2.1 Perception

• perception is the process of organizing and interpreting the information we obtain through our senses

  • sensation is about detecting a stimulus

  • perception is about interpreting a stimulus

    top-down processing: perception is conducted using prior experiences and expectations to interpret the sensory input

    • used when a stimulus is familiar or simple

    • helps us process things in a efficient manner, but may cause the brain to overlook small details

      proofreader’s illusion - failure to notice errors when reading typed materials

      • ex.) missing typos when skimming through a paper

    • leads to skewed perceptions as our previous experiences and expectations influence the interpretation of new stimuli

    bottom-up processing: when the stimuli or experience is complex and unfamiliar to the individual, perception starts at sensory receptors and works up to higher levels of processing

    • perception is built from the ground up as we organize and interpret information as it comes in without relying on prior knowledge.

    • takes longer than top-down processing

      

    schemas: mental framework that organizes and builds on our past experiences

    • helps us predict and interpret experiences, but must be changed to accommodate for new experiences

    perceptual sets: a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

  • schemas and perceptual sets can be beneficial for efficient processing, but can lead us astray based on various moods

    • perception can be influenced by both internal factors (such as culture, mood, emotions, and expectations) and external factors (environment)

    selective attention: when we focus on a particular stimulus, we often tune out other stimuli in our environment to focus on relevant information

    ex.) focusing on a conversation even if loud music is playing in the background

  • manage sensory inputs to give priority to what’s important while filtering out unnecessary stimuli

  cocktail party effect: ability to focus on a specific conversation or sound in a noisy setting

  inattentional blindness: the failure to notice stimuli in our visual field due to our attention being focused elsewhere

  change blindness: a type of inattentional blindness where we fail to notice changes in the environment

  • these phenomenons demonstrate the limitations and selective nature of human attention

  apparent movement: the perception of motion despite nothing actually moving

  • phi phenomenon: occurs when lights blink on and off in sequence, resulting in the perception of objects as moving even though the objects are stationary

  • induced movement: occurs when a stationary object appears to move because of the motion of surrounding objects

  gestalt psychology: focuses on how humans naturally group elements together to form meaningful patterns

  • helps explain how we organize our perceptual world

  • do not process brain as individual stimuli, instead as a unified whole

  • emphasizes that our perceptual experiences are more than the sum of their parts

    gastal principles: explain how we naturally organize sensory input into meaningful patterns

    • proximity: when objects are placed close to each other they are often perceived as a single group, while objects that are spaced farther apart are seen as separate entities

    • similarity: explains how we perceive a group of similar objects or patterns as one cohesive unit (anomalies stand out)

    • closure: our brain subconsciously fills in missing information when viewing a familiar but incomplete object

    • figure & ground: describes how our visual system separates what we see into two categories; figure, the object of focus, and the ground, the background

    • symmetry: when objects that are symmetrical to each other are perceived as one object, rather than individual, separate elements

    • continuation: addresses why our eyes naturally follow continuous lines or paths

      • ex.) drawn to the door upon seeing exit signs

depth perception: the ability to perceive relative distance of an object in one’s visual field

• perceptual constancy: ability to perceiece abjects as having a consistent shape, size, color, and lightness, even when their appearance change due to varying conditions

• size constancy - brain’s tendency to perceive objects as the same size

• color constancy - when we perceive the color of an object to remain consistient, even if the lighting changes

• shape constancy: tendency of the brain to percieve an object’s shape as the same, even when it moves

  • ex.) opening and closing a door

• lightness constancy: the ability to perceive the blackness, whiteness, and grayness of an objective as consistent even under different lighting conditions, essentially this is the shading of an object

• constancies explain why the brain doesn’t perceive someone to grow bigger when approaching or coloring drastically changing in a dark versus lit room

2.2 Thinking, Problem-Solving, Judgements, & Decision-Making

• cognition: how we use and store information

  • ex.) perceiving, judging, remembering, conceiving, reasoning, imagining, and problem-solving

• humans are wired to think a certain way —> shortcuts and biases

• metacognition - essentially thinking about thinking

  • ex.) if studying for a test, you plan out how the methods you will use to best remember the information

• concepts: mental categories that help us organize and understand the world

  • group objects, events, ideas, and people under a shared classification

• prototypes: most typical or basic example of a concept, it serves as a mental image that illustrates the concept and acts as a cognitive reference point or benchmark

  • when asked to name a bird cardinals and blue jays (flying birds) are more likely to be your prototype than a flamingo or ostrich

  • if asked to name balls used in a sport, ball is the concept and specific examples are prototypes

• schemas: more complex mental frameworks that organize and interpret information about the world

  • they help us categorize new information and experiences based on previous knowledge, allowing for quicker understanding and decision-making

• assimilation: when we fit new information into existing schemas

• accomodation: when we change a schema to incorporate new information

  • helps individuals consistently refine and expand their schemas → better understanding of their experiences and the world

• assimilation adds information without altering the schema while accomodation alters the schema to add information

• executive functioning: cognitive processes that help individuals generate, organize, plan, and carry out goal directed behaviors in addition to engaging in critical thinking

  • closely linked to the frontal lobe and prefrontal cortex

• algorithms: where a person tackles a problem step-by-step in a systematic way

  • ex.) upon losing your phone, search every room in your home

• heuristics: mental shortcuts based on past experiences that reduce mental effort needed to make decisions, simplify complex questions, fast way to arrive at a conclusion, and help with problem-solcing

  • ex.) upon losing your phone, retrace your steps and focus on the areas where you had your phone

    • saves time but may lead you to miss areas

  • representative heuristics: involves making judgements based on how much something resembles or represents a typical case or stereotype

    • could cause individuals to overlook details and focus on information that aligns with their expectations/biases

  • availability heuristics: involves making judgements based on how easily examples come to mind

    • could lead to errors when decisions are influenced heavily on recent memories instead of a full consideration of the facts

  

• mental set: a cognitive framework that relies on past experiences and successful strategies to solve new problems

  • specific to problem-solving while a schema is focused on organizing information

• when approaching new challenges in life, people are more likely to approach it using methods that worked in the past

  • saves time and energy, but limits creativity and prevents from considering better or more efficient solution

• priming: the phenomenon where exposure to one stimulus influences how we respond to a later stimulus

• repetition priming: occurs when exposed to a specific stimulus that makes it easier to recognize that same or similar stimulus later

• semantic priming: involves the influence of one word on the interpretation of another, related word

• framing: refers to how information is presented, which can shape how we interpret and react to it, often influencing our decisions and judgments

• creativity: when individuals create new ideas or solutions

• divergent thinking: when a person explores many possible solutions, expanding the range of options for solving a problem

• convergent thinking: involves narrowing down the possibilites to come up with the single best option

• Sternberg’s five key components of creativity -

  • expertise: the more knowledge one has about a subject, the more likely they are to apply it in new and innovative ways

  • intrinsic motivation: individuals must have an internal drive to pursue a goal for personal satisfaction, rather than external rewards

  • venturesome personality: the individual must be willing to seek out new experiences and embrace challenges that will help them grow and see new perspectives

  • creative environment: individuals that surround themselves with other creative people and and creative environments tend to foster innovation and promote creative thinking

  • imaginative thinking: an individual must be able to view concepts in a unique and creative way, rather than focusing on traditional perspectives

• people become limited by one way of thinking

• functional fixedness: limits an individual to using an object only in its traditional way

  • hammer only a tool for pounding nails, not a doorstop

• cognitive biases

• gambler’s fallacy: mistaken belief that if an event occurs more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa

  • ex.) if roulette keeps landing on red 10 times, might believe 11th will be black (no effect on future spins)

  • —> poor decision making

    sunk-cost fallacy: tendency to continue to pursue an action in which you’ve already invested money, time , or resources into, regardless of its future value

    • ex.) business is failing, keep investing because of already resources put in, not wanting those to go to waste

2.3 Introduction to Memory

• Memory is the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

• 3 process that occur in the memory system

  • Encoding: the process of placing information into the memory system

  • Storing: the process of retaining information over time (if encoded properly)

  • Retrieving: the process of getting information out of memory storage

  • The better information is encoded, the better it will be able to be retrieved from storage

• recall: retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time.

  • ex.) fill in the blank questions

  recognition: identifying items previously learned.

• recognition: identifying items previously learned

  • ex.) multiple choice question

• relearning: learning something quicker when you learn it a second time

  • When you study for a final exam or engage a language used in early childhood, you will relearn the material more easily than you did initially.

    

• Attkinson-Shiffrin model: states that there are three distinct types of memory, each with its own function

  • sensory memory: stores all incoming sensory information for up to a second

    • no attention —> forgotten

  • short-term memory: what is occuring in the present moment, lasts for 2-30 seconds (also referred to as working memory)

    • not encoded —> forgotten

    • hold 5-9 things in your short-term memory

  • long-term memory: lasts forever

    • if something is encoded for storage properly, it can theoretically last forever (without suffering brain damage)

sensory memory - recording

• iconic memory: extremely fast, around half a second

• echoic memory: lasts a little longer

  • ex.) somebody asks for question but you didn’t catch, go back into the echoic memory to retrieve

• Mnemonic Devices

• Method of Loci: mentally visualize place items in a familiar room

  • ex.) visualize the presidents in your bedroom

• rehearsal: encoding information but repeatedly practicing it

  • two types: maintenance (repeating info) & elaborative (connect old info to new info)

• levels of processing: shallow and deep

• serial position effect: order of learning information determines how well the information will be more remembered

  • primacy effect: information learned early with be remembered because more time to process

  • recency effect: information learned later on will be remembered because it is fresh in the brain

2.2 Encoding Memories

2.3 Storing Memories

2.6 Retrieving Movement

2.7 Forgetting and Other Memory Challenges