Cognitive Psych Unit 1

Which of the following steps must be taken in order to transform the simple detection task from the experiment into a choice detection task?

1. Two stimuli 2. Two response choices 3. Force a response before choice is presented

Little Albert Experiment

1920 - Watson - classical conditioning on a 9 month old baby - white rat was paired with a loud clanking noise resulting in crying and fear of rat

physiologist who performed the first cognitive psychology experiment (simple reaction time (RT) task press a button after a light appears

Francisus Donders

psychologist who studied the quantitative measurement of mental processes

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Donder's experiment

Simple vs. choice reaction time tasks. He determined this by measuring reaction time—how long it takes to respond to presentation of a stimulus. He used two measures of reaction time. He measured simple reaction time by asking his participants to push a button as rapidly as possible when they saw a light go on (Figure 1.1a). He measured choice reaction time by using two lights and asking his participants to push the left button when they saw the left light go on and the right button when they saw the right light go on

Which of the following accurately reflects why Donders believed participants generated longer reaction times for the choice reaction time task when compared to the simple reaction time task?

The added time was needed for participants to make the decision on each trial.

What is cognitive psychology?

The study of the mind

Why were the behaviorists anti-mentalistic?

They did not want to build theories based on unobservable phenomena (1) it produced extremely variable results from person to person, and (2) these results were difficult to verify because they were interpreted in terms of invisible inner mental processes.

scientist who established the first laboratory of scientific psychology

Willhelm Wundt

psychologist who wrote the first psychology textbook; some of his observations are still valid today

William James

Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

artificial intelligence

ability of a computer to perform tasks usually associated with the human mind

behaviorism

approach by John Watson stating that observable conduct provides the only valid data for psychology

structuralism

approach to psychology that explained perception as the combination of small elementary units called sensations

Savings

calculated as follows, to determine how much was forgotten after a particular delay: Savings = (Original time to learn the list) − (Time to relearn the list after the delay). Thus, if it took 1,000 seconds to learn the list the first time and 400 seconds to relearn the list after the delay, the savings would be 1,000 − 400 = 600 seconds.

paradigm shift

change of a system of ideas that dominate science at a particular time

information-processing approach

concept of psychology that describes the mind as processing data through a sequence of stages

Ebbinghaus

created the forgetting curve and serial position effect in memory Using himself as the participant, he repeated lists of 13 nonsense syllables such as DAX, QEH, LUH, and ZIF to himself one at a time at a constant rate. He used nonsense syllables so that his memory would not be influenced by the meaning of a particular word.

In a simple detection study, a participant must _________.

detect and respond to a single stimulus

savings

measure used by Ebbinghaus to determine the magnitude of memory left from initial learning

electrophysiology

measurement of electrical responses of the nervous system

choice reaction time

measurement of how long it takes to react to one of multiple stimuli

simple reaction time

measurement of how long it takes to respond to a single stimulus

reaction time

measurement of how long it takes to respond to presentation of a stimulus

cognitive map

mental conception of a spatial layout

cognition

mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making

scientific revolution

occurs when there is a shift in thinking from one scientific paradigm to another

classical conditioning

pairing of a stimulus with a neutral stimulus changes the response to the neutral stimulus

choice RT task

participant pushes one button if light is on right side, another if light is on left side

Subfields: Cognitive Psychology

perception, thinking, intelligence, memory

savings curve

plot showing the amount remembered versus the time between initial learning and testing

analytic introspection

procedure in which trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli

cognitive psychology

scientific study of the mind and mental processes

cognitive revolution

shift in psychology from the behaviorist approach to explaining behavior in terms of the mind

neuropsychology

study of the behavior of people with brain damage

paradigm

system of ideas that dominate science at a particular time

mind

system that creates mental representations of the world and controls mental functions

What is the mind

system that creates our representation of the world the role of the physical brain in who we are entity that controls our thinking

brain imaging

technique that creates pictures of the brain

operant conditioning

theory that behavior is strengthened by presentation of positive reinforcers or withdrawal of negative reinforcers