cog pysch

Nativism

innate ideas)

– Anticipated by Plato, expressed clearly by Descartes

Empiricism

(experience as source of knowledge)

– Anticipated by Aristotle, expressed clearly by John Locke

– Concept of “tabula rasa” (a blank slate) of the human mind at birth upon which experience writes

Structuralism

(Wundt, Titchener)

– Focus on the structure of the conscious mind, used introspection (a method in

which one looks carefully inward, reporting on inner sensations and experiences)

Functionalism

James)

– Emphasis on the functions of consciousness, influenced by Darwin

Behaviorism

(first Watson, then Skinner)

– Defined psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior.

Became dominant approach to psychology in first half of 20th century

Channel capacity

The concept

that any system processing information has a limited capacity

Serial processing

(doing mental tasks one at a time in a series)

Typically, you expect serial processing to mean that more time is needed to

complete a longer series of tasks

Parallel processing

time to complete tasks

may be unaffected by the number of tasks being carried out

Cascade processing

Where a number of mental tasks may start at different times but may overlap (often because a later task can use partial information from an earlier task)

LOGIC THEORIST

Often considered the first true AI program, it was

capable of generating proofs of mathematical theorems

Simon and Newell

Turing Test

proposed test to determine whether computers can think. Can an observer discriminate between the responses of a human and a computer?

Searle’s Chinese Room

Even if a system passes the Turing

test, can it be said to think if it lacks intentionality?

• Thought experiment: You’re in a room, having to respond to

Chinese messages with a rule book containing the right answers

a 1980 thought experiment arguing that computers, which operate solely on syntax (rules), cannot achieve true understanding or consciousness (semantics), regardless of how intelligent they appear. It challenges "strong AI" by demonstrating that a person manipulating symbols based on instructions can simulate language comprehension without actually understanding it.

Core Aspects of the Thought Experiment:

The Setup: A monolingual English speaker is locked in a room with a rulebook (program) and baskets of Chinese characters (data).

The Input/Output: Chinese speakers outside pass in Chinese questions (input). The person inside uses the rulebook to match symbols and produce appropriate Chinese answers (output).

The Result: To the outside observers, the responses appear perfectly intelligent and in Chinese, suggesting the room "understands" Chinese.

The Conclusion: The person in the room does not know a word of Chinese, meaning they are merely manipulating symbols without understanding their meaning.

Reductionism

the practice of explaining complex human behaviors, emotions, and cognitive processes by breaking them down into simpler, more fundamental components, such as biological, genetic, or environmental factors.

Ecological Validity

a measure of how test performance predicts behaviors in real-world settings

Dissociation

(a disruption in one component

of mental functioning but no impairment of another)

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

applying repeated magnetic stimulation at the

surface of the skull to temporarily disable a brain region

Event-related potential

applying repeated magnetic stimulation at the

surface of the skull to temporarily disable a brain region (measured brain responses (electroencephalography, EEG) that are the direct, time-locked result of specific sensory, cognitive, or motor events)

P600 component

The _________, shown as a bump in the red

curve at the bars, shows the effect of detecting the syntactic anomaly. This shows how

rapidly we detect anomalies in syntax (by 600 ms after seeing the word).

fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)

a non-invasive neuroimaging technique used in psychology to map brain activity by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and fl

Dendrites

input): many small branches gathering an impulse into the

neuron

Soma

(or cell body)– where the biological activity of the cell is regulated -

includes nucleus

Axon

(output) branchlike structures sending input to next neuron

• Some neurons have a myelin sheath (a fatty coating that insulates the axon and can

speed neural communication

Action potential

Brief change in the electrical charge of a neuron

– Followed by refractory period (absolute and relative)

All-or-none principle

All action potentials are the same

Synapse

(Gap between neurons)

– Neurotransmitters released by neuron having action potential

• More than 100 neurotransmitters have been identified. One is acetylcholine, which seems to influence cognitive processes, such as learning and memory.

– Could be excitatory or inhibitory

Neocortex

The very top layer of the brain (______) is responsible for higher mental

processes. The ________ has four regions or lobes: occipital (visual processing),

temporal (auditory, linguistic, memory processing), parietal (spatial and sensory

processing), and frontal (cognitive control)

Corpus callosum

two hemispheres connected by a band of nerve fibers

Cerebral lateralization

Many different functions within the brain rely

more heavily on one hemisphere than the other

Contralaterality

The receptive and control centers for one side of the body are in the opposite hemisphere of the brain

Hippocampus

(critical for conscious long-term memory)

Amygdala

(processing of emotional information)

Perceptrons

Although knowledge about the nervous system should inform

our theories of cognition, we may be limited by trying to focus

on particular parts of the nervous system, as the brain as a

whole may display emergent properties, principles evident

when the system is working as a whole that are absent from

smaller components.

• Some theorists have addressed this by trying to develop

models of the whole system. One of the earliest was

Rosenblatt’s Perceptrons

– System learns to make correct responses to particular inputs (stimuli)

– Two layers of simple interconnected units (input, output)

– Each unit may be active or inactive

– Response that system makes depends on strengths of connections

– Limited: Can’t learn some things humans learn (e.g., XOR problem)

Connectionism

is a computer-based technique for modeling complex systems that is inspired by the structure of the nervous system.

– Large number of simple but highly interconnected units

– Three levels: input, hidden [internal, between input and output] ,

output

– Each unit can receive excitatory or inhibitory activity through

connections with other units

– Units simply sum activity. If sum is greater than a threshold, unit

becomes active

– Some connections are stronger than others

– Learning consists of changes in the weights (strengths) of connections

Hidden Units

artificial neurons that exist in the layers between the input units (which receive sensory information) and the output units (which produce the final response or categorization). They are called "hidden" because they are not directly connected to the external environment, acting instead as internal, intermediate processors that learn to represent complex features and relationships in data.

Embodied Cognition

the way our minds represent information reflects the fact that our bodies must interact with the world.

Conceptually-Driven Processing

Context and expectations can play a role in

our perception of the world.

• Tulving & Gold (1963)

– Measured the amount of time a word had to be

flashed before people could identify it.

– The main variable was the number of context

words that would be shown before the target.

Data-Driven Processing

Processing is driven by the stimulus pattern, the incoming data

Template Approach – classification is done by stored models of all

categorizable patterns; this is of limited use.

• Feature-Detection Approach – classification is done by breaking

patterns down into features.

• Visual Search (Neisser, 1964): Look for Z

Lexical Decision Task

where participants quickly classify stimuli as either real words or nonwords (e.g., "table" vs. "grable") to measure word recognition, processing speed, and mental lexicon structure. It is widely used in psycholinguistics to study semantic memory, showing that related words (e.g., "doctor-nurse") are recognized faster than unrelated ones (e.g., "doctor-bread").

Word frequency effect

the observation that high-frequency (common) words are processed more quickly and accurately than low-frequency (rare) words in lexical decision and reading tasks. However, a paradox exists where low-frequency words are better recognized in memory, while high-frequency words are better recalled.

Orthographic Neighborhood Size

the number of words that can be formed by changing one letter of a target word (e.g., "pot" has neighbors like "hot," "pet," "pop"). A larger N generally facilitates faster, more accurate visual word recognition and naming, especially for low-frequency words. It is a key lexical variable in reading research.

Donders’ Subtraction Method

a foundational cognitive psychology technique used to measure the time required for specific mental processes. By subtracting reaction times of simpler tasks from more complex ones, researchers isolate and quantify internal cognitive stages like discrimination or decision-making.

Signal-Detection Theory

a framework for measuring how individuals distinguish meaningful signals from background noise under uncertainty. It posits that detection depends not just on stimulus intensity (\(d^{\prime }\)) but also on personal bias and criteria (\(\beta \)). Key outcomes include hits, misses, false alarms, and correct rejections.

Diffusion Model

is a mathematical framework used to explain cognitive processes in speeded, two-choice decision-making tasks (e.g., "yes/no," "left/right," "word/non-word"). Developed primarily by Roger Ratcliff in 1978, it explains not just whether a person answers correctly, but also how long they take to answer (reaction time) and the distribution of their responses.

Global/local precedence

a cognitive phenomenon where the overall structure ("___") of a visual scene is processed faster and more automatically than its specific, smaller details ("____"). Introduced by David Navon, this "forest before the trees" effect shows that global features interfere with local processing, but not vice versa. It is measured using Navon letters (large letters made of smaller letters) and is influenced by factors like stimuli, size, and cultural background.

Sensation

The reception of stimulation from the

environment and the encoding of it into the nervous system

– All sensation is indirect

• Distal stimulus: An object or event in the outside

world

• Proximal stimulus: The energies from the outside

world that directly reach our sense organs

Perception

The process of interpreting and understanding sensory information

Psychophysics

One of earliest areas in psychological research was

_________

(the study of the relationship between

physical stimuli and the psychological experiences caused

by them)

Distance Effect

The greater the distance or difference

between the stimuli being compared, the faster the decision

that they differ

Symbolic Distance Effect

Speed of judgments of differences

between symbols is affected by distance on some symbolic

dimension

– Pick larger number: (2 5) faster than (3 4)

– Pick larger animal: (rabbit elephant) faster than (rabbit goat)

Semantic Congruity Effect

Speed of judgments of differences

between symbols is affected by distance on some symbolic

dimension

– Pick larger number: (2 5) faster than (3 4)

– Pick larger animal: (rabbit elephant) faster than (rabbit goat)

Retina

the light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eye that detects light and converts it into electrical signals, which are sent to the brain via the optic nerve to create vision. It is a multi-layered structure containing photoreceptor cells (rods and cones), neuronal cells, and glial cells. Conditions like diabetic retinopathy or retinal detachment can damage this tissue, leading to vision loss or blindness, and require treatment from a retina specialist.

Rods and cones

Rods: 120 m, black and white vision, low light, periphery

– Cones: 7 m, color vision (red, green, blue), bright light,

fovea (small area of the retina that provides the most

precise vision)

Depth perception,

The size of the image of an object on the

retina depends both on depth (distance) and actual size. How do we

ever distinguish between depth and size?

cues for (Binocular disparity,

• (differences in perspective between the eyes)

Accommodation,

(changes in the lens to bring an object into focus)

Interposition

• (relative positions of objects in front or behind others)

motion parallax)

(rate of apparent motion of near and far objects)

Hue

• a fundamental property of color, representing the color's shade or tint

Brightness

Brightness in vision occurs when the eye's retina receives excess light stimulation, often causing discomfort (photophobia) in lighter-colored eyes due to lower pigment levels. To reduce brightness sensitivity and strain, use the 20-20-20 rule, adjust screen brightness to match room light, and wear protective eyewear.

Saturation

refers either to "red desaturation" tests (a clinical method to detect optic nerve damage by checking if red objects appear faded or grey in one eye) or to the visual experience of highly saturated colors causing eye fatigue

Fovea

small area of the retina that provides the most precise vision)

Agnosia

Evidence favoring the idea that feature detection is critical in pattern recognition comes from cases of brain damage:

Injury (especially to left occipital or temporal lobes) may lead to

___________ (a failure or deficit in recognizing objects, even though

basic sensory ability is unimpaired). These people cannot put

features together to form whole objects.

agnosia

Another sort of agnosia is __________ agnosia, where identification

of the object seems unimpaired, but the patient seems to have lost

the pathway to the name and meaning of the object.

associative

In other cases, brain injury may affect face recognition while

leaving object recognition intact (____________: a disruption of

face recognition)

prosopagnosia

Fixation

• a mental roadblock where, in problem-solving, individuals become obsessed with one perspective, often failing to recognize alternative uses for objects (functional fixedness) or repeating flawed, established patterns. It restricts creative,,,, thinking by forcing, a focus on past, traditional methods, making it difficult to innovate or see new, solutions

Saccade

(jumps or jerks)

– Can take 25-100 ms to execute (longer in reading: 150-

175ms)

– Saccadic suppression: visual processing is suppressed

during a saccade (even involving images)

Change blindness

failure to notice changes in stimuli that occur during a saccade

Trans-saccadic memory

the memory that is used across a series of eye movements to build an understanding of the visual world. Object files, visual representations of individual objects, are used to track what is going on

Partial Report Task

Follow-up on earlier whole-report studies

People shown briefly-flashed arrays of letters

D N R

Q L S

H J F

People were able to report about three letters (span of

apprehension) but often claimed to see complete array

Backward Masking

The presentation of a later stimulus can interfere with the perception of an earlier stimulus if it is presented where the

earlier stimulus had been.

• Analogous to an ‘erasure’ process

• Combination of visual sensory memory and backward masking can lead to visual illusions of apparent motion:

– Beta movement: Viewing multiple pictures in succession can lead to illusion of movement (e.g., movies, cartoons)

– Phi phenomenon: Two stimuli in two different points in space may be seen to move toward each other

Sensory memory

Partial-Report Task(Sperling, 1960)

A temporary buffer that holds sensory information for brief

periods of time.

• First demonstrated in Sperling’s (1960) partial-report task.

• Has been shown for auditory and tactile modalities

• Auditory sensory memory may persist longer than visual sensory memory

• Also called “sensory register”; “icon” or “iconic memory” (visual); “echo” or “echoic memory” (auditory)

Modality effect

(Crowder & Morton, 1969)

• Advantage for auditory presentation over visual presentation at the end of a list in immediate serial recall

• Attributed to longer-lasting auditory sensory memory

• Last item or two will still be ‘echoing’ as subject recalls list

Suffix Effect

A speech sound presented after the end of list will selectively hurt recall of last items

• Seen as example of ‘backward masking’

• Visual suffixes have no effect

• Meaning of auditory suffixes irrelevant.

Physical similarity of suffix to list items determines magnitude of suffix effect sensory phenomena.

Lipread lists, recall of

One Explanation: Auditory sensory memory is process for determining what one has just heard.

• This process not only includes auditory stimulation but other information useful for identifying sounds

• McGurk Effect: Shows that people use lip movements to identify speech.

Gestalt principles of grouping

• psychological laws outlining how humans naturally organize visual elements into organized patterns, groups, and unified wholes rather than separate, individual parts

• Figure-Ground Principle: Parts are segregated as figure and background

• – Proximity: nearness is used to group

• – Similarity: similar objects are grouped together

• – Closure: completion of images with missing parts

• – Good Continuation: continuation of an edge on a trajectory

Template approach

classification is done by stored models of all categorizable patterns; this is of limited use.

Feature-detection approach

classification is done by breaking patterns down into features

Pandemonium

• Early example is Selfridge’s Pandemonium (1959)

• • Data demons (encode pattern), computational demons (feature analyzers), cognitive demons (match whole letters), decision demons (decide which letter is present

• • Three important ideas from Pandemonium:

  • – Importance of feature detection in pattern recognition

  • – Pattern recognition requires PARALLEL PROCESSING

  • – Pattern recognition is a problem-solving process

Geons

(: e.g., cylinders, bricks, wedges, and cones Basic 3d objects