Exam Study Guide 1

cognitive Chapters 1 & 3

What is selective attention, and what does Dan Simon's test show?

is the ability to focus on specific stimuli while ignoring others. Simon's test shows that encoding is limited by what the mind can track, not just what the eyes see.

Why is memory considered unreliable according to Loftus?

Memory is suggestible, and vivid recollections can contain false information, leading to false experiences.

What does cognitive psychology aim to study?

The systematic processes by which the mind encodes, transforms, stores, interprets, and acts on information.

What are Marr's three levels of analysis, and how do they differ?

• Computational Level: What the process does (e.g., reading involves extracting meaning).

• Algorithmic Level: How the process is performed.

• Implementational Level: How the process is realized physically (e.g., neural activity).

What differentiates Gestalt psychology from structuralism?

individual components of consciousness. G: focuses on holistic patterns, while S: emphasizes the building blocks of conscious experience.

What was Noam Chomsky's contribution to cognitive psychology?

He argued for innate language structures, challenging behaviorist views.

What does Broadbent’s filter model of attention propose?

Information is filtered early in processing to manage limited cognitive resources.

Define bottom-up and top-down influences in perception.

• Bottom-Up: Data-driven processing based on raw sensory input.

• Top-Down: Concept-driven processing influenced by prior knowledge and expectations.

What is amodal completion?

The brain's ability to perceive whole objects even when parts are covered.

What is recognition by components theory?

Objects are recognized by breaking them down into basic shapes called geons.

Do people process faces holistically? What about objects?

• Faces are processed holistically.

• Objects are processed holistically only when individuals are experts in recognizing them.

What are Kosslyn's predictions regarding mental imagery?

Mental imagery relies on depictive/analogue codes, shown by studies in cognitive neuroscience and patient work.

What is aphantasia?

A condition where individuals are unable to form mental images.

Selective Attention

The process of focusing on specific stimuli while ignoring others

Encoding

The process of transforming information into a format for storage.

Cognitive Revolution

A mid-20th-century movement emphasizing internal mental processes over behaviorism.

Geons

The basic geometric shapes that make up objects in recognition-by-components theory, used to understand visual perception.

Template Matching

A model where sensory input is compared to stored templates for recognition.

Unconscious Inference (Helmholtz)

The mind's "best guesses" to make sense of sensory data.

Cognitive Primacy Hypothesis

The idea that cognition precedes emotional processing.

Amodal Nudity

Completing perceptions without sensory input for the missing parts.