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What is the method of introspection?
participants report their own mental processes
What are weaknesses of the introspection method?
results vary from person to person, difficult to verify
What is behaviorism?
studies observable behaviors (stimulus-->response)
What are some critiques of behaviorism?
doesn't account for generative learning, genetic influences, critical periods, or cognitive strategies
What is generative learning?
when learners construct meaning actively while integrating new ideas into their knowledge base (eg. children constructing new sentences while learning to speak)
What is a critical period?
a period during someone's development in which a particular skill or characteristic is believed to be most readily acquired.
What are the three assumptions of an information processing model?
Humans process information, processes act on representations of objects and events, and cognition involves sequential steps
What did Descartes believe about the pineal gland?
It was the seat of the soul (ventricles controlled brain function)
What is phrenology?
Pseudoscience that claimed that bumps on the skull corresponded with different traits or mental abilities, though no one agreed on the number of mental organs. Used in social Darwinism to justify slavery.
Define localization of function
different parts of the brain contribute to different kinds of information processing
What is a homonculus?
"tiny man" model mapping the body according to the sensory space each part takes up in the cerebral cortex
what is specificity coding?
a single cell codes for a single stimulus
what is distributive coding?
multiple cells fire for a stimulus, and the pattern of firing differs with each stimulus
What are the advantages of distributive coding?
many stimuli can be represented by only a few cells (more efficient use of the brain's resources)
what is hierarchical processing?
the brain processes visual stimuli starting with low level features and moving up in complexity
Where is the temporal lobe located? What are its functions?
functions: hearing, learning, feelings
Where is the frontal lobe located? What are its functions?
functions: thinking, memory, behavior, and movement
Where is the parietal lobe located? What are its functions?
functions: language and touch
Where is the occipital lobe located? What are its functions?
function: vision
Where is the cerebellum located and what are its function?
functions: balance and coordination
where is the brain stem located and what are its functions?
functions: breathing, heart rate, temperature
what does the horizontal view of the brain look like?
what does the coronal view of the brain look like?
what does the sagittal view of the brain look like?
what is an example of a double dissociation?
people with Wernicke's aphasia can't understand words due to damage to the Wernicke's area, meanwhile people with Broca's aphasia can't produce words due to damage to the Broca area. different lesions, opposite effects.
what are three limitations of lesion studies?
small samples, no comparative data from before the injury, confounds due to source of damage
What is TMS?
transcranial magnetic stimulation creates temporary lesions through sending magnetic stimulation to the scalp
Pros of TMS
simulates lesions and allows for causal inferences noninvasive
What is EEG?
electroencephalography measures event related potentials at the scalp
Cons of TMS
Can only target superficial cortical areas
Stimulates regions other than target
Uncomfortable
Pros of EEG
good temporal resolution inexpensive
What is fMRI?
functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner measures blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals
Cons of EEG
coarse spatial resolution caps not always inclusive for all hair types
Pros of fMRI
great spatial resolution can identify networks of regions associated with a task
Cons of fMRI
low temporal resolution indirect measure of neuronal activity
How is behavior research overlooked?
Because neuroscience has more quantitative and technology driven findings, it is often invested in more than behavioral research, even though we have learned more about the brain through behavioral studies than from neuro research.
sensation vs perception
Sensation is arrival of info to brain, perception is interpretation of info in the brain
What is sensory adaptation?
diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation
Define synesthesia
a condition where people experience involuntary perceptions that cross over sensory modalities.
What is the likelihood principle?
We perceive the more likely object to cause an image
list three challenges of visual perception
visual ambiguity inverse projection problem invariance
What is visual ambiguity?
one object could be perceived as multiple different objects
What is the inverse projection problem?
an image on the retina can be caused by an infinite number of objects
What is invariance?
the same object looks different from every angle
What is the blind spot?
the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there
What are the 5 Gestalt Principles?
proximity, similarity, closure, continuity, simplicity
Define the gestalt principle of proximity
things that are close to one another seem to belong together
define the gestalt principle of similarity
people tend to group stimuli that are similar
define the gestalt principle of closure
People will group elements to create a sense of closure or completeness
define the gestalt principle of continuity
objects with smooth edges are seen as continuous
define the gestalt principle of simplicity
people assume the simplest objects possible
What are the cultural differences in the Muller-Lyer illusion?
the illusion is more pronounced in western cultures, possibly due to living in a "carpentered world"
What is bottom-up processing?
stimulus affects our perception, data driven (content)
What is top-down processing?
Experience influencing the perception of stimuli (context)
Define reconstual
our perception of an image can change based on suggestion
what is the ventral visual stream?
moves to the temporal lobe, tells us what it is
what is the dorsal visual stream?
moves to the parietal lobe, tells us where it is
What is the fusiform face area?
The FFA is the location that is activated when we see faces.
What is the other-race effect?
poorer recognition of other-race than own-race faces exposure to other races before age 12 can mitigate this (critical period)
What is the expertise hypothesis?
faces aren't particularly special, the FFA responds to anything greatly familiar to a person, including faces. (eg. a car expert when they see a car)
What is the Parahippacampal place area
The PPA is the location of the brain activated when we see places.
What is wishful seeing?
people subconsciously alter their perception toward their preferences
How does meaning of our work affect our attention?
The more meaningful we find a task, the easier we can pay attention
How does difficulty affect our attention?
If a task is too hard or too easy it gets harder to pay attention, the difficulty level has to be "just right"
What is attention?
a concentration or focusing of mental activity and resources
How does attention relate to consciousness?
Attention refers to the mental processes that set priorities for mental functioning, it determines the content of consciousness
What is the filter theory of attention?
our brains filter through sensory information so only one information source at a time is given awareness and transferred to working memory
What is change blindness?
failing to notice changes in the environment
What is inattentional blindness?
failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
What is an attentional blink?
Second of two stimuli cannot be identified when it closely follows (100-500ms) the first
disjunctive vs conjunctive search
disjunctive search is looking for what "pops out," so you look through everything in parallel conjunctive search takes more time because the items are similar at first glance, serial search
What is feature integration theory?
Suggests that there are two stages when perceiving objects: the pre-attentive stage (low level features) and the focused attention stage (conjunctive)
exogenous vs endogenous attention
exogenous: controlled by lower brain functions (automatic) endogenous: controlled by executive systems and the frontal lobe (voluntary)
location vs object theories of attention
whether attention is directed to a point in space or to objects that occupy various locations
What is same-object advantage?
focusing on two different features on the same object is easier than when they are points on different objects. This is eliminated when spatial cues are given in advance
What is Chun and Potter's Two Stage Theory?
First stage: individual item is presented and recognized Second stage: 2nd item presented and only basically recognized, not remembered
Is there one kind of attention, or does attention do different things in different situations?
Attention does different things in different situations
What is the purpose of attention? How does it help us to deal with the outside world?
attention lets us filter through the stimuli of the outside world and sort it into levels of focus
Does attention change over space and time, or does it follow where we're looking and our current level of alertness?
Our attention follows where we guide it and is dependent upon our alertness/ investment in a task
What is language?
system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences
What are the key attributes of language?
arbitrary, structured, generative, dynamic
what are phonemes?
smallest unit of sound
what are morphemes?
smallest unit of meaning
what is semantic ambiguity?
expressions have multiple meanings out of context Either lexical or syntactic
give an example of lexical ambiguity
I saw her duck
give an example of syntactic ambiguity
The chicken is ready to eat
garden path sentences
sentences that begin by appearing to mean one thing, but then end up meaning something else
What is coarticulation?
The influence of preceding and following sounds on how speech sounds are produced
What are disfluencies?
Pauses , repeats, filler words, corrections
What is the good-enough approach to language?
we don't deeply process every single part of language, and we often skip over details
What is the Moses illusion?
an example of good-enough language processing (you don't notice that notice that Moses is mentioned instead of Noah)
What is the McGurk effect?
visual input can conflict and misrepresent what we are hearing
What is the phonemic restoration effect?
"fill in" missing phonemes based on context of sentence and portion of word presented
What is categorical perception?
Perceived sound changes from one category to another at one point, rather than gradually
What is speech segmentation?
the ability to tell when one word ends and another begins even without pauses--- infants can do this
What is the word frequency effect?
we respond more rapidly to high-frequency words than to low-frequency words
What is meaning dominance?
some meanings of words occur more frequently than others, and we are more likely to perceive that meaning first
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
language shapes how people experience their world
What aspects of language can primates understand?
displaced reference, lexigrams, individual signs
What are limitations of teaching primates language?
extensive training, inflexible vocal anatomy, can only respond to questions, lack of recursive grammar
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