FINAL EXAM

Who was the psychologist who argued that visual imagery is an  epiphenomenon? 

Who was the psychologist who argued that visual imagery is an  epiphenomenon? 

Zenon Pylyshyn; its an epiphenomenon we experience it but it is a byproduct of cognitive function

 Discuss two behavioral tasks that have been used to demonstrate similarities  between imagery and perception. What is the name of the researcher who used  these tasks? 

(1) Mental Scanning
- Stephen Kosslyn
- participants were asked to memorize a map with plot points, then with their eyes closed, were told to use their fingers to mentally travel from one plot point to another
Found: the further away the landmarks were away from each other the longer it took to press the button which suggests that the mental image they have and how they interact with it is similar to the real world (actually tracing that space with their mind) 

(2) Size in Visual Field
- Stephen Kosslyn
- had people imagine they are 30 feet from the car they report that things get bigger just like real life (imagery and perception follow the same rules) imagine bunny rabbit next to elephant they zoom out on elephant and the bunny also gets zoomed out (does it have whiskers) take people time to zoom into the bunny in their mind  versus bunny and a fly (bunny rabbit is big so you do not need to zoom in) 

Found: research shows that participants also experience this increased size in their visual field in their minds

Discuss three pieces of neuroimaging/neuropsychological evidence showing that imagery and perception are closely related to one another. 

(1) Single cell recording
- when stimulating the fusiform cortex during surgery, patients experience spontaneous pictures of faces and NOT objects
- since they not only see the face (imagery), but can also identify the face (perception), this shows that imagery and perception rely on similar brain areas

(2) brain imaging
- occipital lobe lights up and is involved in both perceiving images (perception) and imagining pictures (imagery)

(3) transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
- research shows that when people accurately memorize orientations in 4 quadrants, they remember the images and can accurately differentiate between them
- when the participants have impaired visual field, they remember the orientations wrong and therefore perceive it wrong
- this shows that the way one sees things in their visual field (imagery) determines their perception of that image (perception)

. What is the method of loci? How is it similar and different to the peg-word  method for using imagery to support memory? 

Method of Loci: also known as the memory palace
- involves using one's surrounding objects and associating them with things you need to remember so that you can walk through a place and remember those things

Peg word Method: involves associating things you need to remember with a rhyme

The two methods are similar because they both involve associating what you need to remember.

They are different because the peg word method is more verbal and mental while the method of loci is more visual and physical.

Does mental practice benefit athletic performance? What about academic  performance? 

Mental practice benefits athletic performance in that imagining doing something physically in your head can help do it in real life.

When it comes to academic performance, it is not very effective to just imagine an outcome and expect it to manifest in real life. It requires hard work. However, one can think about the process of getting to their goal and this may help to achieve it

What is the distinction that Shelly Taylor made between outcome and process  simulations important? 

In an experiment, those who thought about the process of achieving their goals vs the outcome did better at achieving their goals because they planned out how they were going to get there.

 How does imagination help people to be less impulsive?

Getting people to think about their future in a more concrete way, they can stop thinking for themselves in the present and focus on the future.

What is the difference between a letter and a phoneme? What is a  morpheme? 

Words are made up of letters (a, b, c)

phonemes are the individual sounds in a word.

Morphemes are the smallest units of sound that has meaning (eg. bed/room).

Give an example of how context can help people to perceive phonemes,  letters, and words. 

Phonemic Restoration Effect = if you replace a phoneme of a word with a sough (eg. a cough), people report having heard that phoneme despite it not being there
- this is because the context the word is said in helps them perceive what is being said

Perceiving words in sentences = groups who are given sentences and then told to repeat every single word get 100% accuracy, but groups who are given sentences with some words cut out, and then told to repeat it, only get 50% accuracy because the missing words cause the participants to lack context, and therefore, are unable to guess what words go in the missing spaces.

Word superiority effect = we are better at remembering individual letters when they are in the context of a word than when they are not.
- in other words, having the context of words makes it easier to remember individual letters

What is the word frequency effect? 

We are more likely to identify more frequently used words in our day-to-day lives as "real words" than less frequent words

.What is lexical ambiguity? How does lexical ambiguity contribute to  processing times for words? 

Lexical ambiguity: is when some words have more than one meaning.

Meaning dominance determines which meaning of the word we perceive.

A biased meaning dominance means that one meaning dominates or is superior to another meaning, leading us to choose that one over others.

A balanced meaning dominance means that both meaning are equally possible, so we have to look at the context to determine which meaning to perceive.

 What is the difference between Broca’s aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia?

Broca's aphasia: has to do with syntax, in that it results in an inability to generate language and its rules.

Wernicke's Aphasia: has to do with semantics, in that it results in a difficulty comprehending language.

What is the principle of late closure in relation to the syntax-first approach to  parsing sentences? 

Late closure: refers to how when we read a sentence, we perceive it all as being one sentence unless it is stopped by a comma or period.

Syntax-first approach to parsing: we use the rules of producing sentences to understand how things go together (such as how words make sentences)

Name three types of inferences that help people to create coherent mental  representations of text. 

1) Anaphoric Inference
- pronouns (eg. he, she, they) are used to convey that we are talking about one person throughout a text without having to say their name again

(2) Instrument Inference
- we imagine certain "instruments" being used in specific contexts to create a mental image or representation of the text

(3) Causal Inference
- refers to one thing causing another

Name two rules of language production that help people to communicate clearly with others. 

(1) Given New Contract
- When speaking to someone, we should contain new necessary information that the listener does not know so that they can make sense of what we are saying (eg. "We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm")

(2) Syntactic Coordination
- we should try to match our communication style to the person we are communicating with (structure our sentences the same way)

How does Bilingualism benefit cognition?

The skill of being able to switch from one language to another can manifest into other areas, where we can quickly shift from one task to another, improving cognitive abilities.

Also, the onset of dementia is delayed in bilinguals versus monolinguals.

 How does confidence in solving non-insight and insight problems change  over time? 

Insight problems = involve an "aha" moment, no specific rules or set of steps to get to the answer

Non-insight problems = involves things like math where there are steps to get to the answer

Metcalfe and Wiebe (1987) = experiment showed that with non-insight problems, people became more and more confident throughout time that they were getting closer to the answer, while with insight problems, there was no particular gradual increase in confidence

Discuss the relation between functional fixedness and mental sets

(1) Functional Fixedness = when we know that an object is used for one purpose, it is hard to think of that object serving another purpose to help us solve a problem

(2) Mental Sets = we get used to doing things a certain way, making it difficult to step out of the box to solve a problem

These two are related because both have to do with our previous experiences (top down processing) acting as obstacles to "thinking outside of the box" to solve a problem.

What is means-end analysis? 

Means end analysis = the 6th stage to information processing to solving a problem
- it involves thinking about the means or methods of getting to the solution to our problem (from A to B)

Describe the process of making an analogy

(1) analogical transfer --> using a source problem (an analogy, or a similar problem) to solve our our target problem
- 1. we notice the source problem and target problem are connected
- 2. we map out the relations between the source and target problems
- 3. we apply the solution of the source problem to the target problem

(2) Surface features = if the surface features of both the source problem and target problem are similar, then the chance of our solution being successful goes up (eg. if both problems are medical problems)

Describe two limits to expertise discussed in class

(1) even if people know a lot about their specific field, they don't know the same amount of information about other things

(2) they tend to assume other people know just as much as they do about their field (curse of knowledge)

 Define creative (divergent) thinking

To create a creative idea, something has to be novel and useful to be good

How can group brainstorming help or hurt creative problem solving?

If people start off with their ideas individually, they can get together and present ideas to the group. However, if people start off in a group, some person may be dominating and other people may not be comfortable sharing their ideas.

What part of the brain limits creative thinking? 

The anterior temporal lobe. It is responsible for our general knowledge.

Define and provide an example of the availability and representativeness heuristics. 

Availability heuristic --> we tend to answer questions based on what is comes to mind easier, what is more readily available in our minds.
- eg. When asked whether more people die of appendicitis or from homicide in the US, people may answer homicide because we see this on the news commonly. However, appendicitis is the answer.

Representativeness Heuristic --> we tend to use our own definitions of representative characteristics to answer questions.
- eg. Robert is quiet, reads, and wears glasses. Is he more likely to be a farmer or a librarian? People are more likely to use the shortcut of saying librarian because wearing glasses, reading, and being quiet are representative characteristics of a librarian.

What is confirmation bias?

We tend to look for information or evidence that confirms what we already believe than what would disprove it.

 Define expected utility theory. 

Expected Utility Theory = theory that suggests that before making a decision, people weigh the pros and cons of the various options

What did you learn about the relation between expected emotions and risk  aversion? 

Kermer and colleagues (2006) --> we tend to predict that we will feel worse about an expected situation than we actually end up feeling. This is what makes us risk averse.

 How do incidental emotions and context influence decision making?

Incidental emotions --> based on our incidents, we may want to dissociate from certain items that remind us of a bad situation, or choose to create a new association with something as a form of comfort to get over a bad situation
- our emotions influence our decision making

Context --> depending on your most recent history with how you've been thinking about a specific situation, this will determine your decision making regarding it (eg. c-sections)

Do opt-in or opt-out procedures lead to better compliance? 

Opt-out procedures lead to better compliance because people are too lazy to actively go and opt out (eg. organ donors in France)

What is the optimism bias? Why can it be detrimental to health-related  decision making? When is it especially likely to arise?

Optimism bias is the tendency for people to underestimate the likelihood that they were experience serious events in their lifetime (eg. cancer, car accidents, etc.)

It can be detrimental to health-related decision making because they tend not to take the proper precautions or steps to prevent these adverse events (eg. wearing seatbelts, smoking, littering, etc.)

The characteristics of events that make them more likely to be underestimated are:

(1) the frequency of the event
- the less prominent or common the event is, the more likely the person will have an optimism bias (eg. going bankrupt)
- the more prominent, the less likely they more realistic the person will be (eg. divorce)
- Egocentric bias = "rare events are less likely for myself, but not for others"

(2) the controllability of the event
- optimism bias more likely when the event is in one's control (eg. developing a drug addition)
- the less controllability, the more realistic a person will be (eg. being mugged)

(3) the severity of the consequences associated with the event
- the more severe the consequences are, the less likely optimism bias is (eg. stroke)
- the less severe the consequences are, the more likely optimism bias is (eg. tooth decay)