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mind
System that creates mental representations of the world such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning; a system that creates representations of the world so we can act within it to achieve our goals
cognition
The mental processes involved in perception,, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making
reaction time
Length of time for someone to respond to a stimulus
simple reaction time
Reacting to the presence or absence of a single stimulus
structuralism
Psychology approach that explains perception as adding small elementary units (sensations)
choice reaction time
Time to respond to one of two or more stimuli
analytic introspection
Trained participants described experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli
behaviorism
Founded by John B Watson, stating observable behavior provides the only valid data for psychology
classical conditioning
Procedure in which pairing a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response causes the neutral stimulus to elicit that response
operant conditioning
Focuses on how behavior is strengthened by presentation of positive reinforcers, such as food or social approval, or withdrawal of negative reinforcers, such as shock or social rejection
cognitive map
Mental conception of a spatial layout
information processing approach
Approach to psychology in which the mind is described as processing information through a sequence of stages
sensory memory
Holds incoming information for a fraction of a second and then passes the most of the information to short term memory
short-term memory
Has limited capacity and holds information for seconds
long-term memory
High-capacity system that can hold information for long periods of time
neuropsychology
The study of the behavioral effects of brain damage in humans
electropsychology
Techniques used to measure electrical responses of the nervous system
brain imaging
Techniques such as fMRI that results in images of the brain that represent brain activity
cognitive neuroscience
Studying the neural basis of cognition
levels of analysis
Topic can be understood by studying it at a number of different levels of a system
neuron
Cell that is specialized to receive and transmit information in the nervous system
cell body
Part of the cells that contain mechanisms that keep the cell alive. In some neurons, the cell body and dendrites receive information from other neurons
axon
Part of the neuron that transmits signals from the cell body to the synapse at the end of the axon
synapse
Space between the end of an axon and the cell body or dendrite of the next axon
receptors
Specialized neural structures that respond to environmental stimuli such as light, mechanical stimulation, or chemical stimuli
microelectrodes
Small wires that are used to electrical signals from single neurons
recording electron
When used to study neural functioning, a very thin glass or metal probe that can pick up electrical signals from single neurons
reference electrode
Placed where the electrical signal remains constant, so any change in charge between the recording and reference electrodes reflects events happening near the tip of recording electrode
resting potential
Difference in charge between the inside and outside of a nerve fiber when fiber is at rest
nerve impulse
An electrical response that is propagated down the length of an axon (action potential)
neurotransmitter
Chemical that is released at the synapse in response to incoming action potential
principle of neural representation
Everything a person experiences is based on representations in the person’s nervous system
feature detectors
Neurons that respond to specific visual features (orientation, size) or more complex features that make up environmental stimuli
experience-dependent plasticity
A mechanism that causes an organism’s neurons to develop so they respond best to the type of stimulation to which the organism has been exposed
visual cortex
Area in the occipital lobe that receives a signal from the eye
temporal lobe
The lobe on the side of the brain that contains mechanisms responsible for language, memory, hearing, and vision
hierarchical processing
Processing that occurs in a progression from lower to higher areas of the brain
localization of function
Location of specific functions in specific areas of the brain
cerebral cortex
3 mm thick outer layer of the brain that contains mechanisms for higher mental functions (perception, language, thinking, problem solving)
broca’s area
Area in the frontal lobe associated with production of language, damage caused Broca’s aphasia
broca’s aphasia
A condition associated with damage to Broca’s area, in the frontal lobe, characterized by labored ungrammatical speech and difficulty in understanding some type of sentences
wernicke’s area
Area in the temporal lobe associated with understanding language, damage to this area causes Wernicke’s aphasia
wernicke’s aphasia
A condition, caused by damage to Wernicke’s area, that is characterized by difficulty in understanding language, and fluent, grammatically correct, but incoherent speech
occipital lobe
Lobe at the back of the brain that is devoted primarily to analyzing incoming visual information
parietal lobe
Lobe of the top of the brain that contains mechanisms responsible for sensations caused by stimulation of the skin and also some visual aspects of visual information
frontal lobe
Lobe in the front of the brain that serves higher functions (language, thought, memory)
prosopagnosia
Condition caused by damage to the temporal lobe that is characterized by an inability to recognize faces
double dissociation
Situation in which a single association can be demonstrated in one person and the opposite type of single association can be demonstrated in another person
fmri
Brain imaging technique that measures how blood flow changes in response to cognitive activity
task-related fmri
fMRI response that occurs in response to a specific cognitive task
fusiform face area
Area in temporal lobe that contains many neurons that respond selectively to faces
parahippocampal place area
Area in the temporal lobe that contains neurons that are selectively activated by pictures of indoor and outdoor areas
extrastriate body area
Area in temporal cortex that is activated by pictures of bones and parts of bodies but not by faces or other objects
distributed representation
Occurs when a specific cognition activates many areas of the brain
track-weighted imaging
Technique for determining connectivity in the brain that is based on detection of how water diffuses along the length of nerve fibers
functional connectivity
Extent to which neural activity in separate brain areas is correlated with each other
resting state functional connectivity
Method for determining functional connectivity that involves determining the correlation between the resting-state fMRI in separated structures
perception
Conscious experience that results from stimulation of the senses
viewpoint invariance
Ability to recognize an object seen from different viewpoints
bottom-up processing
Processing that starts with information received by receptors
top-down processing
Processing that involves a person’s knowledge or expectations
likelihood principle
Part of Helmholtz’s theory of unconscious inference that states we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we have learned
unconscious inference
Helmholtz’s idea that some of our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment
gestalt psychologists
Proposed principles governing perception, such as laws of organization and a perceptual approach to problem solving involving restructuring
principles of good continuation
Points that when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together
law of pragnanz
Law of perceptual organization that states that every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible
principle of similarity
Law of perceptual organization that states that similar things appear to be grouped together
regularities in the environment
Characteristics of the environment that occur frequently
physical regularities
Regularly occurring physical properties of the environment
oblique effect
The finding that vertical and horizontal orientations can be perceived more easily than other (slanted) orientations
semantic regularities
Characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes
scene schema
A person’s knowledge about what is likely to be contained in a particular scene which can help guide attention to different areas of the scene
likelihood
In Bayesian inference, the extent to which the availability of evidence is consistent with the outcome
what pathway
Neural pathway, extending from occipital lobe to temporal lobe, that is associated with perceiving or reorganizing objects (ventral pathway)
where pathway
Neural pathway extending from occipital lobe to parietal lobe, that is associated with neural processing that occurs when people locate objects in space (dorsal pathway)
mirror neurons
Neurons in the premotor cortex that responds both when one observes someone else carrying out an action and when they carry out the action themselves
mirror neuron system
Network of neurons in the brain that have mirror neuron properties
attention
Focusing on specific features, objects, or locations or on certain thoughts or activities
selective attention
The ability to focus on one message and ignore all others
distraction
Occurs when one stimulus interferes with attention to or the processing of another stimulus
divided attention
The ability to pay attention to, or carry out, two or more difficult tasks simultaneously
attentional capture
A rapid shifting of attention, usually caused by a stimulus such as a loud noise, bright light, or sudden movement
visual scanning
Movement of the eyes from one location/object to another
filter model of attention
Model of attention that proposes a filter that lets attended stimuli through and blocks some/all of the unattended stimuli
dichotic listening
The procedure of presenting one message to the left ear and a different message to the right ear
shadowing
The procedure of repeating a message out loud as it is heard; used in conjunction with selective attention studies that use dichotic listening procedure
cocktail party effect
The ability to focus on one stimulus, especially at a party where there are a lot of simultaneous conversations
filter
Identifies the message that is being attended to based on its physical characteristics (tone of voice, pitch, speed of talking, accent) and lets only this attended message pass through to the detector in the next stage
detector
Processes the information from the attended message to determine higher-level characteristics of the message (meaning)
early selection model
Model of attention that explains selective attention by early filtering out of the unattended message; in Broadbent’s early selection model, filtering occurs before the message is analyzed to determine meaning
attenuator
Analyzes incoming message in terms of physical characteristics, language, and meaning; attended messages pass through at full strength, and unattended pass through with reduced speed
directionary unit
Processing unit contains stored words and thresholds for activating the words; explains why we can hear familiar word in unattended message
late selection model
Model of selective attention that proposes that selection of stimuli for final processing does not occur until after the information in the message has been analyzed for meaning
process capacity
The amount of information input that person can handle
perceptual load
Related to the difficulty of a task; low load tasks use only small amount of a person’s processing capacity, high-load tasks use more
load theory of attention
Proposal that the ability to ignore task-irrelevant stimuli depends on the load of a task that the person is carrying out; high load tasks - less distraction
stroop effect
Task in which a person is instructed to respond to one aspect of a stimulus (ink color) while ignoring another aspect (word name)
fixation
Tendency to focus on a specific characteristic of the problem that keeps them from arriving at a solution (ex. Pausing eye on place of interest while observing a scene)
saccadic eye movement
Eye movement from one fixation point to another
stimulus salience
Bottom-up factors that determine attention to elements of a scene
