Unit 2 review

Unit 2 Summary: Cognition 🧠

Perception vs. Sensation 🤔

It's important to not confuse perception with sensation.

• Sensation is the raw data or information we receive from our sensory receptors. It's about detecting a stimulus.

• Perception is the process of interpreting the information we obtain through our five senses.

Types of Processing ⚙

When perceiving sensory information, we typically rely on one of two types of processing:

• Top-down processing: Use prior knowledge and experiences to interpret information.

• Bottom-up processing: Build perception from the ground up, organizing and interpreting information as it comes in without relying on prior knowledge.

Schemas vs. Perceptual Sets 🗂

• Schema: A mental framework built from past experiences that guides our perception and helps us interpret and organize our environment.

• Perceptual set: A mental shortcut your brain uses to quickly interpret what you're experiencing; it often influences our immediate perception based on our expectations or emotions, influencing how we interpret a stimuli in a specific moment.

Influence of Internal and External Factors 🌍

Perception can be influenced by internal factors like culture, mood, emotions, or expectations. It can also be influenced by external factors like the environment we're in.

• Internal Factors:

  • Mood: When in a good mood, we are more likely to see and focus on positive stimuli and thoughts. If in a bad mood, we'll focus on the negative things and dismiss positive items.

• External Factors:

  • Environment: Individuals who work with numbers are more likely to identify numbers in images quickly, while those who read more books are more likely to identify words or letters first.

  • Culture: People raised in urban, Western areas are more likely to perceive right angles due to their prevalence in the environment.

  • Müller-Lyer Illusion: An optical illusion where lines of the same length are perceived as different lengths depending on perceptual set.

Attention 👁

Our perception can also be impacted by our attention.

• Selective Attention: When we focus on a particular stimulus, we often tune out other stimuli in our environment.

  • Example: Engaging in a conversation at a party despite background noise.

• Cocktail Party Effect: The ability to focus on a specific conversation or sound in a noisy setting.

• Inattentional Blindness: The failure to notice stimuli in our visual field due to our attention being focused elsewhere.

• Change Blindness: A type of inattentional blindness where we fail to notice changes in the environment.

Apparent Movement 🏃

This is when we perceive motion even though nothing is actually moving.

• Stroboscopic Motion: Illusion of movement created by showing a series of images in rapid succession.

• Phi Phenomenon: Occurs when lights blink on and off in a sequence, resulting in us perceiving objects as moving even though objects are stationary.

• Induced Movement: A stationary object appears to move because of the motion of surrounding objects.

• Autokinetic Effect: A stationary point of light in a dark environment appears to move because the eyes and brain have difficulty maintaining stable perception of the light's position since there are no other visual references.

Gestalt Psychology Principles 🧠

This explains how we organize our perceptual world. It focuses on how humans naturally group elements together to form meaningful patterns. Instead of processing individual components of a stimuli our brains tend to interpret a stimuli as a unified whole.

• Figure and Ground: Describes## 👁 Visual Perception: Making Sense of What We See

Figure-Ground Relationship

Our visual system distinguishes between:

• Figure: The object of focus.

• Ground: The background.

This distinction helps us quickly identify important information.

Principles of Grouping

These principles explain how we organize visual information:

• Continuation: Our eyes follow continuous lines or paths.

  • Example: An exit sign with an arrow directs our gaze.

• Closure: Our brain fills in missing information to perceive complete objects.

  • Example: Recognizing an airplane in an image with incomplete lines and shapes.

• Similarity: Similar objects or patterns are perceived as a cohesive unit.

  • Anomaly: An object that differs from others becomes the focal point.

• Proximity: Objects placed close together are perceived as a single group.

• Symmetry: Symmetrical objects are perceived as one unit.

📏 Depth Perception: Judging Distance and Space

Depth perception is the ability to perceive the relative distance of objects.

Binocular Cues: Using Both Eyes

Binocular cues rely on both eyes working together.

• Convergence: Our eyes move inward when looking at close objects and straighten when focusing on distant objects.

• Retinal disparity: Each eye sees a slightly different view of an object, creating a sense of depth. The difference between these two images is retinal disparity.

Monocular Cues: Using One Eye

Monocular cues only require one eye to perceive depth.

• Relative size: Closer objects appear larger, while farther objects appear smaller.

• Interposition: When one object blocks another, the blocked object is perceived as farther away.

• Relative height: Objects higher in our visual field appear farther away.

• Shading and contour: Hazy and less detailed parts of an image appear farther away.

• Texture and gradient: Clear and detailed objects appear closer than blurry objects.

• Linear perspective: Parallel lines converge in the distance.

• Motion parallax: Closer objects appear to move quickly, while farther objects move slowly.

💡 Perceptual Constancy: Maintaining Stability in Perception

Perceptual constancy is the ability to perceive objects as having consistent characteristics (shape, size, color, and lightness) even when their appearance changes.

• Size constancy: Perceiving objects as the same size despite changes in distance.

• Color constancy: Perceiving the color of an object as constant even if the lighting changes.

• Shape constancy: Perceiving an object's shape as constant even when it moves or is viewed from different angles.

  • Example: Recognizing a door's shape as a constant when it is closed or open.

• Lightness constancy: Perceiving the Blackness, whiteness, and greyness of an object as constant, even under different lighting conditions.

🧠 Cognition: Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

According to the APA, cognition encompasses all forms of knowing and awareness, including perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and problem-solving.

Key Cognitive Structures

• Concepts: Mental categories that help us organize and understand the world.

• Prototypes: The most typical or basic example of a concept; a mental image that illustrates the concept.

• Schemas: Complex mental frameworks that organize and interpret information.

Assimilation vs. Accommodation

Executive Functions

Executive functions are cognitive processes that help individuals generate, organize, plan, and carry out goal-directed behaviors, as well as engage in critical thinking. They rely on skills such as language, judgment, logic, and reasoning.

Problem-Solving Approaches

• Algorithms: Step-by-step, systematic approaches to solving problems.

  • Example: Searching every room in a house to find a lost phone. Search Area 1→Search Area 2→Search Area 3→...Search Area 1→Search Area 2→Search Area 3→...

• Heuristics: Mental shortcuts based on past experiences.

  • Example: Retracing your steps to find a lost phone.

🤔 Problem Solving & Decision Making

When problem-solving, people often use heuristics, which are quick decision-making strategies that don't guarantee accuracy. Two common heuristics are:

• Representative heuristic:

  Making judgments based on how much something resembles a typical case or stereotype. This can lead to overlooking important details due to personal biases.

• Availability heuristic:

  Making judgments based on how easily examples come to mind, often influenced by recent or vivid memories rather than a full consideration of facts.

🧠 Mental Sets

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

  • Mental sets are specific to problem-solving, while schemas are focused on organizing information.

  • Using mental sets can save time and energy but may limit creativity and prevent considering more efficient solutions.

⚡ Priming

• Priming is when exposure to one stimulus influences the response to a later stimulus.

  • Repetition priming: Exposure to a stimulus makes it easier to recognize the same or similar stimulus later.

    • For example, seeing the word "subscribe" repeatedly makes you more likely to recognize it in a list of words.

  • Semantic priming: One word influences the interpretation of another related word.

    • For example, seeing the word "doctor" makes it easier to recognize words like "nurse" or "hospital".

🖼 Framing

• Framing refers to how information is presented, shaping how we interpret and react to it, often influencing our decisions and judgments.

  • News outlets often use framing to guide their audience's opinion by omitting conflicting details or using language that encourages a specific perspective.

🎨 Creativity

• Creativity involves creating new, original ideas and solutions.

  • Divergent thinking: Exploring many possible solutions, expanding the range of options.

  • Convergent thinking: Narrowing down possibilities to identify the single best solution.

• Sternberg's Five Components of Creativity:

  Component	Description
  Expertise	More knowledge about a subject increases the likelihood of applying it in new and innovative ways.
  Imaginative Thinking	Viewing concepts in unique and creative ways, instead of focusing on traditional perspectives.
  Venturesome Personality	Willing to seek new experiences and embrace challenges.
  Intrinsic Motivation	Internal drive to pursue a goal for personal satisfaction rather than external rewards.
  Creative Environment	Surrounding oneself with creative people and putting oneself in creative environments to foster innovation.

• Functional fixedness limits a person to using an object only in its traditional way, hindering the ability to see problems from a different perspective.

  • For example, only seeing a hammer as a tool for pounding nails, overlooking its potential as a door stop.

📉 Cognitive Biases

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

  • For example, thinking that after 10 spins of roulette landing on red, the 11th spin is more likely to land on black, when the odds remain the same each spin.

• Sunk cost fallacy: The tendency to continue pursuing an action in which you've already invested money, time, or resources, regardless of its future value.

  • For example, continuing to invest in a failing business due to the resources already invested, rather than making choices that would benefit you moving forward.

🧠 Memory

• Memory refers to information that persists over time, acquired through experiences, and can be stored and retrieved later. It is different from metacognition, which is the awareness of your own cognitive processes.

• Types of Memory:

  • Explicit Memory: Information consciously recalled, requiring effort and thought.

    • Episodic memory: Personal experiences or events.

    • Semantic memory: Knowledge, facts, and general information.

  • Implicit Memory: Information or skills learned without full awareness.

    • Procedural memory: Recalling how to perform tasks, such as motor skills and routines.

  • Prospective Memory: Remembering to perform future actions.

• Retention Questions:

  1. Can you recall the information?

  2. Can you recognize the information?

  3. Can you quickly relearn the information?

     • If the answer is yes to these questions, it is likely you formed a memory.

🧠 Memory Processes

Parallel Processing

The brain engages in parallel processing, handling multiple streams of information simultaneously. This allows for the formation of both explicit and implicit memories concurrently.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

LTP enhances the brain's ability to store and retain knowledge and skills, making it critical for memory formation and learning.

✍ Working Memory Model

Working memory is another term for short-term memory. The working memory model explains how our primary memory system processes and temporarily holds information for cognitive tasks. The model has four parts:

Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad

Often referred to as the inner eye, it handles visual and spatial information, enabling visualization of objects and navigation.

Phonological Loop

Deals with verbal and auditory information, with two subcomponents:

• Phonological Store (Inner Ear): Holds spoken words and sounds briefly.

• Articulatory Rehearsal Process (Inner Voice): Repeats and rehearses verbal information to keep it active in working memory.

Central Executive

Acts as the control center of working memory. It manages and coordinates other components, focusing attention, prioritizing tasks, switching between activities, and integrating information from the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad.

Episodic Buffer

An updated component that integrates long-term memory with working memory, combining different types of information (sounds, visuals) into a cohesive sequence.

💾 Multi-Store Model of Memory

The multi-store model explains how information is processed, stored, and retrieved through three key systems:

Sensory Memory

Initial stage for incoming stimuli:

• Iconic Memory: Visual sensory memory, lasting a fraction of a second (e.g., seeing the afterglow of a sparkler).

• Echoic Memory: Auditory sensory memory, lasting 1-4 seconds (e.g., remembering the last words someone says).

Automatic processing occurs here, gathering information with little conscious effort.

Working Memory (Short-Term Memory)

Information moves here if it captures attention and is of interest. It holds a limited amount of information for a short period. Strategies to keep information active include:

• Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeatedly going over information to prevent forgetting (e.g., reciting a phone number).

• Elaborative Rehearsal: Connecting new information to existing knowledge, making it easier to remember.

Long-Term Memory

Information is transferred here from working memory through encoding and is stored for future retrieval.

Attention is crucial for forming memories; divided attention disrupts the encoding process.

🧮 Levels of Processing Model

Memory is encoded on three levels:

• Structural Processing: Focuses on the physical appearance of information (most superficial).

• Phonemic Processing: Focuses on how information sounds (deeper level).

• Semantic Processing: Focuses on the meaning of information (deepest level).

The deeper the level of processing, the better the memory retention.

🔑 Encoding Memories

Encoding is the process of taking in information and storing it in long-term memory.

Effective encoding strategies make meaningful connections, resulting in better long-term retention and easier recall.

Mnemonic Devices

Help people remember information more easily by organizing it in a recallable way.

• Method of Loci: Associating information with specific locations in a familiar setting using spatial memory and vivid imagery.

Chunking

Organizing information into meaningful chunks, categories, or hierarchies.

Spacing Effect

Practice distributed practice to take advantage of the spacing effect to maximize the encoding process.## 🧠 Encoding Memories

When studying, distributed practice, or spacing out your studying, leads to better encoding and storage of information. This allows your brain to encode and store information more effectively and focus on areas of struggle, improving memory consolidation.

One effective method of distributed practice is testing yourself. This assesses your understanding and enhances memory through the testing effect. Testing helps identify which concepts are understood, somewhat understood, or not understood at all, allowing for focused study.

The order in which information is studied can also impact memory due to the serial position effect.

Information at the beginning and end of a list is more likely to be remembered than items in the middle.

• Primacy effect: Information at the beginning of a list is more memorable because it has more time to be rehearsed and encoded into long-term memory.

• Recency effect: Information at the end of a list is easier to recall because it's still fresh.

🗄 Storing Memories

Memories are stored through several stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory.

Information can remain in short-term and working memory longer through:

• Maintenance rehearsal: Repeatedly going over information to keep it active.

• Elaborative rehearsal: Connecting new information to existing knowledge in a meaningful way, leading to better long-term retention.

Memory consolidation transforms short-term memories into long-term memories by solidifying information and strengthening neural connections. This often occurs during sleep. The hippocampus processes and temporarily holds information before it is sent to different parts of the brain for consolidation.

The cerebellum and basal ganglia play a critical role in forming and storing implicit memories.

Long-term memory has two distinct systems:

• Autonomic processing

• Effortful processing

Emotions influence memory creation and storage. Strong emotional reactions can lead to flashbulb memories, which are clear and specific memories formed around stressful, traumatic, or emotional events.

Autobiographical memory involves memories connected to our own lives, which are more memorable due to personal relevance. Some individuals possess highly Superior autobiographical memory, an extraordinary ability to remember events from their lives in detail.

Damage to the memory storage system can result in memory issues. Damage to the hippocampus can impair the recall of explicit memories, with left hippocampus damage affecting verbal information and right hippocampus damage affecting visual information.

Individuals can be affected by:

• Developmental limitations

• Diseases such as Amnesia

• Alzheimer's disease

Amnesia involves the temporary or permanent loss of memory.

• Anterograde amnesia: Inability to form new memories, often due to hippocampus damage.

• Retrograde amnesia: Inability to retrieve past information, possibly due to head trauma.

• Source amnesia: Ability to remember information but not the source.

• Infantile amnesia: Inability of adults to remember personal experiences from early childhood.

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that impairs memory and cognitive functions, disrupting the storage and retrieval of both new and old memories.

🧠 Memory Retrieval

Retrieval Cues

Retrieval cues help access information in memory. The retrieval method used depends on the situation.

• Recall: Retrieving information without prompts (e.g., giving your phone number).

• Recognition: Identifying information from provided options (e.g., multiple choice quizzes). Recognition is generally easier because of external cues. Recall relies solely on internal memory.

Our environment, mood, and physical state can influence memory retrieval and act as retrieval cues.

Memory Retrieval Enhancement

Memory retrieval is enhanced when conditions during recall match encoding conditions. This can be broken down into three types:

• Context-dependent memory: Retrieval is improved in the same environment where you first learned the information.

• Mood-congruent memory: Recall memories that match your current mood. For example, when you are happy, you'll recall positive memories.

• State-dependent memory: Memory retrieval is improved if you're in the same physical or mental state as when the memory was encoded. For example, if you are sick, you're more likely to remember memories of when you were sick in the past.

Improving Memory Recall

To improve memory recall:

• Associate new information with previously learned information to create retrieval cues. For example, link classmates' names with where they sit, their hair color, or shared interests.

• Practice good encoding strategies, such as distributed practice and deep processing methods, and take advantage of the testing effect.

• Practice metacognition: Reflect on your own learning and thinking processes to understand what you know and where you struggle.

📉 Forgetting

Memories stored in long-term memory that are not retrieved may decay over time.

The Forgetting Curve

Herman Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve shows that forgetting happens rapidly after learning new information, with a steep decline in memory retention initially, which then levels off over time. This can be countered with reinforcement and review.

Encoding Failure

Encoding failure happens when information is not stored correctly, possibly due to divided attention or inadequate retrieval cues. This can cause the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, where you know something but can't recall the exact name.

Interference

• Proactive interference: Older memories interfere with the recall of newer memories (forward-acting).

• Retroactive interference: Newer memories interfere with the recall of older memories (backward-acting).

Repression

Psychodynamic theorists believe that information or memories can be repressed to defend the ego from distress, which is stress perceived to be detrimental. U-stress is stress that is perceived as beneficial.

Sigmund Freud's theory of personality:

The ego balances the id's desire for instant gratification and the superego's moral decisions. It utilizes defense mechanisms to protect itself from conflicting demands, distorting reality unconsciously.

Repression:

🎭 Constructive Memory and the Misinformation Effect

Constructive memory:

When remembering, the brain combines stored information with assumptions, expectations, and new information. Each retrieval can alter or reshape a memory based on current knowledge, emotions, or external suggestions.

Reconsolidation:

Misinformation effect:

🧠 Intelligence

Intelligence is the ability to learn from experiences, adapt to new situations, solve problems, and apply knowledge.

General vs. Multiple Abilities

• General ability (g): Individuals who perform well in one cognitive area tend to perform well in others.

• Multiple abilities: Intelligence is a combination of distinct skills, such as emotional intelligence, creativity, and practical problem-solving.

Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence

• Fluid intelligence: The ability to quickly reason and solve abstract problems; decreases with age.

• Crystallized intelligence: Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; increases with age.

Some believe intelligence is fixed, while others believe it is malleable.## 🧠 Mindsets and Intelligence

Fixed vs. Growth Mindset

• Fixed mindset: Believing intelligence is innate and unchangeable. Can cause individuals to give up easily when facing challenges.

• Growth mindset: Believing intelligence can be developed through effort and learning. Leads to seeking growth opportunities and viewing challenges as chances to grow.

🔢 Measuring Intelligence

Early IQ Tests

• Developed by Alfred Binet.

• Introduced the concept of IQ: IQ=MentalAgeChronologicalAge⋅100IQ=ChronologicalAgeMentalAge​⋅100

Modern IQ Tests

• Compare an individual's performance to others in the same age group using a standardized scale.

• Used to identify students for special education or gifted programs.

• Historically used to determine job qualifications, military rank, or immigration eligibility.

Criticisms of IQ Tests

• Susceptible to outside factors and biases.

• Stereotype threat:

  The fear or anxiety of confirming negative stereotypes about one's social group.

• Stereotype lift:

  Benefiting from positive stereotypes about one's social group.

📏 Psychometric Principles

For intelligence tests to be relevant and beneficial, they must be standardized, reliable, and valid.

Standardization

• Ensures consistent administration and testing environment.

• Reduces bias and allows for fair comparisons.

Reliability

• Test-retest reliability: Consistency of results over time.

• Split-half reliability: Consistency of results within the test. High correlation between the two parts is ideal.

Validity

• Content validity:

  The extent to which a test measures the information or behaviors of interest.

• Construct validity:

  The degree to which a test measures a specific trait or concept accurately.

• Criterion validity: Checks if the test correlates with outside variables or measures.

• Predictive validity:

  Predicts future performance, applicable with large data sets to predict trends and patterns.

📈 The Flynn Effect

• Believed to be due to:

  • Better education

  • Economic stability

  • Healthcare

  • Nutrition

  • Learning resources

  • Advancements in technology and education

👥 Group Differences

• More variation exists among individuals within the same group than between different groups.

• IQ scores can be shaped by factors beyond an individual's control (personal or sociocultural biases).

• Factors like poverty, discrimination, and educational inequalities can impact IQ scores.

• Avoid assumptions about intelligence based solely on group identity.

📝 Academic Tests

Achievement Tests

• Measure what someone knows at a specific point in time.

• Assess Knowledge and Skills already learned.

Aptitude Tests

• Aim to predict how someone will perform in the future.

• Measure a person's potential to learn new skills or succeed in specific areas.

• Examples: ACT or SAT, predict college success.