Cogni

Perception is the process of interpreting, organizing, and identifying sensory information. It involves signals processed by the nervous system and is shaped by learning, memory, attention, and expectations.

Two main processes of perception:

• Sensory Processing: Converts raw data into structured information.

• Cognitive Processing: Uses knowledge and attention to interpret data.

How Perception Works:

• Distal Stimulus: The actual object in the world (e.g., a ringing phone).

• Proximal Stimulus: Sensory signals received by the body (e.g., the sound waves reaching the ear).

• Percept: The brain's interpretation of the object (e.g., the brain recognizes the sound as a phone ringing).

Factors Affecting Perception:

• Psychologist Jerome Bruner's Model:

  • Step 1: Initial openness: Gathering information.

  • Step 2: Categorization: Using past experiences to classify.

  • Step 3: Selective Perception: Ignoring conflicting details.

• Saks & Johns' Three Influencing Factors:

  • Ambiguity & Multistable Perception: The same stimulus can be perceived in multiple ways. Multistable perception involves the brain shifting between different interpretations (e.g., Rubin Vase Illusion). Perception is shaped by culture and past experiences, and the ability to visualize shifts varies among individuals. Esemplasticity is the ability to see multiple interpretations in ambiguous images.

  • Perceptual Constancy: The brain maintains stability in perception despite changes in input. Examples include size constancy, color constancy, and texture constancy.

  • Gestalt Principles of Grouping: Explains how our brain organizes visual information.

  • Contrast Effects in Perception:

    • Simultaneous contrast: A color looks different depending on its background.

    • Successive contrast: Perception is influenced by what was seen before.

    • Social contrast: A name (e.g., "Hitler") affects judgments of a person.

  • Effect of Experience: Experience refines perceptual distinctions and enhances categorization (e.g., wine tasting, reading X-rays, art appreciation). Mind-body practices can reshape perception, increasing awareness of internal body signals. Research examines if these changes occur in sensory organs or the brain.

  • Effect of Motivation & Expectation: Perceptual set is the tendency to perceive things based on past experiences, desires, or expectations. Top-down processing involves our brain interpreting sensory input based on what we already know. Predictive coding (Andy Clark) suggests our brains make predictions and constantly adjust based on new information. Experiences shape expectations, influencing future perception.

Theories of Perception:

• Perception as Direct Perception: We perceive the world directly from the information we gain through vision.

• Perception-in-action: Perception and action are tightly linked; we perceive to act, not just to receive. The primary purpose is to guide action, and human senses are adaptations.

• Evolutionary Psychology (EP) and Perception: Human senses are adaptations.

• Empirical theories of Perception.

• Enactivism.

• Interactive activation and competition.

• Irving Biederman's recognition by components theory.

Types of Perception:

• VISION

• HAPTIC

• AUDITION: The process of hearing and understanding spoken language (accent, speed, mood, background noise). SPEECH PERCEPTION.

• TASTE

• SOCIAL PERCEPTION: Helps us understand people and groups through body language, expressions, tone.

• FACIAL PERCEPTION: Specialized brain processes help us recognize faces, identify individuals, and interpret emotions.

• SOCIAL TOUCH: Touch can carry social and emotional meaning; the brain processes comforting touch differently.

• OTHER SENSES: Balance & movement, temperature & pain, internal sensations (hunger, thirst, bodily needs).

Modern Theories of Perceptual Development:

• Enrichment Theories: Perception starts with bare sensory input supplemented by past experiences.

• Probabilistic Theory: Understanding how we perceive and make decisions based on surrounding information.

• Schema Theory: Understanding how we learn and remember based on what we already know.

• Behavioral Theory: Understanding how we develop perceptions based on our actions and responses to the environment.

• Differentiation Theory: Learning to attend to distinctive features of stimulation rather than adding distinctive responses.

Form Perception: Recognizing and understanding shapes and objects.

• Abstract Visual Form System (AVF): Recognizes general types of shapes.

• Specific Visual Form System (SVF): Distinguishes between specific instances of shapes.

• Physiological: Form perception involves the eyes and brain, detecting basic features (lines, edges) and integrating them. The ventral and dorsal streams are key.

• Development: Develops gradually through exploration and early sensory experiences.

• Dysfunction (Visual Agnosia): Impairs the ability to recognize objects despite normal vision, often due to brain damage. Understanding dysfunctions helps design interventions.

• Injury and Illness: Traumatic brain injury or stroke can disrupt form perception by damaging neural pathways. Rehabilitation is essential.

• Aging: Can reduce form perception due to vision changes like decreased contrast sensitivity and conditions like cataracts or macular degeneration. Supportive measures are needed.

Visual Perception Theory: How we interpret visual information.

• Bottom-Up Processing: Building perceptions from details.

• Top-Down Processing: Using prior knowledge to understand what we see.

• Perception allows behavior appropriate to non-sensed object characteristics.

• Richard Gregory: Perception is top-down; prior knowledge and expectations influence interpretation; perception involves forming hypotheses. Problem: Knowing the truth doesn't always change how we see illusions. Constructivist theory (top-down) challenge: How do newborns perceive without past experiences?. Cultural similarities in perception challenge constructivism.

• Evidence Supporting Nativism (Innate Ability): Newborns show shape constancy and voice preference.

• Constructivist Approach (Gregory) vs. Direct Approach (Gibson): Brain uses past knowledge vs. perception directly from the environment using available information (background, movement). Gibson argues illusions are rare in real life.

• The Direct Approach emphasizes real-world input, while Constructivism relies on past knowledge.

• GIBSON (1966) AND BOTTOM UP PROCESSING: Sensory input analyzed directly without prior knowledge; perception is innate and doesn't require learning; necessary for survival; sensation is perception (Ecological Theory); visual information follows a one-way pathway.

• FEATURES OF GIBSON'S THEORY:

  • THE OPTIC ARRAY: Pattern of light reaching the eye containing all visual information; constantly changes with movement and light shifts, but the brain interprets movement and depth correctly. Optic flow indicates movement direction.

  • INVARIANT FEATURES: Constant aspects of the environment despite observer movement (e.g., Texture Gradient, Linear Perspective, Horizon Ratio).

  • AFFORDANCES: Cues in the environment aiding perception. Examples include Optical Array, Relative Brightness, Texture Gradient, Relative Size, Superimposition, Height in Visual Field.

• EVALUATION OF GIBSON'S THEORY: Ecologically valid; explains fast and accurate perception; applicable to animals and babies. Provides an explanation for visual illusions (e.g., waterfall illusion) as aftereffects.

SELECTIVE AND VISUAL ATTENTION:

• By the 1990s, PET and fMRI were used to image the brain during attention tasks. Pioneers include Michael Posner and Marcus Raichle.

• NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL (Luria): The working brain has three co-active processes: Attention, Memory, and Cortical activation system.

• MODELS OF ATTENTION:

  • Spotlight Model: Attention has a focus, margin, and fringe (William James inspired).

  • Zoom-Lens Model: Similar to spotlight but can change in size (1986).

• MULTITASKING AND DIVIDED ATTENTION: Multitasking leads to more errors or slower performance as attention must be divided. Divided attention involves attending to multiple information sources or performing multiple tasks simultaneously. Classical research studied learning new information during multiple tasks.

• SIMULTANEOUS ATTENTION: Attending to multiple events at the same time; requires focus on multiple simultaneous activities without interruption.

• EXOGENOUS AND ENDOGENOUS ORIENTING:

  • Exogenous Orienting: Stimulus-controlled, reflexive, automatic, caused by sudden peripheral changes. Less affected by cognitive load, cannot be ignored, has bigger effects than endogenous cues.

  • Endogenous Orienting: Intentional allocation of attention to a predetermined location based on goals or desires; focus manipulated by task demands. Requires processing of central cues; affected by expectancies about cue validity.

• INFLUENCE OF PROCESSING LOAD (Cognitive Load Theory): Selective attention affected by cognitive and perceptual load.

  • Perceptual Load: Ability to perceive or ignore stimuli (task-related and non-task-related).

  • Cognitive Load: Actual processing of stimuli.

• CLINICAL MODEL (Sohlberg and Mateer): Used for evaluating attention in patients with neurologic pathologies, describing five kinds of activities of growing difficulty:

  • Focused Attention: Responding discretely to specific stimuli.

  • Sustained Attention (vigilance and concentration): Maintaining consistent response during continuous activity.

  • Selective Attention: Maintaining cognitive set in the face of distractions (freedom from distractibility).

  • Alternating Attention: Mental flexibility to shift focus between tasks with different requirements.

  • Divided Attention: Responding simultaneously to multiple tasks.

  • Mindfulness: Clinical model of attention, training attention functions.

• NEURAL CORRELATES (Knudsen's model): Four core processes with working memory at the center:

  • Working memory: Temporarily stores information for analysis.

  • Competitive selection: Determines which information accesses working memory.

  • Top-down sensitivity control: Higher cognitive processes regulate signal intensity in competing channels.

  • Bottom-up saliency filters: Automatically enhance response to infrequent or biologically relevant stimuli (exogenous attention).

• Posner's Model: Three functional components:

  • Alerting: Becoming and staying attentive (frontal and parietal lobes, norepinephrine).

  • Orienting: Directing attention to a specific stimulus.

  • Executive attention: Used when there is conflict between cues (similar to central executive in Baddeley's WM, anterior cingulate cortex).

• CULTURAL VARIATION (Henry, 1955): Societal differences in sensitivity to multiple simultaneous signals; Indigenous children learning by observing require active attention management.

• MODELLING: Computer vision researchers model human attention (bottom-up) using spatial contrast analysis and frequency domain analysis (SR, PQFT) to define saliency. HFT method (2012) includes amplitude and phase.

• HEMISPATIAL NEGLECT (Unilateral Neglect): Often from right hemisphere damage, tendency to ignore the left side of the body or objects. Different neural damage causes different neglect types; attention disorders can contribute.

• ATTENTION IN SOCIAL CONTEXTS (Social Attention): Limited processing resources allocated in social context, operating between attending to oneself and attending to others to infer intentions.

History of the Study of Attention:

• Philosophical Period (1860 - 1909):

  • NICOLAS MALEBRANCHE: We access mental representations, not the world directly; attentiveness clarifies perceptions.

  • GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ: Apperception - new experiences shaped by past to form new understanding (conscious event); Exogenous orienting (reflexive, involuntary) vs. Endogenous orienting (voluntary, directed).

  • JOHANN FRIEDRICH HERBART: Agreed with Leibniz; new experiences tied to existing ones; introduced "mathematical model" to study psychology.

  • SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON: Attention capacity likened to holding a limited number of marbles.

  • WILLIAM STANLEY JEVONS: Expanded Hamilton's view, suggested attention to up to four items.

• 1860 - 1909 (Conceptual to Experimental): Focused on experimental testing and psychophysical methods.

  • WILHELM WUNDT: Introduced attention to psychology; explored mental processing speed; Voluntarism - psychological force creating higher-order perceptions; focused on conscious experiences.

  • FRANCISCUS DONDERS: Used "mental chronometry" and Subtractive Method to study attention; studied Simple Reaction, Choice Reaction, and Go/No-Go Reaction times.

  • HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ: Possible to focus on one stimulus and still perceive or ignore others.

  • WILLIAM JAMES: Attention involves clear and vivid focus on one object/thought out of many; aids perception, conception, distinction, memory, and reaction time; Sensorial Attention (physical stimuli), Intellectual Attention (represented objects), Immediate Attention (current), Derived Attention (not physically present).

• 1910 - 1949 (Waning Interest): Interest in behaviorism flourished; some believed no attention research occurred.

  • JERSILD (1927): Important work on "Mental Set and Shift"; mental set is primary; same stimulus evokes different responses based on context; task switching takes time.

  • John Ridley Stroop (1935): Developed the "stroop task" and elicited the Stroop Effect (irrelevant stimulus information impacts performance).

  • Telford (1931): Discovered the "psychological refractory period" (neurons less responsive after stimulation).

• 1950 - 1974 (Renewed Interest - Cognitive Revolution): Shift from behaviorism to realism.

  • COCKTAIL PARTY PROBLEM (Colin Cherry, 1953): How people focus on one conversation in noise; led to study of "focused attention" vs. "divided attention"; dichotic listening tasks.

  • BROADBENT'S FILTER MODEL OF ATTENTION: Information in pre-attentive store; only sensory events with common physical features pass into limited capacity processing.

  • DEUTSCH - NORMAN MODEL (Treisman, 1968): No signal filtered out; all processed to activate memory representations; attention becomes selective when one representation is chosen for further processing ("attentional bottleneck").

  • Robert Wurtz (1960): Recorded neural signals in macaques during attentional tasks, showing a direct neural correlate of a mental process.

Pattern Recognition: Machine learning branch focused on recognizing patterns in data.

• SUPERVISED LEARNING: Uses labeled training data.

• UNSUPERVISED LEARNING: Works with unlabeled data to find patterns.

• SEMI-SUPERVISED LEARNING: Combines labeled and unlabeled data.

Perceptual Constancy: Object properties are perceived consistently across different sense modalities.

Organisms Adjust to Level of Stimulation:

1. Adjust response level to stimulation level (e.g., eyes adapting to bright light).

2. Respond to ratio of stimulation to preserve constant object properties (e.g., white objects reflect more light than black in varying illumination).

3. Constancy is rarely perfect; it's an approximation.

4. Personality and social factors might influence the adoption of an objective attitude rather than direct correlation with perception mode.

Selective Attention (Revisited): Focusing mental resources on one stimulus/task while ignoring others.

• BROADBENT'S FILTER MODEL (Evaluation): Dichotic listening tasks criticized; cannot account for the 'Cocktail Party Phenomenon' (hearing your name when not attending) as unattended messages are supposedly filtered out before meaning processing. Some meaning analysis of unattended stimuli must occur before selection based on physical characteristics.

• TREISMAN'S MODEL (Attenuation Model) (Evaluation): Overcomes some Broadbent's problems (accounts for cocktail party effect). Does not explain semantic analysis precisely; nature of attenuation unspecified; difficulty ensuring participants don't switch attention in dichotic listening.

PSYCHOPHYSICS: "The scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation"; quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations/perceptions they produce; methods include threshold measurement, ideal observer analysis, and signal detection theory; has practical applications. Example: Gradually increasing lamp brightness until noticed shows the relation between physical stimulus and perception.

History of Psychophysics:

• Gustav Theodor Fechner (1860): Coined "psychophysics", relating physical stimuli to consciousness (sensations), inspired by Ernst Heinrich Weber's work on noticing small differences (e.g., weights).

• Built on Weber's work to study "just noticeable difference" (JND) - smallest detectable stimulus change.

Threshold: Point where we just start to notice something.

• Types of Thresholds:

  • Absolute Threshold: Smallest detectable stimulus amount.

  • Difference Threshold (Just-Noticeable Difference, JND): Smallest noticeable change between two stimuli.

• Methods of Testing Thresholds:

  • Method of Limits: Experimenter adjusts stimulus intensity until detection.

  • Method of Adjustment: Participants adjust stimulus until clearly perceived.

  • Method of Constant Stimuli: Different stimulus levels presented randomly for accuracy.

• Magnitude Estimation: Using numbers to describe perceived stimulus strength.

Time Perception: How we feel and understand the passing of time.

• Measured through experiments asking people to estimate duration or compare timing.

• Perceived Duration: How long you think something lasted.

• Theories (William J. Friedman, 1993):

  • Strength Model: Stronger memories are better remembered for timing, but new memories can fade faster.

  • Inference Model: We figure out timing by comparing to other known events.

• Neuroscientific Perspectives: No single brain part for time; different areas work together:

  • Cerebral cortex: Thinking about and estimating time.

  • Cerebellum: Timing movements.

  • Suprachiasmatic nucleus: Daily rhythms.

Temporal Illusions: Distortions in the perception of time for short intervals (< 1 second).

• Types of Temporal Illusions:

  • Telescoping Effect: Remembering things differently than they happened.

  • Vierordt's Law: Short durations feel longer, long durations feel shorter.

  • Changes in a short time can make time feel longer.

  • Kappa Effect: Spacing of stimuli affects perceived timing; closer seems faster.

  • Chronostasis (Stopped Clock Illusion): Second hand seems to stop momentarily when first looked at.

  • Oddball Effect: Unusual events during normal activity seem to last longer.

• Effects Of Emotional States:

  • Awe: Can make time feel more expansive.

  • Fear: Can make time feel like it slows down (for quick reaction).

MINDING YOUR MEMORY:

• "It's somewhat paradoxical that we remember the few things we forget each day, but fail to acknowledge how many things our brain succeed in remembering." - SANDRA BOND CHAPMAN

• "Memory relies on our capacity to sustain attention and acquire and process information." - CYNTHIA GREEN, PHD

• HOW THE BRAIN AGES: Some skills decline as early as our mid-20s, but the impact on recalling information, conversations, or names is typically noticed around age 40.

NEURAL CHANGES WITH AGE AND BRAIN PLASTICITY:

• As we age, neural pathways shrink, connectivity between synapses slows, and brain metabolism and blood flow are reduced. - CHAPMAN

• Recent research shows we can regain brain losses, strengthen synapses, and increase blood flow.

• "Even an older brain is not a fixed thing, we can foster neurogenesis at any age." - GREEN

WHY YOU FORGET THINGS?

• There is no single explanation for a perceived decrease in mental sharpness.

• "Memory is a very complex system that it is influenced by numerous factors, such as stress and information overload." - CHAPMAN

KEY FACTORS THAT MAY HINDER MEMORY:

• LACK OF SLEEP: "It is known that disrupted sleep, including sleep deprivation, tends to impair normal memory consolidation" - MASANORI MURAYAMA PHD. Studies link sleep-inducing medications to impaired memory.

• MULTITASKING: A 2014 study found that trying to remember multiple items simultaneously can weaken the ability to regain information.

• TECHNOLOGY: Excessive screen time is a distraction that interferes with focus and attention.

• ALCOHOL: Recent studies suggest it can negatively affect memory as we age.

WHAT HELPS BOOST THE BRAIN?

• "WHEN YOU ADOPT HEALTHY BRAIN LIFESTYLE BEHAVIORS YOU WILL NOTICE IMPROVEMENTS." - SMALL

• HEALTHY DIET: The MIND diet (Mediterranean DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) calls for consuming vegetables (especially deep green), beans, whole grains, mixed nuts, omega-3 seafood, poultry, extra virgin olive oil, and one daily glass of wine, while limiting red meat, cheese, butter/margarine, pastries/sweets, fried/fast foods. Maintaining a healthy weight is also important. Studies show adults closely following the MIND diet scored up to 7.5 years younger cognitively.

• EXERCISE: A proven way to boost brain health. Research found significant memory gains when individuals engaged in aerobic exercises for 50 minutes three times a week. Exercise benefits the brain by increasing blood, oxygen, and nutrient flow, and by increasing Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which helps grow neural circuits. A recent study found exercise can improve memory consolidation.

• YOGA: Research in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease found that weekly yoga and meditation improved cognitive function. After 12 weeks, subjects' depression diminished, and communication between brain areas controlling attention improved. Other studies link mindfulness meditation to improved memory, executive function, processing speed, and general cognition.

• STAYING BUSY: Researchers at the University of Texas Center for Vital Longevity found that busyness was associated with better processing speed, working memory, episodic memory, reasoning, and crystallized knowledge.

MEMORY AND AGING:

• MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT (MCI): A condition where people have more frequent memory problems than average for their age, but these don't prevent normal activities and are less severe than Alzheimer's.

• NORMAL AGING: Associated with a decline in various memory abilities and many cognitive tasks, known as age-related memory impairment (AMI) or age-associated memory impairment (AAMI). AAMI is considered a normal part of aging and describes memory loss in healthy individuals aged 50 and over.

• CAUSE OF MEMORY LAPSES:

  • Physical Factors: Lifestyle factors, dehydration, depression, anxiety, vitamin B12 deficiency, blood clots in the brain.

  • Lifestyle Factors: Alcohol, stress, substance abuse, chronic alcoholism, poor nutrition.

  • A deficiency in the RbAp48 protein is associated with age-related memory loss.

  • Age-related memory deficits may be linked to inefficient processing in the medial-temporal regions (hippocampus), crucial for memory associations.

• Prevention and Treatment (CAREGIVING): Keeping the patient active, focusing on positive abilities, and avoiding stress can help. Routines for daily tasks should maintain the patient's sense of independence.

• DOMAINS OF MEMORIES SPARED VS AFFECTED: Implicit or procedural memory typically shows no decline with age. Other short-term memory types show little decline, and semantic knowledge (vocabulary) can improve with age.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES:

• AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE BASE: Contains knowledge of the self (what the self is, was, and can be). Includes LIFETIME PERIODS (clusters of related events sharing a theme, more general than specific events) and EVENT-SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE (detailed information about individual events, including sensory-perceptual details and emotions, most vivid and easily recalled).

• WORKING SELF: A set of active personal goals or self-images organized into goal hierarchies.

• TYPES OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES:

  • Biographical or Personal: Information pertaining to who you are (birthplace, parents' names).

  • Copies vs. Reconstructions: Copies are vivid memories with much detail made in hindsight. Reconstructions are rebuilt memories incorporating new information or interpretations.

  • Specific vs. Generic: Specific memories detail a certain event (event-specific knowledge). Generic memories hold little detail beyond the type of event. Reposidic autobiographical memories can also be categorized into generic ones.

  • Field vs. Observer: Field memories are recalled from the original perspective of experiencing the event. Observer memories are recalled from a third-person viewpoint, often reconstructions.

• FUNCTIONS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY:

  • Directive Function: Uses past experience to solve current problems and guide future actions.

  • Social Function: Develops and maintains social bonds through shared conversational material.

  • Self-Representative Function: Uses personal memories to create and maintain a coherent self-identity over time.

• MEMORY PERSPECTIVES:

  • Field Perspective: Recalled from the viewpoint of the original experience.

  • Observer Perspective: Recalled from an outsider's viewpoint.

• MODERATORS OF PERSPECTIVES:

  • Memory Age: Time passed since the event, a key determinant of perspective type.

  • Emotionally: Emotional state at encoding.

  • Self-awareness: Consciousness of self at the time of the event.

EPISODIC MEMORY:

• Coined by Endel Tulving in 1972, related to the distinction between knowing and remembering.

• WHAT IS EPISODIC MEMORY? A type of long-term memory involving recalling specific past events and experiences, including details of when, where, what happened, and associated emotions (autobiographical events).

• EPISODIC LEARNING: A behavior change resulting from an event (e.g., fear of dogs after a bite).

• NINE PROPERTIES:

  • Contain summary records of sensory-perceptual-conceptual-affective processing.

  • Retain patterns of activation/inhibition over long periods.

  • Often represented as (visual) images.

  • Always have a perspective (field or observer).

  • Represent short time slices of experience.

  • Represented on a temporal dimension roughly in order of occurrence.

  • Make autobiographical remembering specific.

  • Subject to rapid forgetting.

  • Are recollectively experienced when accessed.

• COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE (Brain Regions Involved):

  • Medial Temporal Lobe (Hippocampus): Crucial for forming new episodic memories by integrating event information with context.

  • Prefrontal Cortex: Plays a role in organizing and encoding information, especially semantic and nonverbal aspects.

• Episodic memories are initially formed and indexed in the hippocampus but are not permanently stored there.

• The neocortex is believed to be the final repository for episodic memories, becoming part of our autobiographical narrative.

• THE RELATIONSHIP OF EPISODIC MEMORY AND SEMANTIC MEMORY:

  • Episodic: Remembering specific events (e.g., a birthday party).

  • Semantic: Recalling facts and general knowledge (e.g., what a birthday party is).

  • They work together: Episodic experiences help learn new semantic facts, and semantic knowledge helps understand and remember episodic events.

• AGE DIFFERENCES: Older adults have difficulty recalling specific details of past events (context, associative information). However, they often retain better memories for emotionally charged events. While episodic memory declines with age, semantic memory (factual knowledge) remains relatively stable.

• THE RELATIONSHIP TO EMOTIONS: Flashbulb memory is an example - vivid, almost picture-perfect memory of an emotionally significant experience (e.g., a family member dying, a desired childhood gift).

• PHARMACOLOGICAL ENHANCEMENT:

  • Donepezil (acetylcholine esterase inhibitor): Enhances long-term visual episodic memory in healthy adults and reduces recognition decline during sleep deprivation.

  • Tolcapone (catecholamine-O-methyltransferase inhibitor): Improves verbal episodic memory in individuals with the val/val genotype of the val158met polymorphism.

  • A 2015 meta-analysis found that therapeutic doses of amphetamine and methylphenidate improve working memory, episodic memory, and inhibitory control in healthy adults.

• DAMAGE: Amnesia often results from deficits in episodic memory. Alzheimer's tends to damage the hippocampus early. Korsakoff's syndrome is caused by thiamine deficiency from chronic alcoholism. Acute cortisol levels can inhibit recall of autobiographical memories, contributing to memory deficits in depression. MDMA ("Ecstasy") use has been linked to persistent deficits.

FLASHBULB MEMORIES:

• Coined by Robert Brown and James Kulik in 1977 for vivid memories after emotionally intense events. They initially believed these were special and different from ordinary memories.

• The term suggests surprise, indiscriminate illumination, detail, and brevity like a photograph, but these memories are only somewhat indiscriminate and far from complete. Confidence is high, but details can be forgotten.Here is all the information from the source "THINKING.pdf":

THINKING

Ross: "Thinking is a mental activity in its cognitive aspect or mental activity with regard to psychological aspects".

• Garrett: "Thinking is a behavior which is often implicit and hidden and in which symbols are ordinarily employed".
  
  

• Gilmer: "Thinking is a problem-solving process in which we use ideas or symbols in place of overt activity".
  
  

• Mohsin: "Thinking is an implicit problem-solving behavior".
  
  

• Perceptual or Concrete Thinking: The simplest form of thinking Based on perception (interpreting sensations using past experiences). Relies on senses and past experiences to understand real, physical objects or events.
  
  

• Conceptual or Abstract Thinking: Uses ideas, concepts, and language instead of physical objects. Helps solve problems and understand complex ideas more efficiently.
  
  

• TYPES OF THINKING:
  
  

  • Reflective Thinking: Used to solve complicated problems. Involves carefully analyzing past experiences and organizing facts logically. Avoids guessing; focuses on thoughtful, step-by-step solutions.

  • Creative Thinking: Focuses on creating something new, original, or unique. Looks for fresh connections between ideas or objects.

• Characteristics of Creative Thinking: Happens in the mind. Everyone can do it. Produces new ideas or rearranges old ones. Requires open-minded, free exploration (divergent).
  
  

• TYPES OF THINKING:
  
  

  • Critical Thinking: Helps people think clearly and avoid biases. Uses skills like analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting information to make fair judgments. Focuses on finding the truth, even if it challenges personal beliefs.

  • Non-directed or Associative Thinking: Free-flowing, non-goal-oriented thinking. Includes daydreaming, fantasies, and delusions.

    • Daydreaming/Fantasy: Normal; helps people escape reality temporarily.

    • Delusions: Abnormal beliefs (e.g., thinking you’re a billionaire or God) that may indicate mental health.

• TYPES OF THINKING
  
  

• DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING
  
  

  • Adequacy of the Knowledge and Experience: Knowledge and experience form the foundation of good thinking.

    • How to Develop: Train children to improve their senses (sensation and perception) for better understanding. Provide opportunities for self-study, discussions, and engaging activities.

  • Adequate Motivation and Definiteness of: Motivation energizes thinking and keeps us focused. Thinking should have a clear purpose and connect to our needs and interests.

• DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING
  
  

• Adequate Freedom and Flexibility: Avoid unnecessary restrictions on thinking. If old methods don’t work, explore new ideas and approaches.
  
  

• Incubation: If stuck on a problem, take a break and relax. Solutions often come unconsciously during this time.
  
  

• Intelligence and Wisdom: Intelligence is the ability to think properly. Use intelligence, wisdom, and cognitive skills to improve thinking.
  
  

• DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING
  
  

  • Proper Development of Concepts and Language:

    • Concepts: Words or ideas that represent a group of things.

    • Language: A system of symbols (words) used for thinking and communication. Proper development of concepts and language is essential for clear thinking. Poor development can lead to incorrect or distorted thinking.

• Adequacy of Reasoning Process: Thinking is influenced by how we reason. Illogical reasoning leads to incorrect conclusions. Teach children to use logic (the science of correct.
  
  

• TOOLS OF THINKING:
  
  

  • Images: Mental pictures of objects, people, or situations based on our experiences. We use these images (instead of real objects) to think and solve problems.

  • Concepts: General ideas that represent a group of things with similar characteristics. Help simplify thinking by grouping.

• TOOLS OF THINKING:
  
  

  • Symbols and Signs: Objects or signals that represent something else. They guide our actions and stimulate thinking.

• TOOLS OF THINKING:
  
  

  • Language: The most effective tool for thinking. Words, sentences, and gestures in any language stimulate thinking. Reading, writing, and listening help develop and organize thoughts.

  • Muscular Activities: Thinking is often linked to subtle muscle movements. The more we think, the more our muscles tense up. Relaxing muscles can reduce active.

• TOOLS OF THINKING:
  
  

  • Brain Functions: Thinking is primarily a function of the brain. The brain processes sensory information, gives it meaning, and stores mental images. Without the brain, sensory experiences would have no meaning.

• ERRORS IN THINKING:
  
  

  • What causes Errors in Thinking?? Our thinking is influenced by mental sets—habits or patterns we develop based on past experiences. These mental sets can lead to rigid, biased, or oversimplified thinking, causing mistakes in reasoning and problem-solving. Errors occur when thinking is based on incorrect data, emotions, biases, or lack of information.

  • Emotional Influence:

    • Our thinking is defective because we have allowed ourselves to be swayed by our emotions.

    • Narrow Perspective: our thinking becomes fallacious, and cannot view the problem from different angles broadly.

  • Superstitions & Lack of Information: Believing in superstitions or not having enough relevant information.

• ERRORS IN THINKING:
  
  

  • Wishful Thinking: Believing something is true because we want it to be, even without evidence.

  • Rationalizations and Delusions: Making excuses to justify faulty thinking or believing in things that aren’t real.

• ERRORS IN THINKING:
  
  

  • Biases and Prejudices: Letting personal likes, dislikes, or biases affect our judgment.

• ERRORS IN THINKING
  
  

• THINKING AND LANGUAGE
  
  

  • Williams Syndrome: A genetic disorder that impairs reading and writing but enhances verbal and interpersonal skills. It provides insights into the relationship between thinking and language.

• Cognitive Revolution: In the 1950s, psychology shifted from behaviorism to studying thinking, influenced by the invention of computers and artificial intelligence.
  
  

• CONCEPTS: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THINKING:
  
  

  • Concepts are mental categories that help us organize information, generalize experiences, and guide behavior.

  • Three Models of Concept Formation:

    • Classical Model: Concepts are defined by shared properties (e.g., all birds have feathers).

  • Prototype Model: New objects are categorized based on their similarity to a "typical" example (e.g., a robin is a prototype of a bird).

  • Exemplar Model: Concepts are based on specific examples (e.g., remembering specific birds you’ve seen).

• LANGUAGE:
  
  

  • A system of symbols (spoken, written, or signaled) used for communication.

  • Key Components:

    • Phonology: Basic sounds of a language.

    • Morphology: Rules for forming words.

    • Syntax: Rules for combining words.

    • Semantics: Meaning of words.

  • Infinite Generativity: Ability to create endless sentences from a finite set of rules.

• LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT:
  
  

  • Critical Period: A time during childhood when language learning is easiest.

• Stages of Language Development:
  
  

  • Babbling: Infants produce sounds.

  • Two-Word Statements: Simple phrases (e.g., "more milk").

  • Telegraphic Speech: Short, meaningful sentences (e.g., "want cookie").

• Controversies in Language Education:
  
  

  • Bilingualism: Teaching academic subjects while introducing English.

  • Reading Instruction:

    • Phonics Approach: Focus on sounds and rules.

    • Whole Language Approach: Focus on natural language learning.

• RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THINKING AND LANGUAGE:
  
  

  • Whorf’s Hypothesis: Language determines how we think.

  • Critics: Language reflects, rather than determines, thinking.

• Evidence: Deaf children and individuals with Williams syndrome show that thinking and language are not entirely dependent. The case of the "wild child" (Genie) highlights the importance of early language exposure.
  
  

• NATURE VS. NURTURE IN LANGUAGE:
  
  

  • Nature (Chomsky’s View): Humans are biologically pre-wired to learn language.

  • Nurture (Behaviorist View): Language is learned through reinforcement and imitation.

• Evidence: Children worldwide achieve language milestones at similar ages. Brain development is linked to language acquisition.
  
  

• PSYCHOLOGY OF REASONING:
  
  

  • The study of how people reason, often broadly defined as the process of drawing conclusions to inform how people solve problems and make decisions.

  • One of the enduring questions in this field is: Do we have the capacity to be rational?.

  • Been carried out for 100 years.

• Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
  
  

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • Sensorimotor Stage (Infancy to 2 years).

  • Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years).

  • Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years).

  • Formal Operational Stage (11 years and beyond).

• Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
  
  

• Development
  
  

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • Sensorimotor Stage (Infancy to 2 years): At this stage, infants start to understand the world through their senses and actions. Their reasoning is based on immediate experiences rather than logical thinking.

• Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
  
  

• Development
  
  

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years): Children begin to use words and images to represent objects and ideas.

• Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
  
  

• Development
  
  

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

• Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years): During this stage, children start to think logically about concrete events.
  
  

• Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
  
  

• Development
  
  

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • Formal Operational Stage (11 years and beyond): Adolescents develop the ability to think abstractly and logically. They can reason about hypothetical situations, think about possibilities, and use deductive reasoning.

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • Neo-Piagetian Theories:

    • Working Memory Capacity.

    • Speed of Processing.

    • Enhanced Executive Functions and ControL.

    • Increasing Self-Awareness.

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • Neo-Piagetian Theories:

    • Working Memory Capacity: The ability to hold and manipulate information in the mind—improves.

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • Neo-Piagetian Theories:

    • Speed of Processing: With age, the brain becomes faster at processing information.

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • Neo-Piagetian Theories:

    • Enhanced Executive Functions and Control: Executive functions are the mental skills that help us plan, make decisions, and control our actions.

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • Neo-Piagetian Theories

• Increasing Self-Awareness: As people age, they become more self-aware. They understand their own thoughts, feelings, and perspectives better, which helps them reason more clearly and consider different viewpoints in their reasoning.
  
  

• Role of Experience and Environment
  
  

• DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING
  
  

  • A child’s environment and experiences also play a huge role in their reasoning development. The more opportunities children have to solve problems, think critically, and engage with others, the better their reasoning skills will develop.

• EVERYDAY REASONING:
  
  

  • Reasoning is easier when the content is more familiar or sensible.

  • Background knowledge or past experiences

    • “suppression effect”

• EVERYDAY REASONING:
  
  

  • "if-then" statements:

    • Modus Ponens Inference.

    • Modus tollens - Mode of reasoning from a hypothetical proposition by Peter Wason.

• EVERYDAY REASONING:
  
  

  • Modus Ponens Inference: If I know that "If it rains, then I’ll bring an umbrella," and I also know that it’s raining, then I can easily conclude that I’ll bring an umbrella.

• EVERYDAY REASONING
  
  

• Modus Tollens: Now, let’s consider the opposite: If I know "If it rains, then I’ll bring an umbrella," and I also know that I’m not bringing an umbrella, what can I conclude?.
  
  

• EVERYDAY REASONING:
  
  

  • Other Types of Reasoning:

    • Disjunctive reasoning: (e.g., "A or B").

    • Negation: (e.g., "It is not the case that A and B can happen at the same time").

    • Comparisons: (e.g., "A is better than B").

    • Spatial Reasoning: (e.g., "A is in front of B").

    • Temporal Reasoning: (e.g., "A occurs before B").

  • Categorical Syllogisms and Quantifiers: These are sentences like "All A are B" or "Some A are not B".

• THEORIES OF REASONING:
  
  

  • 1. Mental Logic Theory: This theory suggests that humans use a kind of "mental logic" when reasoning. Our reasoning is like applying mathematical formulas or steps to reach conclusions.

• THEORIES OF REASONING:
  
  

  • 2. Domain-Specific Rules: People don’t rely on one universal set of rules, but instead use different, specific rules depending on the situation.

• THEORIES OF REASONING:
  
  

  • 3. Mental Models Theory: This theory says that people use mental models to reason. A mental model is like a mental picture or representation of how things work or could work. Mental models - suggests that people are actually rational in principle.

• THEORIES OF REASONING:
  
  

  • 4. Probability Theory: This theory suggests that people make decisions based on probabilities or the likelihood of something happening.

• THEORIES OF REASONING:
  
  

  • Competence Models and Controversies: Initially, classical logic was chosen as the competence model. Non-monotonic logic and Bayesian probability.

• THEORIES OF REASONING:
  
  

  • Connectionism: reasoning happens through networks of interconnected nodes (similar to neurons in the brain).

• DIFFERENT SORTS OF REASONING:
  
  

  • 1. Inductive Reasoning.

• Inductive reasoning involves drawing broad conclusions based on specific observations or cases. The issue with inductive reasoning is that, even though the premises might be true, the conclusion can still be false because you're basing your prediction on a limited set of data.
  
  

• DIFFERENT SORTS OF REASONING:
  
  

  • It starts with a general statement or hypothesis and examines the possibilities to reach a specific conclusion.

  • 2. Deductive Reasoning.

• DIFFERENT SORTS OF REASONING:
  
  

  • 3. Syllogistic Reasoning: Syllogistic reasoning is a form of deductive reasoning that involves two premises leading to a conclusion.

• The strength of this reasoning lies in the logical structure—if the premises are true, the conclusion will necessarily follow.
  
  

• DIFFERENT SORTS OF REASONING:
  
  

  • Abductive reasoning is often used when there's incomplete information, and it involves making the most plausible explanation or hypothesis based on the available evidence.

  • 4. Abductive Reasoning.

• CRITICAL THINKING
  
  

• DEFINITIONS:
  
  

  • Traditionally, critical thinking has been variously defined as:

    • the process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion.

    • reasonable, reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do.

    • disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.

    • the objective analysis of facts to form a judgement.

• THE TWO WAVES OF CRITICAL THINKING:
  
  

  • Richard W. Paul (1994) described critical thinking's "first wave" as clear, rational critique. Barry K. Beyer (1995) focused on "clear, reasoned judgments".

  • FIRST WAVE (CRITICAL ANALYSIS):

• THE TWO WAVES OF CRITICAL THINKING:
  
  

  • SECOND WAVE (CRITICAL THINKING AND ETHICAL REASONING): Richard W. Paul (1994) extended critical thinking to include ethical reasoning and reflective thought. Emphasis on fairness, empathy, and moral integrity in thinking. Focus on how critical thinking is used to improve society.

• ETYMOLOGY:
  
  

  • In the term critical thinking, the word critical, (Grk. kioS = kritikos = "critic") derives from the word critic and implies a critique; it identifies the intellectual capacity and the means "of judging", "of judgement", "for judging", and of being "able to discern".

• LOGIC AND RATIONALITY:
  
  

  • First Wave: Logic Focus Core: Logic = Rational Thought Emphasis: Clear, Unbiased Connections Goal: Objective, Analytical Evaluation (Walters) Reflects: Quantitative Reliance.

• LOGIC AND THE "FIRST WAVE"
  
  

• LOGIC AND RATIONALITY
  
  

• BEYOND LOGIC: THE "SECOND WAVE":
  
  

  • Second Wave: Beyond LogicChallenge: Logic Alone ≠ "Good Thinking" Shift: Inclusive Critical Thinking Acknowledge: Logic's Limitations (Walters) Result: Logic Important, But Not Sole Factor.

• CRITICAL THINKING AND RATIONALITY:
  
  

  • Rationality extends beyond strict logic. Kerry Walters argues it includes imagination, intuition, and conceptual creativity. These elements focus on discovery and abstract thinking, complementing linear, rules-based problem-solving.

• CRITICAL THINKING AND RATIONALITY
  
  

• Critical thinking requires both analytical dissection of arguments and flexible consideration of diverse perspectives. It integrates traditional deductive inquiry with imagination and intuition, fostering a more complete and effective approach to reasoning.
  
  

• FUNCTIONS:
  
  

  • Critical Thinking - Basics Skills: Observe, Analyze, Evaluate Needs: Evidence, Context, Criteria.

  • Critical Thinking - Deeper Evidence & Context (Reynolds) Judgment & Methods (Reynolds) Clarity & Fairness.

• PROCEDURE:
  
  

  • Problem Recognition & Solving: 1. Information & Analysis 2. Conclusion & Evaluation 3..

• HABITS OR TRAITS OF MIND:
  
  

  • A critical thinker is characterized by a drive to follow reason and evidence, a systematic problem-solving approach, inquisitiveness, even-handedness, and confidence in reasoning. As Kompf and Bond (2001) highlight, this involves problem-solving, decision-making, metacognition, rationality, and a moral component like reflective thinking, ultimately requiring maturity, specific attitudes, and learned skills.

• RESEARCH ON CRITICAL THINKING:
  
  

  • I. Edward M. Glaser's Foundation: Glaser proposed that critical thinking involves:.

• An attitude of thoughtful consideration.
  
  

• Knowledge of logical inquiry and reasoning.
  
  

• Skill in applying those methods.
  
  

• RESEARCH ON CRITICAL THINKING:
  
  

  • II. Contemporary Research and Application: The Critical Thinking project at Human Science Lab, London, scientifically studies educational systems to assess their impact on critical thinking. Cognitive psychology views human reasoning as both reactive and reflective.

• EDUCATION:
  
  

  • Critical Thinking - Importance Essential: Learning & Democratic Societies Education: Adapts to Diverse Perspectives.

• Critical Thinking - Application Tested: Analysis & Evaluation (e.g., A-Levels) Research: Focus on Real-World Problem Solving.
  
  

• IN ACADEMIA:
  
  

  • Applies universally: Across all fields.

  • Core: Analyze, interpret, conclude, identify bias.

  • Requires: Reflection, logic; hindered by egocentrism.

  • Education: Focus on skills and traits.

  • Professionally: Vital in nursing, human rights.

  • Purpose: Determine claim validity.

• CRITICAL THINKING IN COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION:
  
  

  • Nuanced Effects: CMC impacts thinking uniquely (Guiller et al., Newman et al.): More justifications online, better idea expansion face-to-face.

  • Content Analysis: Researchers code online/face-to-face discussions to identify critical thinking indicators (e.g., clarity vs. bias).

  • Social Nature: Kuhn (1991) - Social interaction is vital for critical thinking. Research shows cultural/age variations in skepticism.

• DECISION MAKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING:
  
  

  • Problem Analysis should happen before decision-making to gather information. Problems are deviations from performance standards, and their causes can be deduced by analyzing changes.

• PROBLEM ANALYSIS:
  
  

  • CHARACTERISTICS:

    • Identify the problem.

    • Describe the problem.

    • Look for distinctive features.

    • Look for relevant changes.

    • Deduce possible causes.

    • Test your assumptions.

    • Information Gathering.

    • Avoid Bias.

• DECISION MAKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING:
  
  

  • Decision-making is a cognitive process where you select a belief or action from multiple options. It's a problem-solving activity that aims for an optimal or satisfactory solution. Decision-making techniques can be individual or group-based. Group techniques include consensus, voting, and the Delphi method. Individual techniques involve listing pros and cons of choosing the option with the highest probability-weighted utility.

• DECISION-MAKING:
  
  

  • GROUP TECHNIQUES:

    • Consensus decision-making

    • Voting-based methods

    • Range voting

    • Delphi method

    • Dotmocracy

    • Participative decision-making

    • Decision engineering

• DECISION-MAKING:
  
  

  • INDIVIDUAL TECHNIQUES:

    • Decisional balance sheet

    • Simple prioritization

    • Satisficing

    • Acquiesce

    • Anti-authoritarianism

    • Flipism

    • Automated decision

    • Decision support systems

• STEPS IN DECISION MAKING:
  
  

  • GOFER Model - Psychologist Leon Mann

    • Goals clarification: Identify values and objectives.

    • Options generation: Consider various alternative actions.

    • Facts-finding: Search for relevant information.

    • Consideration of Effects: Weigh the positive and negative consequences of the options.

    • Review and implementation: Plan and implement the chosen options.

• STEPS IN DECISION MAKING:
  
  

  • DECIDE Model - Kristina Guo

    • Define the problem.

    • Establish all the criteria or constraints.

    • Consider all the alternatives.

    • Identify the best alternative.

    • Develop and implement a plan of action.

    • Evaluate the solution and monitor feedback.

• STEPS IN DECISION MAKING:
  
  

  • Seven-Step Process - Pam Brown

    • Outline the goal and desired outcome.

    • Gather data.

    • Develop alternatives through brainstorming.

    • List the pros and cons of each alternative.

    • Make the decision.

    • Take immediate action to implement the decision.

    • Learn from and reflect on the decision.

• STEPS IN DECISION MAKING:
  
  

  • Eight Stages of Moral Decision-Making -Professor John Pijanowski

    • Establish community: Nurture relationships and norms.

    • Perception: Recognize what a problem exists.

    • Interpretation: Identify competing explanations.

    • Judgment: Determine the most justifiable action.

• STEPS IN DECISION MAKING:
  
  

  • Eight Stages of Moral Decision-Making -Professor John Pijanowski

    • Motivation: Prioritize moral values.

    • Action: Follow through with action that supports the justified decision.

    • Reflection in action.

    • Reflection on action.

• STEPS IN DECISION MAKING:
  
  

  • Group decision-making - B. Aubrey Fisher

    • Orientation: Members meet and get to know each other.

    • Conflict: Disputes and arguments occur.

    • Emergence: The group clarifies vague opinions through discussion.

    • Reinforcement: Members make a decision and provide justification for it.

• RATIONAL AND IRRATIONAL DECISION-MAKING:
  
  

  • Rational choice theory suggests people make decisions that lead to the best outcome for themselves, considering costs and benefits.

  • Subjective expected utility (SEU) theory describes rational behavior where decision-makers assess alternatives based on utilities and probabilities.

• RATIONAL DECISION-MAKING IRRATIONAL DECISION-MAKING:
  
  

  • Biases can cause irrational decisions. These include confirmation bias, premature termination of search for evidence, and wishful thinking.

• COGNITIVE AND PERSONAL BIASES:
  
  

  • Biases are mental shortcuts that can lead to errors in judgment and decision-making. Here are some common biases: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    • Selective search for evidence (confirmation bias): People tend to gather facts that support certain conclusions.

    • Premature termination of search for evidence: Accepting the first alternative that seems viable.

    • Cognitive inertia: Unwillingness to change existing thought patterns.

    • Selective perception: Screening out information deemed unimportant.

• COGNITIVE AND PERSONAL BIASES:
  
  

  • Wishful thinking: Tendency to see things in a positive light.

  • Choice-supportive bias: Distorting memories to make chosen options seem more attractive.

  • Recency: Placing more attention on recent information.

  • Repetition bias: Believing what's been told most often.

  • Anchoring and adjustment: Being influenced by initial information.

  • Groupthink: Conforming to group opinions.

  • Source credibility bias: Rejecting statements based on bias against the source.

• COGNITIVE AND PERSONAL BIASES
  
  

• Attribution asymmetry: Attributing own success to internal factors, failures to external factors.
  
  

• Underestimating uncertainty and the illusion of control: Believing in more control than one has.
  
  

• Framing bias: Being influenced by how information is presented.
  
  

• Sunk-cost fallacy: Making decisions based on prior investments.
  
  

• Prospect theory: Taking risks for potential losses, avoiding risks for potential gains.
  
  

• Optimism bias: Overestimating positive events, underestimating negative ones.
  
  

• RATIONAL AND IRRATIONAL DECISION-MAKING:
  
  

  • Cognitive limitations, such as limited information and time, also impact decision-making.

  • Cognitive styles vary, with some people maximizing (seeking the optimal choice) and others satisficing (seeking a "good enough" choice).

• COGNITIVE LIMITATIONS IN GROUPS:
  
  

  • Group decision-making involves sharing information and combining views, but it can be distorted by biases like:

    • Sins of Commission: Doing something harmful.

    • Sins of Omission: Failing to do something important.

    • Sins of Imprecision: Making vague or unclear decisions.

• COGNITIVE STYLES:
  
  

  • 1. Optimizing vs. Satisficing:

    • Optimizers try to make the best possible decision, often taking more time and feeling regret.

    • Satisficers settle for a decision that’s “good enough”.

  • 2. Intuitive vs. Rational Thinking:

    • System 1 (Intuitive): Fast, automatic, and emotional thinking.

    • System 2 (Rational): Slow, logical, and effortful.

• COGNITIVE STYLES:
  
  

  • 3. Combinational vs. Positional Thinking:

    • Combinational: Focused on a clear, immediate goal (e.g., winning material in chess).

    • Positional: Focused on long-term strategy and flexibility.

  • 4. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): Suggested that decision-making styles are influenced by personality traits like thinking vs. feeling or intuition vs. sensing.

• NEUROSCIENCE OF DECISION-MAKING:
  
  

  • Brain regions like the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and prefrontal cortex are involved in decision-making.

  • Emotions and bodily states (somatic markers) help guide decisions, especially under uncertainty.

  • Studies show that even subconscious processes influence decisions.

• DECISION-MAKING IN ADOLESCENTS VS. ADULTS:
  
  

  • Adolescents:

    • More likely to take risks due to an immature cognitive-control network.

    • Driven by rewards and peer pressure, making them prone to impulsive decisions.

    • Struggle to adjust beliefs based on negative information (e.g., ignoring health risks).

• Adults:
  
  

  • Better at controlling impulses and regulating emotions.

  • Less influenced by peer pressure and more capable of long-term planning.

Here is all the information from the provided source "Forgetting.pdf":

Forgetting in Cognitive Psychology Chapter 6 PSYCH 205 WHY DO WE FORGET?

There are two main ideas about why we forget:

1. Memory has disappeared - it is no longer available.

2. Memory is still stored in the memory system, but for some reason, it cannot be retrieved.

FORGETTING or disremembering is defined as the apparent loss or modification of information already encoded and stored in an individual’s LTM. It can be a spontaneous or gradual process. Old memories being unable to be recalled from memory storage helps reconcile the storage of new information with old knowledge.

HISTORY

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885), a German Psychologist, was the sole subject of his experiment. He memorized lists of three-letter non-sense syllable words (two consonants and one vowel in the middle). He then measured his own capacity to relearn a given list of words after a variety of given time periods. Ebbinghaus found that forgetting occurs in a systematic manner, beginning rapidly and then leveling off. His methods were primitive, but his basic premises have held true today and have been reaffirmed by more methodologically sound methods. The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve illustrates that much of what we forget is lost soon after it is originally learned. The amount of forgetting eventually levels off.

Sigmund Freud, an Austrian Neurologist, theorized that people intentionally forgot things in order to push bad thoughts and feelings deep into their unconscious (Repression). There is debate as to whether (or how often) memory repression really occurs, and mainstream psychology holds that true memory repression occurs very rarely.

MEASUREMENTS FOUR WAYS TO MEASURE FORGETTING

The basic paradigm used to study human memory involves presenting a subject with a list of to-be-remembered items, one at a time. The subject is free to recall the items in any order they desire. This is called FREE RECALL. For example, an experimenter might read a list of 20 words aloud, presenting a new word to the subject every 4 seconds. At the end of the presentation, the subject is asked to recall the items (e.g., by writing them down).

PROMPTED(CUED)RECALL is a slight variation of free recall, consisting of presenting hints or prompts to increase the likelihood that the behavior will be produced. Usually, these prompts are stimuli not there during the training period. In order to measure the degree of forgetting, one can see how many prompts the subject misses or the number of prompts required to produce the behavior.

The RELEARNING METHOD measures forgetting by the amount of training required to reach the previous level of performance. This method was used by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885) on himself.

In RECOGNITION, the participant has to identify material that was previously learned. The participant is asked to recall a list, then shown it again with extra information to identify the original items. The more they recognize, the less information is forgotten.

THEORIES

CUE-DEPENDENT THEORY OF FORGETTING is also known as Context-Dependent Forgetting or Retrieval Failure. It suggests a failure to recall a memory due to missing stimuli or cues that were present at the time the memory was encoded. A memory is sometimes temporarily forgotten purely because it cannot be retrieved, but the proper cue can bring it to mind. Retrieval cues can be:

• External/ Context: in the environment, e.g., smell, place, etc..

• Internal/ State: inside of us, e.g., physical, emotional, mood, drunk, etc..

Tulving (1974) suggested that information retrieval is easier when cues present during encoding are also available during retrieval. Spaced Retrieval helps older adults retrieve the events stored in their memory better. Evidence from different studies showing age-related changes in memory indicates that episodic memory does decline with age, and older adults show vivid rates of forgetting when two items are combined and not encoded.

INTERFERENCE THEORIES propose that the learning of something new causes forgetting of older material based on competition between the two. Memory’s information may become confused or combined with other information during encoding, resulting in distortion or disruption of memories. There are two main types of interference:

• Proactive Interference (PI) is when old information interferes with the retrieval of new information. Span Performance indicates working memory capacity, which is essential for tasks such as language comprehension, problem-solving, and memory. It measures the amount of information held and manipulated in short-term memory. Proactive interference (PI) decreases span performance over time, with later trials yielding poorer results. Individuals with high working memory spans are less affected by PI in single tasks but not in dual tasks. Cues like "not to remember" can mitigate PI, whereas "not to recall" previously stored information has limited impact.

• Retroactive Interference (retro=backward) is when new information (memories) interferes with older information. Postman (1960) demonstrated retroactive interference by showing that participants who learned a second list of paired words recalled fewer items from the first list compared to those who only learned the first list. This is considered ICONIC RESEARCH. Modified (Free) Recall (Briggs, 1954) involved participants learning two lists of paired associates (e.g., A₁-B₁ and A₁-C₁). Retroactive interference (RI) was observed when learning the second list (A₁-C₁) reduced recall of the first list (A₁-B₁). Spontaneous recovery of earlier associations (A₁-B₁) occurred after a delay, demonstrating momentary dominance. Modified Modified Free Recall (Barnes & Underwood, 1959) expanded Briggs’ study by asking participants to recall both lists simultaneously. They found that A₁-C₁ responses gradually replaced A₁-B₁ responses, suggesting “unlearning” of earlier associations.

THEORIES EXPLAINING THE RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE:

1. Competition: New associations challenge older ones, complicating information retrieval. Spontaneous recovery supports this concept.

2. Associative Unlearning: Involves new associations replacing older ones. Evidence shows A₁-C₁ responses are more frequent than A₁-B₁ responses after delays.

3. Brain Structures: Magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies connect reduced RI to lower activity in the prefrontal cortex, particularly in older adults. The prefrontal cortex is involved in executive control and working memory.

APPLICATIONS AND RESEARCH:

1. Pitch Perception: Retroactive interference (RI) affects auditory tasks, such as recalling tones when successive tones are presented.

2. Motor Movement: Retroactive interference (RI) impacts motor skill retention when new motor movements are practiced. Mental practice reduces RI more effectively than physical practice.

3. Word Tasks: Retroactive interference (RI) increases when items are similar due to spreading activation. Barnes and Underwood found that when participants in the experimental condition were presented with two similar word lists, the recollection of the first word list decreased with the presentation of the second word list.

OUTPUT INTERFERENCE: Recalling specific information can interfere with retrieving other related information. For example, forgetting items from a grocery list after recalling others from the same list.

Interference theory has several limitations as an explanation for forgetting:

1. Lack of Insight into Cognitive Processes.

2. Low Ecological Validity.

3. Artificial Task Design.

4. Unclear Contribution to Forgetting.

MEMORY TRACE is formed in the brain when something new is learned, and over time, this trace tends to disintegrate unless it is occasionally used. DONALD HEBB proposed that incoming information causes a series of neurons to create a neurological memory trace in the brain, which would result in morphological and/or chemical changes in the brain and would fade in time.

DECAY THEORY, coined by Edward Thorndike in his book The Psychology of Learning in 1914, states that if a person does not access and use the memory representation they have formed, the memory trace will fade or decay over time. This theory was based on the early memory work by Hermann Ebbinghaus.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN DECAY THEORY: Decay theory is under revision: it is simple but flawed, rejected for long-term forgetting, and questioned for short-term forgetting. It is difficult to pinpoint decay in experiments. Hybrid Theories (Nairne, 2002) aim to incorporate standard model elements and account for retrieval cues in STM to address inconsistencies in decay theory. Future research aims to link decay theory to neurological evidence, as current evidence often allows for alternative explanations. Jonides et al. (2008) found neural evidence for decay in tests demonstrating a general decline in activation in posterior regions over a delay period.

THEORIES OF AVAILABILITY - TRACE DECAY THEORY suggests that learning creates an engram in the brain that fades over time. Memories become less accessible as the brain forms traces that fade without rehearsal. This theory explains why we remember interesting information but does not apply to procedural memories.

CRITICISMS OF TRACE DECAY THEORY: Learning creates an engram in the brain that fades over time. Memories become less accessible as the brain forms traces that fade without rehearsal. This theory explains why we remember interesting information but does not apply to procedural memories.

PROCEDURAL MEMORY AND TRACE DECAY: Procedural memory, like swimming, remains largely intact over time. Testing trace theory is difficult due to the challenge of confirming memory traces. A study by Bahrick et al. found that 90% of participants recognized classmates' photos over 40 years post-graduation, indicating that procedural and some long-term memories resist decay.

DISPLACEMENT THEORY OF FORGETTING explains forgetting in short-term memory (STM) due to limited capacity (7±2 items). When STM is full, new information displaces older information, which is then forgotten. Evidence for displacement is supported by free-recall studies, where participants recall words from a steadily presented list.

SERIAL POSITION EFFECT: Items at the beginning of a list (Primacy Effect) are remembered better because they are rehearsed more and transferred to long-term memory. Items at the end of a list (Recency Effect) are also remembered well because they remain in short-term memory and have not yet been displaced. Words in the middle items of the list are less likely to be recalled because they are displaced from short-term memory by later items or not rehearsed enough to enter long-term memory.

MEMORY DISORDER DAMAGE TO BRAIN STRUCTURES IMPAIRS MEMORY STORAGE, RETENTION, AND RECALL.

• Agnosia is the inability to recognize certain objects, persons, or sounds. It is caused by damage to the brain (most commonly in the occipital or parietal lobes) or from a neurological disorder. Treatment may vary depending on the location and cause of damage, and recovery is possible depending on the severity of the disorder and damage to the brain. Types of Agnosia include: Associative Visual Agnosia, Astereognosis, Auditory Agnosia, Auditory Verbal Agnosia, Prosopagnosia, Simultanagnosia, Topographical Disorientation, Visual Agnosia, etc..

• Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive, degenerative, and fatal brain disease where cell-to-cell connections in the brain are lost. It is the most common form of dementia, affecting 1-5% of the population globally. Women are affected more, suggesting that women with AD display more severe cognitive impairment compared to age-matched males with AD.

• Amnesia is an abnormal mental state in which memory and learning are affected. Forms of Amnesia include:

  • Anterograde Amnesia: difficulty in the learning and retention of information encountered after brain damage.

  • Retrograde Amnesia: having memories spared about personal experiences or context-independent semantic information.

  • Childhood Amnesia: also called infantile amnesia, it is the inability to remember early childhood experiences (before ages 2-4).

• Brain Injury: Damage to the brain caused by an outside force may lead to amnesia depending on the severity of the injury.

• Dementia is a large class of disorders characterized by the progressive deterioration of thinking ability and memory as the brain becomes damaged. It is categorized as reversible (e.g., thyroid disease) and irreversible (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease). There are more than 35 million people with dementia worldwide. Dementia is difficult to diagnose due to a lack of specific diagnostic tools and overlapping symptoms with other conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Vascular dementia is highlighted as a distinct form caused by reduced blood flow to the brain, often following a stroke or heart attack. Risk factors include Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol, both associated with vascular issues and cognitive decline. Projected 115 million cases worldwide by 2050. While overall incidence is similar for men and women, it declines in men after 90 but continues to rise in women.

• Hyperthymestic Syndrome causes an individual to have an extremely detailed autobiographical memory, recalling events from every day of their lives (except memories before age 5 and uneventful days).

• Huntington’s Disease (HD) is an inherited progressive disorder of the brain that leads to uncontrolled movements, emotional instability, and loss of intellectual faculties. Each child born to a parent with Huntington's has a 50% chance of inheriting the disease, leading to a prevalence of almost 1 to 10,000 Canadians (0.01%).

• Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease resulting from the death of dopamine-producing cells, leading to movement control issues. This cell death also occurs in aging but at a slower rate. Symptoms include tremors, slowness, stiffness, balance problems, muscle rigidity, and fatigue. Non-motor symptoms like depression and cognitive changes can also appear. PD can cause memory problems due to frontal lobe damage, but the correlation with normal aging memory decline is unclear. Cognitive Impairment is common in PD, particularly affecting executive functions and working memory due to changes in brain structures like the basal ganglia and frontal cortex.

• Stress: Aging brains are more susceptible to the negative effects of stress, which leads to declines in movement, coordination, learning, and memory. Continuous stress can cause age-related damage to the hippocampus, a brain region crucial for memory formation. A damaged hippocampus struggles to recognize growth, hindering proper information encoding and memory retention.

• Wernicke-Korsakoff’s Syndrome (WKS) is a severe neurological disorder caused by a deficiency in thiamine (vitamin B1), most often linked to chronic alcohol abuse. Physical symptoms include oculomotor abnormalities (eye movement problems) and cerebellar dysfunction (affecting coordination). Cognitive symptoms include profound amnesia, disorientation, and confabulation (fabricating memories). It also impairs STM, the ability to learn new things, and can cause apathy, inattentiveness, and agitation.

According to Bjork (1992), "Forgetting is not simply a failure or weakness of the memory system" but rather an integral part of our stored knowledge repertoire.