Cognition Final Exam - Hemmer

Cognition

mental processes involved in thinking, knowing, remembering, and problem solving

Perception

the process of interpreting sensory information to understand the environment

Bottom-up processing

perception that starts with sensory input from the environment

Top-down processing

perception guided by prior knowledge, expectations, and context

Difference between bottom-up and top-down

bottom-up begins with the stimulus while top-down uses prior knowledge to interpret it

Gestalt principles

rules the brain uses to organize sensory input into meaningful patterns

Proximity

objects close together are perceived as a group

Similarity

objects that look alike are grouped together

Continuity

we prefer smooth, continuous patterns rather than broken ones

Closure

we fill in missing parts to see a complete object

Figure-ground

separating an object (figure) from its background (ground)

Attention

the ability to focus on certain stimuli while ignoring others

Selective attention

focusing on one stimulus while filtering out others

Divided attention

trying to focus on more than one task at the same time

Limited capacity of attention

the brain can only handle a limited amount of information at once

Cocktail party effect

ability to focus on one conversation while still noticing important information like your name

Inattentional blindness

failing to notice something visible because attention is focused elsewhere

Change blindness

failing to notice a change in the environment

Stroop effect

slower and less accurate responses when word meaning conflicts with ink color

Stroop task

name the ink color while ignoring the word itself

Stroop independent variable

whether the word and color match (congruent vs incongruent)

Stroop dependent variable

reaction time and accuracy

Stroop result

people are slower and make more errors when the word and color do not match

Stroop conclusion

automatic reading interferes with controlled color naming

Automatic processing

fast and effortless processing that happens without conscious control

Controlled processing

slow and effortful processing that requires attention

Modal model of memory

memory system with three parts—sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

Modal model representation

information is stored in separate memory systems

Modal model process

information moves from sensory memory to short-term memory and then to long-term memory through rehearsal

Sensory memory

very brief storage of sensory information

Sperling experiment task

participants briefly saw a grid of letters and tried to recall them

Sperling independent variable

type of report (whole, partial, or delayed partial)

Sperling dependent variable

number of letters correctly recalled

Sperling result

participants recalled more letters in the partial report but performance dropped with delay

Sperling conclusion

sensory memory has a large capacity but lasts only a short time

Whole report

recalling all items, usually with low accuracy

Partial report

recalling a subset of items, showing higher accuracy

Delayed partial report

recall decreases when there is a delay, showing rapid memory decay

Short-term memory

temporary storage system with limited capacity and duration

STM capacity

about 7 plus or minus 2 items

Chunking

grouping information into meaningful units to improve memory

Chase and Simon task

chess players recalled board positions

Chase and Simon result

experts remembered meaningful patterns better than random ones

Chase and Simon conclusion

chunking improves memory performance

STM duration

about 15 to 30 seconds without rehearsal

Peterson and Peterson task

memorize letters while counting backward

Peterson independent variable

length of delay

Peterson dependent variable

recall accuracy

Peterson result

recall decreased as delay increased

Peterson conclusion

short-term memory fades quickly without rehearsal

Waugh and Norman task

recall numbers from a sequence

Waugh and Norman independent variable

number of items between presentation and recall

Waugh and Norman dependent variable

recall accuracy

Waugh and Norman result

forgetting increased with more interfering items

Waugh and Norman conclusion

forgetting is mainly due to interference, not time

Working memory model

system for temporarily storing and using information

Working memory representation

includes central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketchpad

Working memory process

central executive directs attention and manages the subsystems

Central executive

controls attention and coordinates tasks

Phonological loop

handles verbal and auditory information

Word length effect

shorter words are easier to remember than longer words

Articulatory suppression

repeating sounds interferes with remembering verbal information

Visuospatial sketchpad

handles visual and spatial information

Long-term memory

relatively permanent storage of information

Implicit memory

memory that influences behavior without conscious awareness

Procedural memory

memory for skills and actions

Priming

prior exposure to a stimulus affects later responses

Explicit memory

conscious recall of information

Semantic memory

memory for facts and general knowledge

Episodic memory

memory for personal experiences

Serial position curve

pattern showing better recall for items at the beginning and end of a list

Murdock task

participants recalled words from a list

Murdock dependent variable

number of words recalled based on position

Murdock result

better recall for first and last items

Primacy effect

better recall of early items due to rehearsal into long-term memory

Recency effect

better recall of recent items still in short-term memory

Encoding

process of getting information into memory

Elaboration

linking new information to existing knowledge

Levels of processing

deeper processing leads to better memory

Craik and Tulving task

participants processed words at shallow or deep levels

Craik and Tulving result

deeper processing led to better recall

Self-reference effect

information related to yourself is remembered better

Organization

arranging information into structured groups to improve memory

Retrieval

accessing stored information

Encoding specificity

memory is better when the context at encoding matches retrieval

Mantyla task

participants created their own cues for words

Mantyla result

self-generated cues improved recall

Fisher and Craik task

recall based on depth of processing

Fisher and Craik result

deeper processing improved recall

Context-dependent memory

memory improves when learning and recall occur in the same environment

Godden and Baddeley task

divers learned words underwater or on land

Godden and Baddeley result

recall was better in the same environment

Spacing effect

studying over time leads to better long-term memory than cramming

Confidence vs accuracy

confidence in memory does not always mean it is correct

Misinformation effect

misleading information can change a person's memory

Loftus task

participants watched an accident and answered questions with different wording

Loftus independent variable

wording of the question

Loftus dependent variable

memory report and speed estimates

Loftus result

stronger wording led to higher speed estimates and false memories

Loftus conclusion

memory is reconstructive and can be influenced by wording