Psychology Exam 2

Seven Sins of Memory

1. Transience 2. Absentmindedness 3. Blocking 4. Memory Misattribution 5. Suggestibility 6. Bias 7. Persistance

What is absentmindedness? What is prospective memory?

Absentmindedness: A lapse in attention that results in memory failure. Prospective memory: Remembering to do things in the future.

What is change blindness? What is inattentional blindness?

Change blindness: A phenomenon that occurs when people fail to detect changes to the visual details of a scene. Inattentional blindness: A failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention.

Hearing

pg. 115-119

There are two views of language development. How did the behaviorists believe language developed? Who argues that language learning is inborn (i.e. the nativist theory)? Which theory argues that language can only be learned during a certain period of development? What are some criticisms of the behaviorist and nativist approaches? How does the interactionist view of language development combine these two views?

(B.F Skinner) The *Behaviorist* explanation of language learning is that we learn to talk in the same way we learn any other skill: through reinforcement, shaping, extinction, and the other basic principles of operant conditioning. The *nativists theory* (Noam Chomsky) holds that language development is best explained as an innate, biological capacity. Nativists believe that language can only be acquired during a restricted period of development. Criticism: Behaviorists explanation cannot account for many fundamental characteristics of language development. Nativists theories are often criticized because they do not explain "how" language develops; they merely explain why. The *interactionist approach* holds that, although infants are born with an innate ability to acquire language, social interaction also plays a crucial role in language.

Be familiar with Bandura's Bobo doll studies. How does seeing the model be punished or rewarded influence the amount of modeling that occurs?

*Bandura's Bobo Doll*- Researches lead individual preschoolers to a room filled with toys 4-year-olds would like. An [adult model], someone whose behavior might serve as a guide for others, then entered the room and started playing with the Bobo doll. The adult played quietly for a moment but then started playing aggressively toward the doll. When the children who observed these actions were later allowed to play with a variety of toys, including the Bobo doll, they were more than twice as likely to interact with it in an aggressive manner. The study also showed that they were sensitive to the consequences of the actions they observed. When they saw the adult model being punished for behaving aggressively, the children showed considerably less aggression. When the children observed a model being rewarded and praised for aggressive behavior, they displayed an increase aggression.

What is classical conditioning? Be familiar with the US, CS, UR, and CR. Given an example you should be able to identify these stimuli. You should also be very familiar with Pavlov's experiment (Figure 7.2) and the Little Albert study (p. 205).

*Classical conditioning* occurs when a neutral stimulus produces response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response. Unconditioned stimulus (US): something that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism. Unconditioned response (UR): A reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus. Conditioned stimulus (CS): A stimulus that is initially neutral and produces no reliable response in an organism. Conditioned response (CR): A reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus. *Pavlov's Experiment*- his experimental setup involved cradling dogs in a harness to administer the foods and to measure the salivary response. He noticed that dogs who were previously in the experiment began to salivate as they were put into the harness. He realized the dogs were exhibiting classical conditioning. *Little Albert*- Watson presented Little Albert, a 9 month old, to see if a child could be classically conditioned to experience a strong emotional reaction (namely fear). He presented to Little Albert a variety of stimuli, including a white rat, a dog, a rabbit, various masks, and a burning newspaper. Albert's reactions were in most cases curious or indifferent. Watson then established something that could make Little Albert afraid by unexpectedly striking a large steel bar with a hammer, making a loud noise. Predictably, Albert became scared. Then Watson presented Little Albert with a rat again, but this time striking the large steel bar with a hammer. This caused Albert to become afraid of the rat. The US (the loud sound) pair with the CS (the presences of the rat) eventually was able to produce, with just the CS, the CR (a fearful reaction).

Be familiar with the study by Craik and Tulving (1975) in Figure 6.2. What is elaborative encoding? What is visual imagery encoding? What area of the brain is activated during semantic encoding? Visual encoding? See Figure 6.3 What is organizational encoding?

*Craik and Tulving's study*- In one study, researchers presented participants with a series of words and asked them to make one of three types of judgements. [Semantic judgement] required the participants to think about the meaning of the word. [Rhyme judgements] required the participants to think about the sound of the word. [Visual judgements] required the participant to think about the appearance of the word. The type of judgement task had a powerful impact on their memories late. Those participants who made semantic judgements had much better memory for the words than did participant who had thought about how the word looked or sounded. The results of this has shown that long-term retention is greatly enhanced by elaborative encoding. Elaborative encoding: The process of actively relating new information to knowledge that is already in memory. Visual imagery encoding: The process storing new information. *Figure 6.3*- fMRI studies reveal that different parts of the brain are activated during different types of judgements. [a] During *semantic* judgement the *lower left frontal lobe* is active. [b] During *visual* judgement the *occipital lobe* is activate. [c] During organizational judgement, the upper left frontal cortex is active. Organizational encoding: The process of categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items.

Be familiar with the different forms of memory in Figure 6.12. How is explicit memory different from implicit memory? What is procedural memory? What is priming? Do people with anterograde amnesia still have the ability to form new implicit memories? How is semantic memory different from episodic memory?

*Figure 6.12*- *Multiple Forms of Memory* Explicit and implicit memories are distinct from each other. Thus, a person with amnesia may lose explicit memory yet display implicit memory for material that she or he cannot consciously recall. Explicit and implicit memory are different because *explicit memory* occurs when people consciously or intentionally retrieve past experiences, while *implicit memory* occurs when past experiences influence later behavior and performance even though people are not trying to recollect them and are not aware that they are remembering them. Procedural memory: The gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or "knowing how" to do things. Priming: An enhanced ability to think of a stimulus, such as a word or object, as a result of a recent exposure to the stimulus. People with anterograde amnesia still have the ability to form new implicit memories. *Semantic memory* is a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world; whereas, *episodic memory* is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place.

Pay particular attention to the how information flows through the memory system in Figure 6.7. What is the sensory memory store? What is iconic and echoic memory? Be familiar with the experiment by Sperling (1960) and how it showed sensory memory exists. How long does sensory memory last?

*Figure 6.7*- Sensory information is inputted to sensory memory, where if information is unattended becomes lost, and if attended moves on to short-term memory. Either maintenance rehearsal occurs, or unrehearsed information is lost. If rehearsal occurs the information is encoded into long-term memory. This information is sometime retrieved by the short term memory. Also some information may be lost over time. Sensory memory: A type of storage that holds sensory information for a few seconds or less. Iconic memory: A fast-decaying store of visual information. Echoic memory: A fast-decaying store of auditory information *Sperling experiment*- Iconic memory test: When a grid of letters is flashed on screen for only 1/20th of a second, it is difficult to recall individual letters. But if prompted to remember a particular row immediately after the grid is shown, research participants will do so with high accuracy. Sperling used this procedure to demonstrate that although iconic memory stores the whole grid, the information fades away too quickly for a person to recall everything. Sensory memory lasts for a *few seconds*.

Whose idea is that we tend to perceive things as organized wholes (Gestalt) (see also p. 15)? Be familiar with the perceptual grouping rules- simplicity, closure, continuity, similarity, proximity, and common fate. What is figure- ground?

*Gestalt Principle*- *Max Wertheimer* showed that the perceived motion could not be explained in terms of the separate elements that cause the illusion, but instead that the elements are perceived as a whole rather than as the sum of the parts. This unified whole makes up the perceptual experience. His interpretation of the illusion led to the development of *Gestalt psychology*, a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts. In sensation and perception, this is used by grouping the image regions that belong together into a representation of an object. The idea that we tend to perceive a unified, whole object rather than a collection of separate parts is the foundation of Gestalt psychology. *Perceptual grouping rules*: The Gestalt rules which govern how the features and regions of things fit together. *Simplicity*: A basic rule in science is that the simplest explanation is usually the best. When confronted with two or more possible interpretations of an object's shape, the visual system tends to select the simplest or most likely interpretation. *Closure*: We tend to fill in missing elements of a visual scene, allowing us to perceive edges that are separated by gaps as belonging to complete objects. *Continuity*: Edge or contours that have the same orientation have what the Gestaltist called "good continuation," and we tend to group them together perceptually. *Similarity*: Regions that are similar in color, lightness, shape, or text are perceived as belonging to the same object. *Proximity*: Objects that are close together tend to be grouped together. *Common fate*: Elements of a visual image that move together are perceived as parts of a single moving object. *Figure-ground* Grouping involves separating an object from its surroundings. In Gestalt terms, this means identifying a *figure* apart from the (back)*ground* in which it resides. Size provides one clue to what's figure and what's ground: Smaller regions are likely to be figures. Another critical step toward object recognition is edge assignment. Given an edge, or boundary, between figure and ground, if the edge belongs to the figures, it helps define the object's shape, and background continues behind the edge.

The Rescorla- Wagner predicts that classical conditioning would be easier when the US was what? What is biological preparedness? How did Garcia and others (1966) show that things that are evolutionarily adaptive might be more easily conditioned? P. 209

*The Rescorla-Wagner model* introduced a cognitive component that accounted for a variety of classical conditioning phenomena that were difficult to understand from a simple behaviorist point of view. THE model predicted that conditioning would be easier when the CS was an unfamiliar event than when it was familiar. The reason is that familiar events, being familiar, already have expectations associated with them, making new conditioning difficult. Biological preparedness: A propensity for learning particular kinds of associations over others. *John Garcia* and his colleagues illustrated the adaptiveness of classical conditioning in a series of studies with rats. They used a variety of CSs (visual, auditory, tactile, taste, and smell) and several different USs (injection of a toxic substance, radiation) that cause nausea and vomiting hours later. The researchers found weak or no conditioning when the CS was a visual, auditory, or tactile stimulus, but a strong food aversion developed with the stimuli that have a distinct taste and smell.

What is Spearman's two-factor theory of intelligence? How did Thurstone's primary mental abilities disagree with this approach? What is the three level hierarchy of abilities? What is the difference between fluid and crystallized intelligence? What are the three intelligences proposed by Sternberg? What are savants? What are the eight intelligences proposed by Gardner? What is emotional intelligence?

*Two-factor theory of intelligence*: Charles Spearman's theory suggesting that every task requires a combination of a general ability (which he called *g*) and skills that are specific to the task (which he called *s*). Louis Thurstone notice that while scores on most tests were indeed positively correlated, scores on verbal tests were more highly correlated with each other than they were with scores of perceptual tests. He took this "clustering of correlation" to mean that there was actually no such thing as *g* and that there were instead a few stable and independent mental abilities such as perceptual ability, verbal ability, and numerical ability, which he called the *primary mental abilities*. But it turned out that Spearman and Thurstone were both right. The correlations between the scores on different mental ability tests are best described by the *three-level hierarchy* with a *general factor (like Spearman's g) at the top, *specific factors (like Spearman's s), and a set of factors called *group factors (like Thurstone's primary mental abilities) in the middle. *Fluid intelligence* is the ability to see abstract relationships and draw logical inferences, and *crystallized intelligence" is the ability to retain and use knowledge that was acquired through experience. If we think of the brain as an information-processing device then *crystallized intelligence* refers to the "information" part and *fluid intelligence refers to the "processing" part. Savants: people of low intelligence who have an extraordinary ability. *Howard Gardner's* eight distinct kinds of intelligence: *linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic*. Emotional intelligence: The ability to reason about emotions and to use emotions to enhance reasoning.

What is accommodation?

Accommodation: The process by which the eye maintains a clear image on the retina. When muscles change the shape of the lens to focus objects at different distances, making the lens flatter for objects that are far away or rounder for nearly objects, that is when accommodation comes in. If your eyeballs are a little to long or a little too short, the lens will not focus images properly on the retina. If the eyeball is too long, images are focused in front of the retina, leading to nearsightedness (myopia). If the eyeball is too short, images are focused behind the retina, and the result is farsightedness (hyperopia).

What is acquisition? What is extinction? How does extinction occur in CC? What is spontaneous recovery? What is generalization? Discrimination?

Acquisition: The phase of classical conditioning when the CS and the US are presented together. Extinction: The gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the US is no longer presented. Extinction occurs in Classical Conditioning by continuing to present the CS without the US. Spontaneous recovery: The tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period. Generalization: A process in which the CR is observed even though the CS is slightly different from the original one used during acquisition. Discrimination: The capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli.

What is aphasia? Which area of the brain is involved in language production? Language comprehension?

Aphasia: Difficulty in producing or comprehending language. Broca's area: located in the left frontal cortex; it is involved in the production of the sequential patterns in vocal and sign languages. Wernicke's area: located in the left temporal cortex; it is involved in language comprehension (whether spoken or signed).

What is the availability bias? What is the conjunction fallacy? What is the representativeness heuristic? What are framing effects? What is prospect theory?

Availability bias: The tendency to mistakenly judge items that are more readily available in memory as having occurred more frequently. Conjunction fallacy: An error that occurs when people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event. Representativeness heuristic: A mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgement by comparing an object or event to a prototype of the object or event. Framing effects: Phenomena that occur when people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased (or framed). Prospect theory: The proposal that people choose to take risks when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluating potential gains.

What is bias? How do people show a consistency bias? A change bias? An egocentric bias?

Bias: The distorting influences of present knowledge, beliefs, and feelings on recollection of previous experiences. People show a *consistency bias*...when the bias *reconstructs* the past to fit the present People show a *change bias*...when the bias *exaggerates* the similarity between the past and present. People show a *egocentric bias*...when they assume that one has contributed *more than* one's fair share to joint endeavor

What is binocular disparity?

Binocular disparity: The difference in the retinal images of the two eyes that provides information about depth.

What is blocking?

Blocking: A failure to retrieve information that is available in memory even though you are trying to produce it.

What are concepts? What is a prototype? What is exemplar theory? How do these theories differ in explaining how we make category judgments?

Concepts: A mental representation that groups or categorizes shared features of related objects, events, or other stimuli. A concept is an abstract representation, description, or definition that serves to designate a class or category of things. Prototype: The "best" or "most typical member" of a category. People make category judgments by comparing new instances to the category's prototype. Exemplar theory: A theory of categorization that argues that we make category judgments by comparing a new instance with stored memories for other instances of the category. Accounts for certain aspects of categorization, especially in that we recall.

Be familiar with the different schedules of reinforcement: fixed interval, variable interval, fixed ratio, and variable ratio. What is continuous reinforcement (hint- it is a special type of FR schedule)? What is intermittent reinforcement? You should be able to identify examples as either fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, variable interval). Gambling tends to operate under which type of schedule? What schedule of reinforcement leads to the highest rate of responding? What is the intermittent reinforcement effect?

Continuous reinforcement: a reinforcer is given after every response. Intermittent reinforcement: an operation conditioning principle in which only some of the responses made are followed by reinforcement Gambling tends to operate under the variable ratio schedule. Fixed Schedules •fixed-ratio schedule - reinforcement is given after a set number of responses o Example: A child gets one gold star for every 50 math problems completed •fixed-interval schedule - reinforcement is given for the first response that occurs after a set period of time has elapsed. o Example: If you put food in your pet's dish twice a day, your pet won't get rewarded for walking over to the dish during the rest of the day. But the first response after the dish is filled will bring reinforcement. Variable Schedules •variable-ratio schedule - reinforcement after a varying number of responses. o Example: A mediocre golfer may have to endure a dozen bad shots before she finally hits a beautiful drive. •variable-interval schedule - a reinforcer is given for the first response after a varying period of time has elapsed. o Example: When pop quizzes are given at unpredictable intervals, students are not rewarded for every night of studying, but the payoff does come eventually to those who study Fixed-ratio schedule tends to produce very high and constant rates of responding. Intermittent reinforcement usually effects the desired behaviors resistant to extinction. Intermittent (partial) reinforcement effect: the fact that operant behaviors that are maintained under intermittent-reinforcement schedules resist extinction better than those maintained under continuous reinforcement.

How does discrimination occur in operant conditioning? How does extinction occur in operant conditioning?

Discrimination occurs because learning takes place in context. Most behavior is under stimulus control, meaning that a particular response only occurs when an appropriate discriminative stimulus is presented. Operant behavior undergoes extinction when the reinforcements stop. Reinforcement occur only when the proper response has been made, and they don't always occur even then. It is more complex than Classical Conditioning because it depends on how often reinforcement is received.

What are feature detectors? (See Figure 4.13 and also p. 83-4 in Chapter 3) What is perceptual constancy?

Feature detectors: specialized detectors in different parts of the visual system that analyzes each of the multiple features of a visible object (orientation, color, size, shape, and so forth). *Figure 4.13*- *Single-Neuron Feature Detectors* Area V1 contains neurons that respond to specific orientations of edges. Here a single neuron's response are recorded (left) as the monkey views bars at different orientations (far left). This neuron fires continuously when the bar is pointing to the right at 45 degrees, less often when it is vertical, and not at all when it is pointing to the left at 45 degrees. Perceptual constancy: A perceptual principle stating that even aspects of sensory signals change, perception remains consistent.

What is haptic perception? How do we sense touch? What are the two types of pain receptors? What is gate control theory? How can it explain why pain can be perceived as worse or better?

Haptic perception: The active exploration of the environment by touching and grasping objects with our hands. We sense touch by... Using sensory receptors in our muscles, tendons, and joints as well as a variety of receptors in our skin to get a feel of the world around us. Four types of receptors located under the skin's surface enable us to sense pressure, pattern, or vibration against the skin. The receptive fields of these specialized cells work together to provide a rich tactile experience when you explore an object by feeling it or attempting to grasp it. In addition, thermoreceptors, nerve fibers that sense cold and warmth, respond when your skin temperature changes. [All these sensations blend seamlessly together in perception]. Touch begins with the transduction of skin sensation into neural signals. Touch receptors, like cells in the retina of each eye, have receptive fields that, when stimulated, cause that cell's response to change. Pain indicates damage or potential damage to the body. When tissue damage is transduced by pain receptors. The two types of pain receptors are...Fast-acting *A-delta fibers* transmit the initial sharp pain one might feel right away from a sudden injury; and slower *C-fibers* transmit the longer-lasting, duller pain that persists after the initial injury. Pain intensity cannot always be predicted solely from the extent of the injury that causes the pain, an influential account of pain perception is known as the *gate control theory* Gate control theory: A theory of pain perception based on the idea that signals arriving from pain receptors in the body can be stopped, or *gated*, by interneurons in the spinal cord via feedback from the two directions. This can explain why pain can be perceived as worse or better by... Pain can be gated by the skin receptors, for example, rubbing the affected area, can activate neurons to "close the gate" to stop pain signals from traveling to the brain. Pain can also be gated from the brain by modulating the activity of pain transmission neurons. This neutral feedback comes from a region in the midbrain called the *periaqueductal gray* (PAG). Under extreme conditions, such as high stress, naturally occurring endorphins can activate the PAG to send inhibitory signals to neurons in the spinal cord that then suppress pain signals to the brain.

What is implicit learning? Be able to give an example. What is habituation?

Implicit learning: Learning that takes place largely without awareness of the process or the products of information acquisition. As an example, although children are given explicit rules of social conduct, they learn how to behave in a civilized way through experience. They're probably not aware of when or how they learned a particular course of action and may not even be able to state the general principle underlying their behavior. Yet most kids have learned not to eat with their feet, to listen when they are spoken to, and not to kick the dog. Habituation: A general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in response.

What is infantile/childhood amnesia ? (page 195)

Infantile amnesia: the lack of memory of the first few years of life

Is intelligence influenced by genes? How do twin studies tell us this? What is the Flynn effect? Are some groups more intelligent that others? How can the testing situation impact intelligence scores? Do different groups' experiences (e.g. socioeconomic status) help explain the group differences in IQ scores?

Intelligence is influenced by genes, but not completely as environment also plays a part. The twins studies tells us this because they found that twins who had either a *shared environment* or a *non-shared environment*, showed different correlations of intelligence. The appropriate conclusion to draw is not so much that the family environment does not matter for development, but rather that the part of the family environment that is shared by siblings does not matter. What does matter is the *individual environments* of children, their peers, and the aspect of their parenting that they do not share. The Flynn effect refers to the accidental discovery by the philosopher James Flynn that the average intelligence test scores has been rising about .3% every year, which is to say that the average person today scores about 15 IQ points higher than the average person 50 years ago. Yes, different groups' experiences help explain the differences in IQ scores because...having a high SES family contributes to a more stable environment, attentive parenting, and better school; while, being raise in a low SES have more worries, less time, and parents who have to work more.. Another contribution could be being raised in a culture that has a more intellectually stimulating environment or not having on. Whether they have education daily, instead of being interrupted by outside sources. Or when children start school.

How do psychologists define intelligence? What was the goal of the original intelligence tests? What is mental age? How is ratio IQ computed? Be able to compute a ratio IQ if given a mental age and physical age. Ratio IQ does not work for adults. What is used instead? What is an "average" IQ score? What are the names of the modern intelligence tests? What do intelligence tests predict?

Intelligence: The ability to direct one's thinking, adapt to one's circumstances, and learn from one's experiences. Original goal- to develop a test that would allow educators to help underprivileged children succeed in school. Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon set out to develop an objective test that would provide an unbiased measure of a child' ability. The settled on 30 tasks and assembled them into a test that they claimed could measure a child's "natural intelligence," meaning the child's *aptitude* for learning independent of the child's prior educational achievements. They suggested that teachers could use their test to estimate a child's "mental level" simply by computing the average test score of children in different age groups and then finding the age group whose average test score was most like that of the child's. *Ratio IQ*: A statistic obtained by dividing a person's mental age by the person's physical age then multiplying the quotient by 100. Thus if a 10 year old child's test was about the same as the average child they would have a ratio IQ of 100; but if their tests scores was about the same as the average 8 year old, they would have a ratio IQ of 80. In adults, the *deviation IQ* is used, which is a statistic obtained by dividing a person's test score by the average test score of people in the same age group and then multiplying the quotient by 100. The modern intelligent tests are the *Stanford-Binet test* and the *WAIS* (the Weschsler Adult Intelligence Scale). Both tests require respondents to answer a variety of questions and solve a variety of problems. Intelligent tests scores predict a wide variety of circumstances, including a person's academic performance, the number of years of education, and occupational status and income.

What is language? What is a phoneme? A morpheme? What is the deep structure? What is surface structure?

Language: A system for communicating with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and convey meaning. Phoneme: The smallest units of sound that are recognizable as speech rather than as random noise. Morpheme: The smallest meaningful units of language. Deep structure: The meaning of a sentence. Surface structure: How a sentence is worded.

What is latent learning? What is a cognitive map? Be familiar with the studies by Tolman and Honzik (1930) (Figure 7.10) and how they challenged the notion that there was not a cognitive component to learning. What are the brain's pleasure centers? p. 220 How did the Brelands find that operant conditioning is constrained by evolution? P. 222

Latent learning: A condition in which something is learned but it is not manifested as a behavioral change until sometime in the future. Cognitive map: A mental representation of the physical features of the environment. *Figure 7.10*- Rats in a control group that never received any reinforcement improved at finding their way through the maze over 17 days but not by much. Rat that received regular reinforcement showed fairly clear learning; their error rate decreased steadily over time. Rates in the latent learning group were treated exactly like the control group rats for the first 10 days and then like the regularly rewarded group for the last 7 days. Their dramatic improvement on day 12 shows that these rats had learned a lot about the maze and the location of the goal box even though they had never received reinforcements. Also on the last 7 days, these latent learners actually seem to make fewer errors than their regularly rewarded counterparts. The pleasure centers of the brain are located in the *limbic system*. The neurons in the *medial forebrain bundle*, a pathway that meanders its way from the midbrain through the hypothalamus into the nucleus accumbens, are the most susceptible to stimulation that produces pleasure By training with pigs and raccoons they found that each species, including humans, is *biologically predisposed* to learn some things more readily that others and to respond to stimuli in ways that are consistent with its evolutionary history. Such adaptive ways, however, evolved over extraordinarily long periods and in particular environmental contexts. If those circumstances change, some of the behavior mechanism that support learning can lead an organism astray.

What is the law of effect? Which researchers are associated with this approach? Also see p. 13-14

Law of effect: The principle that behaviors that are followed by a "satisfying state of affairs" tend to be repeated and those that produce an "unpleasant state of affairs" are less likely to be repeated. Edward Thorndike is associated and developed this approach and eventually B.F. Skinner.

What is learning?

Learning: Involves the acquisition of new knowledge, skills or responses from experience that result in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner. This definition emphasizes three key ideas: Learning is based on experience, learning produces changes in the organisms, and these changes are relatively important.

*Be familiar with the parts of the eye and their functions: cornea, pupil, iris, lens, retina

Light that reaches the eyes passes fist through a clear, smooth outer tissue, called the *cornea*, and then through the *pupil*, a hole in the color part of the eye. This colored part is the *iris*, a translucent, doughnut-shaped muscle that controls the size of the pupil and hence the amount of light that can enter the eye. Immediately behind the iris, muscles inside the eye control the shape of the *lens* to behind the light again and focus it onto the *retina*, light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eyeball. The muscles change the shape of the lens to focus objects at different distances, making the lens flatter for objects that are far away or round for nearby objects. After the lens focuses the light wave into specific images they are projected to the retina, the inner surfaces of the eyeball that contains all the receptor cells. These receptor cells begin sensing the visual information, but since they don't receive the full image, but different pixels of light energy that millions of receptors translate into neural impulses and zing back into the brain. These retinal receptors are called rods and cones.

What is long-term memory? What is its capacity? What is anterograde amnesia? What is retrograde amnesia? What part of the brain seems to be important in moving information to the long term memory store (and is damaged in anterograde amnesia)? What is consolidation? What is reconsolidation? Researchers believe that the connections between neurons might be the basis for long-term memory. What physical changes seem to result from learning? What is long-term potentiation?

Long-term memory: A type of storage that holds information for hours, days, weeks, or years. Long term memory has *no* known a *capacity limit*. Anterograde amnesia: The inability to transfer information from the short-term memory to the long-term store. Retrograde amnesia: The inability to retrieve information that was acquired before a particular date, usually the date of an injury or operation. The part of the brain that seems to be important in moving information to the long term memory store is *the hippocampus* Consolidation: The process by which memories become stable in the brain. Reconsolidation: The process by which memories can become vulnerable to disruption when they are recalled, requiring them to become consolidated again. The physical changes that seem to result from learning is...Researches suggest that this long-term storage involves the *growth* of new connections. Specifically, when neurons communicate, the sending neuron releases neurotransmitters across the synapse. The mere act of sending actually *changes* the synapse. Specifically, it *strengthens* the connection between the two neurons, making it easier for them to transmit to each other next time. Long-term potentiation: A process whereby communication across the synapse between neurons strengthens the connection, making further communication easier.

What is memory misattribution? What is source memory? Why might false recollection occur? Should witnesses view suspects in a lineup all at once or one-at-a time? Box p. 191

Memory misattribution: Assigning a recollection or an idea to the wrong source. Source memory: Recall of when, where, and how information was acquired. *False recollection* might occur because patients might have *damage to the frontal lobes* or have experiences of the feeling *deja vu*. Witnesses can be asked to make a "thumbs-up or thumbs-down" decision about each suspect immediately after seeing each face instead of waiting until all suspects' faces have been displayed. This procedure encourages people to examine their memories *more* carefully and *evaluate* whether the pictured suspect matches the details of their recollections, sometimes resulting in more accurate witness identification.

What is memory? What is encoding? What is storage? What is retrieval?

Memory: The ability to store and retrieve information over time. Encoding: The process by which we transform what we perceive, think, or feel into an enduring memory. Storage: The process of maintaining information in memory over time. Retrieval: The process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored.

What are mirror neurons? Also see p. 85

Mirror Neurons: frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation, language learning, and empathy.

What are monocular depth cues? What is relative size? Linear perspective? Texture gradient? Interposition? Relative height?

Monocular depth cues: Aspects of a scene that yield information about depth when viewed with only one eye. Relative size Monocular depth cues rely on the relationship between distance and size. Even with one eye closed, the retinal image of an object you're focused on grows smaller as that object moves farther away and larges as it moves closer. [Our brain routinely use these differences in retinal images size, or *relative size*, to perceive distance] *Monocular depth cues*- *Linear perspective*: the phenomenon that parallel lines seem to converge as they recede into the distance. *Texture gradient*: the fact that the size of elements on a patterned surface, as well as the distance between them, appear to grow smaller as the surfaces recedes from the observer. *Interposition*: the fact that, when one objects partly blocks another, you can infer that the block*ing* object is closer than the block*ed* object. *Relative height*: the fact that objects that are closer to you are lower in your visual field, while faraway objects are higher.

What is observational learning?

Observational Learning: A condition in which learning takes place by watching the actions of others.

What is operant conditioning? How does it differ from classical conditioning (i.e. which looks at reactive behaviors? Active behaviors?) Which pairs a response with a consequence? Which pairs two srimuli?)

Operant Conditioning: A type of learning in which the consequences of an organism's behavior determine whether that behavior will be repeated in the future. Classical conditioning generally concerns an involuntary, automatic response, while operant conditioning generally concerns more voluntary behaviors. Classical Conditioning looks at reactive behaviors, while Operant Conditioning looks are active behaviors. Classical conditioning responds with a stimuli; Operant conditioning responds with a consequence.

What is operant behavior? What is a reinforce? A punisher? What is the difference between positive and negative reinforcement? What is the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment? See Table 7.1

Operant behavior: Behavior that an organism produces that has some impact on the environment. Reinforcer: Any stimulus or event that functions to increase the likelihood of the behavior that led to it. Positive reinforcement is when a rewarding stimulus is presented for a behavior, and negative reinforcement is when a unpleasant stimulus is removed for a behavior. Punishment is when an unpleasant stimulus is received or a pleasant stimulus is removed. Negative reinforcement involves something pleasant, something unpleasant is being taken away.

Be able to explain each the two mechanisms for how we perceive pitch (place code and temporal code). Which works well for low frequencies? For high frequencies?

Our ears have evolved two mechanisms to encode sound wave frequency, one for high frequency and one for low frequency. Place code: The mechanism by which the cochlea encode different frequencies at different location along the basilar membrane. The place code works best for relatively high frequencies that resonant at the basilar membrane's base and less well for low frequencies that resonate the tip. Temporal code: The mechanism by which the cochlea register low frequencies via the firing rate of action potentials entering the auditory nerves. This process provides the brain with very precise information about pitch that supplements the information Together the place code and the temporal code work to cover the entire range of pitches that people can hear.

What is persistence? What are flashbulb memories? What part of the brain seems to help create strong memories for emotional events?

Persistence: The intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget. Flashbulb memories: Detailed recollections of when and where we heard about shocking events (September 11th). The part of the brain that seems to help create strong memories for emotional events is the *amygdala*

Psy 200 Exam 2 Review Sheet

Psy 200 Exam 2 Review Sheet

What is psychophysics? What is an absolute threshold? What is the just noticeable difference/JND? What is Weber's law?

Psychophysics: Methods that measure the strength of a stimulus and the observer's sensitivity to that stimulus. Absolute threshold: The minimal intensity needed to just barely detect a stimulus. Just noticeable difference (JND): The minimal change in a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variations in intensity. Weber's law: The just noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variations in intensity.

There are three types of cones- what color wavelengths of light do they respond to? How do we perceive more than three colors? What is a color afterimage and why do they occur?

Red (long wavelength), green (medium-wavelength), or blue (short-wavelength. Red, green, and blue are the primary colors of light; color perception results form different combinations of the three basic elements in in the retina that respond to the wavelengths corresponding to the three primary colors of light. You can create a kind of temporary color deficiency by exploiting the idea of sensory adaptation. Staring to long at one color fatigues the cones that respond to that color, producing a form of sensory adaptation that results in *color afterimage*.

What are retrieval cues? What is the encoding specificity principle? What is state- dependent retrieval? How does retrieval improve memory (p. 178)?

Retrieval cues: External information that helps bring stored information to the mind. Encoding specificity principle: The idea that a retrieval cue can serves as an effective reminder when it helps re-create the specific way in which information was initially encoded. State-dependent retrieval: The tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same state during encoding and retrieval. Retrieval improves memory because the simple act of retrieval can *strengthen* a retrieved memory, making it easier to remember that information at a later time.

What is shaping and how can it be used to teach a new behavior?

Shaping: Learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behavior. The outcome of one set of behaviors shapes the next set of behaviors, whose outcomes shape the next set of behaviors, and so on. Each behavior is a successive approximation to the final product.

What is short-term memory? How long can information stay in short term memory? What is rehearsal? What is the capacity of short term memory? What is chunking? What is working memory and how does it show the active nature of this type of memory?

Short-term memory: A type of storage that holds nonsensory information for more than a few seconds but less than a minute Information can stay in short term memory for *15 to 20 seconds*. Rehearsal: The process of keeping information in short-term memory by mentally repeating it. The capacity for short term memory is *7 items*. Short term memory is limited in both how long it can hold information and how much information it can hold. Most people can keep approximately 7 items in short term memory, but if the put more new items in, then old ones fall out. Chunking: Combining small pieces of information into larger clusters or chunks that are more easily held in short-term memory. Working memory: Active maintenance of information in short-term storage.

What is signal detection theory? What is sensory adaptation?

Signal detection theory: An observation that the response to a stimulus depends both the a person's sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of noise and on a person's response criterion. Sensory adaptation: Sensitivity to prolonged stimulations tends to decline over times as an organism adapts to current conditions.

We "hear" sound waves. What are the three properties of sound waves and what do they determine?

Sound waves are changes in air pressure unfolding over time. There are three physical dimensions of a sound wave, including frequency, amplitude, and complexity, which determine what we hear as the pitch, loudness, and quality of sound. The *frequency* of the sound wave, or its wavelength, depends on how often the peak in air pressure passes the ear, measured in cycles per second, or hertz (Hz). Changes in physical frequency of a sound wave are perceived by humans as changes in *pitch*, how high or low a sound is. The *amplitude* of a sound wave refers to its height, relative to the threshold for human hearing ( which is set at zero decibels, or dBs). Amplitude corresponds to *loudness*, or a sounds intensity. Differences in the *complexity* of sound waves, or their mix of frequencies, correspond to *timbre*, a listener's experience of sound quality or resonance. Timbre offers us information about the nature of sound. *Of the three dimensions of sound waves, frequency provides most of the information we need to identify sounds. Amplitude and complexity contribute texture to our auditory perceptions, but it is frequency that allow us to identify the location of sounds, to understand speech, and to appreciate music.

What is suggestibility? Be familiar with the studies by Loftus on page 190-191. What evidence exists that recovered memories can sometimes be inaccurate?

Suggestibility: The tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections. *Loftus studies*- He wondered that if misleading details can be implanted in people's memories, is it also possible to suggest entire episodes that never occurred? In which he got the answer that yes it could, by having an older brother, Jim, ask his teenage brother Chris, if he remembered the time he got lost in a mall. At the time he din't, but after several days he could remember the events in detail, even though this event had never happened. The evidence that exists in which recovered memories can sometimes be inaccurate is ....because a number of techniques used by psychotherapists are suggestive, and since we don't store all of our experiences in memory, it makes us vulnerable to accepting suggestions about what might have happened or should have happened.

What is synesthesia? What is sensation? What is perception? How is sensation different from perception? What is transduction? Review Table 4.1 for a summary of where transduction occurs for each sense.

Synesthesia: The perceptual experience of one sense that is evoked by another sense. Sensation: Simple stimulation of a sense organ. Perception: The organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation *Sensation* is the basic registration of light, sound, pressure, odor, or taste as parts of your body interact with the physical world; whereas *perception* is, after sensation registers this information to the central nervous system, takes place at the level of the brain and organizes, identifies, and interprets the sensation. The sensory receptors in your eyes are registering different patterns of light reflecting off the page. Your brain is integrating and processing that light information into meaningful perception of words. Transduction: What takes place when many sensors in the body convert physical signals from the environment into encoded neural signals sent to the central nervous system. Transduction occurs: In vision, *light* reflected form surfaces provides the eyes with information about the shape, color, and position of objects. In audition, *vibrations* cause changes in air pressure that move through space to a listener's ear. In touch, the *pressure* of a surface against the skin signals its shape, text, and temperature. In taste and smell, *molecules* dispersed in the air or dissolved in saliva reveal the identity of substances that we may or may not want to eat.

How do we locate sounds?

The *placement of our ears* on opposite sides of the head gives us stereophonic hearing. The sound arriving at the ear closer to the sound source is louder than the sound in the farther ear, mainly because the listener's head partially blocks sound energy. This loudness difference decreases as the sound source moves from a position directly to one side (maximal difference) to straight ahead (no difference). Another cue to a sound's location arises from *timing*: Sound waves arrive a little sooner at the near ear than at the far ear. The timing difference can be as be as brief as a few microseconds, but together with the intensity difference, it is sufficient to allow us to perceive the location of a sound. When the sound source is *ambiguous*, you may find yourself turning your head from side to side to localize it. By doing this, you are changing the *relative intensity* and *timing* of sounds waves arriving in your ears an collecting *better* information about the likely source of the sound.

Smell- what stimuli are detected? How? What are olfactory neurons? How do we experience 1000 different odors with only 350 ORNs? Why is smell linked to emotion and memory?

The chemical sense of *olfaction* (smell) respond to the molecular structure of substance floating into the nasal cavity. Olfaction is the only sense that is *directly connected* to the *forebrain*, with pathways into the frontal lobe, amygdala, and other forebrain structures (while the other sense connect first to the thalamus). Countless substances release odors into the air, and some of their *odorant molecules* make their way into our noses, drifting in on the air we breath. Situated along the top of the nasal cavity is a mucous membrane called *olfactory epithelium*, which contains 10 million ORNs. Odorant molecules bind to sites on these specialized receptors, and if enough bindings occur, the ORNs send action potential to the olfactory nerves. Olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs): Receptors cells that initiate the sense of smell. Each olfactory neuron has receptors that bind to some odorants but not to others, as if the receptor is a lock and the odorant is the key. Humans possess about *350* different ORN types that permit us to discriminate among some *10,000* different odorants through the unique patterns of neural activity each odorant evokes. Groups of ORNs send their axons from the olfactory epithelium into the *olfactory bulb*, a brain structure located above the nasal cavity beneath the frontal lobes. The axons of all ORNs of a particular type converge at a site called a *glomerulus* within the olfactory bulb (humans have 350 glomeruli). *Different odor molecules produce varied patterns of activity. A given odorant may strongly activate some glomeruli, moderately activate others, and have little effect on still other. The olfactory bulbs sends outputs to various centers in the brain, including the parts that are responsible for controlling basic drives, emotions, and memories. This explains why smells can have immediate effects on us, either strongly positive or strongly negative.

Be familiar with the parts of the ear and their functions: pinna, auditory canal, eardrum, ossicles, cochlea, basiliar membrane. How are sound waves converted to a neural impulse (i.e. how does transduction occur)?

The outer ear consists of the visible part on the outside of the head (called the *pinna*); the *auditory canal*; and the *eardrum*, an airtight flap of skin that vibrates in response to sound waves gathered by the pinna and channeled into the canal. The middle ear, a tiny, air-filled chamber behind the eardrum, contains three smaller bones in the body, called the *ossicles*. Named for their appearance as hammer, anvil, and stirrup, the ossicles fit together into a lever that mechanically transmit and intensifies vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear. The inner ear contains the spiral-shaped *cochlea*, a fluid-filled tube that is the organ of auditory transduction. The cochlea is divided along its length by the *basilar membrane*, a structure in the inner ear that undulates when vibrations from the ossicles reach the cochlear fluid. ITs wavelike movements stimulates thousands of tiny *hair cells*, specialized auditory receptor neurons embedded in the basilar membrane. The hair cells then release neurotransmitter molecules, initiating a neural signal in the auditory nerve that travels to the brain. From the inner ear, action potentials in the auditory nerve travel to the thalamus and ultimately to the contralateral ("opposite side") hemisphere of the cerebral cortex. This is called *area A1*, a portion of the temporal lobe that contains the primary auditory cortex.

Taste- what are taste buds? What are the five main types of taste receptors?

The tongue is covered with thousands of small bumps, called papillae, which are easily visible to the naked eye. Within each papilla are hundreds of *taste buds* Taste buds: The organ of taste transduction. The five main types of taste receptors are *salt, sour, bitter, sweet, and umami (savory)*

What are the differences between rods and cones? What is the fovea? How does transduction occur- i.e. how does the light wave become a neural impulse? Why do we have a blind spot?

The two types of *photoreceptor cells* in the retina that contain light-sensitive pigment that transduce light into neural impulse: Rods and Cones. Rods: Photoreceptors that become active under low-light conditions for night vision. Cones: Photoreceptors that detect color, operate under normal daylight conditions, and allows us to focus on fine detail. Rod are much more sensitive to low light levels than cones, but they provide no information about color because they only sense shades of gray. About 120 million rods are distribute more or less evenly around each retina except in the very center, the fovea. The absence of rods in the fovea decrease the sharpness of vision in reduced light, but it can be overcome In contrast, each retina contains only about 60 million cones, which are densely packed in the fovea and much more sparsely distributed over the rest of the retina. This distribution of cones direct affects visual acuity and explains why objects of to the side, in your peripheral vision, aren't so clear. Fovea: An are of the retina where vision is the clearest and there are no rods at all. The photoreceptor cells sends signals to the oddly shaped bipolar cells which in turn transmit signals to retinal ganglion cells, which organize the signals and sends them to the brain. The axons of the RGCs form the optic nerve, which leaves the eye through a hold in the retina. [Because it contains neither rods nor cones and therefore has no mechanism to sense light, this hole in the retina creates the *blind spot*, which is a location in the visual field that produces no sensation on the retina. Each RCG responds to input not from a single rod or cone but from an entire path of adjacent photoreceptors in the retina. Each RCG will thus respond to light falling anywhere within the receptive field.

*We "see" light waves. What are the three properties of light waves and what do they determine?

There are three properties of light waves, each of which has a physical dimension that produces a corresponding psychological dimension. The *length* of a light wave determines it hue, or what humans perceive as color. The intensity or *amplitude* of a light wave-how high the peaks are-determines what we perceive as the brightness of the light. The *purity* is the number of distinct wavelengths that make up light; it determines what humans perceive as saturation, or the richness of colors. In other words, length, amplitude, and purity are intrinsic properties of light waves themselves; what humans perceive from those properties are color, brightness, and saturation. A short wave has a high frequency, which is seen as bluish colors; while long waves have a low frequency, which is seen as reddish colors.

What is transience? How did Ebbinghaus study memory? What is the forgetting curve (see Figure 6.16What is the difference between retroactive interference and proactive interference?

Transience: Forgetting what occurs with the passage of time. *Ebbinghaus* studied memory by measuring his retention at various delay intervals after he studied lists of nonsense syllables. Retention was measured in percent savings, that is, the precent age of time needed to relearn the list and compared with the time needed to learn it initially. The *forgetting curve* is the measurement of memory of nonsense syllables over time that Ebbinghaus was able to recall over time. The difference between retroactive interference and proactive interference is that *retroactive interference* is when later learning impairs memory for information acquired earlier, where as *proactive interference* refers to situations in which earlier learning impairs memory for information acquired later.

What is the vestibular system? How is it linked to motion sickness?

Vestibular system: The three fluid-filled semicircular canals and adjacent organs located next to the cochlea in each inner ear. The semicircular canals are arranged in three perpendicular orientations and studded with hair cells that detect movement of the fluid when the head moves or accelerates. This detected motion enables us to maintain our balance. Then movements of the hair cells encode these somatic sensations. Vision also helps us keep our balance. If you see that you are swaying relative to a vertical orientation, you move your legs and feet to keep from falling over. {Psychologists have experimented with this visual aspect of balance by placing people in rooms that can be tilted forward and backward. If the room tilts enough people will topple over as they try to compensate for what their visual system is telling them.} This is linked to motion sickness because...[*When a mismatch between the information provided by visual cues and vestibular feedback occurs, motion sickness can result*]

What is the waterfall illusion and why does it occur? What is apparent motion?

Waterfall illusion: A type of motion perception where one stares at the downward rush of a waterfall for several seconds, and experiences an upward motion aftereffect when they look at stationary objects near the water fall. This occurs because when motion-sensitive neurons are connected to motion detector cells in the brain that encode motion in opposite directions. A sense of motion comes from the different in the strength of these two opposing sensors. If one set of motion detector cells is fatigued through adaptation to motion in one direction, the the opposing sensor will take over. The net result is that motion is perceived in the opposite direction. Apparent motion: The perception of movement as a result of alternating signals appearing in rapid succession in different locations.

At what age do we lose the ability to hear sounds that are not in the language spoken around us? Review Table 9.1 on Language Milestones. What is fast- mapping? What is telegraphic speech and at what age is it usually used?

Within *the first 6 months of life*, we lose the ability to distinguish all the sounds that occur in the human language. Fast mapping: A phenomenon whereby children can map a word onto an underlying concept after only a single exposure. Telegraph Speech: Speech that is devoid of function morphemes and consists of mostly content words. Telegraphic speech is usually used *around 24 months* when children begin to form two-word sentences.

Other senses

pg. 119-126

Chapter 7: Learning

pg. 200-203

Classical conditioning (CC)

pg. 200-210

Operant conditioning (OC)

pg. 210-222

Observational Learning

pg. 223-231

Chapter 9: Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

pg. 267-302

Language

pg. 268-276

Thinking

pg. 277-285

Intelligence

pg. 286-302

Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception

pg. 91-129

Vision

pg. 97-114

Chapter 6: Memory

pg.167-197