PSY 200 - Chapter 1-3 TAFTMEDS

cognitive psychology

studying behavior to understand human cognition

cognitive neuroscience

combining information from behavior and brain neuroimaging techniques to understand human cognition

bottom-up processing

processing directly influenced by physical characteristics of stimuli

top-down processing

processing influenced by a person’s feelings and expectations

serial processing

completely processing one stimulus before processing the next

parallel processing

multiple cognitive processes occur at the same time

modularity

the cognitive system consists of independent, specialized processors

dissociation

with brain damaged patients, intact performance on one task but impaired performance on a different task

case-series study

study in which several patients with similar cognitive impairments are tested

event-related potentials (ERPs)

pattern of electrical activity obtained by averaging brain responses to the same repeated stimulus

transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

magnetic pulses briefly disrupt brain function in a given area

lesion

structural alteration within the brain caused by disease or injury

cognitive architecture

a framework for understanding human cognition as computer programs

computational modelling

constructing computer programs that simulate human cognitive processes

retinopy

there is mapping between retina receptor cells and points on the surface of the visual cortex

lateral inhibition

activity in one neuron decreases because of activity in a nearby neuron

binding problem

integrating different types of information to produce a whole visual perception

ventral stream

visual processing; object perception and recognition as well as perceptual representation

dorsal stream

visual processing; visually guided action

achromatopsia

brain damage with impaired color perception but intact form and motion perception

akinetopsia

brain damage with impaired motion perception but intact stationary object perception

optic ataxia

brain damage with impaired visually guided movements but intact visual perception

visual form agnosia

brain damage with impaired shape perception but intact visually guided action

dichromacy

deficiency in color vision with one missing cone class

negative afterimage

illusion of perceiving the complementary color to the one that has been fixated

color constancy

perceiving the same color under varying viewing conditions

illuminant

source of light falling on a surface or object

pattern recognition

identify or categorize two-dimensional patterns

Law of Pragnanz

we perceive the simplest possible organization of the visual environment

figure-ground segregation

perceiving an object of central interest as the figure and a less important background as the ground

uniform connectedness

nearby stimuli with the same visual properties are perceived as a single unit

holistic processing

processing that involves integrating information from an entire object

face inversion effect

faces are much harder to recognize when they are upside down

part-whole effect

part of a face is more easily recognized when presented in the context of a whole face than on its own

prosopagnosia

brain damage with impaired face recognition but intact object recognition

fusiform face area

part of the brain associated with face and object processing

visual buffer

Kosslyn’s theory; a short-term memory store

binocular rivalry

two different visual stimuli are presented one to each eye but only one stimulus is seen

positron emission tomography (PET)

brain-scanning technique based on the detection of positrons; good at spatial location but not time course

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

brain-scanning technique based on imaging blood oxygenation using an MRI machine; good at spatial location and time course