Cognitive Psychology Lecture Notes

Flashcards generated from lecture notes on Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Psychology

Studies of mental processes including perception, attention, memory, language, problem-solving, and decision-making. Focuses on how people process, store, and use information.

Simple Reaction Time (SRT)

Time to respond to one stimulus.

Choice Reaction Time (CRT)

Time to make a decision when there is more than one stimulus.

Structuralism

Experience is determined by combining basic elements of experience called sensations.

Analytical Introspection

Trained to describe experience and thought processes in response to stimuli.

Ebbinghaus Memory Experiment

Repeating nonsense syllables aloud to determine the number of repetitions necessary to repeat the list without errors, then relearning after a delay to see how many repetitions were saved.

Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve

Retention drops for two days after learning.

William James' Principles of Psychology

Mind operates based on observations and functions, focusing on consciousness, attention, memory, imagination, and reasoning.

Behaviorism

Eliminate the mind as a topic of study and instead study observable behavior.

Little Albert Experiment

Watson and Rayner's experiment where Little Albert became scared of a rat after it was paired with a loud noise, demonstrating how pairing one stimulus with another can affect behavior.

Classical Conditioning

Pairing a neutral stimulus (bell) with a stimulus (food) that elicits a response (salivation) leads to the neutral stimulus eliciting the response.

Operant Conditioning

Determining the relationship between stimuli and responses, shaping behavior through rewards and punishments.

Controversy over Language Acquisition (Skinner vs. Chomsky)

Children learn language through operant conditioning (Skinner) versus an innate capacity for language (Chomsky).

Understanding Cognitive Behaviors

Measuring observable behavior and making inferences about underlying cognitive activity.

Information Processing

Attempts to explain behavior in terms of the mind, contrasting with the behaviorist stimulus-response approach.

Structural and Process Models

Represent physical structure, such as the 3D brain, or processes involved in cognitive mechanisms like memory models.

Cognitive Neuroscience

Combines understanding of cognition with nervous system and individual biological units.

Neurons

Building blocks of the nervous system; cells that create, receive, and transmit information

Dendrites

Branches reaching from the cell body, which receive information from other neurons.

Axon

Tube filled with fluid that transmits electrical signals to other neurons.

Synapse

Space between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite or cell body of another; neurotransmitters are released here.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical signals that affect the electrical signal of the receiving neuron; they cross the synapse and bind to receiving dendrites.

Principle of Neural Representation

Experiences are based on representations in the nervous system.

Feature Detectors

Neurons that respond to specific stimulus features.

Experience-Dependent Plasticity

Structure of the brain changes with experience, perception determined by neurons that fire to specific qualities of a stimulus.

Hierarchical Processing

Progression from lower to higher areas of the brain.

Specificity Coding

One neuron represents one thing.

Sparse Coding

Small group of neurons represents one thing.

Population Coding

Many neurons work together to represent one thing.

Broca's Area

Language production is impaired by damage to this area.

Wernicke's Area

Language comprehension is impaired by damage to this area.

Occipital Lobe

Vision

Parietal Lobe

Touch, temperature, pain

Temporal Lobe

Hearing, taste, smell

Frontal Lobe

Coordination of information received

Fusiform Face Area (FFA)

Responds to faces; damage can cause inability to recognize faces.

Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA)

Responds to places/environments.

Extrastriate Body Area (EBA)

Responds to pictures of bodies and parts of bodies.

Perception

Active interpretation of the environment based on sensory input, reasoning, problem-solving, past experiences, and expectations.

Direct (Bottom-up) Processing

Start with sensory data; information flows from senses to brain.

Constructive (Top-down) Processing

Based on expectations; the brain uses memory and knowledge to interpret data.

Helmholtz's Unconscious Inference

What is most likely based on past experiences is used to interpret stimuli.

Bayesian Inference

Prior knowledge + likelihood of current information is used to interpret stimuli.

Gestalt Theory

The mind organizes stimuli into wholes automatically using innate principles.

Similarity (Gestalt Principle)

Grouping similar items.

Proximity (Gestalt Principle)

Grouping close items.

Closure (Gestalt Principle)

Fill in gaps to form whole shapes.

Continuity (Gestalt Principle)

Perceive smooth paths over abrupt changes.

Figure-Ground (Gestalt Principle)

Focus on the main object, the rest is background.

Simplicity (Pragnanz) (Gestalt Principle)

Seeing the simplest structure.

fMRI Scans and Familiar Faces

Increased activity in the FFA for familiar faces.

Oblique Effect

Perception of horizontal and vertical lines.

Light-From-Above Assumption

Assume light comes from above, helping to interpret shadows and depth.

Scene Schemas

Understanding of what usually exists in a place (e.g., office with desk, chair, computer).

What Pathway (Ventral)

Identifying objects (temporal lobe).

Where/How Pathway (Dorsal)

Locates objects and guides action (parietal lobe).

Attention

Focusing on certain stimuli while ignoring others.

Selective Attention

Focusing on one input while ignoring the rest.

Divided Attention

Trying to focus on multiple tasks.

Sustained Attention

Maintaining focus over time.

Alternating Attention

Shifting focus between tasks.

Broadbent's Filter Model (Early Selection)

Filter based on physical properties; unattended information is blocked early.

Treisman's Attenuation Model

Unattended information is weakened, not blocked.

Late Selection Models

All information processed for meaning; selection happens later.

High-Load Tasks

Less distractibility.

Low-Load Tasks

More likely to be distracted.

Cognitive Control

Varies by person and depends on frontal lobe function.

Overt Attention

Direct movement to stimulus.

Covert Attention

Paying attention without eye movement.

Visual Scanning

Attention can shift based on stimulus salience (bottom-up) or prior knowledge (top-down).

Divided Attention and Practice

Practice allows multitasking to become more automatic.

Inattentional Blindness

Failure to notice unexpected objects when focused elsewhere.

Change Blindness

Missing small changes in a visual scene.

Binding Problem

How the brain combines features like color, shape, and motion into a single, unified perception.

Preattentive Stage

Individual features are registered automatically (e.g., red, round).

Focused Attention Stage

Attention combines features into a new object (e.g., red ball).

Explicit Memory

Retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is gone.

Sensory Memory

Brief storage of sensory information that decays quickly if not attended to.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

Holds 5-7 items for 15-20 seconds; information is lost if not rehearsed or encoded into long-term memory.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

Permanent storage with a large capacity; information can last years or decades.

Control Processes

Rehearsal (repetition), attention, and encoding strategies to make information more memorable.

Characteristics of Sensory Memory

Retention of sensory information (visual or auditory) for a few seconds.

Decay

Loss of memory over time due to interference from new information.

Chunking

Combination of small pieces of information into larger, meaningful units.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

Passive storage of information with limited capacity and duration.

Working Memory (WM)

Active system for storing, processing, and manipulating information for complex tasks.

Phonological Loop

Verbal/auditory information that utilizes a phonological store and articulatory rehearsal.

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Visual and spatial information.

Mental Rotation

Mental manipulation of images

Central Executive

Controls attention and coordinates subsystems; damage impairs central executive function.

Prefrontal Cortex

Controls WM and attention.

Priming

Automatic response based on past experience.

Procedural Memory

Memory for actions/skills (e.g., riding a bike).

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

Storage system that holds information for long periods of time.

Primacy Effect

Better recall of items at the beginning of a list (rehearsal and encoding into LTM).

Recency Effect

Better recall of the last items on a list (STM).

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)

Delaying recall eliminates the recency effect, supporting the distinction between STM and LTM.

Visual Coding

Images (visualizing landmarks).

Auditory Coding

Sounds (replaying a song).

Semantic Coding

Meaning (understanding a story).