines for human use; humans described as limited-capacity processors of info and sharing properties w/ machines designed

noam chomsky’s linguistics (cognitive revolution)

humans have innate capacity to acquire language and its development isn’t grounded by laws of conditioning

localization of function in the brain (cognitive revolution)

cognitive functions can be localized to specific parts of the brain; some of which construct themselves overtime by cell assemblies (visual perceptions)

computers and Ai (cognitive revolution)

comparison of peoples’ abilities to a computer; fed data through procurement of information thru senses, have info storage