Cognitive Psych Final Exam
What is the computer metaphor at the heart of cognitive psychology?
Information in both computers and cognitive psych goes in, then an output comes out. In the mind, our brain interprets senses (input) and comes out through behavior (output).
Is attention capable of being divided (true multi-tasking)?
No, switch between
What are framing effects?
How the way something is set up affects outcome
Know each of the following types of speech errors and the stage of Garrett's model that is affected: (This will be two questions)
1. Functional Level: o Tip-of-the-tongue state: trouble retrieving words you want ♣ Wait and come back o Word Substitution: mean to say one word, but another word comes out of mouth ♣ Saying "stove" instead of "heater" o Word Blend: memory retrieved 2 different words (similar) ♣ Competing to get out ♣ Word that comes out may be blend of both words ♣ Ex: validate and verify= vilify 2. Positional Level: o Morpheme Exchange: only the meaning unit is exchanged ♣ Ex: "I random(ed) some samp(ly)" instead of "I sampled some randomly" o Word Exchange ♣ Ex: "mind came to name" instead of "name came to mind" o Phrase Blend ♣ Ex: "Making the kettle on" combination of "making tea" and "putting the kettle on" 3. Sound-Level Articulation: o Phoneme Deletion: sound is missing o Affix Deletion: functional ending of word is removed ♣ Ex: "the chimney catch fire" instead of "the chimney catches fire" o Phoneme Exchange: ♣ Ex: "you have hissed all mistory lectures", "you have tasted the whole worm" ♣ Beginning phenome swapped o Phoneme Perseveration: keep doing ♣ Sound that happened earlier, shows up unintentionally ♣ Ex: "take my tike" instead of "take my bike" o Phoneme Anticipation: sound meant to come later will show up earlier o Ex: "bake my bike" instead of "take my bike"
What mistakes do people make when performing deductive reasoning tasks? We will see some examples.
Don't think of the information logically. Need to draw out to understand where each category fits under (Toyota example and psych teacher example)
Know the components of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model.
a. 3 different memory stores b. multi-store model c. sensory memory, short term memory, long term memory d. can be transferred into long term memory i. if can rehearse info, can continue to hang on ii. incredibly high capacity (potentially infinite) iii. duration can be lifelong
What is a syllogism? Understand how to evaluate them for validity.
a. A 3 statement set of items including premises and conclusion b. Ex: some males are psych teachers. All males are strong. Some strong people are psych teachers
What is a problem? What are its three components?
a. A problem is a situation without an immediately apparent, standard, or routine way of reaching a goal b. Sultan the Chimpanzee i. Used problem-solving by putting poles together to reach what was wanted c. Three components: i. Goal state: desired outcome of problem ii. Initial state: info about problem iii. Operators: skills to use to solve problem
How do the results of Aaronson and Scarborough (1977) and Graf and Torrey (1966) demonstrate the importance of phrase boundaries in language comprehension? Do we process language in phrases?
a. Aaronson and Scarborough: i. Phrases: combinations of words that are part of sentences ii. Take pauses between phrases b. Graf and Torrey i. Form A, Form B ii. Yielded better comprehension iii. Comprehension is due to phrase structure iv. Some sentences have ambiguous structure
How can the mirror illusion be used to help stroke recovery? What did Michielsen et al. (2014) do and find?
a. Accepting input b. Show regularly functioning hand and reflection of it c. Trick brain into thinking see both hands d. Unaffected hand covered e. Open and close hand f. Improved right after training g. Follow-up: they were back at baseline
What are base rates? Based on the results of Hammerton (1973), do people use them?
a. According to Bayes' Theorem, participants overweighed p(D|H) - probability of the test detecting the disease if you have it b. In experiment 1, the average rating was 85% i. People were overly confident c. Participants were much more confident than they should have been; nobody reported guessing even when they did not have all of the information they needed. d. If someone is a sufferer, there is a 90% chance that he will be recorded positively e. If he is not a sufferer, there is still a 1% chance that he will be recorded positively f. Roughly 1% of the population has the disease
64. What are four properties of human language that distinguish it from the communication patterns of other species? Be able to identify an example of each.
a. Duality of patterning b. Arbitrary c. Generative capacity d. Recursion- putting one idea into another
What is an algorithm? What is a heuristic? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using each?
a. Algorithm: can be long and lengthy, but precise i. Ex: long division b. Heuristic: easier solution to problem, random search, hill climbing i. Select next position if looks like getting closer ii. Make move that seems as though getting further away
How does attention shift? What types of shifts occur under which circumstances? Be able to identify shifts from a provided scenario. (This material was actually covered on Day 9)
a. Attention shift types: b. Overt (eyes) attention: attention that is out in the open c. Covert (hidden) attention: attention that is "undercover" d. Exogenous (reflexive): non-voluntary attention shift e. Endogenous (voluntary): voluntary attention shift
How is attention critical to studying?
a. Background simulation could distract b. Attentional capture c. If multiple things are going on, mixing costs occur- switching between different things d. Too much verbal info when trying to complete verbal tasks, makes it difficult
We saw several examples of interactions between vision and hearing. In particular, you should know the ball illusion and the McGurk effect.
a. Ball illusion: balls seem to pass by each other without click sound, but with it, perceived as the balls bouncing off each other b. McGurk effect: lips form the word "ga", ears hear "ba", but watching together, brain combines into "da"
Is perception bottom-up or top-down?
a. Bottom-up takes info and builds an interpretation from it b. Top-down use knowledge, experience, and expectations to guide what you see c. Bottom-up was used when looking at the upside down, inverted image of Obama d. Top-down would be used in cell phone conversations because we use our knowledge to overlook certain things
Does walking in nature improve affect and/or cognition? (Bratman et al., 2015)
a. Bratman, Daily, Levy, and Gross (2015) b. Participants take a walk in either an urban environment or nature environment i. Take in everything ii. Emotional survey and cognition items c. Difference between initial and final d. Nature group showed improved affect e. Rumination- negative thoughts i. Had less rumination after nature walk ii. Improves (reduces) anxiety levels f. Nature group showed improved operation span
Know the basics of the four models of attention selection that we discussed in class, including the researcher(s) who proposed them.
a. Broadbent: dichotic listening i. Encoding, (line) Identification, Response Selection, Response Execution b. Deutsch and Deutsch: late selection (Flanker task- identify middle letter) i. Encoding, Identification (line), response selection, response execution (one arrow reaches) c. Lavie: Load Theory i. Low load: encoding, identification (line), response selection, response execution (one arrow reaches) ii. High load: encoding, (line), identification, response selection, response execution (one arrow reaches)
Understand the inductive reasoning tasks we did in class, such as the task of Bruner, Goodnow, and Austin (1956). What types of rules are possible for the Bruner et al. task? Which ones are the easiest and hardest? What strategies are available?
a. Bruner task: gave 81 cars that differ in 4 ways i. Shape, Color, Number of items, Number of borders ii. Point to card that satisfies rule b. Types of rules: i. Simple: one feature of one dimension (black shape) ii. Conjunctive: one feature of different dimension (two black shapes) iii. Disjunctive: one feature of one dimension, one feature of a different dimension (two shapes OR black) iv. Negative: "not" (not red) v. Relational: number of shapes = number of borders c. Successive scanning: pick card that differs in only 1 feature d. Focus gambling: pick card that differs in all features but 1
What is a problem space? Understand how they are constructed and what the branches and levels mean. We worked through an example of tic-tac-toe in class.
a. Can be represented by upside-down tree b. Each choice is branch of tree c. Take path through problem space d. If could evaluate all possibilities, would do very well in games i. 8-tile puzzle ii. tic-tac-toe
What is the main claim of Craik and Tulving's (1975) levels of processing theory?
a. Category membership b. Second group stated whether words were all in upper or lower case i. Shallow processing c. Deep processors could more easily recall d. Think about personal connections- helps retain
Know the three stages of skill acquisition by name, plus know how the stages differ in their memory representations, performance, and attention demands. Be able to classify an example.
a. Cognitive: declarative, slow inaccurate, high b. Associative: associations made stronger, improving, medium c. Autonomous: nondeclarative, fast accurate, low d. Novice in cognitive stage e. Expert on autonomous stage: not a lot of conscious cognitive control
What is language comprehension, as compared to acquisition and production?
a. Comprehension: To understand a language b. Acquisition: Learning a language c. Production: to produce language (not been studied as much as comprehension)
What are the three processes of speech production? Know them by name and know what happens in each process.
a. Conceptualization: message- main point b. Formulation: syntax and words i. Lemma: mental representation of a word ii. Sound level: how think will say it c. Articulation: planning speech i. Motor planning: how will actually say it
What is the difference between controlled and automatic processing? How did Payne (2001) study this, and what were the results?
a. Controlled: under the flexible, intentional control of the individual, that he or she is consciously aware of, and that are effortful and constrained by the amount of attentional resources available at the moment b. Automatic: not under the control of the individual, not consciously aware of
What role does the prefrontal cortex play in solving well- vs. ill-defined problems, according to Goel (2010)?
a. Damage to right prefrontal cortex- impairs ill-defined b. Damage to left prefrontal cortex- impairs well-defined
Be able to classify an example memory as declarative or nondeclarative, as episodic or semantic.
a. Declarative (explicit): i. Semantic- memories for knowledge ii. Episodic- memories of experience b. Non-declarative (implicit): i. Procedural- step-by-step memory ii. Priming- being exposed to something previously iii. Conditioning- remembering things that have happened in the past
What are aftereffects? Which color vision theory do they support?
a. It is what happens when receptors tire out b. Opponent Process Theory of Color Vision
What are encoding, consolidation, and retrieval?
a. Encoding: Making memories b. Consolidation: Completely processed (memories are spread through brain), brain is active in same places as when made memory "reliving experiences" c. Retrieval: Cues to access memory (the more cues, more likely to remember)
What did Saffran, Aslin, and Newport do in their study, and what did they find?
a. Environmental factors that influence language learning i. No gaps between words (when speaking) ii. Hard to understand b. Statistical likelihood that certain words will follow others c. Babies would predict word boundaries i. In English speaking homes d. 2 minutes of artificial, made up language e. 4 words: bi da ku, pa do ti, go la bu, tu pi ro i. go la bu vs. la go bu "non-word" ii. go la bu vs. bu tu pi "part word" - preferred to listen to this than non-word
Know the key people in the history of psychology and what their contribution was to the field. (This will be two questions)
a. Ernst Weber- psychophysics, worked on experimental psychology b. Gustav Fechner- founder of psychophysics c. Wilhelm Wundt- had first lab with psychology in the name d. Edward Titchener- created structuralism, worked under Wilhelm Wundt e. William James- functionalism (why we perceive things a certain way) f. Sigmund Freud- principles of psychology (very cognitive), believed unconscious mind controls behavior g. Max Wertheimer- one of the three founders of Gestalt psychology h. John B Watson- established behaviorism i. BF Skinner- psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher j. Donald Broadbent- revolution, radical change of thought: massive change in how we approach human consciousness k. Sternberg- performed experiment on memory with levers and digits
Be able to determine the sorts of stimuli that would excite an on-center cell and an off-center cell and the sorts of stimuli that would inhibit it.
a. Excite: light, chemicals, heat, pressure b. Inhibit: sodium, chloride
What is grammar? What are syntax, semantics, phonology, and orthography?
a. Grammar-rules b. Syntax: order of words plays large part in meaning i. Function words: "the", "a"- very slight differences in meanings (a broken headlight vs the broken headlight)- certainty and uncertainty ii. Other languages have genders c. Semantics: meaning which is deprived from individual words i. Different tones ii. Understanding can go beyond actual words d. Phonology: phoneme- basic unit of sound e. Orthography: grapheme- letter f. Born with capability of learning any language i. Desire to learn language ii. In absence of language, some form still somewhat present
What is the Wason Selection Task (traditional form)? Know the cards that people are supposed to turn over, given an example from the article and even examples not directly tested. Which card(s) do people actually turn over, and why?
a. If a card has a D on one side, then it has a 3 on the other side b. Turning over 3 is affirmation of the consequent i. Checking if "then" part is true c. Technically doesn't matter because 3 could be on back side of other cards i. Only matters if 3 is on backside of D ii. Same with B (don't turn over) d. P not Q is correct e. Initially, nobody selected just P and not Q f. Only 4/18 fixed eventually to be correct g. 1 person chose correctly in control group h. The vowel and the even number are turned over most
How does performance change when a modified form of the Wason Selection Task is used?
a. If a card has a square on one side, then it has a red squiggle on the other side b. 12/26 fell for it c. 1 person in each group selected correctly d. no effect of program cards e. "If a person is drinking beer, s/he must be 21 years old or older" i. easier to grasp, more relatable and easier to understand f. "If an envelope is sealed, it must have 20 cent postage" g. "If a person is entering, s/he must have cholera vaccine" h. real-world concepts give additional ways to process, and are more concrete i. have trouble with abstract thoughts, especially with no logic courses/training
What is the critical period hypothesis? How do the results of Genie support it?
a. In order to learn something, must be exposed to it in certain period of time b. Critical period= before puberty
What is Broca's area? What is Broca's aphasia? What are its symptoms?
a. In the frontal lobe b. Damage: Broca's aphasia c. Can get telegraphic word i. Um, uh give us to retrieve word that forgot ii. Leave words out, slow, struggle
What is Wernicke's area? What is Wernicke's aphasia? What are its symptoms?
a. In the temporal lobe b. Left hemisphere task c. Damage to Wernicke's area= Wernicke's aphasia i. Don't have trouble with words coming out, but don't make sense ii. Some words, but sentences are difficult iii. Have trouble comprehending language iv. Comprehending individual words v. Parsing: figuring out where words are, interpret words one at a time
What is forgetting? When is the rate of forgetting most rapid?
a. Inability to recall/recognize previously encoded information i. Forgetting isn't always caused by decay (over time, deterioration of memory)- steepest forgetting is right after (The Power Law) ii. Time alone does not determine forgetting iii. Interference is more likely to be cause- effect what is happening 1. Proactive- old info interfering w/learning new info 2. Retroactive- new info interfering w/remembering old info
What is the difference between inattentional blindness and change blindness? Be able to classify an example that demonstrate one or the other.
a. Inattentional: i. Failure to be aware of unattended object(s) or event(s) 1. Simon and Chabris (gorilla) 2. Traditional simplistic stimuli ii. Salient things capture attention and are less likely to be missed; things that look like distractions are more likely to be missed b. Change: i. Failure to be aware of unattended changes 1. You are told something is changing but it may take a while to find 2. Changes are obvious once found, so it's not a problem with low-level perception 3. People wrongly believe that they will notice such changes (change blindness blindness) ii. Ways to produce it: 1. Flicker paradigm- inserts blank screen between 2. "mudsplats"- mask added (colored boxes) 3. Gradual changes- illusion of attention- changes slowly, hard to notice 4. Movies/real life- editing errors, people changing places
Know what Gray (2004) did and found.
a. Investigated what happens to bat when batting if think about it i. Single task ii. Extraneous dual-task iii. Skill-focused dual task b. Pay attention to bat heading down or heading up- also to tone (high/low) i. Predicted novices would have trouble because need attention c. Novices mess up if tone is high or low (extraneous) d. Experts mess up when have to pay attention to where bat is (skill-focused) e. Under pressure: better at skill-focused but batting performance declined
What are point-light displays? When viewing them, what information are we able to perceive?
a. Johanson (1973) i. Had participants move around in dark with lights attached to them ii. Can make appear more masculine or feminine iii. Weight changes how walk iv. Emotions also show (happy/sad), (relaxed/nervous) v. Interpretation derived by brain (just dots)
What have studies on animals (such as Koko the gorilla and Kanzi the bonobo chimpanzee) indicated about animals' ability to learn and use human language?
a. Koko the gorilla uses sign language "gorilla me polite come hurry" b. Kanzi the bonobo uses communication board symbols i. Both have personalities ii. Some things we think are uniquely human, are shown in other animals iii. Telegraphic speech not in normal order iv. Similar to human 2 year old v. Don't have native human ability
Know the key structures of the eye and be able to label them.
a. Lens- helps focus b. Retina- rods/cones (rods: don't need a lot of light- don't need color, cones: need a lot of light) c. Fovea- where area of main focus is processed d. Iris- controls size of pupil e. Pupil- changes size to allow light
What is the availability heuristic?
a. Likeliness can retrieve from memory i. Media has tendency of over-inflating because of repetition- continue to make memories of the same thing and becomes more believable
Know what Tyler and Marlsen-Wilson (1977) did and found
a. Measured how long people looked at ending word after they were revealed b. People are faster with appropriate continuations compared to inappropriate c. Processing of words in each sentence is different d. Human language is very complex
What effects do misattribution, inferences, and suggestion have on memory? What have studies shown?
a. Misattribution: thinking source is different than what it is (often don't remember where heard story) i. ex: telling a friend a story they told you b. Inferences: read between the lines of what is written i. Fill in blanks with false info c. Suggestion: ex: using words like "smashed" vs "hit" when asking about a car accident d. Can all contribute to false memories
What is a conditional statement? Given one, be able to identify modus ponens, modens tollens, affirmation of the consequent, and denial of the antecedent.
a. Modus ponens and modus Tollens are valid inferences of conditional statements b. Modus Tollens: the rule of logic stating that if a conditional statement ("if p then q ") is accepted, and the consequent does not hold ( not-q ), then the negation of the antecedent ( not-p ) can be inferred. (contrapositive inference) c. Modus ponens: the rule of logic stating that if a conditional statement ("if p then q ") is accepted, and the antecedent ( p ) holds, then the consequent ( q ) may be inferred. d. Affirmation of the consequent: sometimes called converse error, fallacy of the converse or confusion of necessity and sufficiency, is a formal fallacy of inferring the converse from the original statement e. Denial of the antecedent: sometimes also called inverse error or fallacy of the inverse, is a formal fallacy of inferring the inverse from the original statement. It is committed by reasoning in the form: If P, then Q. Therefore, if not P, then not Q.
What do the results of Allopenna, Magnuson, and Tanenhaus (1998) tell us about word comprehension?
a. Moving beaker (or other object) i. Eyes likely to be on beaker or beetle ii. More reliably after half second (look at beaker more than beetle)
64. Know what DeNeys, Vartanian, and Goel (2008) did and found. Do people detect a conflict between the heuristic (stereotypical) and base-rate response before responding with the heuristic response?
a. Nearly all of the control problems were responded to correctly, indicating that participants could use base-rate information. There were more errors on the incongruent trials, where participants relied on stereotypes instead of base rates. b. This experiment directly tests two competing claims. The bias-as-detection-failure account claims that people don't realize the description doesn't fit the statistical base rates, while the bias-as-inhibition-failure account claims that people do realize the violation but they can't stop themselves from making the incorrect response. c. Incongruent: heuristic and probability lead to different choices d. Congruent: heuristic and probability lead to same choice e. Neutral (control): cannot use heuristics, must use probability only f. Heuristic (control): cannot use probability, must use heuristic only
Understand what Just and Carpenter (1980) found regarding fixation on words. What do these results tell us about word processing?
a. Number in circle indicates how many milliseconds person was looking at a word i. Words like "the", "that" aren't looked at as much ii. Unknown words are looked at longer (Flywheels) iii. Homophones: words that sound the same but have different meaning
Know what Linck, Kroll, and Sunderman (2009) did (participants, tasks) and found. Also know the interpretation they offer for their results.
a. One group (N=25): semester in Spain b. One group (N=20): Spanish at Penn State (spanish does not surround them) c. Groups were equivalent on measures of Spanish proficiency and cognitive processing d. Immersed learners (N=14) tested 6 months after return to US e. Translation Recognition (Spanish-English) i. Correct translation: cara-face ii. Lexical neighbor: cara-card or care iii. Translation neighbor: cara-fact or fast iv. Semantic neighbor: cara-head or pretty f. Verbal fluency- producing category exemplars (members of) i. Ex: fruit: apple, lemon, orange, etc. g. Reading span: keeping list of words in memory while evaluating sentence plausibility h. Simon task: respond to box color, not location (measure of inhibition)- ignore where was on screen i. Translation interference was lower for immersed learners than classroom learners j. Translation interference varied by type of distractor: i. Classroom learners affected by both types ii. Immersed learners more affected by semantic distractors k. Immersed learners recalled more Spanish words and fewer English words than classroom learners l. Upon returning to the US, the immersed learners were still unaffected by lexical distractors m. Upton returning to the US, the immersed learners could recall more English exemplars than they could abroad n. The results suggest: i. Immersed learners inhibit their L1 when studying abroad. This ensures that they don't accidentally speak their L1 in that context ii. This inhibition reduces access to the L1, producing lower performance on the verbal fluency task an less interference from lexical (form) distractors
Know what Sternberg (1966) found, as well as his interpretation
a. Participants had to store anywhere from 1 - 6 symbols in their memory for both experiments. b. They had to pull a lever c. Sternberg claims that the "motor response, formation of the test-stimulus representation, and other unknown processes whose durations are independent of the number of symbols in memory are represented in the line's intercept, and the exhaustive scanning and comparison process, which depends on the number of symbols in memory, is represented in the line's slope
What is the difference between dyslexia and dysgraphia?
a. Particular person with dyslexia may be very different from person to person i. Misconception ii. Not always about mixing up words iii. Can be broad level iv. Severe or not as severe v. Disorder of reading: extracting meaning from text: deficits could be in reading comprehension, deficits could be in reading speed, often have spelling mistake errors b. Surface dyslexia: difficulty reading irregular words c. Phonological (sound based) dyslexia: sounding words out if difficult d. Deep dyslexia: read word that is semantically related, but not same (mother-sister), phonological processing problem o Deficit in being able to produce/write ♣ Some kids have word spacing issues ♣ Some kids have trouble with appropriate space o Surface level: spacing problems o Deep level: take an idea in head and express in words ♣ Visual spatial (discrimination, spacing)- fine motor (grip, large forms, fatigue)- language processing (what to write, self-check)
Understand each of the problem sets in Tversky and Kahneman (1981). Why do people choose the way they do in each case?
a. People prefer A because if gains are involved, people tend to be risk-aversive; do not want to take a chance (200 alive, 400 dead) b. People prefer program D- prefer the risk if there is a chance of lives lost i. Emotion could be playing a role ii. Problems 3 & 4: Failure to combine decisions iii. Problems 5-7: Failure to account for contingencies iv. Problems 8 & 9: failure to account for similarity v. Problem 10: $5 savings is dependent on proportion of cost
Know what Hidaka and Shimoda (2014) did and found.
a. Pink symbolizes sweetness, green is least sweet b. While color does affect how sweet a solution is perceived, it doesn't have a separate effect on adapting to the sweetness of the solution c. Two experiments
What is meant by prior probability, conditional probability, and posterior probability? How do they relate to one another and how do they fit in with the theorem?
a. Prior probability for example could be 1 house out of 100,000 robbed b. Conditional probability for example could be 90% of robbers near door open c. Posterior probability for example could be the probability the door is open after the burglary occurred d. Take prior probability combined with conditional probability to find posterior probability
Be able to classify an example as proactive or retroactive interference.
a. Proactive example: calling new boyfriend old boyfriend's name b. Retroactive example: calling old boyfriend new boyfriend's name
Using the Expected Utility Model, be able to determine the "best" of two options involving gains or involving gains and losses.
a. Probability gets combined with the dollar value i. Always shown in terms of decimals b. .45 * $200 = +$90 c. .50 * $150 = +$75 i. option 1 is objectively better d. .10 * $15 = +$1.50 e. .05 * $25 = +$1.25 i. option 1 is objectively better f. .30 * $100 - .70 * $20... $30- $14 = +$16 OR g. .70 * $20 - .30 * $10... $14 - $3 = +$11 i. option 1 is objectively better h. .10 * $800 - .90 * $90... $80 - $81 = -$1 OR i. .40 * $50 - .60 * $30... $20 - $18 = +$2 i. Option 2 is objectively better
What are Gestalt grouping laws? Be able to label examples.
a. Proximity- things that are close, seem to go together b. Similarity- things that are similar, seem to go together c. Continuation- perceives things continue even if not logical d. Closure- all about having edges e. Good figure- what are those figures
How do film edits ("cuts") disrupt attention? (Shimamura et al., 2015)
a. Psychocinematics b. Shimamura, Cohn-sheehy, Pogue, and Shimamura (2015) i. Purpose of cuts to force attention on certain aspects ii. Is attention disrupted when there's a cut? iii. Asterisk at different times iv. Some were precut, some in middle, some were first frame v. Would location predict if detected? vi. Asterisk right after scene changes, much more likely to miss (without sound) vii. Sound present drives down accuracy: imbed in story
Know the basic tenets of psychophysics, introspection, structuralism, functionalism, the psychodynamic approach, Gestalt psychology, behaviorism, and cognitive psychology.
a. Psychophysics translate stimulus to experience b. Introspection describes the experience, different people report different things, can't tell truth when self-reporting c. Structuralism- a method of interpretation and analysis of aspects of human cognition, behavior, culture, and experience that focuses on relationships of contrast between elements in a conceptual system that reflect patterns underlying a superficial diversity d. Functionalism- the theory that mental states can be sufficiently defined by their cause, their effect on other mental states, and their effect on behavior e. Psychodynamic approach- an approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate to early experience f. Gestalt psychology- a movement in psychology founded in Germany in 1912, seeking to explain perceptions in terms of gestalts rather than by analyzing their constituents. g. Behaviorism- the theory that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning, without appeal to thoughts or feelings, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behavior patterns. h. Cognitive psych- branch of psychology concerned with mental processes (as perception, thinking, learning, and memory) especially with respect to the internal events occurring between sensory stimulation and the overt expression of behavior — compare behaviorism
How do cell phone conversations (even hands-free ones) affect driving? How did Strayer et al. (2003) study this and what did they find?
a. Pulls attention away from road- even hands-free b. Will pause a little if skilled driver and having conversation (in harder driving conditions) i. Other passengers can distract too ii. Turn down music to focus better iii. Very alert and focused if driving new area c. Strayer: stimulation d. Dual-task: on phone and driving e. Traffic density i. High density- cars passing on left and there is car in front of you ii. Brake if car in front brakes- only accidents occurred with people on cell phones in high density traffic f. Presentation of billboards g. Inattentional blindness: those on cell phones remembered less h. Also showed word covered in dots, slowly took away i. Paying attention to word when first appeared makes easier to recognize later (priming)
What are the heuristics of random search, hill-climbing, and means-ends analysis? Be able to identify the heuristic in use when solving the Rubik's Cube, the Hobbits & Orcs Problem, the Tower of Hanoi, and cryptarithmetic problems.
a. Random search: an algorithm that incorporates some kind of randomness or probability (typically in the form of a pseudorandom number generator) in its methodology b. Hill climbing: "Progress tests" are critical to problem solving. A solver who selects the next action so that it appears s/he is getting closer to the goal c. Means-ends analysis: A solver who evaluates whether the current node differs less from the goal state than other nodes that were visited before, and who selects the next operator that will reduce that difference i. Hobbits & Orcs Problem ii. Tower of Hanoi d. Cryptarithmetic i. Two-string problem 1. Functional fixedness, trouble in seeing things for other than what they are used for
Know the results of DeCasper and Spence (1984) and what the study's results mean for language acquisition theory.
a. Read the cat and the hat to unborn baby b. Could choose to listen to same story (after born) or different story by sucking nipple c. Prosody: rhythm, highs/lows of voice i. Tuning into physical characteristics of story d. Babbling after maybe 8 months i. Not words, but lead to words e. Benefits of teaching child sign language when having language issues
Understand what Carraher, Carraher, and Schliemann (1986) did and found. What sort of mistakes did the children make?
a. Real-world don't have pencil and paper to complete problems (street vendor children) b. Math was similar or identical on street and with written test i. Each individual child had exact same operations c. Teaching children written problems bc want them to internalize d. Participant group was varied in education e. 4 of 5 children had perfect scores in informal test f. 1 child made 1 mistake g. did much better on word problems on formal test than abstract, context list h. made many errors in abstract part of formal test i. errors reveal a pattern (misusing operators) test j. if know solution to one problem that is similar to what are facing (at deep, meaningful level)
What is mind-wandering? When does it occur? What are its pros and cons?
a. Related to the task/unrelated to the task i. Task focus ii. Self-generated & task related iii. Self generated & task unrelated iv. Distracted v. Self-generated & task unrelated b. Open ended c. Mind wandering: not giving self permission, aware of it
What are cognates?
a. Same or similar across different languages b. Ex: (French) bleu=blue, soeur= sister, nom=name, cent=hundred
How did Baars, Motley, and MacKay (1975) induce people to make speech errors? What did they find?
a. Series of 2 word pairs b. L= lexical, N= nonlexical c. Big dog, bad deal, beer drum, darn bore, barn door? L-L d. Big dog, bad deal, beer drum, dart board, bart doard? L-N e. S-R-, S-R-, S-R-, rafe sound, safe round? N-L f. N-W-, N-W-, N-W, wibe nid, nibe wid? N-N g. Depends on context h. Make error much more when result in real words i. Less likely if not English j. Lexical outcome= real words k. Nonsense outcome= not real words
What is the capacity and duration of short-term memory? Long-term memory?
a. Short term: limited in capacity, about 5-9 items b. Long term: incredibly high capacity, potentially infinite, duration can be lifelong
Know what Loftus and Palmer did and found.
a. Showed participants car accidents b. Asked several questions (only one mattered) c. How fast were cars going when they (smashed/hit) each other? i. Those asked "smashed" reported much faster d. Also asked if saw broken glass (there was none) some answered yes- mostly in smashed condition
What is code-switching? When does it occur?
a. Using languages interchangeably within a sentence i. "blue loop"- Taiwanese lab partner who spoke Mandarin and English ii. speaking entirely in native language on phone, but said "blue loop" referring to train station near Penn State- wouldn't have conveyed same message if translated it iii. dependent on context: if other person doesn't speak same language, would confuse (other person probably spoke both in above condition) b. not always aware of code switch c. this suggests words are stored interchangably
What are the ventral and dorsal streams of visual processing? How do they work together to help us see? How does damage affect them?
a. Ventral Stream: "what" stream, temporal lobe, processes object properties, damage produces visual agnosia (difficulty recognizing objects) b. Dorsal Stream: "where" stream, parietal lobe, processes spatial relationships, damage produces conditions based on location c. Apraxia is motor condition d. Hemispatial neglect is trouble seeing full picture e. Patient DF has trouble recognizing and matching angles
What is the difference between a well-defined and an ill-defined problem? (Goel refers to these as "well-structured" and "ill-structured", but the concepts are the same.)
a. Well-defined: A problem where the start state, goal state, and/or the transformation function is completely specified i. Neuropsychological test batteries are well-structured problems, while real-world problems have some components that are well-structured and others that are ill-structured. b. Ill-defined: A problem where these values are absent or incomplete
Can you "train" your brain? How do commercially-available methods compare to traditional video games? (Shute et al., 2015; Anguera et al., 2013)
a. Shute: participants who were assigned to play Portal 2 showed a statistically significant advantage over Lumosity on each of the three composite measures—problem solving, spatial skill, and persistence. Portal 2 players also showed significant increases from pretest to posttest on specific small- and large-scale spatial tests while those in the Lumosity condition did not show any pretest to posttest differences on any measure b. Anguera: By playing an adaptive version of NeuroRacer in multitasking training mode, older adults (60 to 85 years old) reduced multitasking costs compared to both an active control group and a no-contact control group, attaining levels beyond those achieved by untrained 20-year-old participants, with gains persisting for 6 months. Furthermore, age-related deficits in neural signatures of cognitive control, as measured with electroencephalography, were remediated by multitasking training (enhanced midline frontal theta power and frontal-posterior theta coherence). Critically, this training resulted in performance benefits that extended to untrained cognitive control abilities (enhanced sustained attention and working memory), with an increase in midline frontal theta power predicting the training-induced boost in sustained attention and preservation of multitasking improvement 6 months later. These findings highlight the robust plasticity of the prefrontal cognitive control system in the ageing brain, and provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, of how a custom-designed video game can be used to assess cognitive abilities across the lifespan, evaluate underlying neural mechanisms, and serve as a powerful tool for cognitive enhancement.
Know the components of the Baddeley-Hitch Model.
a. Slightly different take b. Visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, phonological loop c. Visual and spatial, kind of like a manager/takes note of info coming in, sound info
How does writing differ from speaking? What are its three stages?
a. Speech: quick, on the spot b. Writing: comfortable, more time, room for editing c. 3 stages: i. planning: what you want to say ii. translation: take concepts from memory and convert iii. reviewing: confirming what want to say
What is the power law, as applied to skill acquisition?
a. Starting new job, need to use cash register, learn by watching someone i. Think harder when doing it the first time
Know each of the following types of logical fallacies by name and be able to identify an example: strawman, slippery slope, ad hominem, the gambler's fallacy, bandwagon, black-or-white, appeal to authority, appeal to nature, anecdotal, appeal to emotion, tu quoque, Texas sharpshooter. (This will be two questions)
a. Strawman: misrepresent someone's argument b. Slippery slope: claim if one thing happens, then another will happen c. Ad hominem: attack based on personal characteristics d. Gambler's fallacy: think it's due to happen e. Bandwagon: if it's popular, make you think it's good f. Black-or-white: one way or the other- no gray area g. Appeal to authority: a form of defeasible argument in which a claimed authority's support is used as evidence for an argument's conclusion h. Appeal to nature: proposed that "a thing is good because it is 'natural', or bad because it is 'unnatural' i. Anecdotal: personal connection to argument, makes believe more true j. Appeal to emotion: logical fallacy characterized by the manipulation of the recipient's emotions in order to win an argument, especially in the absence of factual evidence k. Tu quoque: a retort made by a person accused of a crime implying that the accuser is also guilty of the same crime l. Texas sharpshooter: committed when differences in data are ignored, but similarities are stressed. From this reasoning, a false conclusion is inferred
What role does adrenaline play in memory strength? We saw a video in class showing an experiment done on this.
a. Strong emotional response likely component of memory b. Flashbulb memory
What is the Stroop task? What is the typical result?
a. Stroop: color of ink either matches or doesn't match what word says i. Requires a lot of processing ii. Override automatic tendency to read b. Payne: process dissociation approach c. Congruent vs. incongruent (no weapon following black face, vs weapon following black face) d. All white participants e. If encountering a threat, automatic processing may take control
What factors influence eyewitness testimony? Know the basics of the repressed memory debate, the Lockerbie bombing case, and the Fells Acres Daycare case. How were eyewitness testimonies flawed in each case? (This will be two questions)
a. Therapists used to believe adult mental health problems had to do with past abuse i. Loftus: ii. Asked about sexual abuse- some therapists don't take no as an answer iii. Creates false memories iv. Sometimes use hypnosis b. Lockerbie Bombing i. Plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland due to bomb ii. 9 months later, asked to recall single meeting iii. eyewitness kept changing memory 1. so easily manipulated c. Fells Acres Daycare case i. Reliability of child accounts is affected by: 1. Amount of time- can confuse events 2. Suggestibility: can be easily led to answer (want to please adults) 3. Social influences: likely to follow friend 4. Repeated questions- will change response to please questioner 5. Use of dolls- encourages exploration of private body parts 6. Understandability of questions- less likely to understand question content ii. Positively reinforced for saying they were molested iii. The kids claimed to be abused by preschool teachers and it never happened
What deficits are seen in individuals with the inattentive type of ADHD? Which of the three types of attention are affected by the disorder, and how are they affected?
a. There are several purposes of attention i. Selective attention and the ability to divide it amongst different tasks ii. Sustained attention iii. Attentional control b. Usually ADHD is thought to involve deficits in: i. Sustained attention (can't pay attention long) ii. Attentional control (make errors in planning and organizing) c. RSVP method: those without ADHD can rule different colored asterisk as not relevant to target, those with ADHD can't help but process asterisk as green
Are people risk averse or risk taking? How does the prospect of wins versus losses affect this?
a. They are risk-aversive if gains are involved (200 alive, 400 dead) b. They are risk taking if there is a chance of lives lost
Are people rational? What is the notion of bounded rationality?
a. Too much info may cause acting irrationally b. Bounded rationality: working memory, ability to pay attention, executive functions
What are some advantages and challenges to being bilingual, both in childhood and in old age?
a. You can talk to more people b. Initial learning of vocabulary may be slowed slightly in children learning two or more languages simultaneously c. BUT, by school age bilinguals: i. No longer delayed ii. Know more words than monolinguals iii. Have more metalinguistic awareness: knowledge about how language works iv. Realize that words are abstract symbols because every object has multiple labels (2) for everything that surrounds them d. Large benefits for bilinguals in old age i. Greater cognitive flexibility (creativity?) ii. Greater inhibitory control e. Simon task (color of box inhibit location), multitasking (inhibition creates better multitask), preserved cognition
What is functional fixedness? We will discuss two classic studies of them and you should know the details from these studies.
a. cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used b. Two-string problem i. Hold on to one string, can't reach other string ii. Put pliers on one string to give it weight and swing it towards when holding other c. Candle-on-the-wall i. Take box of tacs, dump out, put tacs on wall and put candle in box
What is the end-state comfort effect? How was studied by Cohen and Rosenbaum (2004)?
a. discovered by Rosenbaum i. pour water into cup: grab so have more comfortable end-state b. Rosenbaum was out to lunch and noticed a waiter grabbed cup to flip over and pour in certain way (move arm so it's twister at first, but comfortable at end-state)
Who was H.M. (Henry Molaison)? What happened to him? What abilities were intact in him and what abilities were affected?
a. head injury as young boy- caused seizures b. negatively impacted his life (debilitating) c. removed hippocampus to stop seizures (reduced but didn't stop) i. short term memory was intact but long term meory no longer worked ii. sense of familiarity but not recognition iii. could learn new procedural memories iv. no declarative memory v. non-declarative memory was in tact vi. retained some memory from childhood vii. lost memories from a few years before surgery (retrograde amnesia) viii. anterograde amnesia
What is the difference between holistic (configural) and featural processing of faces?
a. holistic processing is the processing of the whole face, with spatial layout information, while featural processing is the processing of the individual parts of the face
Understand how Hubel and Wiesel conducted their study and what they found.
a. investigate whether newborn kittens already have the neural connections necessary to process vision - even before they open their eyes. b. Hubel and Wiesel recorded neural activity from individual cells in the striate cortex c. Even in kittens without visual experience, the cortex is organized into columns of cells that prefer the same orientation of stimulus
What is the encoding switch hypothesis by Carey and Diamond (1977)?
a. young children process faces in a piecemeal fashion before adult-like holistic processing starts to emerge at the age of around 10 years
Be able to identify the differences between rods and cones.
rods: don't need a lot of light- don't need color, cones: need a lot of light
What is rehearsal?
the role of repetition in the retention of memories. It involves repeating information over and over in order to get the information processed and stored as a memory
What are earworms? When do they occur and what are their properties? (Williamson & Jilka, 2014)
the spontaneous recall and repeating of a tune in one's mind—can be attributed to a wide range of triggers, including memory associations and recent musical exposure. The present study examined whether a song's popularity and melodic features might also help to explain whether it becomes INMI, using a dataset of tunes that were named as INMI by 3,000 survey participants. It was found that songs that had achieved greater success and more recent runs in the U.K. music charts were reported more frequently as INM
