Cognitive psychology

Cognitive psychology is the study of the processes behind perception, transformation, storage, and recovery of information.

Sensory adaptation

^^constant exposure → ⬇️ stimulus sensitivity.^^

due to the changes in the neural receptor cells that process sensory info.

helps to tune out distractions & focus on more significant/relevant stimuli.

e.g. scent: smokers become accustomed to the smell of smoke.

taste: taste buds adapting the strong saltiness, sourness or sweetness of food.

Types of perception

Person perception: the ability to identify and use social cues about people & relationships.

Social perception: how we perceive certain societies & can be affected by things such as stereotypes & generalizations.

Selective perception: paying attention to some parts of our environment while ignoring others

visual, scent, sound, touch & taste perception.

Perception process

Environmental stimulus

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Attended stimulus

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Image on the retina

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Transduction - the process through which image on the retina is transformed into electrical signals allowing the visual messages to be transmitted to the brain to be interpreted.

Cornea - helps to focus the light as it enters

Iris - controls the size of the pupils to determine how much light is let in.

Attention

attention is the ability to actively process specific information in the environment while tuning out other details.

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Types of attention

Sustained attention : aka concentration, the ability to focus on one thing for a continuous period.

Alternating attention : involves multitasking or shifting attention between two or more things with different cognitive demands.

Selective attention: choosing and selectively attend to certain stimuli in the environment while tuning other things out.

Focused attention: being suddenly drawn to a specific stimuli. e.g. a loud noise.

Limited attention: aka divided attention, also involves multitasking. however, instead of shifting focus, people attend to these stimuli at the same time. attention is divided between multiple tasks.

Choice based behavior / decision-making strategies

The Single Feature Model - hinging your decision solely on a single feature. This is effective when the decision is simple and you are pressed for time. not the best strategy when dealing with more complex decisions.

The additive feature model - taking into account all the important features of the possible choice and evaluating each option. better for making complex decision, good when there is a variety of choices. However, it can be time consuming.

The Elimination by Aspects model - evaluate each option beginning with the most important feature.

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Memory

the psychological processes of acquiring, storing, retaining, and retrieving information.

Processes involved in memory

1. Encoding - information gets changed into a usable form.
2. Storage - information is stored for later use
3. Retrieval - bring stored memories into conscious awareness.

memories are formed through synapses (the connections between neurons)

Practice strengthens the synapses that store that memory hence reviewing and rehearsing info improves our ability to recall it.

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Types of memory

Sensory memory

• earliest of stage of memory
• sensory info from the environment is stored for a brief period of time

Short term memory

• aka active memory, conscious mind (Freudian Psych)
• the info we are aware of or thinking
• short term memories are quickly forgotten ; 20-30 seconds

Long term memory

• the continuing storage of information
• Freudian Psych - long term memory would be called preconscious or unconscious.
• out of awareness but can be called upon when needed
• can last a lifetime

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There is increased biological arousal during a negative experience which increases the longevity of that memory.

Forgetting

Causes

• time
• lack of active review & rehearsal of info
• improper stored
• memories may compete - making it difficult to remember certain info
• people actively try to forget things

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Explanations for why forgetting occurs

Decay theory

a new theory is formed → a memory trace created

over time → memory trace begins to fade and disappear.

lack of retrieval and rehearse of info → info is lost

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==Plot hole== - some memories which have not been rehearsed are stable in long term memory (according to research)

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Interference

some memories compete and interfere with other memories. more likely to occur when info is similar.

Two types:

1. Proactive interference - when an old memory makes difficult to remember a new memory.
2. Retroactive inference - when new info interferes with your ability to remember previously learned information.

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this type of forgetting can be adaptive. By forgetting one memory in favor of another → ⬇️ chances of interference happening in the future.

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Failure to store

encoding failures sometimes prevents info from entering long-term memory.

Motivated forgetting

we actively try to forget memories.

two forms:

1. suppression - a conscious form of forgetting
2. repression - an unconscious form of forgetting.

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Aggression

Types of Aggression:

Reactive-expressive - engaging in open aggression due to anger about some perceived offense or attack (physical or verbal attacks).

Reactive-inexpressive - feelings that are not acted upon e.g. hostility

Proactive-relational - aggression that can break human relationships.