CLPS 0010 Final
What is the "other mind" problem? Describe the different types of social perception processes that we engage in to solve this problem.
"other minds"- given that I can only observe the behavior of others, how can I know that others have minds? to solve- (1) non-verbal communication, (2) attribution theory, (3) empathy, and (4) mental shortcuts
Describe the covariation model of attribution. What are the three kinds of information that determine whether a dispositional or situational attribution is warranted?
1) consensus- do others behave in the same way? 2) consistency- does this person always behave this way? 3) distinctiveness- does this person act differently in other situations? if all three are high → attribute is situational if consensus & distinctiveness are LOW, but consistency is HIGH→ dispositional
Describe the evidence from both healthy and brain-damaged populations that suggests that the brain organizes knowledge on the basis of categories.
Anomia: category-specific naming deficits worse at naming living objects problems with naming people, animals, and tools all correspond to lesions on different parts of the brain
Describe the language abilities/characteristics of Broca's and Wernicke's aphasic patients. Where is the brain damage roughly localized in these patients types? What does it suggest about functional specialization for language?
Broca's aphasia: damage to Broca's Area / BA45 output problem- nonfluent; articulation difficulty; agrammatic speech auditory language comprehension- good but not perfect Wernicke's aphasia: damage to Wernicke's area / BA22 comprehension problem speech output- fluent, empty
Compare the voice onset time (VOT) and syntactic processing abilities of Broca's and Wernicke's aphasic patients.
Broca's- lot of productions between categories [da] and [ta] articulatory overlap- timing impaired syntactic processing ability- activation with Broca's objects not closely clustered (sentence structure) have trouble connecting sentences Wernicke's- two categories VERY separate, no articulatory problem syntactic- difficult to cluster best words together
Describe the Brown-Peterson paradigm. What does it tell us about the duration of items held in short-term memory store?
Brown-Peterson paradigm- given 3 consonants and a 3 digit number, told to count backward by 3's starting at that number, then asked to recall 3 consonants can't rehearse the 3 consonants longer the duration, you won't retain it
Explain the various effects that emotion can have on judgments and decision making (e.g., affective forecasting, loss aversion). Consider evidence from brain-damaged patients and healthy individuals in your response.
Damage to prefrontal→ patients not feeling rewarding responses, or make rational decisions, lack of emotional responsiveness Damage to Amygdala→ cannot feel negative emotions, so they make riskier decisions Gambling Task → Skin conductance increases w control subjects, showing emotional response and are getting better at differentiating good vs bad decks skin conductance in patients with damage to the prefrontal cortex stays the same, there is no physiological response and there is no likelihood of choosing good over bad decks
How have researchers explained why category information about living items is more affected than nonliving items in patients with herpes encephalitis?
ability to recognize common objects has been attributed to the fact that our visual knowledge is supplemented by kinesthetic codes developed through our interactions with these objects
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of groups. Why do people desire to be part of groups and favor their own groups?
advantages: to protect ourselves, we evolved to life in groups, more accurate judgments disadvantages: conformity regardless if values line up desire to be in groups- isolation induces psychosis and agitation favor their own groups- want to be like your groups
Describe the evidence that the development of language involves the contribution of both nature and nurture.
all humans "learn" language whether in rich or sparse environment poverty of the stimulus- input is noisy; children not overtly "tutored" children learn relatively quickly; there is a critical period for learning language experience shapes your language acquisition
Why is categorization so important for our ability to acquire and retain general knowledge about the world?
allows us to parse the world into meaningful chunks, to communicate with each other, and to be resource efficient provide a way for us to organize knowledge support our ability to identify shared properties and make generalities
What are ambiguous words? How have experimental paradigms using these stimuli demonstrated both parallel and serial processing of language?
ambiguous words- words with multiple meanings serial- one meaning is accessed at a time and we start with the preferred meaning parallel- both meanings are activated automatically and context allows the system to select the appropriate meaning initially both meanings of the word are accessed 3 syllables after the presentation of the word, only the contextually appropriate word is accessed
What is the difference between anterograde and retrograde amnesia? For retrograde amnesia, describe the temporal gradient of memory impairment for an amnesic syndrome patient versus a semantic dementia patient.
anterograde: difficulty acquiring new memories since brain injury retrograde: difficulty remembering events from before the brain injury temporal gradient: oldest (childhood) memories are much better preserved
Prof Blumstein indicated that the lexical structure of language (i.e., the representation of sounds and meanings of words) is stored in a "mental lexicon." What are the two ways in which entries in this lexicon could be organized? Describe the experimental evidence for each organization structure.
as a list with each word a separate entry as a network where words that are related in sound or meaning are interconnected with each other
Researchers have proposed that the concepts are organized either as "category-based" or "property-based." Explain what these organizations are and how they relate to the "Distributed/Fully-Grounded" and "Distributed + Amodal" models.
category based- living things vs. non-living things amodal hub → innate categories lie in temporal lobe but have spoke to different areas of the brain property-based- visual vs. functional follow distributed/fully-grounded model→ different areas process different features
Describe the memory characteristics of short-term memory syndrome patients? How have they been assessed experimentally? How do their performance on these tasks compare to healthy individuals?
characteristics: limited span, limited duration, presentation rate matters, impaired recency effect, but normal primacy effect not due to speech perception (intact category detection) or speech production (impaired when pointing as well) seem healthy and normal
What are the different ways in which we acquire attitudes?
classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, observational learning (learning through experience and socialization)
How do we determine whether a new exemplar is a member of a category in the classical view approach? In the knowledge network/hierarchical approach? In the probabilistic representational approach? Describe the evidence for and/or against each proposal? How does each approach explain (if at all) experience and context effects?
classical view- symbolic classification; defined like a dictionary entry definitions don't work for every given attribute, we can find exceptions or counterexamples for every member of a category, we have to repeat the feature knowledge network/hierarchical- reaction time does NOT increase for statements like: A canary is a chair reaction time faster to: "A cat is not a stone" than "A cat is not a bird" probabilistic representational- boundaries between categories may be fuzzy concepts organized around properties that may be characteristic of category members
Explain how emotions are adaptive for cognitive function, communication, and strengthening interpersonal relations. Provide examples of each.
cog function- understanding situations communication- non-verbal interpersonal relations- secondary emotions
What is cognitive dissonance? How do people alleviate it?
cognitive dissonance: uncomfortable mental state due to a contradiction between 2 attitudes or an attitude and a behavior. alleviate- changing attitudes or behaviors to be consistent; justify effort; focus on positive aspects of one and negative facts of another, modify belief structure
In the context of the pregnant mother study, what aspects of understanding others are facilitated (or not facilitated) by sharing similar life experiences?
cognitive empathy- knowing what other person is thinking or feeling (50% accuracy for all three groups) emotional empathy- compassion and concern for target of empathy (new mothers > pregnant > not pregnant) perceived empathy- does target of empathy feel understood? (new mothers > pregnant = not pregnant)
What is a concept and the different types we use to organize our knowledge?
concepts: mental representations that group or categorize shared features of related objects, events, or other stimuli. natural objects, man-made objects, abstract ideas/knowledge domains faces vs places, animals vs tools, living things vs man-made things
What is confirmation bias and what behaviors do people engage in to maintain their biases? Identify incidents of confirmation bias in research and real-world settings.
confirmation bias: people are more responsive to evidence that confirms their beliefs and less responsive to evidence that challenges their beliefs failure to consider alternative hypotheses, seeking only confirming evidence
What factors constrain the inventory of sounds that we can produce in language? Describe the features that allow us to perceive sounds as different phonemes.
constrained by human vocal tract and limits of auditory perceptual system each language has its own inventory of sounds features- [d], [t], and [b] → alveolar vs. labial, voiced/not voiced
How do our beliefs (implicit theories) about different categories affect how we identify the essential features of category representation (e.g., counterfeit money not identified as money)?
context will determine if something is typical must include knowledge
What does it mean that there a critical period for learning language? How does the ability to discriminate speech sounds not in native language change in developing infants?
critical period: infants gradually lose sensitivity to speech sounds that are not in their language, if you don't use it, you lose it babies show categorical perception, babies can discriminate speech sounds across all languages
Language processing seems to be lateralized to the left hemisphere. What aspects of language seem to be processed by the right hemisphere? Consider the findings from split-brain, right hemisphere damaged and hemispherectomy patients in responding to this question.
deficiency in the pragmatics of language, limited and primitive split-brain: information of LVF and RVF can't cross over, only report what they hear in their right ear, can draw image with left hand, show understanding of word, network can be accessed RH damaged: does not influence language processing affects language use, discourse, metaphor, humor, inference left hemispherectomy: if early on, right can take over
Explain why techniques like door-in-the-face, foot-in-the-door, and low-balling can be effective in getting people to agree.
door-in-the-face: large unreasonable request → small request foot-in-the-door: small request → large request, leverage desire for consistency low-balling: leverage desire for consistency | obtain agreement to attractive deal → change deal to favor self, already have some cost
What is the elaboration model? Describe the two routes of persuasion. What are the factors that will influence which route people take and promote attitude change?
elaboration model: is the issue personally relevant? am I knowledgeable on this topic? am I distracted or fatigued? is the message incomplete or hard to comprehend? routes of persuasion: central route and peripheral route factors: quality of argument, source attractiveness/fame/expertise, repetition/length of arguments, consensus
How do emotion, mood and affective traits differ in definition? How do emotions vary in valence and arousal? What are primary vs. secondary emotions?
emotion: a brief change in our conscious experience and our physiology in response to a personal meaningful situation primary: fear, anger, sadness, happiness secondary: complex, feeling something about the feeling itself arousal: how active or passive you feel valence: how positive or negative those feelings are mood: affective state that operates in the background of our consciousness affective traits: stable predispositions towards certain types of emotional responses
Motivation was described as the purpose or psychological cause of an action. Describe the four different models proposed for what motivates people's behavior. Be sure to include processes/phenomenon such as, homeostasis, self-actualization, internal vs. external incentives, self-efficacy, and the Yerkes-Dodson law.
evolutionary: the purpose of any living organism is to perpetuate itself major motives are basic survival and reproduction needs and drives hunger, thirst, body-temperature regulation, oxygen, sex drive reduction: when our physiological systems are out of balance or depleted, we are driven to reduce this depleted state homeostasis- physiological equilibrium or balance around an optimal set point, ideal fixed setting of a particular physiological system optimal arousal: Yerkes & Dodson Law- principle that moderate levels of arousal lead to optimal performance, sensory deprivation studies optimal state of consciousness where we feel & perform our best hierarchical needs: needs range from most basic physiological needs for growth and fulfillment more likely to experience a need when the needs below it are met
How does context play a role in interpreting emotions?
ex. tennis winning point → face doesn't provide all necessary information faces can be ambiguous when in isolation, and bodies can be ambiguous w/o face
What evidence is there that social exclusion impacts us similarly as physical pain? How do feelings of social distress relate to neural activity and what does that relation imply?
fMRI studies that show that rejection hurts, activate of anterior cingulate physical and psychological pain share a pathway
When and why do people obey authority? What are some specific factors that can modulate degree of obedient behavior?
fear, lack of knowledge, lack of confidence, context, location factors- more compliance remotely, reduction when authority is further away
Describe and illustrate with an example how framing a problem can influence the decision-making process.
framing: the tendency to emphasize the potential losses or potential gains from at least one alternative ordering of information matters!!! more emotion with loss than gain
Why do people tend to make dispositional attributions of others even when they should not? What is the actor-observer basis?
fundamental attribution error- doesn't consider external factors actor-observer basis: a difference in attribution based on who is making the causal inference actor: makes situational attribution observer: makes dispositional attribution
Explain how factors like previous knowledge and how the problem is presented influence our thinking and our judgments.
gives more context and personal investment
Describe how the data from hemispherectomy patients and special populations illustrate language plasticity.
hemispherectomy- if as child, subtle, if as adult, severe special populations- determine if other areas take over when it is "not being used" deaf: uses temporal lobe used for hearing when they see signs → still language blind: visual cortex areas activated when reading braille
What are heuristics and what are the consequences of using them in decision making? Describe and give an example of the availability heuristic, the representative heuristic, the simulation heuristic, and the conjunction fallacy.
heuristics- fast and efficient strategies that facilitate decision making but do not guarantee that a correct solution will be reached often occurs unconsciously and allows us to free up cognitive resources can be adaptive because it allows us to make a decision quickly rather than weighing all the evidence can result in biases, leading to faulty decisions availability- make decision based on the ease with which estimates come to mine or how available they are to our awareness representative- estimate the probability of one event based on how typical it is of another event simulation- judge events easier to simulate as more likely conjunction fallacy- an error that occurs when people believe that the combination of two events is more likely to occur than either of the events alone
What roles do the insula and the amygdala play in the experience of emotion? Why do we have both a fast and slow pathway to the amygdala? Describe the behavioral consequences that have been observed with amygdala damage.
insula- responsible for understanding emotion and recognition, more evaluative amygdala- recognition of anger and fear, memory retention, fight or flight damage- cannot feel negative emotions, so they make riskier decisions
Are semantic and episodic memory equally impaired in amnesic syndrome patients? Explain your answer with experimental evidence.
it depends, some have both, some are intact on semantic but not episodic for episodic tests, performed abismal for semantic tests, performed about the same (relying on info probably acquired as younger children, maybe not a fair test) able to acquire knowledge about the word despite memory impairment
Compare and contrast the three major theories of emotion. How specifically do they differ in their emphasis on subjective experience, physiological changes, and cognitive interpretation?
james-lange: see stimulus→ specific physiological state→ experience emotion sort of right, can't be complete by itself cannon-bard: physiological response too slow, parallel process of experience two-factor: best of both approaches, emotions based of inferences of causes of physiological arousal
Prof Blumstein described language as both productive and creative. What does that mean? Give me an example.
language allows us to perform higher cognitive functions always changing, making up and using new words in a multitude of linguistic ways ex. googling
Describe the characteristics of the different types of memory represented in the modal model. How do they differ in duration and capacity?
long term: explicit (declarative information); implicit (skills and habits) memory requires input, storage, and retrieval sensory memory: decays rapidly, hits eyes or ears short-term memory: (primary, immediate, working) limit in capacity & duration
What is the difference between maintenance and elaborative rehearsal? Which is more effective in encoding information in long-term memory? Describe the evidence to support your answer.
maintenance- repeat it to yourself over and over again elaborative- involves thinking about how new information relates to information already stored in long-term memory elaborative has more depth of encoding so better for long-term memory rhyming vs memorization
Describe the experimental evidence that suggests that we use syntactical structure to process sentences.
memory studies- subjects did better remembering two contiguous words if those two words were within the same phase compared to different phrases click studies- subject perceived the clicks as being closer to the phrase boundary rather than where it actually occurred
What is the difference between normative and informational influence?
normative influence: don't want to go against the group informational: believe the group must be better informed
Contrast normative and descriptive models of decision making. Which model do people tend to follow?
normative- defines how people SHOULD make decision descriptive- predicts how people ACTUALLY make choices, not to define ideal choices
How does the Baddeley & Hitch model of memory differ from Atkinson & Shriffrin's modal model?
parallel processing of different types of information at once [visuospatial sketchpad] <-> (central executive) <-> [phonological loop]
Describe the partial report paradigm and what it reveals about sensory memory.
partial report paradigm- flash of letter on a screen, blank field, low medium or high tone based on what row you're supposed to report back better results if the tone is immediately after rather than a few seconds after sensory memory is only available to you VERY BRIEFLY
What is the phonemic restoration effect? What is the verbal transformation effect? What is meant by lexical and sentence ambiguity? How are each of these "language effects" similar to different phenomena that we have observed in visual perception?
phonemic restoration- filling in information that isn't there dependent on context similar to visual perception verbal transformation- the same acoustic input gives rise to different linguistic percepts, but we only perceive one at a time similar to optical illusion of seeing 2 scenes in the same picture lexical and sentence ambiguity- same word can have different meanings similar to visual stimuli- can have multiple interpretations
Define proactive and retroactive interference and give an example of each.
proactive: something that happened before that influences it retroactive: something that happened after that influences it
The prototype and exemplar theories are instantiations of the probabilistic approach. Describe each of these theories and their advantages and disadvantages for category representation. How might we use both in acquiring and organizing knowledge about the world?
prototype theory: comparing new instances to the category's prototype an ABSTRACT combination of features most commonly presented advantage- lose information, we know a lot about fine details disadvantage- average does not tell you how variable a set may be exemplar theory: comparing a new instance with stored memories for other instances of the category assumes that, through experience, people form a fuzzy representation of a concept because there is no single representation of any concept. category representation consists of storage of a number of category members advantage- accounts for typicality and frequency effects; retain variability and details influenced by context- since context will determine if the input is typical disadvantage- how do you remember the details of ALL exemplars child memory starts as exemplar, encounter so many so must derive a prototype
Describe the 4 stages of bird song development and how they compare to the 4 stages of language development in children. What is the evidence that birds need to hear song generated by themselves and other birds to develop a normal bird song? How does the timing of damage in terms of the 4 stages impact the severity of the deficit in bird song?
random babbling- cooing subsong- babbling stage plastic song- two word stage crystallized song- sentences if lesioned early- before onset of song development → develop normal song if unilateral lesion during plastic stage→ some recovery of function if L unilateral lesion during crystallized song → severe pathology not everything is innate; birds need a model; birds need to hear themselves- sensorimotor stimulation
Describe Craik & Watkins's study with healthy adults and what it illustrates about the effect of rehearsal time on long term memory encoding.
report the last word that begins with "g" rehearsal doesn't matter when in short term memory
How does Sharif's Robbers Cave experiment support the hypothesis that prejudice attitudes toward out-groups develop through conflict and competition for limited resources? And that cooperation can facilitate a reduction in these negative attitudes?
researchers had to physically separated them characterized in-group in positive light, out-group in negative light supported that prejudices arise from conflict and competition drinking supply cut off, had to work together to get water working in order to actually drink
Give some examples of different strategies or mnemonics that can be used to improve memory encoding. What are some reasons why these strategies are so effective?
rhyme, acronyms, melody, visualization, connections effective because linking to something you know well
Describe the neural evidence that members of outgroups that rate low on competence and warmth are processed differently from other group categories. How does promoting more focus on the individual in these groups modulate the neural activity?
schemas trigger different emotional response differently processed because also dehumanized neural substrate is differentiating disgust from all else, difference in activation
Define the different types of memory systems we have and give examples of each.
schemas- mental frameworks that we develop based on our experiences, actively relating new information to knowledge that is already in memory hierarchies- organizing info in hierarchical structures, specific to general associative networks- a chain of associations between related concepts
Describe the serial position curve. What types of memory seem to be driving the primacy and recency effects? Explain.
serial position curve- participant given long series of words (3o), perform free-recall afterward, look at position in the list (serial recall) primary effect (transferred to long term memory, rehearsal) recency effect (most recent ones recalled the best, brain dump)
Describe the "Seven Sins of Memory" and potential causes of each of these failures.
sins of omission (act of forgetting) absentmindedness- lapse in attention that results in memory failure -inattention to stimulus impairs one's ability to encode info transience- forgetting with the passage of time -nonsense syllables, forgetting curve, poor encoding blocking- an inability to retrieve stored information -tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon -interference from words that are similar in some way act of remembering- persistence -recurrence of unwanted memories -flashbulb memories- vivid visually and emotionally charged events, PTSD sins of commision (reconstructions)- bias- consistency bias, change bias (exaggerate difference in how we feel now versus then), egocentric bias (self-enhancing) memory misattribution- primary cause of eyewitness misidentification suggestibility- most traumatic events are well-remembered some events seem to be "enhanced" exceptions do exist and memory may be troubled/incomplete/absent
What are the components or "pieces of language" that all languages have?
sounds- hearing and articulation words- vocabulary syntax- stringing words together meaning- communication
Explain how stereotypes cause people to draw inaccurate conclusions about others. Why are stereotypes so difficult to overcome?
stereotypes: sets of beliefs about a group which is generalized to an individual advantage- conservation of neural power overestimate within groups, underestimate between groups hard to overcome because they are automatic
Describe Baddeley & Hitch's study with healthy adults and what it suggests about short-term memory.
task takes longer to do while rehearsing a string of numbers
Describe the infant study investigating attribution theory. How does it support the notion that goal-directed behavior emerges very early in development?
the study- judged based on how long babies look at it. Scene of arm coming in and grabbing a ball. baby habituates as it get repetitive. Increase of looking behavior when same path but different goal, not the same with mechanical claw restricted to highly familiar actions in order to attribute agency
Define voice onset time (VOT). How does it differ across voice and voiceless sounds? Is the VOT of a phoneme (e.g., [da]) always the same across instances?
time between the release of the consonant and the onset of voicing long VOT for ta and short VOT for da varies within a range
Compare and contrast Type 1 and Type 2 thinking and the respective neural correlates. Describe the different factors that can influence whether people engage in Type 1 or Type 2 thinking.
type 1: thinking fast, use heuristics, parietal lobes type 2: thinking slow, more likely to be correct, temporal lobe influences: time-pressure, availability of attention, how the problem is presented, if statistic is percentage or frequency, background knowledge, base rate
Amnesic syndrome was defined as having profound long-term but not short-term memory impairment. How has this dissociation been shown experimentally? Which types of long-term memory systems are impaired and which are preserved? Support your response with experimental evidence.
understand concepts of sentences but can't repeat full sentences- changes words paired words in native vs new language, never learned foreign word associations "paired-associate learning paradigm" profound impairments in explicit memory, but not in implicit memory mirror drawing task, errors decrease over 3 days, but no memory of it mirror reading- improvement of time over sessions
How and why do individuals behave differently when they are in groups?
want to fit in, expertise bias
Explain why the video-recorder analogy of memory is inaccurate. Give two examples that illustrate the malleability of memory.
we create our memories, choose what/how to encode, and how/when to retrieve we link what we know, we trace connections, we "fill in" gaps in our own knowledge and "remember" that knowledge later
Describe the evidence that phonemes are perceived in a categorical manner. How does both discrimination and prototypicality of phonemes change within versus across a category boundary? How does sentence context effect phonetic categories? How are all of these effects similar to the categorical effects observed for visual objects?
we recognize the same object in different orientations- we perceive the same sound spoken by different speakers some members of a category are favored or are more typical membership in a category is graded boundaries between categories are influenced by context
How do multiple domains intersect and interact in daily life (4 phenomena from 4 cognitive domains)?
while the professor was explaining the instructions for the exam, the person next to you coughed very loudly, but you could still full understand her due to phonemic restoration of filling in information that you didn't hear, based on context. Before starting the exam, your friend quickly shows you a diagram they made with connections between all of the material that needs to be know for the test. However, since you only got a quick glimpse, it was only perceived in your sensory memory which quickly went away and you couldn't remember anything on the paper while you were actually taking the exam. Reading over the exam you experienced the primary emotion of sadness because you understand very few of the questions. Primary emotions are basic and not self-conscious. You look around you and assume everyone around you is going to do much better than you on the test because they are all ivy league students who have a stereotype of being extremely smart. Stereotypes are broad generalizations for a specific group of people regardless of if individuals in that group actually obtain those certain qualities.
What is the McGurk effect and what does it suggest about how we perceive auditory language?
with eyes closed, you hear [ba]; we see the movement for [ga] when we see [ga] and hear [ba], we perceive [da] language is not static- it is ever varying or changing
How does dialect influence not only the production of sounds but word usage? What is the "Great English Vowel Shift"? Give an example of each and indicate what characteristic of language these effects illustrate?
word usage- soda vs. pop Great English Vowel Shift- tongue goes from low to high: a→ e→ i → ay o→ u → aw
How does the brain process visually presented letter strings? What do the results imply in terms of what we have encoded about our native language?
words or pseudowords activate left hemisphere primary area for language random letter strings do not activate left hemisphere when you're reading possible words, they're treated the same as words