Cog Psych Chapters 4-6

Study Guide: Chapter 4 - Attention

Section 1: Introduction to Attention

  • Definition of attention: The ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations.

  • Key aspects of attention:

    • Selective attention: Focusing on one thing while ignoring others.

    • Distraction: When one stimulus interferes with another.

    • Divided attention: Paying attention to multiple things at once.

    • Attentional capture: A rapid shift in focus due to a stimulus.

    • Visual scanning: Moving the eyes to different locations.

Section 2: Models of Attention

Broadbent’s Filter Model (Early Selection Model)

  • Explains selective attention using a filtering system.

  • Key components:

    • Sensory memory holds all incoming info briefly.

    • Filter selects important information based on physical characteristics.

    • Detector processes selected info for meaning.

  • Limitations: Doesn’t explain how unattended info can be recognized.

Treisman’s Attenuation Model

  • Modification of Broadbent’s model.

  • Attenuator weakens, but does not eliminate, unattended messages.

  • Dictionary Unit: Determines meaning of weak signals.

Late Selection Model (MacKay’s Experiment)

  • All information is processed for meaning before selection occurs.

  • Experiment: Biasing words influenced sentence interpretation despite being unattended.

Section 3: Processing Capacity and Perceptual Load

  • Load Theory of Attention (Forster & Lavie):

    • Low-load tasks: More distractions processed.

    • High-load tasks: Fewer distractions processed.

  • The Stroop Effect:

    • Demonstrates automatic processing interference (e.g., reading color names vs. ink color).

Section 4: Directing Attention

Eye Movements and Scanning

  • Stimulus Salience: Bottom-up processing based on physical properties (e.g., color, contrast).

  • Cognitive Factors: Top-down processing influenced by expectations.

  • Task Demands: Eye movements adjust based on task requirements.

Section 5: Outcomes of Attention

  • Attention Enhances Response Time (Precueing Method):

    • Faster responses to cued locations.

  • Attention Enhances Object Processing:

    • Attention to an object increases its perception and response speed.

  • Physiological Effects of Attention:

    • Brain activity increases in attended locations.

    • Cukur’s fMRI Study: Attention alters object representation in the brain.

Section 6: Divided Attention

  • Automatic Processing:

    • With practice, some tasks require less attention (e.g., driving with experience).

  • Task Difficulty and Divided Attention:

    • Harder tasks make divided attention less effective.

Section 7: Distractions and Their Effects

  • Cell Phones and Driving:

    • Hands-free phone use still impairs driving ability.

  • Internet and Multitasking:

    • Frequent media multitasking weakens sustained attention.

  • Mind Wandering:

    • Reduces task focus but can support creativity.

Section 8: Inattentional Blindness and Change Detection

  • Inattentional Blindness:

    • Failing to see visible objects when attention is elsewhere.

  • Change Blindness:

    • Failure to detect scene changes without visual cues.

Section 9: Feature Integration Theory

  • Pre-attentive Stage:

    • Features processed separately.

  • Focused Attention Stage:

    • Features combined for object recognition.

  • Illusory Conjunctions:

    • Mistaken feature combinations due to lack of attention.

  • Visual Search Tasks:

    • Feature Search: One distinct feature.

    • Conjunction Search: Multiple combined features.

Section 10: Attentional Networks

  • Dorsal Attention Network: Top-down, voluntary focus.

  • Ventral Attention Network: Bottom-up, stimulus-driven attention.

Executive Attention Network: Resolves conflicts in processing.



Study Guide: Chapter 5 Short-Term and Working Memory

I. The Modal Model of Memory

  • Introduced by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

  • Consists of three structural features:

    1. Sensory Memory – Holds information for a fraction of a second.

    2. Short-Term Memory (STM) – Holds 5-9 items for 15-20 seconds.

    3. Long-Term Memory (LTM) – Stores large amounts of information indefinitely.

  • Control processes: Rehearsal, attentional strategies, chunking.

II. Sensory Memory

  • Temporary retention of sensory information.

  • Sperling’s Experiment:

    • Whole Report Method: Recall all items in a flashed display.

    • Partial Report Method: Recall based on a specific cue.

    • Showed that sensory memory has a large capacity but a brief duration.

  • Types of Sensory Memory:

    • Iconic memory – Visual persistence (~1 second).

    • Echoic memory – Auditory persistence (2-4 seconds).

III. Short-Term Memory (STM)

  • Temporary storage system for immediate information.

  • Duration: 15-20 seconds (Brown-Peterson task).

  • Capacity:

    • Traditional view: 7±2 items (Miller).

    • More recent view: ~4 items (Luck & Vogel).

    • Chunking: Grouping elements into meaningful units increases capacity.

  • Change Detection Method: Used to measure STM capacity.

IV. Working Memory: Manipulating Information

  • Proposed by Baddeley & Hitch (1974) as an extension of STM.

  • Consists of three main components:

    1. Phonological Loop – Handles verbal and auditory information.

      • Phonological Similarity Effect: Similar-sounding words are harder to recall.

      • Word Length Effect: Shorter words are easier to remember.

      • Articulatory Suppression: Speaking prevents rehearsal, reducing memory performance.

    2. Visuospatial Sketch Pad – Stores visual and spatial information.

      • Mental Rotation Task (Shepard & Metzler): More rotation = longer response time.

      • Della Sala’s Visual Recall Task: Used to estimate visuospatial memory capacity.

      • Brooks’ ‘F’ Task: Demonstrates dual-task interference.

    3. Central Executive – Directs attention and controls working memory processes.

      • Patients with frontal lobe damage exhibit perseveration (difficulty shifting tasks).

    4. Episodic Buffer – Later addition to the model, integrates information from WM and LTM.

V. Working Memory and the Brain

  • Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) – Essential for maintaining information in WM.

  • Delayed-Response Task: Monkeys with PFC lesions fail to retain information.

  • Neural Mechanisms:

    • Individual neurons fire during retention.

    • Stokes’ Model: Suggests WM is maintained through synaptic connectivity rather than continuous neural activity.

VI. Individual Differences in Working Memory

  • Daneman & Carpenter’s Reading Span Test: Measures WM capacity, correlates with comprehension and SAT scores.

  • Vogel’s ERP Study: High-WM individuals better filter distractions.

WM and Cognitive Control: Higher WM capacity linked to better self-control and decision-making.


Study Guide: Chapter 6 Long-Term Memory Structure

1. Comparing Short-Term and Long-Term Memory

  • Definition: Long-term memory (LTM) stores information for long durations, while short-term memory (STM) retains information for a brief period.

  • Serial Position Curve: Demonstrates primacy (better recall of early items due to LTM encoding) and recency effects (better recall of recent items due to STM).

2. Coding in Short-Term and Long-Term Memory

  • Types of Coding:

    • Visual: STM - remembering patterns; LTM - recalling images.

    • Auditory: STM - recalling sounds; LTM - playing songs in the mind.

    • Semantic: STM - categorizing words; LTM - recalling story plots.

  • Experiments:

    • Wickens et al. (STM semantic coding - proactive interference release).

    • Sachs (LTM semantic coding - recognition memory).

3. Locating Memory in the Brain

  • Neuropsychology:

    • Case Study: HM - Intact STM but impaired LTM due to hippocampus damage.

    • Case Study: KF - Poor STM but functional LTM (parietal lobe damage).

  • Brain Imaging:

    • Hippocampus involved in LTM formation.

    • Prefrontal cortex involved in STM processing.

4. Episodic and Semantic Memory

  • Episodic Memory: Personal experiences; involves "mental time travel."

  • Semantic Memory: Knowledge-based, not tied to specific events.

  • Differences in Experience: Episodic - "reliving" events; Semantic - "knowing" facts.

  • Neuropsychological Evidence: Double dissociation studies show distinct brain areas.

  • Brain Imaging: Different but overlapping areas for episodic and semantic memory.

5. Interactions Between Episodic and Semantic Memory

  • Knowledge Affects Experience: Background knowledge enhances episodic memory.

  • Autobiographical Memory: A mix of episodic and semantic elements.

  • Loss of Semantic Memory Effects: Can impair episodic recollection.

  • Memory Over Time: Episodic details fade; memories become more semanticized.

  • Remember/Know Procedure:

    • "Remember" = Episodic.

    • "Know" = Semantic.

6. Procedural Memory, Priming, and Conditioning

  • Procedural Memory (Skill Memory):

    • Example: Riding a bike, playing piano.

    • Expert-Induced Amnesia: Experts perform tasks without recalling learning them.

  • Priming: Exposure to a stimulus influences response to later stimuli.

    • Repetition Priming: Seeing a word previously increases recognition speed.

  • Classical Conditioning: Associating stimuli with responses (Pavlovian response).

7. Memory Loss in Movies (Discussion Topic)

  • Examples: Memento, 50 First Dates.

Accuracy: Many films misrepresent amnesia.