325_Review_1

PSY 325: Review 1

• TA: Gabriel (Gabe) Custodio

Today’s Schedule

• Cognitive Psychology General Overview

• Theories

• Neuroanatomy and Perception

• Attention

• Memory

• Cognitive Paradigms

Exam Expectations

• Scantrons will be Provided

• Please bring a #2 Pencil

• 38 Multiple Choice Questions

• Student ID Number required

• 2 Exam forms: A and B

• No Sharing Answers

• No Electronics allowed

Before we Start

• Notify if content is going too fast

• Raise hand for questions

• Q&A session for specific clarifications after review

Cognitive Psychology General Overview

What is Cognitive Psychology

• Scientific study of how the mind works

• Focuses on perception, learning, memory, thinking

• Definitions:

  • Sternberg (1999): Studies how people perceive, learn, and remember information.

  • Solso (2005): Examines processes underlying mental events.

  • Sinnett et al.: Discusses cognition as the mental action of knowing.

Ecological Validity

• New approach - cognitive ethology by Kingstone et al. (2008)

• Cognitive processes depend on situational context.

• Lab findings may not reflect real-world processes.

Alternative Research Approach

1. Observe and describe natural behavior first.

2. Gradually simplify in the lab.

3. Determine if lab findings predict real-world phenomena.

Theories

Parallelism

• Mind and brain are two aspects of the same reality

• Every mental event has a corresponding brain event.

Isomorphism

• Originates from Gestalt psychology.

• Mental and neural events share structural relationships.

• Gestalt principle: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Epiphenomenalism

• Mind is a byproduct of brain processes without causal impact on behavior.

• Analogy: Steam (mind) from a train (brain).

Information Theory

• Influential model in cognitive psychology.

• Humans process information rather than just responding.

• Salience of a message is inversely related to its likelihood.

Broadbent's Filter Model

• Information processing is limited by channel capacity.

• Steps in the model:

  1. Information entered through input channels (eyes, ears).

  2. Signals enter a capacity-free sensory buffer.

  3. Simple stimulus characteristics extracted.

  4. Filter selects messages based on physical characteristics.

  5. Selected information analyzed for higher-order attributes.

  6. Unselected messages held in sensory buffer subject to decay.

Neuroanatomy and Perception

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

• Measures electrical activity on brain surface.

• High temporal resolution, low spatial resolution.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

• Observes metabolic activity via oxygen consumption.

• Provides a 3D image, differentiates white and gray matter.

• Low temporal resolution, high spatial resolution.

Neuroimaging Tools Summary

• Event Related Potentials (ERPs): Signaling timing and location of cognitive processes.

• Magnetoencephalography (MEG): Measures magnetic fields from brain activity.

• Positron Emission Tomography (PET): Uses radioactive tracers to image metabolic processes.

Four Lobes of the Brain

• Frontal: Complex cognitive functions

• Parietal: Sensation, spatial perception, attention

• Occipital: Visual processing

• Temporal: Hearing, language, complex patterns.

Aphasia

• Damage to speech-specific brain regions

• Broca's aphasia: Impaired speech production, intact comprehension

• Wernicke's aphasia: Impaired comprehension, intact production

• Mnemonic: "The word stay broke!"

Physiology of Visual Perception

Connections

• Connections between visual areas are bi-directional.

• Feedforward and re-entrant feedback mechanisms facilitate visual processing.

Processing Pathways

1. Ventral or "what" pathway: Determines object shape, color, meaning.

2. Dorsal or "where" pathway: Determines object location, guides action.

Relative Perception

• Perception influenced by prior experiences

• Empirical theory of color vision discusses its relativity.

Visual Dominance

• Visual prepotency effect: Visual stimuli dominate other senses.

• Importance of visual stimuli in attentional focus to compensate for visual processing limitations.

McGurk Effect & Ventriloquist Effect

• Illustrates interaction between auditory and visual perception

• Examples demonstrate complex perceptual processing.

Attention

Endogenous vs. Exogenous Attention

• Spatial attention: Selecting visual information for conscious awareness.

• Endogenous: Voluntary movements of attention

• Exogenous: Involuntary movements triggered by external stimuli.

Types of Attention

• Alerting: Orientation to critical stimuli.

• Vigilance: Focus on a single stimulus with high detection ability.

• Selective: Focus on a single stimulus while ignoring others.

• Divided: Focusing on multiple stimuli with potential loss of focus.

Dual Task Performance

• Divided attention is challenging for similar and complex tasks requiring conscious effort.

• Easier for dissimilar and simple tasks or when at least one task is automatic.

Change Blindness

• Difficulty detecting changes in a visual scene, studied with the flicker paradigm.

• Demands attention to notice subtle differences between images.

Change Blindness - Real-World Implications

• Saccadic suppression results in momentary blindness when shifting gaze, despite real-world absence of visual interruptions.

Memory

Long-Term Memory

• Divided into declarative (explicit) and procedural (implicit).

• Declarative: Knowledge that can be stated (episodic and semantic).

• Procedural: Knowing how to perform tasks without verbal explanation.

Memory Systems

• Sensory Memory: Brief retention of sensory information (iconic and echoic).

• Working Memory: Integrates and manipulates information dynamically with subsystems for phonology, visuals, and episodic memory.

Spreading Activation and Priming

• Activation of one node in networks activates related information.

• Positive priming: Speeding response to related stimuli.

• Negative priming: Slowing responses to previously inhibited stimuli.

Cognitive Paradigms

Flanker Task

• Tests interference from distractors and automatic processes affecting selective attention.

Stroop Task

• Analyzes interference from automatic processes on response inhibition and selective attention.

• Implicates DLPFC and ACC in attentional control.

Posner Task

• Investigates cueing effects on attention.

Mental Rotation Task

• Assesses spatial ability in relation to working memory.