2.1-2.4 Study Guide
2.1 Perception
Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Processing
Bottom-Up Processing: Starts with the raw sensory information from the environment and builds up to the brain's interpretation.
Example: Seeing an unfamiliar shape for the first time and piecing together what it is from its individual lines and edges.
Top-Down Processing: Starts with the brain's expectations, knowledge, and past experiences to interpret incoming stimuli.
Example: Reading "the the" as "the" because your brain expects normal sentence structure.
Clue Words for Top-Down: "Expected," "filled in," "assumed," "missed the error."
Internal & External Filtering Factors
Internal Factors: Schemas and perceptual sets.
External Factors: Context, past experiences, and cultural expectations.
Gestalt Principles
Closure: We fill in missing gaps to perceive a complete, whole object.
Figure and Ground: We naturally segregate an object (the figure) from its surrounding environment (the ground).
Proximity: Elements that are close together are grouped together.
Similarity: Elements that look alike are grouped together.
Attention
Cocktail Party Effect: In a loud, noisy environment, you can tune out background chatter but still instantly notice personally salient information, especially your own name (a form of selective attention).
Change Blindness: Failing to notice a visual change in your environment because your attention was focused elsewhere.
Distinction: In the cocktail party effect, you notice something important in the background; in change blindness, you completely miss a change.
Depth Perception
Binocular Cues (Require both eyes):
Retinal Disparity: The slight difference between the visual images projected onto each retina.
Convergence: The inward rotation of both eyes toward each other to focus on objects as they get closer.
Monocular Cues (Require only one eye; visible in 2D photos/paintings):
Linear Perspective: Parallel lines (like railroad tracks or roads) appear to converge in the distance.
Texture Gradient: Surface textures become finer, smoother, and denser the farther away they are.
Relative Size: Smaller objects are perceived as being further away.
Relative Clarity: Hazy, blurry, or less distinct objects seem more distant.
Interposition: An object that partially blocks or overlaps another is perceived as closer.
Test Trap: A flat photograph cannot provide retinal disparity because disparity requires two eyes viewing a genuine 3D scene.
Constancies & Apparent Movement
Perceptual Constancies: Perceiving an object as unchanging (in size, shape, or brightness) even when the retinal image it casts changes.
Apparent Movement: Perceiving motion where none physically exists (e.g., flashing neon signs, flip-books).
2.2 Thinking, Problem-Solving, and Decision-Making
Concepts, Prototypes, and Schemas
Concept: A mental grouping or category of similar objects, events, or ideas.
Prototype: The best, most ideal example representing a concept (e.g., picturing a robin rather than a penguin when thinking of a "bird").
Schema: A mental framework used to organize and interpret information. Handled in two ways:
Assimilation: Fitting new information directly into an existing schema (schema does not change).
Accommodation: Altering an existing schema or creating a completely new one to account for new information (schema does change).
Algorithms vs. Heuristics
Algorithm: A step-by-step procedure that tries every possible solution until the correct one is found. Slow, but mathematically guaranteed to work.
Heuristic: A mental shortcut used to solve problems quickly. Fast, but prone to errors and cognitive biases.
Representativeness Heuristic: Judging likelihood based on how well something matches a prototype or stereotype (e.g., "He looks like a criminal, so he must be one").
Availability Heuristic: Judging likelihood based on how easily and vividly examples pop into mind (e.g., "Fearing plane crashes after watching a dramatic news report").
Influences on Decisions & Cognitive Traps
Mental Set: Sticking stubbornly to a problem-solving strategy that has worked in the past, even when a better approach is available.
Priming: Subtle, earlier exposure to a stimulus unconsciously influences later thoughts or behavior (e.g., seeing the word "yellow" makes you recognize "banana" faster).
Framing: The way an issue, question, or choice is worded alters how people evaluate it (e.g., choosing a medical procedure described as having a survival rate vs. a mortality rate).
Gambler's Fallacy: The mistaken belief that independent random outcomes will "even out" over a short sequence (e.g., "I've flipped heads five times in a row, so tails is due!").
Sunk-Cost Fallacy: Continuing an unprofitable endeavor simply because of past, unrecoverable investments of money, time, or effort (e.g., "We've already spent $2 million on this failed project, we can't quit now").
Executive Functions & Creativity
Executive Functions: Cognitive processes that allow you to plan, focus attention, organize, and execute goal-directed behaviors.
Divergent Thinking: Producing many creative, varied possible answers or solutions to a problem.
Convergent Thinking: Narrowing down options to find the single best, correct answer.
Functional Fixedness: The cognitive bias of viewing objects only in terms of their traditional, typical uses, which heavily blocks creative problem-solving.
2.3 Introduction to Memory
Types of Memory
Explicit (Declarative) Memory (Easier to consciously describe and explain):
Episodic: Memory for personal life events (e.g., "My 10th birthday party").
Semantic: Memory for general facts, rules, and world knowledge (e.g., "Paris is the capital of France").
Implicit (Nondeclarative) Memory (Harder to verbalize/explain):
Procedural: Memory for motor skills, habits, and physical actions (e.g., "Knowing how to ride a bike or tie shoes").
Prospective Memory: Remembering to execute an action in the future (e.g., "Remembering to call your doctor at 3:00 PM tomorrow").
Biological Basis of Memory
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP): The persistent strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons based on frequent patterns of activity. Often summarized as "neurons that fire together, wire together."
Baddeley’s Working Memory Model
Central Executive: Directs focus, allocates attention, and coordinates the other sub-systems.
Phonological Loop: Handles verbal, acoustic, and auditory information (e.g., subvocally repeating a phone number to yourself).
Visuospatial Sketchpad: Handles visual imagery and spatial awareness (e.g., mentally rotating an irregular 3D shape or reading a map).
Multi-Store Model & Processing Levels
Multi-Store Model Stages:
Sensory Memory: Includes iconic (visual) and echoic (auditory) memory. (Note: Echoic memory belongs here, not in Baddeley's model!)
Levels of Processing Theory: Memory retention depends on how deeply incoming information is processed:
Structural: Focusing on physical appearance, font, or letters (shallowest).
Phonemic: Focusing on sound and pronunciation.
Semantic: Focusing on meaning and personal relevance (deepest; yields the best memory retention).
2.4 Encoding Memories
Encoding Strategies & Mnemonics
Method of Loci: Visualizing familiar spatial locations (like rooms in your childhood home) and mentally associating speech points or items with each stop along that route.
Mnemonic Devices: General memory-enhancing systems, such as acronyms, rhymes, and visual imagery.
Chunking: Grouping individual pieces of data into larger, meaningful chunks, categories, or hierarchies (e.g., turning "1-8-6-5" into the historical year "1865").
Maintenance Rehearsal: Rote, repetitive rehearsal to keep information active in short-term memory without deeper processing (e.g., repeating a phone number aloud until you finish dialing).
Study Strategies & Research Design
Spacing Effect: The finding that distributed practice (spreading study sessions out over time) produces vastly superior long-term retention and neural consolidation compared to massed practice (cramming all at once).
Serial Position Effect: The tendency to recall items best based on their position in a list:
Primacy Effect: Better recall for items at the beginning of a list.
Recency Effect: Better recall for items at the end of a list (items in the middle are typically remembered the worst).
Quick Guide to Research Variables in Memory Studies:
Independent Variable (IV): What the researcher actively manipulates or changes (e.g., massed vs. distributed study sessions).
Dependent Variable (DV): What is measured or recorded as an outcome (e.g., vocabulary quiz test scores).
Constants / Controlled Variables: Factors kept identical for all participants to prevent confounding (e.g., using the same 40 words, same total study time, and identical test conditions).
Random Assignment: Distributing participants into experimental groups purely by chance, ensuring groups are comparable from the start.
Frequently Confused Pairs
Confused Pair | Core Distinction |
|---|---|
Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down | Raw sensory data first vs. brain expectations/schemas first |
Cocktail Party Effect vs. Change Blindness | Noticing vital background info vs. failing to notice an environmental change |
Assimilation vs. Accommodation | Existing schema stays intact vs. schema changes/new category forms |
Representativeness vs. Availability | Judging by prototype/stereotype resemblance vs. ease of mental recall |
Framing vs. Priming | Wording presentation of identical facts vs. prior exposure to a separate stimulus |
Gambler's vs. Sunk-Cost Fallacy | Expecting random sequences to balance vs. refusing to quit past investments |
Episodic vs. Semantic Memory | Personal autobiographical events vs. general factual knowledge |
Procedural vs. Prospective Memory | Knowing how to execute a physical skill vs. remembering to do a task later |
Phonological Loop vs. Visuospatial Sketchpad | Auditory sounds/words vs. visual images/spatial tracking |
Baddeley's vs. Multi-Store Model | Active working memory components vs. three sequential storage stages |
Spacing vs. Serial Position Effect | When you study (timing) vs. where an item sits within a list order |
Method of Loci vs. Chunking | Linking items to physical places vs. organizing items into groups |
Linear Perspective vs. Texture Gradient | Converging parallel lines vs. surface textures becoming finer/denser |
Divergent vs. Convergent Thinking | Generating many creative possibilities vs. finding the single best answer |
Self-Check Quiz
Why can't a photograph provide retinal disparity? Retinal disparity requires two eyes viewing a real 3D scene; photographs are flat 2D surfaces that only provide monocular cues.
A student sees the word "YELLOW" and is then faster to recognize the word "banana." What cognitive phenomenon is this? Priming.
After a coin lands on heads five times in a row, a bettor declares, "Tails is due!" What decision-making error are they committing? The gambler's fallacy.
Name the three distinct sub-components of Baddeley's working memory model. Central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketchpad.
What are the three levels of processing, and which one results in the strongest long-term memory? Structural, phonemic, and semantic. Semantic processing yields the best memory.
A toddler sees a zebra for the first time, calls it a "horse," and is then corrected, leading them to create a new mental category. What term describes calling it a "horse," and what term describes creating the new category? Calling it a "horse" is assimilation; creating the new category is accommodation.
Is "knowing how to ride a bicycle" an example of episodic, semantic, or procedural memory? Procedural memory (a subcategory of implicit memory).
In an experiment evaluating cramming versus distributed study schedules, what are the independent variable (IV) and dependent variable (DV)? IV: Massed vs. distributed practice schedule; DV: Memory test score.
According to the serial position effect, which two portions of a word list do people generally remember best? The first items (primacy effect) and the last items (recency effect).
A person decides that flying is dangerously unsafe because they immediately recall a dramatic, vivid news story of a plane crash. Which heuristic are they using? The availability heuristic.