PSY 322 EXAM 3

Eyewitness Testimony

testimony by an eye-witness to a crime about what he or she saw during the crime

Problems with Eyewitness Testimony

errors due to

• arousal and attention

• familiarity

• suggestion

Wells and Bradfield (1998)

participants viewed and identified gunman from photographs after, but the actual gunmans photo was not presented

Stanny and Johnson (2000)

the presence of a weapon that was fired is associated with a decrease in memory about the perpetuator, the victim and the weapon

Improve Eyewitness Testimony

suspect not in lineup, use sequential presentation, improve interviewing techniques

Erroneous

wrong or innocent

Concepts

mental representation used for a variety of cognitive functions

Categories

all possible examples of a particular concept

Definitional Approach to Categorization

determine category membership based on whether the object meets the definition

Problems with Categorization

not all members of everyday categories have the same defining features [ex. defining what is a sport]

Family Resemblance

category members will share most features, but not necessarily every feature

Typicality Effect

prototypical objects are processed preferentially

Prototype

abstract average of all category members one has encountered

Exemplar

actual member of the category that we deem to be the best example of that category

Levels of Categories

• Global (superordinate) Level

• Basic Level

• Specific (subordinate) Level

Basic Level

Rosch’s research showed basic level offers optimal balance while minimizing cognitive function

Collins and Quillian (1969)

concepts are linked; model for how concepts and properties are associated in the mind

Cognitive Economy

shared properties are only stored at higher nodes

Inheritance

lower-level items share properties of higher level items

Collins and Loftus (1975)

model semantic memory as an interconnected web, rather than a strict hierarchy

Mental Imagery

experiencing a sensory impression in the absence of sensory input

Visual Imagery

“seeing” in the absence of a visual stimulus

Pavios Conceptual Peg Hypothesis

memory for words that evoke mental images rather than those that do not (concrete = abstract)

Shepard and Metzler (1971)

mental rotation task— tasks that call for a greater rotation took longer

Kosslyn (1973)

boat example; mental scanning

Kosslyn and coworkers (1978)

island example; took longer to scan between greater distances

Tacit Knowledge Explanation

result of Kosslyn imagery experiments were actually caused by using real world knowledge

Epiphenomenon

“shadow” effect that accompanies a primary process but has no influence on it

Spatial Representation

mental images stored in a way that mimics spatial layout; epiphenomenon

Proportional Representation

symbols, language, abstract imagery

Mental Walk Task

images are spatial, like perception (ex. move closer to small animals than to large animals)

Perky (1910)

mistake actual picture for a mental image

Farah (1985)

if creating a mental image could help you see better

Imagery Neurons

neurons that respond to both imagery and perception of an object

Ganis and coworkers (2004)

complete overlap on activation by perception and imagery in front of the brain (difference near back of the brain)

Amedi and coworkers (2005)

overlap— but deactivate of non-visual areas of the brain (hearing, touch)

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

decreased brain functioning in a particular area for a short term— the deactivated part of brain is what causes disruption

Kosslyn and coworkers (1999)

brain activity in visual area of brain plays a causal role for both perception and imagery

Unilateral Neglect

ignores objects in one half of visual field in perception and imagery

M.G.S

occipital lobe damaged, and perception and imagery impaired

R.M

occipital/parietal damaged, and perception intact and imagery impaired

C.K

occipital lobe damaged, perception impaired and imagery intact

Language

system of communication using sounds or symbols

Hierarchal

components that can be combined to form larger units

Governed by rules

specific ways components can be arranged

Language Acquisition

involves complex cognitive and social interaction

Skinner and Chomsky

is language learned or do we have an innate ability to develop it

Skinner (1957)

language learned through reinforcement

Chomsky (1957)

human language coded in the genes

Psycholinguistic

discover psychological process by which humans acquire and process language

Lexicon

all words a person understands

Phonemes

shortest segment of speech that changes the meaning of the word

Morphemes

smallest unit of language that has meaning

Syntax

rules for combining words into sentences