PSY270 Learning Objective Flashcards + Practice Questions

Describe the historical contributions to cognitive psychology made by the first psychologists and behaviourism

Wilhem Wundt: first psychologist, investigated elements of immediate experience via analytic introspection, created structuralism

William James: Father of American psychology, Functionalist who were interested in studying purpose of thought, wrote “The Principles of Psychology”

Ivan Pavlov: described classical Pavlovian conditioning for behaviorism

B.F. Skinner: developed operant conditioning, a behavior modification frequently used today

E.C. Tolman: Learning can be latent

Explain why and how psychology started to move away from behaviourism toward a cognitive approach

Chomsky: language can’t be a result of stimulus and response

WWII was a changing point since research with practical applications was needed, attention, problem solving, and decision making were important

Computers were being developed to perform tasks to replace humans

Giving rise to the cognitive approach

Explain why the development of computers has been so important cognitive psychology (representations and computations)

Psychologists can propose models to explain unobservable mental functions, make predictions and test them using computers.

Representations is how:

Perceptions represent objects in the physical world

Thoughts represent possible real situations

Define the major themes of cognitive psychology research

Representationalism: how the unobservable mind can act on the real world

Computation: assumes the mind is an information processor

Biological perspective: information is represented as patterns of activity between neurons in a way similar to the brain

Embodied cognitions: study of cognition as we interact with the world

Explain the difference between different research methods used in cognitive psychology

Experiments: controlled manipulation of variables for causal relationships

Quasi-experiments: similar to experiments but use premade groups

Correlational studies: examine relationship between variables, no causation

Computer simulations: use simulations to replicate and study cognitive processes and behaviors

List and describe the most frequently used response measures in cognitive psychology

Accuracy: assesses correctness of responses to tasks or stimuli (effectiveness of cognition)

Reaction Time: measures duration between introduction of a stimuli and response to stimuli (complexity of cognition)

Describe the symptoms of apperceptive and associative agnosia

Apperceptive Agnosia: unable to name, match or discriminate objects, so can’t combine basic visual information into a complete percept

Associative Agnosia: can’t associate a visual pattern with meaning - can’t recognize what they see, are able to combine visual features into a whole

Define perception and describe the experience error

Perception: how the external world is represented in our mind so we can understand and act in the world, three steps: input/sensation, basic visual components assembled, meaning is linked to visual input

Experience Error: false assumption that the structure of the world is directly given from our senses, illusions demonstrate this

Define the 3 approaches to study perception

Computational approach: how the brain represents and interprets distal stimulus

Gestalt approach: uses organizational principles to create meaningful perception of the environment

Percetion/Action approach: assumes goals of action help determine perception

Compare bottom-up and top-down theories of perception and provide examples of each

Bottom-up: we recognize patterns by analyzing sensory input step-by-step (you identify a six-sided dice)

Top-down: perception is influenced by our prior knowledge, memories, and experiences (you were sick when you ate a food and don’t like it anymore)

Describe the Gestalt grouping principles

Law of Proximity: objects close to each other will be grouped together

Law of Similarity: objects similar in appearance will be grouped together

Law of Common Region: objects bounded in the same region will be grouped together

Role of experience: if objects have been associated already, they will be grouped in the future

Describe Gibson’s Direct Perception approach

Environment contains all the information we need for perception.

The goal of perception is action.

Said laboratory experiments using 2D images only study indirect perception

Define optic array, optic flow and affordances

Ambient Optic Array: structure imposed on light by the environment, contains all the information needed for perception

Optic flow: describes the motion in the optic array, the direction of flow indicates the direction the observer is moving

Object affordances: the possible actions that objects or environments provide to the observer

Provide examples/evidence of the perception/action approach

When a golf hole is surrounded by big circles, it negatively impacts golfers putting, while when little circles surrounded the hole, it positively impacts putting.

The altered perception impacts their action

Provide examples of a dissociation between perception and action

Blindsight shows individuals can respond to visual stimuli they do not consciously perceive

Describe neural dissociations in object recognition, face recognition and action

Object recognition: “what” or ventral pathway, visual cortex to temporal lobe, damage here can lead to agnosia

Face recognition: the fusiform face area is active during perception of faces

Action: “where” or dorsal pathway, visual cortex to parietal lobe, ideomotor apraxia

Provide evidence that face processing is configural

Face processing requires more within-category differentiation

Evidence suggests that we process objects and faces differently

Face inversion effect: we are faster and more accurate in recognizing upright faces

Discuss the debate between domain specific face processing and expertise

Some believe face processing is ‘special’ (domain specific), others argue there is nothing special about faces other than we are experts at identifying them.

Recent studies failed to replicate expertise findings, and demonstrated inversion effects for faces and other animals among experts

Describe Atkinson & Shiffrin’s modal model of memory

Contains three main stages:

information first enters sensory memory

then can be transferred to short-term memory with attention and kept there with maintenance rehearsal

and encoded into long term memory through rehearsal

List the coding, limiting factors and processes associated with sensory memory, STM and WM

Sensory Memory: coding is modality specific (e.g. auditory), very short duration (1 second), and registration of sensory information

Short Term Memory: coding primarily acoustic, limited capacity 7+-2 and 20 second duration, maintenance rehearsal

Working Memory: coding auditory, visual, spatial, limited capacity 4+-1, manipulation and temporary storage of information

Describe Sperling’s sensory memory experiment and explain what was learned

Flashed a grid of letters for a short period, and asked participants to either remember the whole grid, or were signaled to recall a specific row immediately after seeing it.

Partial could almost be fully remembered indicating nearly all letters were in sensory memory, but this faded quickly.

Explain examples and experiments that demonstrate that information is STM is coded acoustically/verbally

Participants were shown lists of words that were sounded similar or dissimilar. Participants had trouble recalling similar sounding words in the correct order compared to dissimilar

Shows items are coded acoustically

Describe experimental evidence that visual STM has a capacity of 4

Showed arrays of color squares and then asked participants to recall if a square in a specific position changed color.

Findings provided evidence we can store four visual items in short term memory

Explain what makes WM different that STM

Allows us to both temporarily store and manipulate information.

Has a limited capacity, but is not determined by any one factor

Often described as a multi-component model

Explain the methods used to measure WM

Operation span: require participants to do simple things while remembering, correlate with many everyday tasks, including academic performance

Researchers who use this are interested in individual differences in task performance

Fixation-Saccade Cycles

How we gather a visual scene:

Fixations: Eyes are relatively stable, fixed on a point

Saccade: Rapid, fast movements of the eye from one fixation to another

Occurs in cycles

Template matching

we have a mental ‘stencil’ for an array of different patterns to identify objects

Feature Matching

We have a system for analyzing each distinct feature of a visual item to identify items. Physiological support comes from feature detector neurons.

Biederman’s Recognition by Components

We recognize objects by breaking them down into basic geometric shapes called geons which are view-point invariant because they have nonaccidental properties.

But recognition is impaired when we view objects from non standard viewpoints

Explain articulatory suppression

Repeat a word, disrupting verbal process in WM.

This impairs recall, and reduces phonological similarity effect and word length effect

Provides evidence for articulatory rehearsal process (phonological loop)

List the key functions of central executive and provide experimental evidence

Required for initiating retrieval, planning actions, and integrating information, regulating relevant and irrelevant information

Based on evidence of different effects of modality on memory, how visual and auditory information is stored differently

Explain why the binding problem applies to Baddeley’s model and what was done to address it

The binding problem is how the different components in Baddeley’s model combine information into a cognitive experience.

The episodic buffer was introduced, which binds information from WM components and LTM, has limited capacity and is controlled by the central executive

List the code and limiting factors of LTM

Encodes information semantically, and retrieval is dependent on how information was encoded and how we attempt to retrieve it

Duration and capacity is unlimited

Explain the difference between the systems and processing frameworks of LTM

Systems frameworks include distinctions between STM/WM and LTM

Processing frameworks emphasize processes in encoding, storing, and retrieving information rather than categorizing memory into distinct systems

Reproduce Squire’s systems framework of LTM

Divides LTM into:

explicit memory (episodic: personal experiences and events, semantic: facts about the world or self)

implicit memory (procedural: skills, classical conditioning: associative learning)

Define the different types of memory, types of amnesia and memory tasks

Retrograde amnesia: memory loss prior to trauma

Anterograde amnesia: inability to form new memories after trauma

Describe 3 types of consolidation

Synaptic consolidation: at neuronal level and is fast acting

Systems consolidation: involves hippocampus and cortex and is slow acting

Reconsolidation: when a memory is reactivated but over a much shorter time course

Explain the standard model and multiple trace theory of consolidation

Standard model: hippocampal-dependent, but retrieval is hippocampal independent, hippocampus binds information across different cortical areas

Multiple Trace Theory: is hippocampal-dependent for consolidation and hippocampal-independent for retrieval only for semantic memories. Hippocampal-dependent for consolidation and retrieval of episodic memories

Explain the serial position curve and what causes it

Shows how the position of a word in a list impacts its recall.

Primacy effect: where words at the beginning of a list are better remembered due to long term memory

Recency effect: where words at the end of a list are better remembered due to short term memory

Define 2 types of interference

Proactive interference: when old information interferes with new information

Retroactive interference: when new information interferes with old information

Define the types of rehearsal

Maintenance rehearsal: keeps information active in STM

Elaborative rehearsal: links info from STM with info already in LTM (meaning-based rehearsal)

Explain Levels of Processing theory, its problems and well-supported concepts from the theory

Shows how we encode information affects likelihood of retrieval, rather than where it is stored or how long it is stored there.

Shown through their experiment with visual, auditory, and semantic cues and recall

Provide examples of information in LTM being available but not accessible

Often caused by retrieval failures:

Feeling of knowing (familiarity)

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Cued vs. uncued recall (e.g.Tulving & Pearlstone)

Explain Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP) and the classic experiment that first demonstrated the phenomenon

Memory recall is better when context at encoding matches context at retrieval.

Classic experiment showed that shallowly processed items could be better recalled if the retrieval cues matched encoding process.

Provide examples of types of ESP and apply the concepts to everyday learning

Types of ESP:

Transfer appropriate processing

Context dependent learning (environmental context effects)

State-dependent learning (mood-dependent effects)

For example, if you want to do better on an exam, practice question styles that will be on the exam

Explain mnemonic and encoding techniques to improve LTM

Engage in deep processing (add meaning to lists)

Organize into categories or hierarchies

Make it personally relevant

Generate information yourself

Use imagery/interactive imagery

Explain why distributed practice is better than massed practice

More likely to engage in elaborate coding due to alternate strategy use

Increased number of cues available to use at recall

Patient HM

Successfully treated seizures, most of cognition intact

Complete loss of ability to form new memories/loss of consolidation

Could not form new explicit memories, but had normal implicit learning

Long term potentiation

Increases the sensitivity of post-synaptic neurons by causing structural changes

Explain the link between attention and consciousness, including inattentional blindness and change blindness

Attention and consciousness are linked, with attention acting as a gateway to conscious awareness.

Inattentional blindness: how unattended stimuli, despite being in plain sight, are unnoticed if our attention is elsewhere

Change blindness: failure to detect alterations in a scene when attention isn't directed at the change

Describe the 3 dimensions used to define attention

Selective: Focusing on specific information while ignoring others

Divided: Distributing attention across multiple stimuli.

Sustained Attention: Maintaining focus over time, important for vigilance tasks.

Spatial Attention: Directing attention to a particular location in space, enhancing processing of stimuli in that area.

Explain the factors that can drive attention

Attention is driven by stimulus saliency: motion, color, brightness, contrast, or orientation

Attention can also be driven by other important information and previous knowledge

Describe Broadbent’s and Triesman’s filter theories of attention

Broadbent’s Theory: attention acts as a bottleneck, allowing only selected information based on physical characteristics

Triesman’s Theory: filter only attenuates, not completely blocks, unattended stimuli. Unattended information can still be processed, like hearing one's own name

Describe the dichotic listening paradigm and what has been discovered about attention using the technique

Presenting different auditory messages to each ear at the same time, having participants focusing on one message and ignoring the other.

Found that individuals can selectively attend to one ear's message, and notice sensory information in the unattended ear but not its meaning unless the message is brief

Explain capacity theories of attention

Propose that attention is limited by a fixed amount of cognitive resources available for mental tasks.

As cognitive load increases, more resources are used, impacting our ability to perform additional tasks, we have some control over these resources

List the characteristics of automatic and controlled tasks; explain Shiffrin & Schneider’s classic experiment and how it demonstrates those characteristics

The experiment with varied memory sets and distractors showed that tasks with different categories became automatic after practice (requiring less time and unaffected by the number of items), whereas same-category tasks never became automatic

Automatic Tasks

Do not require attention

Fast

Parallel

Cannot be modified once started

Controlled Tasks

Require attention

Slow

Serial

Under conscious control

Explain what is meant by ‘spotlight of attention’

Describes how our attention can focus on specific regions of our environment, enhancing the processing of information in that area

It allows us to prioritize and process relevant stimuli

Describe a classic laboratory visual search task and the typical results

Feature search (e.g., finding a green circle among blue squares, requiring attention to a single feature) and conjunction search (e.g., finding a green circle among green squares and blue circles, requiring attention to multiple features)

Feature searches tend to be faster and less affected by the number of distractors, demonstrating the "pop-out" effect, while conjunction searches are slower and reaction times increase with more distractors

Explain the same object advantage and what it suggests about vigilance

Where attention and processing are more efficient when directed at features of the same object

Suggests that vigilance benefits from a coherent perception of objects

Define 2 versions of the binding problem and how attention might be related to both

Feature Integration: How separate features (like shape and color) are combined into a single object

Conscious Awareness: How, among the multitude of information processed by our senses, only a subset is brought into conscious awareness

Attention acts as a feature binder, playing a crucial role in focusing on object features to create a unified perception

Describe Triesman’s Feature Integration Theory

visual search involves a two-stage process.

Stage 1: preattentive stage allows single features to "pop out" automatically without the need for focused attention.

Stage 2: focused attention stage, binding different features (like color and shape) into a coherent perception of an object requiring directed attention

Describe a classic laboratory visual search task for the binding problem and the typical results

Feature search, participants rely on a single feature, is fast and unaffected by the number of distractors, illustrating the "pop-out" effect

Conjunction search, participants must integrate multiple features, slowing down the search