Psych Quiz - Cognitive Approach

What are the 3 components of the MSM (Multistore Model)

1. Sensory Memory Store

2. Short Term Memory (STM)

3. Long Term Memory (LTM)

What is the duration, capacity, and conditions of the Sensory Memory Store?

DURATION: limited by our perception

CAPACITY: unlimited capacity but we can only attend to a small portion of it at a time

CONDITIONS: Attention transports the info from the Sensory Memory to the STM

What is the duration, capacity, and conditions of the STM?

DURATION: about 30 seconds

CAPACITY: 7±2

CONDITIONS: rehearsal transforms STMs to LTMs

What is the duration, capacity, and conditions of the LTM?

DURATION: hasn’t been established - supposedly longer than a lifetime

CAPACITY: assumed to be unlimited

CONDITIONS: rehearsal transforms STMs to LTMs

What is Miller’s Law?

States that the STM can recall up to 7±2 pieces of information at a time

Why is the Dual-Task Technique a weakness of the MSM

• doesn’t explain why we can do 2 tasks at once

• doesn’t give enough detail about how STM works.

What is the Dual-Task Technique?

when a participant is required ot perform 2 memory operations simultaniously

What are the 4 components of the WMM (working memory model)

1. Central Executive

2. Phonological Loop

3. Visuospatial Sketchpad

4. Episodic Buffer

What is the Central Executive in the WMM?

• controls what pieces of information go where

  • either to the visuospatial sketchpad, the phonological loop, or nowhere

What is the Phonological Loop in the WMM?

• holds sound information

• turns visual stimili into sounds

What is the Visuospatial Sketchpad in the WMM?

Holds visual and spatial information

What is the Episodic Buffer in the WMM?

• Where info is “staged” between the LTM and STM 

• integrates information from the other components

Which component of the WMM came later?

the Episodic Buffer

What are 3 weaknesses of the WMM

1. the model is dificult to falsify

2. people believe the visuospatial sketchpad should be split into “visual” and “spatial” components

3. WMM only involves STM and doesn’t take into account the LTM and Sensory Memory

What is a schema theory?

mental frameworks in our brain that help us organize information

What is a schema?

an organized unit of knowledge for a subject or event

What are 3 types of schemas?

1. Social Schema

2. Script Schema

3. Self Schema

What is a social schema?

mental representations about various groups of people (ie: a stereotype)

what is a script schema?

schemas about sequences of events (one uses their past knowledge to assume how a routine event will pan out)

What is a self-schema?

mental representations about ourselves

What is the DPM (Dual Processing Model)?

The idea that we think in 2 different ways (intuitively and rationally)

What is System 1 thinking?

• Fast, instinctive, emotional, automatic, and relatively unconscious thinking

• Creates the basis of all our thoughts

• Consists of memories that are muscle memories

• Most tasks are handled by System 1

what is System 2 thinking?

• Slower, more analytical, logical, rule-based, and conscious thinking

• The capacity to make sense of things and the use of logic to establish and verify facts

• Critical thinking system

• Calculates and checks things at a slow pace

What are cognitive biases?

Errors in thinking that occur due to influence from outside sources.

what are Heuristics

Shortcuts that our minds take based on past experiences

What is the Prospect Theory?

• Describes how people make decisions when presented with alternatives that involve risk, probability, and uncertainty

  • when people make decisions based on perceived losses or gains

what is an example of the prospect theory?

When you have a choice between being given $50, and a 50% chance of winning $100. Most people will take the $50, even though the expected value of the two options is exactly the same.