Intro to Psych Exam 1

Psychology

study of BEHAVIOR and MENTAL PROCESSES

Biological approach

brain and nervous system functioning (physiological systems)

ex: heart racing, sweaty palms

Behavioral approach

observable behavioral responses and environmental determinants —- WHY do people do what they do??

ex: no thoughts/feels/goals, exclusively the observable, external rewards

Psychodynamic approach

subconscious

ex: how childhood affects our adult behaviors

Humanistic approach

growth mentality, freedom to change and not stay stagnant

ex: choice to live by higher human values, free will

Cognitive approach

memory, attention, perception, thinking, problem solving

ex: memory and thinking affect behavior

Evolutionary approach

adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection explain human behaviors

Sociocultural approach

influences of social and cultural environments on behavior

Henry L. Roedinger and Kathleen McDermott

experimented with lists and “false memories” bc of word association

Jean Piaget

swiss psychologist studied childhood development

Post-event information

facts, events, and suggestions that come long along after the event has happened

unknowingly integrate this information into your memory, modifying what you believe you saw

Elizabeth Loftus

memory researcher

able to make false memories seem real

memories = “story-truth” or “happening-truth”

Stephen Ceci

memory researcher working with preschool children

kids remembering mouse traps

Daniel L. Schacter

source memory — the ability to recall precisely when and where an event occurred

memories are jigsaw puzzles

Memory not an objective camera recording it’s….

constructed bits and pieces from senses, feelings, stories from others, and implications from personality

Henry Molaison

lost his hippocampus while undergoing neurosurgery for seizures

most studied case in medical history

loss of new memory creation and loss of 11 years of previous memories

could still get faster at new motor skills

Retrograde memory loss

a loss of memories prior to the brain damage (not just after)

Word association

enough indirect activation prompts the brain to falsely remember a word that wasn’t actually included

memory

the retention of information or experience over time as the result of three key processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval

encoding

the first step in memory; the process by which information gets into memory storage

selective attention

focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others

divided attention

concentrating on more than one activity at the same time — decreases encoding

sustained attention

the ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time

executive attention

the ability to plan action, allocate attention to goals, detect errors and compensate for them, monitor progress on tasks, and deal with novel or difficult circumstances

levels of processing

a continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory

shallow processing

physical and perceptual features are analyzed

intermediate processing

stimulus is recognized and labeled

deep processing

sematic, meaningful, symbolic characteristics are used

elaboration

the formation of a number of different connections around a stimulus at a given level of memory encoding — uses more parts of the brain

self-reference

relating material to your own experience

a good study hack

imagery

one of the most powerful ways to make memories distinctive

dual-code theory

memory for pictures is better than memory because the pictures are stored as both image codes and verbal codes

storage

encompasses how information is retained over time and how it is represented in memory

Atkinson-Shiffrin theory

theory stating that memory storage involves three separate systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

sensory memory

memory system that involves holding information from the world in its original sensory form for only an instant, not much longer that the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses

rich and detailed, but lots of information is lost bc we can’t transfer everything into short/long-term memory

echoic memory

refers to auditory sensory memory, which is retained for up to several seconds

iconic memory

refers to the visual sensory memory, which is retained for only about a quarter of a second

short-term memory

limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 second unless strategies are used to retain it longer

memory span

the number of digits an individual can report back in order after a single presentation of them

chunking

grouping or “packing” information that exceeds the 7±2 memory span into higher order units that can be remember as single units

rehearsal

the conscious repetition of information

working memory

a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow individuals to hold information temporarily as they perform cognitive tasks; a kind of mental workbench on which the brain manipulates and assembles information to guide understanding, decision making, and problem solving

time outside greatly impacts and benefits working memory

aspect of working memory — central executive

integrates information from the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad, but also from long-term memory

important roles in attention, planning, and organization

aspect of working memory — phonological loop

specialized to briefly store speech-based information about the sounds of language

• acoustic code — sounds we hear

• rehearsal — allows us to repeat the words in the phonological store

aspect of working memory — visuo-spatial sketchpad

stores visual and spatial information

functions separate from phonological loop, so we can rehearse numbers while making spacial arrangements of letters

long-term memory

a relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for a long time

explicit memory

the conscious recollection of information, such as specific facts or events and, at least in humans, information that can be verbally communicated

• episodic memory

• sematic memory

subgroup of explicit memory — episodic memory

the retention of information about the where, when, and what of life’s happening—that is, how individuals remember life’s episodes

• autobiographical — your experience

subgroup of explicit memory — sematic memory

a person knowledge about the world

• expertise, general knowledge, everyday knowledge, famous individuals, important places, and common things

• independent of an individual’s identity with the past

implicit memory (non-declarative memory)

memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without a conscious recollection of that experience

subgroup of implicit memory — procedural memory

memory for skills

subgroup of implicit memory — priming

the activation of information that people already have in storage to help them reme,ber new information better and faster

subgroup of implicit memory — classical conditioning

a form of learning in which the automatic learning of associations between stimuli cause one stimuli to evoke the same response in the other

how memory is organized

• schemas

• connectionist networks

method of memory storage — schemas

a preexisting mental concept or framework that helps people to organize and interpret information. Schemas from prior encounters with the environment influence the way individuals encode, make inferences about, and retrieve information

script

schema for an event, often containing information about physical features, people and typical experiences

method of memory storage (connectionist networks) — connectionism or parallel distributed processing (PDP)

the theory that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections among neurons, several of which may work together to process a single memory

• consolidation — any piece of knowledge (a name) is embedded in the strengths of hundreds or thousands of connections among neurons

how memories are stored

• neurons (memory)

• brain structure (memory functions)

neurons and memory

• memories are composed of specific sets or circuits of neurons

• neurotransmitters are the ink with which memories are written (activation of neurons requires neurotransmitters)

• long-term potentiation — if two neurons are activated at the same time, the connection between them, and thus the memory, may be strengthened

• similar neurons are activated during encoding and retrieval of a memory

brain structures and memory functions

• explicit memory — hippocampus, temporal lobes in cerebral cortex, areas of the limbic system

  • retrospective — remembering things from the past

  • prospective — remembering things we need to do in the future

• implicit memory — cerebellum (priming uses areas of the cerebral cortex - temporal lobes and hippocampus)

memory retrieval

the memory process that occurs when information that was retained in memory comes out of storage

serial position effect

the tendency to recall the items at the beginning and end of a list more readily than those in the middle

• primacy and recency effect/bias

recall

memory task in which the person must retrieve previously previously learned information

recognition

a memory task in which the person only has to identify (recognize) learned items

encoding specificity principle

information present at the time of encoding or learning tends to be effective as a retrieval cue

context-dependent memory

people remember better when they attempt to recall information in the same context in which they learned it

autobiographical memory

a special form of episodic memory, consisting of a person’s recollections of their life experiences

reminiscence bump

finding that adults remember more events from their second and third decades of life than from other decades

3 levels of autobiographical memory

1. lifetime periods — long segments of time from years to decades

2. general events — extended composite episodes measued in days, weeks, or months

3. event-specific knowledge — individual episodes measured in seconds, minutes, or hours

flashbulb memory

the memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery than everyday events

motivated forgetting

forgetting that occurs when something is so painful or anxiety-laden that remembering it is intolerable

Hermann Ebbinghaus

first researcher into “forgetting”

encoding failure

when the information was never entered into long-term memory

inference theory

people forget not because memories are lost from shortage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember

proactive inference

situation in which material that was learned earlier disrupts the recall of material that was learned later

retroactive inference

material that was learned later disrupts the retrieval of information that was learned earlierde

decay theory

when an individual learns something new, a neurochemical memory trace forms, but over time this trace disintegrates; suggests that the passage of time always increases forgetting

tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

a type of effortful retrieval associated with a person’s feeling that they know something but cannot quite pull it out of memory

familiarity network

areas around the hippocampus that appear to impact deja vu

retrospective memory

remembering information from the past

proactive memory

remembering information about doing something in the future; includes memory for intentions

amnesia

the loss of memory

anterograde amnesia

a memory disorder that affect the retention of NEW information and events

retrograde amnesia

memory loss for a segment of the PAST but not for new events

cognition

the way in which information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing

behaviorism

the human mind is a “black box” and should be left to philosophers to understand

John van Neumann

developed the first modern computer and prompted research into the mind’s computer like qualities

artificial intelligence

a scientific field that focuses on creating machine capable of performing activities that require intelligence when they are done by people

thinking

the process of manipulating information mentally by forming concepts, solving problems, making decisions, and reflecting critically or creatively

concept

a mental category that is used to group objects, events, and characteristics

four reasons for concepts

• allow generalization

• allow association of experiences and objects

• aid memory (more efficient)

• provide clues about how to react

prototype model

a model of concepts emphasizing that when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concept, they compare the item with the most typical items in that category and look for a “family resemblance” with that item’s properties

problem solving

mental process of finding an appropriate way to attain a goal when the goal is not readily available

steps in problem solving

1. Find and frame problems

2. Develop good strategies

3. evaluate solutions

4. Rethink and reframe problems and solutions over time

subgoals

intermediate goals or problems to solve that put one in a better position for reaching a final goal or solution

algorithms

strategies—including formulas, instructions, and the testing of all possible solutions—that guarantee a solution to a problem

heuristics

shortcut strategies or guidelines that suggest a solution to a problem but do not guarantee an answer

fixation

using a prior strategy and failing to look at a problem from a fresh new perspective

functional fixedness

failing to solve a problem as a result of fixation on a things unusual functions

reasoning

mental activity of transforming information to reach conclusions