COG PSYCH QE REVIEW

Cognitive psychology

studies how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information.

dialectic

is a developmental process where ideas evolve through a transformation pattern.

Structuralism

was the first major school of thought in psychology. ___ seeks to understand

the structure (configuration of elements) of the mind and its perceptions by analyzing those perceptions into their constituent components (affection, attention, memory, sensation, etc.).

Wilhelm Wundt

was a German psychologist whose ideas contributed to structuralism development.

Introspection

is deliberately looking inward at pieces of information passing through consciousness.

Functionalism

an alternative developed to counter structuralism, suggests that psychologists focus on thought processes rather than their contents. ___ seeks to understand what people do and why they do it.

was more of an effective way of thinking than a rigid school of psychology. Associationism examines how

elements of the mind, a form of learning.

Associationism

was more of an effective way of thinking than a rigid school of psychology. ___ examines how elements of the mind, a form of learning.

contiguity

associating things that tend to occur together at about the same time

similarity

associating things with similar features or properties

contrast

associating things that show polarities, such as hot/cold, light/ dark, day/ night

Behaviorism

focuses only on the relation between observable behavior and environmental events or stimuli.

Gestalt psychology

states that we best understand psychological phenomena when we view them as organized, structured wholes.

Cognitivism

is the belief that much of human behavior regarding how people think can be understood. It rejects the notion that psychologists should avoid studying mental processes because they are unobservable.

Intelligence

is a concept that can be viewed as tying together all of cognitive psychology.

Carroll: Three-Stratum Model of Intelligence

According to this model of intelligence, intelligence comprises a hierarchy of cognitive abilities comprising three strata.

Stratum I

include many narrow, specific abilities (e.g., spelling ability, reasoning speed).

Stratum II

includes various broad abilities (e.g., fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, short-term memory, long-term storage and retrieval, and information processing speed).

Stratum III

is just a single general intelligence (sometimes called g).

Fluid ability

is the speed and accuracy of abstract reasoning, especially for novel problems.

Crystallized ability

is accumulated knowledge and vocabulary

Howard Gardner

has proposed a theory of multiple intelligences, in which intelligence comprises multiple

independent constructs, not just a single, unitary construct.

Savants

are people with severe social and cognitive deficits but with corresponding high ability in a narrow domain.

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

According to ___, intelligence comprises three aspects: creative, analytical, and practical.

Creative abilities

are used to generate novel ideas

Analytical abilities

ascertain whether your ideas (and those of others) are good

Practical abilities

are used to implement the ideas and persuade others of their value

Meta Components

higher-order executive processes (i.e., metacognition) used to plan, monitor, and evaluate problem-solving.

Performance Components

lower- order processes used for implementing the commands of the metacomponents

Knowledge-Acquisition Components

the processes used to solve the problems in the first place. The components are highly interdependent.

Data gathering

reflects an empirical aspect of the scientific enterprise

psychobiological research

Investigators use ___ to study the relationship between cognitive performance and cerebral events and structures.

Postmortem studies

offered some of the first insights into how specific lesions (areas of injury in the brain) may be associated with particular cognitive deficits.

self-reports

an individual's account of cognitive processes

case studies

in-depth studies of individuals

naturalistic observation

detailed studies of cognitive performance in every day and nonlaboratory contexts

Experimental research

____ is most useful for testing hypotheses; however, research based on self-reports, case studies, and naturalistic observation is often beneficial for formulating hypotheses. These methods are also helpful in generating descriptions of rare events or processes that we have no other way to measure.

Empirical data and theories are both critical

Data in cognitive psychology can be fully understood only in the context of an explanatory theory, and theories are empty without empirical data. Theories give

meaning to data. Suppose that we know that people's ability to recognize the information they have seen is better than their ability to recall such information.

Cognition is generally adaptive, but not in all specific instances.

We can perceive, learn, remember, reason, and accurately solve problems. Furthermore, we do so even though we are constantly distracted by a plethora of stimuli. However, the same processes that lead us to perceive, remember, and reason accurately in most situations also can lead us astray. For example, our memories and reasoning processes are susceptible to specific, well-identified, systematic errors.

Cognitive processes interact with each other and with noncognitive

processes.

Although cognitive psychologists try to study and often isolate specific cognitive processes' functioning, they know these processes work together.

Cognition needs to be studied through a variety of scientific methods.

There is no one right way to study cognition. All cognitive processes need to be examined through a variety of methods. The more different kinds of techniques that lead to the same conclusion, the higher the confidence one can have.

All basic research in cognitive psychology may lead to applications, and all applied research may lead to basic understandings.

Nevertheless, the truth is the distinction between basic and applied research often is not detailed at all. Research that seems like it will be basic leads to immediate applications. Similarly, research that seems like it will be applied sometimes shows quickly to basic understandings.

Cognitive neuroscience

is the study of how the brain enables the mind

Brain science

explores how individual neurons operate and communicate to form complex neuronal architectures that comprise the human brain

Cognitive science

uses the experimental methods of cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence to create and test models of higher-level cognition, such as thought and language

The forebrain

is the brain region located toward the top and front of the brain

Midbrain

helps to control eye movement and coordination. The midbrain is more critical in nonmammals, where it is the primary control source for visual and auditory information.

Hindbrain

comprises the medulla oblongata, the pons, and the cerebellum

Gibson's theory of direct perception

According to ___, the information in our sensory receptors, including the sensory context, is all we need to perceive anything. As the environment supplies us with all the information we need for perception, this view is sometimes called ecological perception. In other words, we do not need higher cognitive processes or anything else to mediate between our sensory experiences and perceptions. Existing beliefs or higher-level inferential thought processes are not necessary for perception.

Template theories

____ suggest that we have stored in our mind's myriad sets of templates. Templates are highly detailed models for patterns we potentially might recognize. We recognize a way by comparing it with our set of templates. We then choose the exact template that perfectly matches what we observe. We see examples of template matching in our everyday lives. Fingerprints are matched in this way.

Feature- Matching Theories

According to these theories, we attempt to match features of a pattern to features stored in memory rather than to match a whole pattern to a template or a prototype.

Oliver Selfridge's Pandemonium Model

In this model, there are four kinds of demons: image demons, feature demons, cognitive demons, and decision demons.

Image demons

They receive a retinal image and pass it on to "feature demons."

feature demon

Each ____ calls out when there are matches between the stimulus and the given feature. These matches are yelled out at demons at the next level of the hierarchy, the "cognitive (thinking) demons."

cognitive demons

The ___, in turn, shout out possible patterns stored in memory that conform to one or more of the features noticed by the feature demons.

decision demon

A ___ listens to the pandemonium of the cognitive demons. It decides what has been seen based on which cognitive demon is shouting the most frequently.

Biederman's recognition-by-components (RBC) theory

According to ___, we quickly recognize objects by observing their edges and then decomposing them into geons, which are simple 3-D geometric shapes. They include bricks, cylinders, wedges, cones, and curved axis counterparts. The geons also can be recomposed into alternative arrangements. You know a small set of letters can be manipulated to compose countless words and sentences. Similarly, a few geons can build up many basic shapes and myriad basic objects.

geons

According to Biederman's recognition-by-components (RBC) theory, we quickly recognize objects by observing their edges and then decomposing them into ___, which are simple 3-D geometric shapes. They include bricks, cylinders, wedges, cones, and curved axis counterparts. The ___ also can be recomposed into alternative arrangements. You know a small set of letters can be manipulated to compose countless words and sentences. Similarly, a few ___ can build up many basic shapes and myriad basic objects.

constructive perception

In ___, the perceiver builds (constructs) a cognitive understanding (perception) of a stimulus. The concepts of the perceiver and their cognitive processes influence what they see. The perceiver uses sensory information as the foundation for the structure and other sources of information to build the perception.

Attention

___ is our ability to focus on specific aspects of our environment at the exclusion of others. Despite this, we can be distracted when one stimulus interferes with attending to another.

central executive

Baddeley (1996) proposed that the __ controls attention. It tells us where to focus our attention and can even hone in on specific aspects of a stimulus, such as a tone in a speaker's voice, the color in someone's face, a noxious smell, or a peculiar taste.

selective attention

We can even use __ to voluntarily focus on specific sensory input from our environment

processing capacity

How we can focus our attention and not be distracted by outside stimuli is a function of our ___, how much information we can handle, perceptual load, or how difficult a task is.

Lavie's load theory of attention

This theory posits that we can attend to task-irrelevant stimuli since only some of our cognitive resources have been used when engaged in low-load tasks. Still, high-load tasks do not leave us any resources to process other stimuli.

First View (Ericsson & Simon, 1984)

This view suggests that people have good access to complex mental processes. Researchers like Simon have used protocol analysis to study problem-solving, implying that individuals can have conscious access to their complex information processes.

Second View (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977)

This perspective argues that people's access to complex mental processes is limited. While individuals may think they understand how they solve complex problems, their understanding is often erroneous. People are believed to be more aware of the products of their thinking than the processes themselves. This view explains how advertisers can manipulate consumer decisions based on unconscious processes.