Cognitive Psychology Exam 2

executive control

part of almost every complex task

C) structural description theory

recognition by components is a type of: A) template matching theory B) prototype matching theory C) structural description theory D) multiple views theory

B) bottom up process

recognition by components is a type of: A) top down process B) bottom up process

selective attention

refers to the functionality of focusing on one input or one task while ignoring other stimuli

executive control of attention

resolving conflict among responses

encoding

the cognitive process (es) by which information is translated into a mental or internal representation and stored

coding

the form in which information is mentally or internally represented

you have only about a 50% chance of noticing the switch.

A person approaches you on the street and asks for directions. While you are talking, two people carry a door between you and the person to whom you are speaking. While the door is passing, the person you are talking to is replaced by a different person. If you are like the people in studies by Simons and Levin, 1) you will immediately notice the change. 2) you will only notice if the two people are of different heights. 3) you will only notice if the two people are wearing different clothing. 4) you will only notice if the two people have noticeably different voices. 5) you have only about a 50% chance of noticing the switch.

schema

According to ____ theory, we never actually acquire unattended material at all. 1) schema 2) bottleneck 3) attenuation 4) filter 5) capacity

has been suggested to involve an inability to inhibit an ongoing response such as talking or playing a game.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): 1) is more common in girls than in boys. 2) affects 10%-15% of the general school-age population. 3) involves an inability to be alert. 4) has been suggested to involve an inability to inhibit an ongoing response such as talking or playing a game. 5) has been suggested to involve an inability to devote mental resources to any task.

an inability to form new memories of new events.

Brain surgery patient "H.M." suffered after surgery from: 1) an inability to use language. 2) a severe decrease in intelligence. 3) an inability to remember events in his distant past, several years or more before the operation. 4) an inability to remember faces. 5) an inability to form new memories of new events.

a physical characteristic of the message, such as its location.

Broadbent, in proposing his filter theory of attention, argued that an attentional filter lets some information through and blocks out the rest. This filter is based upon: 1) the meaning of the message. 2) a physical characteristic of the message, such as its location. 3) the importance of the message. 4) the language of the message. 5) the number of repetitions of the message.

cannot sustain vigilance on repetitive or dull tasks.

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): 1) are more likely to be girls than boys. 2) cannot devote mental resources to tasks. 3) cannot switch attention from one task to another. 4) cannot sustain vigilance on repetitive or dull tasks. 5) cannot maintain alertness.

the central executive

Damage to the frontal lobe of the brain often disrupts processing by: 1) the visuospatial sketchpad. 2) the central executive. 3) the phonological loop. 4) iconic memory. 5) echoic memory.

stimulus-independent thought (SIT).

Daydreams are a type of: 1) stimulus-independent thought (SIT). 2) icon. 3) episodic buffer. 4) visuospatial sketch. 5) stimulus loop.

B) subjects could remember about 75% of the letters no matter how many letters there were in the display

Iconic memory is considered to have virtually infinite storage capacity because with partial report: A) subjects could remember the letters for a very long time B) subjects could remember about 75% of the letters no matter how many letters there were in the display

enduring dispositions

In Kahneman's model of attention, allocation of mental resources is affected by preferences for certain kinds of tasks over others. These preferences are known as: 1) enduring dispositions. 2) arousal states. 3) momentary intentions. 4) late selection preferences. 5) task difficulty variables.

a T among O's

In Treisman's experiments on feature integration, the number of distracters did not matter when participants were asked to spot: 1) a T among O's. 2) a green X among green O's and pink X's. 3) a pink T among blue T's and pink X's. 4) a blue T among blue X's and green T's. 5) any stimulus that was presented in pink.

overall, 46% of the participants failed to notice the woman at all.

In a study of inattentional blindness, Daniel Simons and colleagues presented an unexpected event, such as a woman with an umbrella crossing the room from left to right, to a group of participants who were trying to monitor the number of passes that a particular basketball team made in a film. When questioned later about "anything unexpected" that happened in the film, 1) almost all participants noticed the woman with the umbrella. 2) only participants with an easier pass-monitoring task noticed the woman. 3) only participants with a more difficult pass-counting task noticed the woman. 4) only participants monitoring the black team (as opposed to the white team) noticed the woman. 5) overall, 46% of the participants failed to notice the woman at all.

the word names a color which is not the ink color.

In the Stroop effect, participants have difficulty correctly naming the color of ink that a word is written in when: 1) the word is unrelated to the topic of color. 2) the word names the color of ink. 3) the word names a color which is not the ink color. 4) the "word" is not a word at all, but a pronounceable nonsense syllable. 5) the "word" is not a word at all, but an unpronounceable sequence of consonants without vowels.

we combine features into unified objects.

In the second stage of feature integration theory, 1) we register features of objects such as their shape or color. 2) we combine features into unified objects. 3) we break unified objects down into identifiable features. 4) we switch from serial to parallel processing. 5) we notice the background of objects.

A) single feature search

In visual search tasks, reaction time to locate a target stimulus is unaffected by the number of stimuli in the display for a : A) single feature search B) conjunction search

short-term memory

Information is held in _____ for 20 to 30 seconds. 1) sensory memory 2) short-term memory 3) long-term memory 4) secondary memory 5) none of the above

long-term memory

Information such as the name of the person who sat in front of you in the fifth grade is stored in: 1) sensory memory. 2) short-term memory. 3) working memory. 4) long-term memory. 5) photographic memory.

bottleneck; spotlight

More recent research has suggested a move from a _____ to a ______ metaphor to explain the basic nature of attention. 1) bottleneck; filter 2) filter; bottleneck 3) bottleneck; spotlight 4) headlight; spotlight 5) apple tree; spotlight

vision and hearing

Most studies of sensory memory have focused on memory for information from which sensory modalities? 1) vision and taste 2) vision and smell 3) vision and hearing 4) smell and hearing 5) taste and touch

do not pay attention to objects on the left side of visual space.

Neuropsychological studies have indicated that patients with damage to the right parietal lobe: 1) cannot perceive objects on the left side of visual space. 2) do not pay attention to objects on the left side of visual space. 3) perceive and pay attention to objects on the left side of visual space, but cannot reproduce them in a drawing. 4) can neither perceive nor pay attention to objects on the left side of visual space. 5) can neither perceive nor pay attention to objects on the right side of visual space.

Hebb

One basic physiological mechanism for learning is the ____ rule, which states that if a synapse between two neurons is repeatedly activated at about the same time the postsynaptic neuron fires, the chemistry of the synapse changes. 1) Carlson 2) Hebb 3) Baddeley 4) Tulving 5) icon

support Baddeley's notion that verbal and spatial working memory are different systems.

PET scan studies: 1) show that short-term memory function is contained within the frontal lobes. 2) show that long-term memories are stored in the frontal lobe. 3) demonstrate that massive brain damage in several regions is necessary to cause amnesia. 4) support Baddeley's notion that verbal and spatial working memory are different systems. 5) do not tell us anything about short-term memory.

disengaging attention from where it was previously focused.

Parts of the frontal, parietal, and subcortical lobes are involved in: 1) disengaging attention from where it was previously focused. 2) implementing attention when a person has already decided where to focus. 3) refocusing attention to a new stimulus. 4) generating top-down instructions to the visual system. 5) processing newly discovered information.

the phonological loop

Repeating a phone number to yourself to hold it in memory while you dial it would use which component of working memory? 1) the visuospatial sketchpad 2) the phonological loop 3) the episodic buffer 4) both the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop 5) both the visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer

if you think that you are doing two things simultaneously, you are probably really rapidly switching attention back and forth between the two.

Research on divided attention suggests that: 1) some people can multitask without any drop in performance. 2) there are no limits on the number of things that we can successfully do at once. 3) as individual tasks become more demanding, multitasking becomes more efficient. 4) if you think that you are doing two things simultaneously, you are probably really rapidly switching attention back and forth between the two. 5) the ability to multitask is an essential skill in the 21st century.

causes significantly more errors and slows reaction time significantly more than listening to the radio.

Research suggests that talking on a cell phone while driving: 1) does not cause errors or slow reaction time. 2) does not slow reaction time any more than does listening to the radio. 3) causes significantly more errors and slows reaction time significantly more than listening to the radio. 4) does not impair driving as long as the driver is using a "hands-free" telephone. 5) actually improves driving performance.

whether it is speech or simply noise

Results from dichotic listening studies indicate that, while a person is shadowing one message, he/she notices which of the following features of the unattended message? 1) whether it is speech or simply noise 2) whether it is spoken in English or Japanese 3) multiple repetitions of the same words 4) both the fact that it is speech and the language that is being spoken 5) whether the words being spoken are nonsense or real sentences

the calling to mind of previously stored information.

Retrieval involves: 1) the activation of the senses. 2) the translation of information into a form that can be stored. 3) the storage of information over time. 4) the calling to mind of previously stored information. 5) the decay of information in memory.

Problem: Neuropsychological Evidence

STM deficits without LTM deficits patient KF was greatly impaired in repeating back lists of digits but had normal long term learning LTM deficits without STM deficits Patient HM was able to repeat back normal length lists despite greatly impaired long term learning strong evidence for separation between STM functionality and LTM functionality

computer analogy

STM is like a computer's internal memory amount of memory is highly limited extremely fast, direct access useful for performing computations LTM is like external storage (hard drive) amount of memory is very large slow access via internal memory useful for retaining information not currently in use

after 6 weeks of practice, people could simultaneously take dictation accurately and read with normal comprehension.

Spelke, Hirst, and Neisser attempted to teach participants to simultaneously take dictation and read with comprehension. Their results suggests that: 1) no amount of practice can teach people to do two things at once without a drop in performance. 2) people could eventually reach accurate performance on the dictation task, but reading comprehension still suffered. 3) people could eventually reach accuracy in reading comprehension, but in doing so they sacrificed accuracy in dictation. 4) after 6 weeks of practice, people could simultaneously take dictation accurately and read with normal comprehension. 5) people could simultaneously take dictation accurately and read with normal comprehension, but only after 2 years or more of practice.

participants are given more practice at naming colors.

Stroop interference lessens when: 1) participants are better readers. 2) participants are given more practice at naming colors. 3) participants are girls rather than boys. 4) participants are encouraged to focus carefully. 5) participants are given more practice at reading color names.

the listener's name

The "cocktail party effect" refers to the fact that shadowing performance is disrupted when _______ is embedded in the unattended message. 1) backward speech 2) the listener's name 3) a section of repeated words 4) music 5) a switch in language

7 (plus or minus 2) chunks of information.

The capacity of short-term memory was thought by George Miller to be: 1) about 75% of a visual display. 2) 7 (plus or minus 2) letters or numbers. 3) 7 (plus or minus 2) chunks of information. 4) 12 (plus or minus 3) chunks of information. 5) unlimited.

directing the flow of information.

The central executive in working memory is hypothesized to have the function of: 1) directing the flow of information. 2) controlling an unlimited amount of resources and capacity. 3) carrying out subvocal rehearsal to maintain verbal material in memory. 4) maintaining visual material in memory through visualization. 5) storing the meaning of complex verbal material

working memory capacity

The concept of fluid intelligence is highly related to: 1) iconic memory capacity. 2) echoic memory capacity. 3) working memory capacity. 4) interference. 5) anterograde amnesia.

It lasts about 20 seconds.

The icon is said to be characterized by all of the following EXCEPT: 1) It holds information in a relatively unprocessed form. 2) It lasts about 20 seconds. 3) It can be "erased" by stimuli that are presented immediately afterward. 4) It can hold more information than can be reported. 5) It contains only visual information, not auditory.

the emphasis on static structure vs. active processing.

The main distinction between "short-term memory" and "working memory" hinges on: 1) the kind of storage (short vs. longer term). 2) the kind of coding used (acoustic vs. imaginal). 3) the capacity (limited to 7+2 items vs. unlimited). 4) the type of forgetting (decay vs. interference). 5) the emphasis on static structure vs. active processing.

is driven by the properties of the stimulus, but can be overridden by top-down processes under certain circumstances.

The phenomenon of attentional capture: 1) primarily depends upon the perceiver's goals. 2) is driven almost entirely by the properties of the stimulus. 3) Can be overridden by top-down processes under certain circumstances. 4) is driven by the properties of the stimulus, but can be overridden by top-down processes under certain circumstances. 5) normally depends upon the perceiver's goals, but can be overridden by bottom-up processes under certain circumstances.

the central executive

The production of stimulus-independent thoughts (SITs), such as daydreams, depends upon: 1) the phonological loop only. 2) the visuospatial sketchpad only. 3) the central executive. 4) the episodic buffer. 5) the semantic buffer.

either sensory or short-term memory.

The recency effect is thought to result from participants' use of: 1) sensory memory. 2) short-term memory. 3) long-term memory. 4) either sensory or short-term memory. 5) both short-term and long-term memory

echoic

The suffix effect relates to which type of memory? 1) iconic 2) echoic 3) short term 4) working 5) long term

hippocampus

The surgery performed on patient "H.M." involved removal of most of the: 1) cerebellum 2) hippocampus 3) frontal lobe 4) corpus callosum 5) occipital lobe

the loss of the ability to form new memories.

The term "anterograde amnesia" refers to: 1) the loss of the ability to form new memories. 2) the loss of the ability to recall old events. 3) the loss of short-term memory. 4) the loss of sensory memory. 5) the loss of all memory ability.

primed

The word "cat" is ______ by the phrase "The dog chased the?." That is, the word cat is especially ready to be recognized or attended to. 1) filtered 2) attenuated 3) primed 4) suggested 5) selected

sensory memory

Unattended information is stored briefly in: 1) sensory memory. 2) short-term memory. 3) long-term memory. 4) working memory. 5) secondary memory.

encoding

When information is first translated into a form that other cognitive processes can use, we say that _______ has occurred. 1) retrieval 2) storage 3) forgetting 4) encoding 5) remembering

the lateness of selection

Which of the following factors does NOT influence the allocation of mental resources in Kahneman's capacity model? 1) the state of arousal 2) the difficulty of the task 3) enduring dispositions 4) the lateness of selection 5) momentary intentions

the icon

Which of the following is NOT a component of Baddeley's working memory model? 1) the phonological loop 2) the icon 3) the central executive 4) the visuospatial sketchpad 5) the episodic buffer

Most drivers who text only do so while at a stop sign or stop light.

Which of the following is NOT true about distracted driving? 1) Having a passenger in the car results in less accident risk than driving alone. 2) About one in six fatal vehicle accidents involves distracted driving. 3) In 2007, about 6000 fatalities occurred, but Wilson and Simpson's research suggest that 4000 of these would not have occurred if text messaging had not been a factor. 4) Seventy percent of undergraduates report sending text messages while driving. 5) Most drivers who text only do so while at a stop sign or stop light.

sending a telegraph message

Which of the following is an example of a controlled process, for most people? 1) driving 2) reading 3) playing a well-practiced video game 4) sending a telegraph message 5) finding a number in an array of letters

it requires attention

Which of the following is true regarding controlled processing? 1) It is used with routine or familiar tasks. 2) It usually operates in parallel. 3) It requires attention. 4) It is unaffected by massive amounts of practice. 5) It is not capacity limited.

They are modality specific, holding only one type of sensory information.

Which of the following seems to be true of both echoes and icons? 1) They are modality specific, holding only one type of sensory information. 2) They have relatively small capacities for information. 3) They both hold information for the same length of time. 4) They both rely heavily on the meaning of the stimulus. 5) They are both very resistant to erasing by stimuli that are presented afterward.

10th word

You have just listened to a list of 20 words. When asked to recall these words in any order, you are LEAST LIKELY to recall the 1) first word. 2) second word. 3) 10th word. 4) 20th word. 5) word that reminded you of something you ate for breakfast.

interference

a hypothesized process of forgetting in which material is thought to be buried or otherwise displaced by other information but still exists somewhere in a memory store

decay

a hypothesized process of forgetting in which material is thought to erode, break apart, or otherwise disintegrate or fade

attenuation theory

a model of attention in which unattended perceptual events are transmitted in weakened form but not blocked completely before being processed for meaning

attentional capture

a phenomenon in which certain stimuli seem to pop out and require a person to shift cognitive resources automatically to them

priming

a phenomenon in which exposure to one stimulus facilitates response to another stimulus

long-term potentiation

a process, hypothesized to be a mechanism for long-term learning which neural circuits in the hippocampus are subjected to repeated and intense electrical stimulation, resulting in hippocampal cells that are more sensitive to stimuli than they were previously

exhaustive search

a search for information in which each item in a set is examined, even after the target is found

serial search

a search for information in which several stores or slots of information are sequentially examined for match to the target

parallel search

a search for information in which several stores or slots of information are simultaneously examined to match to the target

self-terminating search

a search information that stops when a target is found

echo

a sensory memory for auditory stimuli

icon

a sensory memory for visual stimuli

an idealized image of the object ( averaged across all experiences of that type of object) that is stored in long-term memory

according to prototype theories, visual object recognition involves comparing the stimulus to a "prototype" which is: A) an image of the object that is stored in long term memory B) an image of the object that is stored in short term memory C) an idealized image of the object ( averaged across all experiences of that type of object) that is stored in long-term memory

an image of the object that is stored in long-term memory

according to template matching theories, visual object recognition involves comparing the stimulus to a template, which is: A) an image of the object that is stored in long-term memory or B) an image of the object that is stored in short-term memory

B) false

according to the feature integration theory, if one feature map indicates something red, and another feature map indicates something tilted, these two pieces of information by themselves automatically indicate to us the presence of a tilted red objectL A) True B) false

B) filter theory

according to this theory of selective attention, unattended events are completely eliminated from further mental processing: A)attenuation theory B) filter theory C) schema theory

alerting

achieving and maintaining an alert state

SAS

actions ar selected based on three sources of control. the perceptual system activates possible actions based on the possibilities presented by the environment. contention scheduling passively resolves direct conflict between mutually exclusive actions. the SAS allows for flexible behavior by biasing the system toward goal-directed action

A) conjunction search

after a football game, you are in the parking lot looking for your car, a red Toyota Corolla. you are conducting : A) conjunction search B) simple feature search

rapid loss of STM information

amnesic patients with long term learning impairment showed normal performance

loudness and pitch

amplitude is associated with perceived loudness greater amplitude (larger vibration of the source) associated with greater loudness frequency is associated with pitch higher frequency associated with higher pitch

ERP

an electrical recording technique used to measure the response of the brain to various stimulus events

dual-task performance

an experimental paradigm involving presentation of two tasks for a person to work on simultaneously

the Modal Model of Memory

atkinson and shiffrin proposed a model of memory that was widely adopted and was later called the modal model of memory model has been abandoned by most memory researchers maintaining information for a long time in STM does not increase LTM performance some brain damage patients have impaired STM but not impaired LTM some patients with impaired STM perform well on complex tasks

mental capacity resource

attention is a cognitive resource that can be allocated as needed amount of resources that are available to allocate is affected by arousal how the available resources get allocated is influenced by momentary intentions/mood, enduring dispositions

Metaphors of attention

attention is a filter attention is a limited mental resource (spotlight) attention is a template attention is a binder of information

spotlight resource

attention is sometimes thought of as a searchlight or spotlight we can move this searchlight in space as well as adjust the size of the beam spotlight can highlight more than one object at a time or focus on one

attention as a binder of information

attention plays role of binding together different aspects of information

measuring amplitude

audible range of sound pressure very large highest approx 1 million times greater than lowest sound pressure level therefore measured on relative scale

echoic memory

auditory sensory information being able to whistle back a note you just heard even if you hadn't really paid attention less agreement about very short duration vs short duration sometimes used to refer to a single type of short duration auditory memory functionality 30-100ms duration of tone, subjects estimated as about 130ms

the visual system

because of their different receptive fields, the neurons in area V1 are each specialized for a particular kind of analysis this is an example of parallel processing, a system in which many different steps or kinds of analysis occur at the same time the opposite of this is serial processing, in which steps are carried out one at a time

learning a new skill

beginning to drive stick shift, play an instrument, learn division. have to actively think about each step ("pay attention")

C) long term memory

being able to remember what you ate for breakfast yesterday would be an example of: A) sensory memory B) short term memory C) long term memory

Direct Perception

belief that the perceiver actually needs to do very little work in interpreting the world light hitting the retina contains highly organized information that requires little or no interpretation information exists not merely in the environment but in the animal-environment ecosystem

iconic memory

brief initial storage of sensory information image from lightning flash a photographic image that fades rapidly the icon fades so quickly that it is gone before the subject can report what is present in the memory Sterling developed a procedure for measuring the retention of such visual sensory information

sensory memory

brief initial storage of sensory information one second or less having information from only the very recent past

capacity of LTM

capacity is virtually infinite people were approximately 90% correct at recognizing their high school classmates' pictures and names after 3 years or 25 years almost perfect retention regardless of number of study items

cocktail party effect

certain of information will be noticed even if presented to the unattended channel the participants own name, or any words of high personal significance, will be noticed even in the unattended channel

inner ear

cochlea and subparts three tubes, coiled together inside of tubes called canals canals filled with watery fluid oval window vibrations create pressure waves in the watery fluid in these canals these pressure waves create responses in receptor neurons in cochlea these neurons send signals to brains inner ear translates pressure waves to neural signals

cingulate gyrus attentional system

conflict monitoring executive control

A) intensity

decibels are the units of measurement of a sounds: A) intensity B) frequency C) wavelength

signaling frequency information

different parts of cochlea respond to different frequencies auditory nerve neurons that connect with different parts of cochlea will respond differentially to different frequencies signals transmitted to brain carry frequency information

B) different sound frequencies

different parts of the cochlea respond differently to: A) different sound intensities/amplitudes B) different sound frequencies

the partial report technique

display blinks on briefly, then off tone tells participant which row to report

automatic effects

distinction between effortful processing and automatic processing situations where attention seems to be drawn involuntarily/automatically

filter theory

filter is set to select out one message to process selection occurs early, before meaning is processed problem: cocktail party effect

B) automatic vs controlled

for a professional skier, skiing down a beginner slope vs skiing in an Olympic downhill race would respectively be: A) controlled vs automatic B) automatic vs controlled

durability of LTM

forgetting in LTM may be entirely due to retrieval failure rather than loss of information analogy: searching for information on the web evidence for interference: retroactive interference and proactive interference

divided attention findings

greater interference the more similar the tasks, less interference for dissimilar tasks it is possible to divide attention but performance typically suffered because of interference between tasks, even if we don't think it will driving (should not be affected- automatic but not all components are)

transduction in cochlea

hair cell movement -> voltage change in hair cells auditory nerve contains neurons that connect to the hair cells voltage change in hair cells -> firing of auditory nerve neurons transmit signals to brain, representing the sounds that have been heard

frequency

how many times the wave repeats per period of time cycles per second hertz )Hz) 1 Hz= 1 cycle per second

C) people hear different sounds in the two ears and have to focus on one

in a dichotic listening task: A) people hear sounds in only one ear and have to figure out which ear B) people hear the same sounds in both ears and have to figure out which is louder C) people hear different sounds in the two ears and have to focus on one

A) is unaffected by the number of stimuli in the display

in a visual search task, search time for a target with consistent mapping: A) is unaffected by the number of stimuli in the display B) is affected by the number of stimuli in the display

B) is affected by the number of stimuli in the display

in a visual search task, search time for a target with varied mapping: A) is unaffected by the number of stimuli in the display B) is affected by the number of stimuli in the display

B) reading words out loud

in the typical color Stroop task, the more automatic process is A) saying color names out loud B) reading words out loud

A) the color is shown as a color patch

in the typical color Stroop task, the typical result is that people can name colors more quickly if: A) the color is shown as a color patch B) the color is shown as the ink color of a written word that names a different color

B) conjunction search

in visual search tasks, reaction time to locate a target stimulus is affected by the number of stimuli in the display for a : A) single feature search B) conjunction search

C) encoding-maintenance-retrieval

in what order do the following aspects of memory function typically need to occur? A) retrieval-encoding-maintenance B) encoding-retrieval-maintenance C) encoding-maintenance-retrieval D) maintenance-retrieval-encoding

optical array

innumerable collections of light rays above the ground contains invariant information

partial theories of attention

like with visual object recognition, only partial understanding. no one universally accepted explanation or metaphor. different metaphors may be applicable to different situations.

B) selective attention

listening to lecture and tuning out the classroom door squeaking is an example of: A) divided attention B) selective attention

decibel levels

lowest is about 20 dB, airplane taking off is 135 dB, and threshold of pain is 140 dB

middle ear

malleus, incus, stapes oval window connects tympanic membrane and oval window transmits tympanic membrane vibrations to oval window which take up those vibrations amplifies the vibrations bones form a lever system that amplify the vibrations. tympanic membrane much larger than oval window, so amplitude becomes stronger on oval window

attentive stage

master map when attention is focused onto a location, the features can be localized and bound together (conjoined) these features form an object file, an abstract representation of the current features of an object this stage is serial (one location at a time) the output of this stage is available to awareness and can directly control behavior

limited capacity of STM

measured in immediate serial list recall tasks definitely limited in how many digits remembered digit span or memory span considered a measure of capacity Miller: magical number 7 plus or minus 2

automatic pilot

morning appointment with doctor, end up driving to work or school instead. to override- have to actively maintain goal of going to doctor

long term memory

much longer lasting storage of information days, months, years having information from the more distant past various sub-types of long-term memory available but not currently active very large storage capacity failures of retrieval are primarily due to interference rather than decay

neural bases of attention

neglect patients suggest right parietal lobe important for attention damage to right parietal lobe (usually from stroke) leads to unilateral neglect or hemispatial neglect patients do not pay attention to the contralateral side of space (usually the left side following a right hemisphere lesion)

controlled task

novel and require effortful attention cannot be carried out if the person is busy with another task

ground theory

object perception should never be examined separately from the background of texture gradients

sound

object vibrates material in contact with object vibrates vibrations spread waves of pressure the waves of pressure changes caused by vibration of objects fluctuations in water or air pressure over time

frequency based organization

organizational patterns that reflect frequency: neurons responsive to low frequencies lie at one edge of each structure, neurons responsive to high frequencies lie at other edge, gradient in between tonotopic organization preserved throughout auditory system, from basilar membrane to A1

Paying attention to one thing

picking out a player on the football field, studying for a test while ignoring other sounds, tracking ball movement while playing soccer

outer ear

pinna funnels sound into ear canal ear canal directs sound toward tympanic membrane

parietal lobe attentional system

right parietal to be specific. involuntary attention (when attention is captured) alerting competition between processing of different stimuli/events orienting/selection

orienting

selection of information from sensory input

how does dividing attention work?

several task-general cognitive processes have been proposed such as a response selector that is required for selecting and initiating responses- both physical and mental. or a central executive that sets goals and priorities, chooses strategies, and directs the function of many cognitive processes

supervisory attentional system

skilled activities: controlled by schemas. common and well-practiced scrips, for behavior in a restaurant for example. such activities run on their own, no executive control needed can often carry out two such activities simultaneously such as walking and talking sometimes two such activities conflict type of controller. simple; based on simple priority rules operates by competition among schemas to set goals, or for complex tasks: like operation of "will"

Short term memory

slightly longer-lasting storage of information 20-30 seconds maybe as long as 2 minutes having information from recent past information that is currently active small storage capacity rapid decay in the absence of active refreshing

B) fluctuations in air (or water) pressure over time

sound is: A) the vibrations of an object B) fluctuations in air (or water) pressure over time

amplitude

sound wave: pressure change magnitude of pressure change intesnity measure intensity in units of pressure pressure: force per unit area dynes/cm^2

neuropsychological evidence

study of effects of brain damage on psychological processes STM and LTM can be dissociated LTM deficits without STM deficits patient HM was able to repeat back normal-length lists despite greatly impaired long term learning normal performance in the Brown-Peterson task strong evidence for separation between STM functionality and LTM functionality

Paying attention to more than one thing

studying for a test and humming along to a song, riding a bike and listening to music, hitting tennis balls while talking with partner

Wisconsin Card Sorting Task

subjects see cards that differ along different dimensions; color, number, shape they are asked to sort the cards but not told how. have to figure out the relevant dimensions. only feedback they receive is right or wrong. after choosing the correct dimension for 10 trials in a row, the dimension is switched

memory

the ability to have information from the past

retention duration

the amount of time a memory trace remains available for retrieval

B) perceived loudness

the amplitude of a sound is related to its: A) perceived pitch B) perceived loudness

automatic processing

the carrying out of a cognitive task with minimal resources. typically automatic processing occurs without intention, interferes minimally with other cognitive tasks, and may not involve conscious awareness

B) filter theory

the cocktail party effect provides evidence against this theory A) attenuation theory B) filter theory C) schema theory

B) subjects can still report hearing their own name on the unattended channel

the cocktail party effect refers to the finding that, in a dichotic listening task: A) subjects can still report whether the unattended channel is background speech rather than random sounds B) subjects can still report hearing their own name on the unattended channel

chunking

the formation of individual units of information into larger units. this is often used as a means of overcoming short term memory limitations

primacy effects

the improvement in retention of information learned at the beginning of a task

recency effect

the improvement in retention of information learned at the end of a task

C) frontal/prefrontal, parietal and cingulate gyrus regions

the major networks of neural areas for attentional processing include: A) occipital, temporal and brain-stem regions B) parietal, cingulate gyrus and temporal regions C) frontal/prefrontal, parietal and cingulate gyrus regions

memory trace

the mental representation of stored information

A) tonotopic organization

the organization of the auditory system by sound frequency is called: A) tonotopic organization B) retinotopic organization

movement

the overall optical array is not static there is always movement of the observer and things in the observed environment so movement in optic array is essential for seeing/perceiving "optic flow"

A) frequency

the perceived pitch of a sound is related to its A) frequency B) intensity

serial position effect

the phenomenon that items at the beginning or end of a list of items are more easily recalled than are items from the middle of the list

B) the serial position effect

the phenomenon that people recall more words from the beginning or end of a list than the middle is referred to as: A) the sensory memory effect B) the serial position effect C) rehearsal D) Iconic memory

forgetting

the processes that prevent information from being retrieved from a member store

attention hypothesis of automatization

the proposal that attention is needed during the learning phase of a new task

central executive of working memory

the proposed component of working memory responsible for directing the flow of information and selecting what information to work with

episodic buffer of working memory

the proposed component of working memory responsible for linking information across domains to form integrated units of visual, spatial, verbal information with information in long term memory

phonological loop of working memory

the proposed component of working memory responsible for sub vocally rehearing auditory information

visuospatial sketch pad of working memory

the proposed component of working memory that maintains visual or spatial information

attenuation

unattended messages are not completely blocked out, but attenuated. we turn down the volume on unattended messages

B) significantly at all expect extremely fast reaction times

the research evidence indicates that talking on a cell phone while driving affects driving performance: A) only for those with very slow reaction times B) significantly at all expect extremely fast reaction times

A) significantly, even if the cell phone use is hands-free

the research evidence indicates that talking on a cell phone while driving affects driving performance: A) significantly, even if the cell phone use is hands-free B) only if the cell phone is hand-held

B)significantly more on a cell phone than to a passenger

the research evidence indicates that talking to another person while driving affects driving performance: A) the same whether the conversation is with a passenger or on a cell phone B)significantly more on a cell phone than to a passenger

task switching

the situation when switching back and forth between tasks

divided attention

the situation when trying to perform multiple tasks simultaneously trying to focus on more than one task at the same time

capacity

the sum total of cognitive resources available at any given time

Attention

the taking possession by the mind in clear and vivid form of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence. the functionality of restricting cognitive processes so that they operate on a subset of the available information for the purpose of improving the speed or accuracy of the processes Selection among alternatives Serves to improve effectiveness of mental processes Applicable to both types of focusing Restricting

A) if the color is presented as a word's ink color, subjects can't help reading the words

the typical effect of the Stroop task occurs because A) if the color is presented as a word's ink color, subjects can't help reading the words B) if the color is presented as a word's ink color, there is less of the color to go off of

preattentive stage

the visual input is decomposed into maps of simple features separate maps for each color, each orientation, etc. parallel with no capacity limitations only the pooled activity from a feature map is available to awareness aware of something blue, something tilted, something vertical. now where it is or what other properties that thing has

tympanic membrane

thin sheet of skin translates air pressure changes into its own vibrations

prefrontal cortex attentional system

top down biasing/control of attention executive control

A) divided attention

trying out a new yoga technique while also following the instructor who is modeling it is an example of: A) divided attention B) selective attention

dichotic listening task

two different speech streams played to left, right ears subject required to pay attention to the information presented to one ear while ignoring information presented to the other

feature integration theory

we can perceive simple features without focused attention but we need attention to perceive objects defined by multiple features attention is used to integrate the features of an object offers explanation of how (for vision)- sometimes attention not need to be able to focus on one stimulus, sometimes deliberate selective attention is needed

schema theory

we do not filter unwanted material many unexpected events are never noticed

automatic tasks

well practiced and do not require much effort or attention can be carried out if the person is also busy with another task does not interfere with other mental activity

auditory perception

what is sound? structure of the auditory system frequency organization/perception

biased competition

when objects in the visual field are processed in the brain, their processing competes for processing resources and control of behavior the competition is biased by: bottom-up factors (sudden appearance) and top down (goal driven) factors- target characteristics, expectations right parietal lobe damage affects the ability of processing of left visual field to compete: hence causes neglect and extinction syndromes. mechanisms for top-down biasing are in prefrontal cortex

C) rehearsal

when people try to remember a list of words, they tend to repeat the words to themselves as they go. this is referred to as: A) the recency effect B) the primacy effect C) rehearsal D) the long term memory effect

G) none of the above

which of the following does NOT require having information from the past? A) repeating a list B) shadowing in a dichotic listenting task C) running a marathon D) sailing E) watching the new episode of super girl F) all of the above G) none of the above

B) feature integration theory

which of the following is NOT a theory of executive control? A) supervisory attentional system B) feature integration theory C) biased competition D) cognitive control

B) concentrating on driving in a downpour and not noticing your favorite song playing on the car stereo

which of the following would be an example of inattentional blindness: A) at a restaurant, not noticing that your server is different from the one when you ordered your meal B) concentrating on driving in a downpour and not noticing your favorite song playing on the car stereo

A) at a restaurant, not noticing that your server is different from the one when you ordered your meal

which would be an example of change blindness: A) at a restaurant, not noticing that your server is different from the one when you ordered your meal B) concentrating on driving in a downpour and not noticing your favorite song playing on the car stereo

attention and practice

with practice, activities require less cognitive capacity/attention to perform practiced drivers tend to drive on autopilot reading becomes so automatic that we can't turn it off at will