psych sem 2 exam

sensation

• an automatic physical reaction to a stimulus that is the same for everyone

• occurs in the cells in sense organs and neural pathways does not involve brain

stages of sensation

• reception

• transduction

• transmission

reception

stimulus, or change to stimulus, is detected by sensory receptor cells in sense organs

• cells specialised to detect and respond to a specific type & level of energy in environment

transduction

sensory receptors convert stimulus energy into electrochemical impulses

• necessary as NS can only transmit and process energy in electrochemical form

transmission

electrochemically charged neural impulses leave sensory receptor site and travel along specific nerve fibres

• nerve fibres connect to specific sensory areas in brain specialised to receive them

perception

• psychological activity that gives meaning to the stimuli our sense organs detect

stages of perception

• selection

• organisation

• interpretation

selection

specialised neurons (feature detectors) select specific features of electrochemical impulses travelling to brain so they can be organised into meaningful patters or wholes that can be interpreted

organisation

reassembling of features of sensory stimuli to form a whole or pattern that can be given meaning

interpretation

giving meaning to stimuli so we understand what they represent about the external world

attention

• a voluntary or involuntary tendency to orient towards and focus on a particular stimulus and ignore other stimuli

• can be focused externally or internally

• can be automatic (little conscious awareness) or controlled process (full awareness required)

selective attention

ability to redirect our focus to a specific or limited range of stimuli while ignoring or filtering out others

controlled processing allows for selective attention

cherry’s cocktail party year

1953

cherry’s cocktail party (1953)

• investigates selective attention in auditory processing → how people can focus on one convo in a noisy environment whilst filtering out others

• demonstrated that we filter out unattended auditory information early in processing

divided attention

• capacity to attend to and perform two or more activities at the same time

• automatic processing facilitates divided attention

• decreases the amount of attention being placed on only one task or idea

focused attention

• attending to a particular stimulus while ignoring others → requires high level of awareness

automatic process

little amount of conscious awareness

• requires little attention or mental effort

• enables us to have divided attention

controlled process

full conscious awareness required

• requires selective attention

• must actively focus attention on task

functions of attention

• orientating sensory stimuli

• controlling behaviour

• maintaining altertness within a stimulus

processes of memory

• encoding

• storage

• retrieval

encoding (transduction)

• an initial step in memory process in which information is put into a representation form that is able to be stored and accessed

storage

retention of information and memories overtime (patterns in connectivity of neurons used)

retrieval

• recovery of information & memories from storage, usually involves recollection of material from LTM → STM

atkinson and shiffrin multi-store model of memory (1968)

multi-store model - sensory memory

• 1st memory store

• temporary mechanism that retains and processes input from five senses

• if attended to, it is transferred to STM, if not then forgotten

• primarily processes iconic memory and echoic memory

• duration: 0.3-0.4 secs (visual) 3-4 secs (echoic)

• capacity: very high

• encoding: different stores per sense

multi-store model - short term memory

• capacity to hold very limited amount of information in temporary buffer for a short period of time

• duration: 20 - 30 seconds

• capacity: limited 7± two items ← MILLER’S LAW

• encoding: mainly auditory

multi-store model - long term memory

• transferred to long term after elaborative/continual rehearsal

• unlimited in capacity, permanent in duration, encoded semantically

• can be recalled to STM when needed

• can divided into declarative (explicit) and procedural (implicit) memory

declarative memory

• branch of long-term memory

• conscious memories that can be brought to the mind and described as spoken
  - semantic: memory for facts
  - episodic: personal experiences, memories of events and facts in our daily life

procedural memory

• branch of long-term memory

• outside conscious awareness, memory for procedures e.g. how to ride a bicycle

extending capacity of short-term memory

• chunking: recognising a familiar pattern in STM and combining the individual elements into single units → chunk

• allows recognition of familiar objects, words and phrases instead of disconnected visual features and meaningless sounds

extending duration STM

• maintenance rehearsal: mentally repeat information using “inner voice”.

• loop connected to STM store, allows encoding

• used when we want to keep information active in STM to achieve a goal

protection against forgetting - LTM

elaborative rehearsal: asking yourself questions about information you’ve received

• strengthens existing memory traces and organises information in a way that assists with retrieval

retrieval: bringing relevant info from LTM to STM as part of the encoding process

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) strengths

• gives a good understanding of the structure and process of the STM - allows researchers to expand

• studies e.g. HM provide evidence to support distinction between STM and LTM

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) weaknesses

• oversimplified, especially when suggesting short- & long-term memory operate in a single, uniform fashion

Baddeley & Hitch year

1974

baddeley & hitch (1974) working memory model

• short term memory as a system with multiple components, takes into account dynamic processes involved in cognitions & ability to carry out two tasks simultaneously

• mental operations can be performed on information being storeed

4 components of working memory model

• central executive

• visuospatial sketchpad

• phonological loop

• episodic buffer ← added in 2000 by Baddeley

central executive

• responsible for monitoring and coordinating operations of slave systems (VSS and PL) - relates them to long term memory

• decides which information is attended to and which parts of working memory to send info to be dealt with (VSS or PL)

• focuses on specific parts of tasks and decides how to divide attention between different tasks

  • directs attention and gives priority to particular activities

phonological loop

• deals with spoken and written material → auditory short-term memory

• phonological store and articulatory control process

phonological store

inner ear, holds information in speech-based form for 1-2 seconds, either from outside world or recalled long-term memory (limited capacity)

articulatory control process

inner voice- rehearsing information from phonological store (extends duration)

visuospatial sketchpad

• “inner eye” - visual short-term memory, processes visual and spatial information

• can manipulate images in 2&3 dimensions, typically can only do one and not the other

• criticism: some may have visual, no spatial or vice versa

episodic buffer (baddeley, 2000)

• sub-system allowing component of WM to interact with LTM

• limited capacity, temporary storage system, holds about 4 chunks of information

• capable of holding info in any form - can combine auditory from PL with visual from VSS, connects these with LTM but still under control of central executive