unit 2: Cognition

Perceptual processes

How our mind interprets stimuli

Bottom-up processing:

Achieve recognition of an object by breaking it down into its component parts

Top down processing

Occurs when the brain labels a particular stimulus or experience

Schema

Organized unit of knowledge based on past experiences (your belief)

perceptual set

Refers to a mental predisposition or readiness of the world around us (what other ppl tell us)

Gestalt approach

To form perception is based on a top-down theory

Assimilation schema

Taking in new info

Accommodation schema

Broadening already known info

Proximity

Tendency to see objects near eachother as forming groups

Similarity

Tendency to prefer grouping like objects together

Symmetry

Tendency to perceive forms that make up mirror images

Continuity

Tendency to perceive fluid or continuous forms rather than jagged irregular ones

Closure

Tendency to see closed objects rather than those that are incomplete

Law of pregnant

We see Objects in their simplest forms

Attention

the processing through cognition of a select portion of the massive amount of info incoming from senses and contained in memory

Selective attention

Focusing on one thing (one thing, ignoring the other)

Attentional resource theories

We have only a fixed amount of attention and this resource can be divided up as required in given situations (ur locked in)

Filter theories

stimuli must pass through some form of screen or filter to enter attention

Cocktail party phenomenon

have attention drawn quickly into another convo by key stimulus (saying ur name)

Divided attention

focus more than on one task

Inattentional blindness

Change blindness, demonstrates a potential weakness of selective attention

Binocular depth cues

Both eyes viewing an image

Retinal disparity

Each eye sees a given image from a slightly different angle

Stereoptic

Brain fuses different images together of eye each creates 3d image

Retinal convergence

depth cue that results from the fact your eyes turn inward slightly to focus on nearby objects

Binocular disparity

Results from the fact that the closer the object is, the less similar the info arriving at each eye will be

Visual perception

To perceive depth, size, shape, and motion.

Monocular depth

The qualities of a visual scene that let you know how close or how far things are from you, using just one eye

Relative size

The fact that images that are further from us project a smaller image on the retina than do those that are closer to us

Texture gradient

distribution of objects appear to grow more dense as distance increases

Interposition

occurs when objects particularly blocks the view of an object behind it

Linear perspective

Monocular cue based on the perception that parallel lines seem to draw closer together as the lines recede into the distance

Vanishing point

Where rail seem to join

Visual cliff

To test depth perception

Relative clarity

Perceptual clue that explains why less distinct fuzzy images appear to be more distant

Constancy

We know that a stimulus remains the same size, shape, etc

Motion detection

Motion as 2 processes:

1. One record the changing position of an object as it moves across the retina

2. Tracks how we move our heads 2 follow the stimulus

Phi phenomenon

motion picture when still pictures move at a fast enough pace to imply movement

Typicality

degree to which an object fits the average

Prototype

Typical picture that we envision is referred to as this

Exemplar

Specific example of specific prototype

Superordinate

Broad and encompassses large group of items (food)

Basic concept

smaller and more specificc (bread)

Subordinate

Even smaller and more specefic (rye bread)

Heuristics

Short cuts

Availability heuristic

Drawn from what events come readily to mind

Representativeness heauristic

Judging based on stereotype

Algorithms

Step-by-step

Subliminal perception

Form of the precocious processing that occurs when we are presented with stimuli so rapidly that we are not consciously aware of them

Priming

Being exposed to stimuli before

Gamblers fallacy

Thinking that certain events will happen/happen less based on events

Sunk cost fallacy

Doing smt even tho it doesn’t work for u because it worked for u before

Executive functioning

Allows one to process in order to generate, plan, carry out goals; pre-frontal lobe involved in this

Divergent

Finding many solutions

Convergent thinking

One solution only

Declarative (explicit memory)

Memory you can actively/consiously recall (episodic, semantic memory)

Non declarative ( implicit memory)

Beyond conscious, consists of skills and habits (priming, procedural memory)

Semantic memory

Compromises of facts and figures

Episodic memory

Memory for events we have experienced

Procedural memory

Consists of skills and habits

Prospective memory

Remembering to do something in the future

working memory

Short term memory, brains actively encoding to the long term memory

Iconic

Info in sensory memory if visual

Echoic

Auditory

Effortful processing

Conscious effort

Automatic processing

Unconsciously engaged in skills

Levels of processing model

Way people encode info influences ability to recall it

Recognition memory

Deeper level of processing

Recall memory

Remembering the concept or topic/overall theme

Dual coding hypothesis

Easiest to remember words associated images than words or images alone

Self reference effect

Easier to remember when it’s personally revenant

Chunking

Grouping things together

Spacing effect

Time between study sessions can increase retention

Primacy

Remembering first items

Recency

Remembering last things

Maintaininence rehearsal

Memory maintained until used

Elaborating rehearsal

Memory transferred to Long term

Context dependent memory

Info easier to recall if put in similar situation when memory was encoded

Retroactive interference

New memory replaces old memory (REplace old info)

Proactive interference

Old memory interfered with the new (PROblem remembering new info)

Tip of tongue phenomenon

Self explanatory

Source confusion

We attribute the event to a different source than what it came from

Antereograde amnesia

Can’t remember anything new after incident

Retrograde amnesia

Person can’t remember anything before incident

Intelligence

Goal oriented adaptive thinking

Stanford Binet test

Intillegwnce test, IQ test

Multiple intelligence test

Proposed by howard gardener

Emotional intelligence

Being able to recognize people’s intents and motivations

Vadility

The extent to which a test measures what it intends to measure

Internal vadility

Degree to which the subjects results are due to the questions being asked and not another variable

External vadility

True vadility, the degree to which results from test generalize to real world

Reliability

Measure of how consistent a test is in the measurements it probides

Fluid intelligence

Process info quickly and adaptively; and gradually declines over time

Crystallized intelligence

Accumulated knowledge

Fixed mindset

Someone does not change their beliefs

Growth mindset

Self explanatory