intro to psych exam 2 ian reed

memory

the ability to store and retrieve information at the same time

encoding

the process of transforming what we perceive, think, or feel into an enduring memory

storage

the process of maintaining information in memory over time

retrieval

the process of brining to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored

semantic encoding

relating new info in a meaningful way to knowledge already stored in memory
(Ex: making it easier to remember a random number by finding some kind of pattern/memorable thing about the number)

craik & tulving

presented participants w three series of words and asked them to judge: semantic, rhyme, and visual (is hat a type of clothing?). They found that semantic judgements like these resulted in much better memory

visual encoding

the process of storing new information by converting it into mental pictures

organizational encoding

the process of categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items. Ex: grouping words together in categories to help remember random words. peach, apple, cherry and cow, lion and horse

three types of memory storage

sensory, short term and longer term

sensory memory

A type of storage that holds sensory information for a few seconds or less.

Sperling's Sensory Memory Experiment

in 1960, he asked participants to recall all 12 letters that they were shown quickly. Participants recalled fewer than half.
two interpretations: people couldn't encode all letters in short time, or people encoded the letters but forgot them
when asked to report only a single row, people recalled almost all the letters, meaning that the second interpretation was correct

iconic memory

a fast-decaying store of visual (sensory) information

echoic memory

a fast-decaying store of auditory (sensory) information

iconic memories decay in about

1 second

echoic memories decay in about

5 seconds

in 1956, Miller found that

most people can keep 7 (plus or minus 2) pieces of information within their short therm memory. also woks with chunks of memories.

short term memory

holds non-sensory information for more than a few seconds but less than a minute

Peterson and Peterson (1959)

gave participants 3 strings of letters, then gave them a distraction task, then asked them to recall those letters

rehearsing

the process of keeping info in short-term memory by mentally repeating. each time you repeat something, you give it another 15-20 seconds of shelf life

chunking

combining small pieces of info into larger chunks that are easier to hold in short-term memory. for example, why phone numbers are divided into a certain rhythm

working memory

active maintenance of information in short-term storage

long-term storage

A type of memory storage that holds information for hours, days, weeks. has no known capacity limits: once in long term memory, it may never leave

how does the case of patient HM show the role of the hippocampus?

HM was suffering from seizures, so they removed the hippocampus. after the procedure, HM could converse normally, understand language, and perform normally on intelligence tests, but he could not remember anything that happened to him after the operation. retained his sensory and short-term memories but lost long term memories

antergrade amnesia

inability to transfer new info from the short term store to the long-term store

studies of HM and others suggest that anterograde amnesia can result from

damage to the hippocampus

retrograde amnesia

inability to retrieve info that was acquired before a particular date, such as when an injury occurred

HM had worse anterograde than retrograde amnesia, suggesting that

the hippocampus is not the site of long-term memory

explicit memory

when people consciously/intentionally retrieve past experiences-- memory of facts

implicit memory

the influence of past experiences on later behavior and performance, even without an effort to remember them or an awareness of the recollection-- implied by our actions

procedural memory

gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, such as knowing how to play guitar.

priming

an enhanced ability to think of a stimulus, such as a word or object, as a result of a recent exposure to the stimulus. why multiple choice questions are easier than fill in the blanks on exams

semantic memory

a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world (what is 3x4?)

episodic memory

the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place (what was it like on 9/11?)

long-term memory is broken down into

explicit and implicit memory

explicit memory is broken down into

semantic and episodic memory

implicit memory is broken down into

procedural memory and priming

transience

forgetting that occurs over time

retroactive interference

situations in which info learned later impairs memory for info acquired earlier

proactive interference

situations in which info learned earlier impairs memory for info acquired later

absentmindedness

a lapse in attention that results in memory failure

blocking

a failure to retrieve info that is available in memory even though your are trying to produce it, AKA tip-of-the-tounge. happens often for the names of people and places, espescially arbitrary ones

memory misattribution

assigning a recollection or an idea to the wrong source

source memory

recall of when, where, and how information was acquired

individuals with frontal lobe damage are more prone to

misattribution errors

dr. donald thomson was accused of a serious crime due to

the victim misattributing her recollection of him rather than the criminal

suggestibility

the tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections

bias

the distorting influences of present knowledge, beliefs, and feelings on recollection of previous experiences

persistence

the intrusive recollection of events we wish we could forget

emotional experiences (of all valences) tend to be better remembered than

non-emotional experiences

flashbulb memories

detailed recollections of when and where we were about shocking events; not as accurate as they may seem.

rational choice models

typically assume that people choose among possible actions to maximize the extent to which they achieve their goals

Prisoner's Dilemma

a game in which pursuing dominant strategies results in noncooperation that leaves everyone worse off.

what is the "correct" answer to the prisoner's dilemma?

you should always confess because you'll wind up with less years than if you remain silent and your partner confesses

commitment device

something that provides the victim with an incentive to keep his promise towards his perpetrator. acts a solution to make sure both parties benefit

moral sentiments

sentiments that can and do compete with feelings that spring from rational calculations about material payoffs: anger, contempt, disgust, envy, greed, shame, and guilt

example of emotions as incentive

a person who is capable of feeling guilt will not cheat on their partner event if it is in their best material/rational interest to do so. he does not want to cheat, which alters the payoff they face.

___ is an essential ingredient to the emotion of love

irrationality

lawrence durrell

called love a "cancerous growth of unknown origin"

douglas yates

"people who are sensible about love are incapable of it"

pascal

"the heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of"

george benard shaw

"love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else"

dating is a marketplace

most people would like that their partner be good looking, smart, rich, but people "shop" for the most desirable person who will accept them. why most couples are approximately equally "desirable". because being single can be undesirable, at some point, it pays to set up shop with the bet person you've found so far, even if it "irrational"

what is a comparable example of the "dating is a marketplace" idea?

landlords and tenants-- both parties settle for less than perfect because its better than earning no money from an empty apartment or being homeless. since both parties compromise, they sign a lease to restrict their freedoms. lack of choice works to each one's advantage

to avoid your partner leaving you for someone objectively better than you,

dont accept a partner who wanted you for rational reasons to begin with, accept a partner who wanted you for the irrational reason: love. they did not decide to have this emotion and therefore cannot decide to stop having it and leave you

groucho marx

"i wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member": there may be good reasons for avoiding a seemingly attractive searcher who is too eager

schelling

the trick to coming out ahead is "voluntary, but irreversible sacrifice of freedom of choice". freedom, info, and rationality are all handicaps

to defend yourself against threats (strategy of conflict),

make it impossible for the thretener to make you an offer you can't refuse

a strategy of conflict can lead to a cycle of

self-incapacitation

the doomsday machine theory

emotions are guarantors of threats and promises. sacrifices of will and reason are effective tactics in bargains/promises that make up our social relations (the whole point of a doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret).

the face is a dual-processing system, meaning

it is capable of both spontaneous and deliberate expressions

deliberate vs spontaneous innervation of the face are differentiated by

separate UMN pathways

deliberately induced facial movements correspond with the

cortical motor strip

spontaneously induced facial movements correspond with the

extrapyramidal motor system

the inhibition hypothesis

it is difficult to deliberately activate or mask facial expressions

why we express emotions on our faces

people have an interest in showing outsiders that an emotion is holding their body hostage and that their passionate words are no bluff. selection has handcuffed each emotion to a physiological control circuit

expressions of emotion serve as effective guarantors of threat/promises because

they are difficult to fake

the theory of why we express emotion on our faces has been proposed...

independently by game theorists, evolutionary biologists/psychologists and economists

the doomsday-machine theory is AKA

mutually assured destruction (MAD) and the frank/hirshleifer hypothesis

emotion

a positive or negative experience that is associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity

multidimensional scaling

each emotional experience can be described by a unique coordinate on each of those two dimensions

arousal - multidimensional scaling

high or low

valence - multidimensional scaling

positive or negative

james-langue theory

stimulus --> bodily activities --> emotion. emotional experience is the consequence, not the cause, or out physiological reactions

cannon-bard theory

stimuli simultaneously trigger activity in the body and emotional experience in the brain

how did cannon and bard justify their theory?

made many claims:
emotion happens quickly while the body responds slowly (blushing takes longer than feeling embarrassed), its hard for people to accurately detect bodily changes, non-emotional stimuli can cause bodily changes (we don't get emotional when we have a fever), there arent enough unique patterns of bodily activity to account for all of our feelings (thus, bodily activity couldn't be the sole determinant of emotion)

james and langue: two-factor theory

said that different emotions are different interpretations of different patterns of bodily activity.

Schachter-Singer: two-factor theory

suggested that different emotions are different interpretations of a single pattern of bodily activity-- the theory that emotions are based on inference about the causes of physiological arousal. people have the same physiological reaction to all emotional stimuli, interpret that reaction differently on different occasions. `

schachter and singer experiment

injected participants w epinephrine which causes physiological arousal. patients watched a goofy or nasty thing-- when it was goofy, participants reported feeling happy, when it was nasty participants reported feeling angry

more recent evidence suggests that emotional experiences are more than just

interpretations of the same bodily state. many works found specific physiological reactions for specific emotions-- we don't blush when we're angry

james and lange were correct about how

the patterns of physiological responses are not the same for all emotions

cannon and bard were correct about how

people aren't perfectly sensitive to physiological responses

two-factor theory (schachter and singer)

the theory that emotions are based on inferences about the causes of physiological arousal (came after their original theory??)

emotional communication

an observable sign of an emotional state. people can infer emotions from vocal cues, gaze direction, even a brief touch of the arm

how many muscles work to create facial expression?

43

ekman and friesen

developed an anatomically based system (FACS) to measure facial expressions

true or false: darwin suggested that expressions were meant to communicate information about internal states

false

true or false: darwin suggested that expressions are a convenient way for one animal to let another know how it is feeling and prepared to act

false

universality hypothesis

emotional expressions have the same meaning for everyone. no cultural differences in the way that emotions are expressed or the way expressed emotions are interpreted

what is the evidence for the universality of expression theory?

ekman and colleagues went to papau new ginuea in the 1950s-- showed native villagers pics and had them reply with a situation that might cause them.
congenitally blind people smile when they're happy
2 year olds display prototypic disgust expressions

aziezer, trope and todorov

did an experiment where they took the faces off of people and asked others to guess whether they were happy or sad? the claim is that more info about emotions is given from the body than face. many flaws in this: these photos are anecdotes, tennis doesn't represent any other situation, etc.