Cognition

  • Top-Down Processing: Whole idea (prior expectations) 🡪 smaller parts (painting w/ faces)

  • Bottom-Up Processing: Smaller Parts (sensory info) 🡪 Whole idea (dog of bunch of dots)

  • Schemas: preexisting mental concept of how something should look (like a restaurant)

  • Perceptual Set: tendency to see something as part of a group – speeds up signal processing






  • GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY: Whole is greater than the sum of its parts

    • Gestalt Principles: 

      • Figure/ground: organize information into figures objects (figures) that stand apart from surrounds (back ground)

      • Closure: mentally fill in gaps

      • Proximity: group things together that appear near each other

      • Similarity: group things together based off of looks

  • Constancies: recognize that objects do not physically change despite changes in sensory input (size, shape, brightness)

  • Apparent Movement: objects can appear moving when they aren’t (flip books, blinking lights)

  • Selective attention: focus on one thing and block out other things – can result in:

  • Inattentional Blindness: failure to notice something added b/c you’re so focused on another task (gorilla video)

  • Change Blindness: fail to notice a change in the scene (curtain changes color)

  • Cocktail party effect: notice your name across the room when its spoken, when you weren’t previously paying attention

  • BINOCULAR DEPTH CUES: (how both eyes make up a 3D image)

    • Retinal Disparity: Image is cast slightly different on each retina, location of image helps us determine depth

    • Convergence: Eyes strain more (looking inward) as objects draw nearer

  • MONOCULAR DEPTH CUES (how we form a 3D image from a 2D image)

    • Interposition: overlapping images appear closer

    • Relative Size: 2 objects that are usually similar in size, the smaller one is further away

    •  Linear Perspective: parallel lines converge with distance (think railroad tracks)

    • Relative Clarity: hazy objects appear further away

    • Texture Gradient: coarser objects=closer


THINKING & PROBLEM SOLVING

  • Concepts: mental categories used to group objects, events, characteristics

  • Prototypes: all instances of a concept are compared to an ideal example 

  • Algorithms: step by step strategies that guarantee a solution (formula)

  • Heuristics: shortcut strategy

  • Representative Heuristic: make judgment based on your experience (like a stereotype) – assume someone must be a librarian b/c they’re quiet

  • Availability heuristic: make a judgement based on the first thing that pops in your head (assume planes are dangerous b/c crash in the news)

  • Metacognition: thinking about (reflecting upon) the way you think

  • Mental Set - keep using one strategy to solve a problem – cannot think outside the box

  • Functional Fixedness: can only see one (common) use for an item– cannot think outside of the box

  • Sunk Cost fallacy – continue something bc you’re already invested (might as well finish it now…) – when stopping would be more beneficial

  • Gambler’s Fallacy – believe something is more likely to happen bc its “due” – the dice have no memory

  • Divergent thinking: ability to think about many different things at once (Creative) – hindered by func. fixedness

  • Convergent thinking: limits creativity – one answer 

  • Executive functioning: generating, organizing, planning, carrying out goal directed behavior


MEMORY

ENCODING: Getting info into memory

  • Automatic encoding – requires no effort (what did you have for breakfast?)

  • Effortful encoding–requires work (school)

  • Levels (depth) of Processing: the more emphasis on MEANING the deeper the processing, and the better remembered

    • Structural encoding (shallow) – emphasis on physical structural

    • Phonemic encoding (intermediate)– emphasis on what words sound like 

    • Semantic encoding (deep) = emphasis on meaning of the words

  • Elaborative Rehearsal – strategies to enhance encoding like below:

    • Imagery – attaching images to information makes it easier to remember 

    • Dual encoding – using multiple methods of processing to remember (photo + words)

    • Chunking – break info into smaller units to aid in memory (like a phone #)

    • Mnemonics – shortcuts to help us remember info easier 

      • Acronyms – using letter to remember something (PEMDAS)

      • Method of loci – using locations to remember a list of items in order

  • Context dependent memory – where you learn the info you best remember the info (scuba divers testing)

  • State dependent memory – the physical state you were in when learning is the way you should be when testing (study high, test high)

  • Mood congruent memory – remember happy events when happy, sad when sad

  • Forgetting curve: recall decreases rapidly at first, then reaches a plateau after which little more is forgotten 

  • Distributed practice (spacing effect) – review a little every night (resets forgetting curve )

  • Massed practice – cramming

  • Testing effect – quizzing over material periodically


STORAGE: Retaining info over time

  • Multi-Store Model – Sensory memory, short term memory, long term memory model

  • Sensory Memory – stores all incoming stimuli that you receive (first you have to a pay attention)

    • Iconic Memory – visual memory, lasts 0.3 seconds

    • Echoic Memory – auditory memory, lasts 2-3 seconds

  • Short Term Memory – info passes from sensory memory to STM – lasts 30 secs, and can remember 7 ± 2 items

    • Maintenance Rehearsal (repeating the info) resets the clock

  • Long term memory – lasts a lifetime

    • Explicit – require conscious effort: 

      • Episodic: events

      • Semantic: facts

    • Implicit- automatic, no effort needed: 

      • Classical conditioning

      • Priming: info that is seen earlier “primes” you to remember something later on 

      • Procedural: skills (muscle memory) 

  • Working Memory Model splits STM into 2 – visual spatial memory (from iconic mem) and phonological loop (from echoic memory). A “central executive” puts it together before passing it to LTM

Other odd types of memory

  • Prospective memory – remembering you need to do something (pick up milk)

  • Autobiographical memory: memory for your personal history – combo of episodic and semantic

    • Superior autobiographical – rare condition – ppl have extra detailed memories

  • Memory organization

    • Hierarchies: memory is stored according to a clusters of related info

    • Categorically – stored in categories

    • Semantic networks: webs of semi-related info

      • Tip of the tongue phenomenon – can’t remember the name of something bs you’re stuck elsewhere in your semantic network 

  • Schemas –frameworks that organize info

  • Assimilation: incorporate new info into existing schema Cat is a dog b/c 4 legs. 

  • Accommodation: adjust existing schemas to incorporate new information Cat and dogs = different.

Memory storage

  • Acetylcholine neurons in the hippocampus for episodic and semantic 

  • Memories before age 3 are unreliable (infantile amnesia) – hippocampus still forming

  • Cerebellum for implicit / procedural memories

  • Amygdala for emotional memories

  • Frontal lobe for encoding and retrieval

  • Long-term potentiation: neural basis of memory – connections are strengthened over time with repeated stimulation (more firing of neurons)

  • Memory consolidation – memories are strengthened and made more stable with time


RETRIEVAL: Taking info out of storage

  • Serial Position Effect: tendency to remember the beginning (primacy effect) and the end (recency effect) of the list best

    • Primacy happens bc the info got moved to long term memory

    • Recency bc its still in your short term

  • Recall: remember what you’ve been told w/o cues (essays)

  • Recognition: remember what you’ve been told w/ cues (MCQ) (this one is better)

  • Repressed memories: unconsciously buried memories to defend the ego (psychodynamic approach)

  • Encoding failure: forget info b/c you never encoded it (paid attention to it) in the first place (which is the real penny)

  • Proactive interference

OLD info blocks new info

  • Retroactive interference

NEW info blocks old info

  • Constructive memory – the way we update memories w/ new memories, associations, feelings – memory is unreliable

  • Source Amnesia: forget who told you, where you heard it

  • Misinformation effect: distortion of memory by suggestion or misinformation (lost in the mall, Disneyland)

  • Framing – the way a question is framed impacts how info is recalled / perceived (how fast were the cars going when they smashed)

  • Imagination Inflation: ppl are more confident an event happened after imagining it (even though it didn’t happen)

  • Anterograde amnesia: amnesia moves forward (forget new info – 50 first dates)

  • Retrograde amnesia: amnesia moves backwards (forget old info)


INTELLIGENCE & ACHIEVEMENT

Intelligence theories are split:

  • Single form of intelligence (g factor) - general intelligence (g) underlies all mental abilities (typical IQ tests of today). If you’re smart in one area you’re smart in other areas too

  • Multiple intelligences – intelligence has lots of types, not just math/language. Can be high/low in areas

First IQ Test: used a formula and is where the traditional value of “IQ” comes from

 

  • Chronological age = actual age

  • Mental age = tested age compared to other of that age

  • 100 is average, SD = 15

  • Use for IQ scores /tests today: educational services, diagnostic testing for learning disabilities, GT identification


  • Psychometrics – field of psych & education for creating tests

    • Standardization: test is given using consistent procedures and environments, and graded the same (SAT, AP exams)

    • Tests Should be reliable: same results over time (consistent)

      • Split-half reliability: compare two halves of the test

      • Test-retest reliability: use the same test on 2 different occasions

    • Tests Should be valid: test is accurate – measures what it is intended to

      • Construct validity: test measures what you want it to (an IQ test actually measures IQ)

      • Predictive validity: test is able to accurately predict a trait (high math scores predicts good engineer)

  • Standardized tests establish a normal distribution

  • Standard dev is used to compare scores.

Standard deviation measures how much the scores vary from the mean. Percentages below NEVER change. 


MyersPsy8e_fig

Types of Tests:

  • Aptitude: predicts your abilities to learn a new skill (ASVAB)

  • Achievement: tests what you know(AP)

Historical Issues with Intelligence Testing

  • Nature vs Nurture Influence on IQ:

    • Genetics: MZ twins have similar IQ, adopted kids more similar to biological parents

    • Environment: early neglect leads to lower IQ, good schooling to higher IQ

    • Personal and sociocultural biases impact interpretation of results

    • Poverty and education inequalities neg. impact scores

      Eugenics – study of how to “improve” the gene pool by discouraging (sterilizing or otherwise) individuals from reproducing

    • Culture fair tests – IQ tests have been used to refuse / limit access to jobs, military, education, and immigration

      • Need to focus on non-language skills & minimize cultural specific questions


    • Stereotype threat: feel at risk of conforming to the neg. stereotype about your group -  influences your behaviors, cognitions

    • Stereotype lift – do better on a test when comparing self to other groups w/ neg stereotypes

    • FLYNN effect: IQ has steadily risen over the past 80 years – probably due to education standards, healthcare

    • Fixed Mindset: belief intelligence is fixed from birth – leads to less effort

    • Growth mindset: belief you can develop abilities through work and determination – leads to more effort