PSY 3051 Midterm 1: Intro, Attention and Memory

evidence that vision is effortless ("gist")

Marry Potter: RSVP (gist)

evidence against vision is effortless ("details")

change blindness

visual neglect

damage to right PL, neglect of left visual space

evidence for unconscious processing

visual neglect: 2 burning houses

split brain

separated hemispheres: left controls speech, right doesn't

evidence for conscious processing being misleading

split brain: confabulation from right brain when info is in left visual field

Why is introspection insufficient? (2 reasons)

1. Disagreements between individuals (visual efficiency: gist v.s. details)

2. Only accesses conscious thoughts (neglect patients and split brain patients)

cognition (=)

(=) induction

induction

specific => general; ambiguous

evidence for cognition=induction (2)

1. conditioning rats constrained by assumptions

2. children's word learning

Garcia effect

rats:

x-ray => taste aversion

shock => avoid environment

Children's word learning (3 assumptions they make)

whole object assumption

taxonomic assumption

mutually exclusive assumption

added assumptions can be...

innate or acquired

cognitive processes are arranged in the brain in two ways:

modular, non-modular/central

Fodor's criteria for a cognitive module

1. Domain specificity

2. Innately specified

3. Hardwired

domain specificity

only processes certain kind of info, Fodor's criteria for cognitive module

inattentional blindness

there is no conscious perception without attention

inattentional blindness studies

1. basketball "7th player"

2. change of fixation point for a task

dichotic listening (what is noticed/what is not)

sound, gender of speaker, from words to tones/english to german, backwards, repetition

evidence for early selection model (3): attention modulates...

1. Perception: plane dashboard

2. Memory: shapes unattended to = new shapes

3. Brain Activity: facial recognition (inferior TL)

evidence for late selection model (4): unattended can affect behavior

1. own-name effect

2. GSR: conditioned city names

3. priming

4. Muller-Lyer illusion

evidence for perceptual load theory (1)

decreased difficulty of task attended to = increased processing of ignored stimuli

evidence for space-based attention (1)

posner cueing paradigm

posner cueing paradigm

peripheral cueing is faster than central cueing

orienting mechanisms (2)

1. exogenous (reflexive): engaged by peripheral cues, fast

2. endogenous (voluntary): engaged by central cues

evidence for object-based attention (3)

1. Behavioral: adult attention spreading

2. Neuropsych: neglect/extinction patients based on object structure

3. Infant development: basic concepts of how object acts

evidence for object-based attention: BEHAVIORAL

adults dividing attention between two objects is hard, it is easier to spread attention along one object

evidence for object-based attention: NEUROPSYCH

mild neglect patients => extinction

when 2 stimuli are presented together they fail to see one further left, unless 2 objects are connected ("one circle" v.s. "dumbbell")

evidence for object-based attention: INFANT DEVELOPMENT (4)

1. cohesion

2. solidity

3. permanence

4. continuity

cohesion

move together = same object

solidity

solid objects cannot pass through each other

permanence

hidden objects continue to exist

continuity

object passes through all points in path

VISUAL SEARCH: Feature Integration Theory (2+1)

1. feature maps: what features

2. master map of locations: where

(3. attention: needed to integrate these 2 maps)

evidence for FIT (4)

1. Feature and Conjunction search

2. Search Asymmetry

3. Illusory Conjunction - simultagnosia

4. Neurophysical

evidence for FIT: Feature search

"odd man out", parallel search, easy, does NOT require attention

evidence for FIT: Conjunction search

"have to sort through combo of features", sequential search, harder, DOES require attention

evidence for FIT: Search asymmetry

absence of a feature is harder to detect, familiarity is harder to detect

evidence for FIT: illusory conjunction

without attention, features may be incorrectly bound to locations (colors and letters)

simultagnosia

can attend to one object at a time, HIGH illusory conjunction

evidence for FIT: neurophysical

different brain regions code different features separately, so it would make sense that we need attention to bind these features together

RSVP

Rapid serial visual presentation

RSVP: Repetition Blindness

S-S, Polar/PoPlar

RSVP: Attentional Blink

S-T, white letter/"x"....within next 200-500ms

Multitasking: general resources theory

tasks share general resources, so even simple tasks can produce interference

special case: Response Selector

Response Selector

interference with mapping S=>R, but not within S perception or within R

i.e.) why talking on phone while driving is a problem: both speaking AND listening (phone) rely on central processing bottleneck which = interference there

Multitasking: Competition for specific resources

similar tasks share task-specific limitation...more different tasks are = less interference

alternative to multitasking (and what does it require?)

sequential processing, requires TASK-SWITCHING

Task-switching is...

COSTLY

evidence that task-switching is costly: Duncan's Task

numbers/letters, switch based on +/-

Duncan's Task and PREFRONTAL LOBE DAMAGE

very poor performance because prefrontal lobe is associted with Multiple Demand (MD) system for attention/task control

Memory: make the map!

-

case of HM

-removal of bilateral medial temporal lob (MTL)

-severe amnesia (anterograde, recent retrograde)

-showed MTL is involved in converting STM => LTM

amnesia (2 types)

retrograde: can't recall BEFORE

anterograde: can't learn NEW

other ways to become amnesic:

1. ECT

2. Korsakoff's syndrome

3. concussion, sleep deprivation, etc.

Korsakoff's syndrome

alcoholism (B1 deficiency)

severe anterograde amnesia

confabulation

confabulation

reporting memories of events that didn't take place, can't tell difference between reality and imagination

evidence for separate LTS and STS (3)

1. effects of brain damage

2. capacity

3. serial position curve

evidence for separate LTS and STS: capacity

STS - limited (digit span, 7 chunks verbal, 4 chunks/object visual)

LTS - unlimited

STS capacity: Word Length effect/phonological effect

"roll of tape" - rate of recall affects limit of capacity

evidence for separate LTS and STS: serial position

primacy effect: rehearsal and LTM

recency effect: items still in STM

manipulations on serial position effects

primacy: change rate of presentation to effect rehearsal into LTS

recency: occupy STS with "counting backwards" for example

STM according to Baddeley's working memory model (3)

1. central executive - attention

2. phonological store - verbal

3. visual-spatial sketchpad - visual

LTM subdivisions (2)

1. declarative/explicit: can be consciously recollected

2. non-declarative/implicit: learning we are not really conscious of

non-declarative/implicit (4)

1. Perceptual learning

2. Attentive learning

3. Stimulus-reaction learning

4. Motor learning

declarative/explicit (2)

1. Semantic - facts, no context

2. Episodic - personal facts, context and meaning

what can amnesics do? what can't they do?

amnesics CAN demonstrate non-declarative/implicit learning, but have declarative memory deficit

semantic dementia v.s. impaired episodic memory

semantic dementia: LTL damage, doesn't understand common functions and vocab

impaired episodic: early onset hippocampal damage, preserved knowledge and comprehension

Declarative memory: ENCODING

procedure transforming though, feeling, sight, etc. into memory...STM=>LTM require rehearsal though...

Types of rehearsal (2)

Maintenance rehearsal: repetition, ineffective

Elaborative rehearsal: chunk/associate meaning, effective

Levels of processing (2+1)

1. Deep semantic - meaning

2. shallow nonsemantic - surface characteristics

(3. very shallow, nonsemantic)

evidence for levels of processing

Brain activation during encoding semantic>shallow

effect of "intention to learn"

indirect/nothing, unless you apply it to change learning strategy

Experts - is their memory better than novices? evidence?

Chess master study, NO experts' knowledge base allows for elaborative encoding but their memory is not better than novices

Declarative memory: RETRIEVAL (2 things to know)

1. principle of encoding specificity

2. encoding and retrieval interaction

principle of encoding specificity

state-dependent learning

encoding and retrieval interaction (study)

"type of hint" (semantic v.s. phonemic), encoding-retrieval interaction is CUE-DEPENDENT

Declarative memory: FORGETTING

passage of time = decreased accessibility of memories

effects of memory decay: interference

retroactive- can't recall old b/c of new

effects of memory decay: decay

neuron connections break down

effects of memory decay: forgetting v.s. CONSOLIDATION

consolidation: process of maintaining and strengthening stored LTMs, more resistant to forgetting as time passes

MTL/Hippocampus and sleep are responsible

short-term v.s. long-term consolidation (and studies/evidence)

S-T: sec-min...football

L-T: over periods of mo/yrs...HM retaining childhood & ECT losing recent 1-2 yrs

Memory errors/distortions: Bartlett's study

short story recall - War of Ghosts

largely accurate, few details

Bartlett's study - memories are...

RECONSTRUCTIONS of past events

Bartlett's study - NORMALIZATION

make a story more coherent/consistent than it was

Memory errors/distortions: Effects of prior knowledge

memory depends very much on what is already known (study - picture as context for text)

Memory errors/distortions: Reconstruction at recall (study)

"Helen Keller" addition at time of recall = distortion

Memory errors/distortions: Bias of retrospection (study)

Car crash & verb effect: any slight change in question can = distortion

So, distortion can occur...

at both encoding and retrieval

Source Memory

memory of exactly when and where of a memory

extremely fallible => DRM effect

DRM effect

to induce false memory - accurate gist, inaccurate details

i.e.) How to become famous over night, and penny example

Memory errors/distortions: Children's Memory

prefrontal lobe developing => greater false memory recall

i.e.) Sam Stone study

**bias = permanent memory contamination in kids

what are the best kind of question to ask if you want the truth?

open-ended questions