Pysch Exam 2

Absolute Threshold

the minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected by the senses/sensation

vary by nature

Color Blindness

3 kinds of photo-pigments in cones: red, blue, green

color blind = lack that pigment

most common color blind is red-green

• blue cone is fine but red and green cones have same color (usually green)

yellow-blue less common color blindness

black-white is least common

STILL have all cones, just variety pigments lacking

Rods and Cones

in retina in back of eye

Photoreceptors- rods(120 million) and cones(6 million)

Rods: night vision and peripheral vision

Cones: day vision and color vision

Positioning: color-sensitive cones are central in retina, while color-blind rods predominate in periphery

Figure and Ground principle

3 major characteristics

• figure is perceived as form, ground appears formless

• contour line divides a figure from background, which belongs to figure, not ground

• figure appears to be located in foreground with ground behind, even if not true

Just Noticeable Difference

smallest increase or decrease in a physical stimulus required to produce a change in sensation that a person is able to detect 50% of the time

Linear Perspective

Makes farther objects look larger than they actually are

a look that isn’t there

Perception

process that organizes those sensations into meaningful information

done by brain

Perceptual Organization

when seeing or hearing a scene, we identify figures and hold our attention against background

can only focus on one thing at a time

figures: objects and events that stick out

background: everything else that is going on

ex: following one conversation at a party

Similarity- objects with similar characteristics are grouped together

Proximity- objects close together perceived as belonging together

Continuity- figure or object perceived as belonging together if they appears to form a continuous pattern

Closure- figures with gaps in them are perceived as complete

Phi Phenomenon

Brain processes distinct sensations (movements of 2 static lines) to produce apparent motion

• whole apparent motion is greater than the sum of its parts

brain fills in gaps between pictures of movements

Beta Movement

related to phi phenomenon that allows us to see movies and watch tv

Sensation

process that detects stimuli from our bodies and our environment

what you take in from sense

Webber’s Law

Just Noticeable Difference is based on a percentage or proportion of stimulus change rather than a fixed amount of change

• weight must decrease by 1/50th or 2% to notice a difference

• 2 lbs difference in 100lb weight

• tone must be .33% higher or lower

Ex: used when getting eye exam and they flip through the film to see if you can see a difference, a just noticeable difference

Chunks, Acronyms, Mnemonic Devices

All part of storage

Chunking: organizing bits of information into familiar, putting info into bits of manageable units

• chunking helps memory

• allows Short-term memory to remember more, but still within 7 plus or minus 2 bits of info

Acronyms and Mnemonics are type of chunking

• HOMES as Great Lakes

• ROY G. BIV as colors of rainbow

Patterns, Associations, alphabetize, categorize, images, senses

Effortful and Automatic Processing

for encoding in memory: effortful and automatic processing

conscious memory to happen, we need to consciously attend to stimuli

Selective attention: focus mental resources on just part of what’s around us/ important

Effortful Processing: encoding that requires attention and conscious effort, evokes schema organization of info

Automatic Processing: encoding that happens automatically and often unconsciously/outside of awareness

• often involves incidental info such as space, time, frequencies

• many things around get processed at an implicit level

Encoding, Storage, Retrieval

Memory: persistence of learning over time via encoding, storage, retrieval of info

Encoding: process of putting information into a form (codes) that memory system can accept and use

Storage : retention of encoded info over time

Retrieval: process of getting information stored in memory

Gist of Information

remember the gist of info in LTM rather than the details long-term

memories recalled and rebuilt

Maintenance vs Elaborative Rehearsal

types of rehearsing memory happen at different levels of processing

Level of processing = the more deeply we encode and process info, more likely we are to remember it

Maintenance Rehearsal: process of retaining information that involves repetition, quick and easy but not well retained

• Ex: read textbook twice to study for exam, use flashcards to memorize word for word definitions

Elaborative Rehearsal: process retaining info that involves relating stimuli to info you already have stored in memory, applying new material, takes more effort but lasts

• Ex: study and relate ideas to events in life

Semantic Learning and Storage

more we bring own experience, more we remember it

semantic encoding, we remember approximately 90% of it

• words, type of, read it

acoustic encoding approx 60%

• word rhymes with

visual approx 15%

• written in capitals

Sensory, STM and LTM

Different stages of memory processing - part of storage

Sensory

• sticks in our senses

• holds info long enough to make connections between stimuli and be processed further/deeper (whether it cares and wants to process)

• Iconic memory: visual stimulus lasts less than 1 sec

• Echoic memory: auditory stimulus lasts 3-4 sec

• Sense memory brief, we would go mad if lasted longer (all sounds surrounding you)

STM/ Working Memory

• stores limited info

• on average, we remember about 7 plus or minus 2 buts of info, like numbers, letters, or chunks of meaningful units

• remember couple more numbers than letters

• STM is little better than what we hear than what we see

• Limited in time (18 seconds)

LTM

• capacity is practically unlimited in how much we can store and in how long we can store (lifetime)

• info is stored semantically, in terms of general meaning

• people remember the “gist” rather than the details long-term

Storage Capacity

STM

we remember 7 plus or minus 2 bits of info, like numbers, letters, chunks of meaningful units

LTM

has unlimited amount of storage capacity

Archetypes

Collective Unconscious

Consciousness: subjective awareness of mental events, self and environment

• monitoring self and environment

• controlling thought and behavior

altered states”

sleep, hypnosis, drug-induced states, meditation

Controlled vs Automatic Processes

Controlled Processes: most active state, focused goal

• Ex: learning new task

Automatic Processes: if something requires little conscious effort, then the task can be on auto and we can divide attention

Dreaming Perspectives

Psychodynamic: Sigmund Freud

• wish fulfillment, outlet to express otherwise unacceptable/ unconscious urges

• Manifest content: remembered story line, reflects literal meaning

• Latent Content: not bound by logic- childish, creative, disorganized, reflects “deeper” meaning

• reflect repression- stored wish in unconscious

• prevents understanding

Cognitive:

• Dreams are information processing- material from everyday life

• can be problem-solving, but no inference regarding unconscious wish is made

• Express a different grammar

• Helps facilitate memories- fixes them in memory

Psychophysiological:

• exercise groups of neurons during sleep

• Random neural firing (Activation- Synthesis Theory)

• Meaningless biological phenomenon- randomly firing neurons in midbrain during REM

• purpose: memory consolidation

Insomnia

Persistent problems in falling or staying asleep

inability to get amount of sleep needed to function during the day or unrefreshing sleep

correlated with stress, depression, old age, alcohol, drug abuse

difficult to diagnose through sleep-report measures

only considered chronic when it occurs most nights for 3 to 4 weeks

treated with behavioral measures

• limit time in bed (7 hours max)

• avoid naps during day

• go to bed only when sleep

• use relaxation techniques

Psychoactive Drugs

chemical substances that alter perceptions and mood

• influence the functioning of brain

• work in synaptic gap

• alter neurotransmitter synthesis, release, reuptake or receptor sensitivity

Stimulants: sped up activity in CNS

Depressants: slow down activity in CNS

Opiates: relieve pain

Psychedelic: disrupt normal thought processes

Selective Attention

Focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

can only focus on one item at a time, although we can shift rapidly

Sleep Walking and Talking

Sleep Walking occurs in Stage 4 only

Sleep Talking can occur in both Stage 2 and Stage 4

sleep walking- difficult to wake up

lack awareness

eyes open and respond to commands but lack recognition

disoriented if awakened

seldom recall episodes

sleepwalkers are not acting out their dreams

Stages of sleep

Pre Sleep Relaxed Waves

Alpha Waves

• slow waves of relaxed, awake brain (low frequency, high amplitude)

Beta Waves: happen when fully awake

4 non-REM stages

• Light Sleep: Stages 1 and 2

Stage 1:

Brief, transitional stage

Lasts only a few minutes

Easily awakened

Theta waves- small irregular waves

Stage 2:

Lasts about 20 minutes

bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain activity

muscles relaxed- less easily disturbed

sleep talking can occur in this stage

• Deep Sleep: Stages 3 and 4 (slow wave sleep, lasts about 30 minutes)

Stage 3 (Transitional Stage):

Delta Waves- large slow brain waves associated with deep sleep

Stage 4:

Pre Delta Waves

Heart-rate, BP, and body temp at lowest

Hard to awaken during deep sleep- may be groggy and confused

sleep-walking and bed wetting can occur

REM- Rapid Eye Movement

• recurring sleep stage

• first occurs 90 minutes after sleep onset

• Normally only stage during which dreaming occurs

• muscles are relaxed but other body systems (visual and auditory brain areas are active)

• Mix of alpha and beta waves relaxed, awake brain

Average NREM-REM sleep cycle takes about every 90 minutes of sleep

• pass thru 4 or 5 stages per night

• amount of deep sleep (stage 4) greater in first half of night than second

• majority of REM sleep takes place in latter part of night’s sleep when REM period becomes progressively longer

States of Consciousness

Wakefulness (normal state): seeing, hearing, remembering, daydreaming

Altered States:

Sleep, hypnosis, drug-induced states, meditation

Cognitive Psychology

not what happens to us it’s how you perceive it

Tolerance

diminishing effect of substance with regular use

after repeated exposure, more drug is needed to produce the same effect

Types of drugs

depressant

• reduce neural activity in central nervous system

• slow body functions- reduce alertness, decrease inhibitions, drowsy

• ex: alcohol, opiates

stimulants

• drugs excite neural activity

• speed up body functions - stay awake, lose weight, increase mood

• ex: caffeine, nicotine, cocaine

• when wear off, depletion of dopamine may cause a crash

opioid

• opium, morphine, heroin

• depress neural activity, lessening pain and anxiety

• rush- feeling of euphoria

hallucinogenic

• distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in absense of sensory input

• Marijuana, mushrooms

Views on consciousness

William James- first American psychologist

• stream of consciousness: stream of ideas that go through our mind all the time

• introspection: turning inward to understand things

• consciousness and attention are a choice

Sigmund Freud

• Conscious: current subjective awareness (thoughts, perceptions)

• Pre-conscious: capable of conciousness (what ate for dinner, phone number)

• Unconscious: inaccessible because of anxiety-provoking potential

• most of motivation is unconcious motivation

Carl Jung

• collective unconcious: born with accumulated knowledge of ancestors wired into you

• archetypes: part of collective unconcious, experiences common to all people everywhere

  • Ex: warrior, peacemaker, loving grandmother

    • all people understand these ideas

• Synchronicity: moments we touch collective unconscious, moments of coincidentally

  • Ex: watching something about beetle and beetle walks across table

Withdrawal

physical and psychological symptoms that occur when someone addicted to a drug stops using it

Acquisition

initial stage of learning during which a response is established and gradually strengthened

Ex: dog learning the association of sound and food

Behaviorism

position that the goal of psych should be to study only observable behaviors and explain them through learning principles

• understand behavior through observing stimuli and responses, skips cognition/thoughts

• by John Watson and BF Skinner

Classical Conditioning

Pavlovian Conditioning

organisms come to associate stimuli

• lightening with thunder or hot stove with pain

begins with reflex- no conscious control

• when food comes, we salivate

neutral stimulus is paired with stimulus that evokes the reflex

eventually neutral stimulus comes to evoke reflex

Desensitization

Systemic desnsitization: Developed counterconditioning procedure using relaxation techniques to help manage phobias

Extinction

diminishing of the conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus or no longer rewarded

Ex: the tone is no longer associated with food then the dog will, over time, no longer salivate to the tone

Observational Learning

learning that is done by observing others who receive reward and punishments

can learn through modeling- process of observing and imitating behavior

Ex: aggression against Bobo Dolls adults to children, televised violence lead to aggressive behavior by kids and teenagers

Operant Conditioning

learning which behavior is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished if followed by punishment

• reward and punishment is how it varies from classical conditioning

Law of effect = thorndike principle that rewarded behavior is likely to recur

Pavlov, Ivan

wanted to study salivation of dogs when given food- why?

Reinforcement Types

Reinforcer: any thing or event that encourages behavior

Positive Reinforcer:

• encourage behavior because they give us something desirable

• Ex: candy, money, smiles

Negative Reinforcer:

• encourages behavior because they take away something undesirable

• increase behavior by driving someone nuts

• Ex: irritating seat belt buzzer

Primary Reinforcer:

• food, water, temperature- things necessary for survival

Secondary Reinforcer:

• acquires reinforcing properties through pairing with primary reinforcers

• Ex: money to buy food or shelter

• don’t work on infants or animals

Continuous Reinforcement:

• reinforcing desired response each time behavior occurs

• learning is rapid

• extinction occurs rapidly too- behavior stops quickly when not reinforced

Partial Reinforcement:

• Reinforcement does not occur each time behavior occurs

• results in slower acquisition

• extinction occurs more slowly

Reward and Punishment

Parts of Operant Conditioning missing in Classical Conditioning

Punishment: an aversive thing or event that decreases behavior

• Ex: receiving something aversive (spanking)

• taking away something desirable (no recess)

Problems”

behavior is not forgotten

can teach that punishment is way to cope with problems

positive punishment:

aversive stimulus provided so behavior is decreasing

• Ex: mother yelling at child running in street

Negative Punishment:

taking away a wanted stimulus to decrease certain behavior

taking away a favorite toy when a child does not go to bed

Shaping

when reinforcers guide behavior in closer approximations to a desired goal

training dog, need to withold food long enough until approximate desired behavior

BF Skinner

based on the law of effect, developed technology to study operant conditioning

created Operant Chamber/ Skinner Box

• soundproof chamber with a bar or a key animal manipulates to obtain a food or water reinforcer

Steps of Conditioning in Order

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS):

• stimulus that unconditionally triggers a response

• Ex: food

Unconditioned Response (UCR):

• unlearned naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus

• Ex: salivation

Conditioned Stimulus (CS):

• a neutral stimulus that after association with unconditioned stimulus triggers conditioned response

• Ex: bell

Conditioned Response (CR):

• learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus

• Same as Unconditioned Response

• Ex: salivation

AI, Neural Networks

Computers that mimic human cognitive activities, field that examines how to use technology to imitate human thinking, problem solving, creative activities

Neural Networks: information represented in a number of locations simultaneously

Signals from widely separated clusters of neural activity come together in convergence zones to process information

Automatic Thoughts and Core Beliefs

Automatic Thoughts: rapid and brief, often leave an emotional response

our most central or core beliefs are so fundamental and deep that we do not articulate them, even to ourselves

Availability Heuristic

judges the probability of an event occurring on the basis of how easy it is to think of examples

Belief in small numbers

Cognition

thought

Cognitive psych studies perception, learning, memory, thought

focuses on mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating- how people attend to acquire, transform, store, and retrieve knowledge

Concept Formation

how people organize and classify events, usually through inclusion and exclusion in groups to solve problems

• form rules that define the way stimuli are related

Confirmation Bias

motivation to interpret evidence as supportive of their existing beliefs or theories even when find evidence that contradicts

occurs because:

• rethinking a problem that seems to be solved takes extra cognitive work

• give greater weight to subsequent info that supports initial position than what was not supported

Creative vs. Expert Problem Solving

Creative:

Generates or recognizes ideas that are original, novel, appropriate

Changes one’s culture

Uses divergent thinking

Critical Thinking

Fixation and Functional Fixedness

Fixation: inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective

• mindset that blocks good problem solving

Functional Fixedness: tendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical use

• hinders ability come up with other solutions

• prevent from seeing beyond apparent constraints of problem

Framing

the way an issue is posed can sig. affect decisions and judgments

power of framing can use it to influence our decisions

Gambler’s Fallacy

Heuristics

thinking strat that may lead to a solution but may sometimes lead to errors

Availability heuristic

Familiarity heuristic

present bias

Kinds of Problems

Means- Ends Analysis and Subgoals

strat where problem solver considers ultimate goal (end) and determines best strat for attaining goal

• each step brings problem solver closer to resolution

another heuristic is to divide problem into subgoals and then solve each of those steps

Problem Solving types

confronting and resolving situations that require insight or determination of some unknown element

Trial and error

insight- sudden realization of a solution “aha”

algorithms- step by step procedures that guarantee reaching a solution

• set of rules over and over until problem is solved

Heuristic

Prototypes

typical, highly representative examples of a concept

cultures differ in specific kinds of prototypes they hold

used decide if new items are of similar patter

ex: favorite teacher if prototype for teacher