cognitive psychology exam 1

Basic anatomy of a neuron

3 parts: dendrites, cell body, and axon. travel through them to reach synapse.

same-object advantage

Occurs when the enhancing effect of attention spreads throughout an object, so that attention to one place on an object results in a facilitation of processing at other places on the object.

What is a key difference between dendrites and axons?

One sends information and the other receives information.

Colin Cherry's experiment in which participants listen to two messages simultaneously, one in each ear, found all but which of the following?

People who are deaf process auditory information on a nonconscious level.

Hierachical Processing

Progression from lower to higher areas of the brain.

Perceiving machines are used by the U.S. Postal Service to "read" the addresses on letters and sort them quickly to their correct destinations. Sometimes, these machines cannot read an address because the writing on the envelope is not sufficiently clear for the machine to match the writing to an example it has stored in memory. Human postal workers are much more successful at reading unclear addresses, most likely because of:

top-down processing

The "cognitive revolution"

was a gradual process that occurred over a few decades.

The likelihood principle states that

we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we have received.

The perception pathway corresponds to the _____ pathway, while the action pathway corresponds to the _____ pathway.

what; where

Action pathway (where)

where path way: leading from striate cortex to parietal lobe, reach fingers grab cup avoiding other things. lift cup with right amount of force. action pathways: pathway from visual cortex to partial lobe.

The notion that every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible is called the law of

pragnanz

The notion that faster responding occurs when enhancement spreads within an object is called

same-object advantage.

Entering a classroom and seeing someone selling hot dogs and cotton candy from a cart near the instructor's podium would be perceived as a violation of

scene schema

When Sam listens to his girlfriend Susan in the restaurant and ignores other people's conversations, he is engaged in the process of __________ attention.

selective

covert attention

shift attention from one place to another while keeping eyes stationary.

Overt attention

shifting attention from one place to another by moving the eyes

In Donders's experiment on decision making, when participants were asked to press a button upon presentation of a light, they were engaged in a

simple reaction time task.

Localization of function

specific functions are served by specific areas of the brain.

What is cognitive psychology?

the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind

If a Gestalt psychologist was baking a cake for an event, what would they be most focused on?

the cake

With the Stroop effect, you would expect to find longest response times when

the color and the name differed.

Broadbent's model is called the early selection model because

the filter eliminates the unattended information right at the beginning of the flow of information.

A synapse is:

the gap that separates two different neurons.

What differentiates bottom-up processing from top-down processing?

the source of information

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Symposium on Information Theory, George Miller presented a paper suggesting that

there are limits to the human ability to process information.

Gestalt principles

they describe operating characteristics of human perceptual system, which happen to be determined at least partially by experience.

Feature detectors

they respond to specific stimulus features such as orientation, movement, and length.

If a word is identified more easily when it is in a sentence than when it is presented alone, this would be an example of _____ processing.

top-down

The first experiments in cognitive psychology were based on the idea that mental responses can be

inferred from the participant's behavior.

Viewpoint ________ is the ability to recognize the same object even if it is seen from different perspectives.

invariance

The task of determining the object responsible for a particular image on one's retina is called the:

inverse projection problem

A high threshold in Treisman's model of attention implies that

it takes a strong signal to cause activation.

Paul Broca's and Carl Wernicke's research provided early evidence for:

localization of function.

Behaviorists believe that the presentation of ____________ increases the frequency of behavior.

positive reinforcers

Which of the following statements best describes how neurons communicate with one another?

A chemical process takes place in the synapse.

Donald Broadbent was the first person to develop which of the following?

A flow diagram depicting the mind as processing information in a sequence of stages

Which of the following is consistent with the idea of localization of function?

All of these are correct. Brain areas are specialized for specific functions. Specific areas of the brain serve different functions. Neurons in different areas of the brain respond best to different stimuli.

From the textbook section: "Why Can't Machines Perceive Like Humans?" what were the primary reasons noted why machine perception is a difficult problem to tackle?

All of these are correct. Inverse projection problem. Scenes contain high-level information. Viewpoint invariance. Objects can be blurred/obscured.

Which of the following psychologists is known for research on operant conditioning?

B. F. Skinner

Bayesian inference, likelihood principle.

Bayesian inference: (Thomas Bayes) our estimate of probability of an outcome is determined by two factors: 1) prior probability/ prior, 2) likelihood. Likelihood: extent to which available evidence is consistem with outcome.

What does the field of neuropsychology study?

Behavior of people with brain damage

Broadbent vs. Treiman's models of selection:

Broadbent: new approach to study attention which ushered in information processing approach. selective attention, his filter model of attention. (Bottle neck model). Treiman: occurs in 2 stages. (attenuator) 1_ physical characteristics, 2) language.

The "Little Albert" experiment involving the rat and the loud noise is an example of which of the following types of experiments?

Classical conditioning

what is cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology?

Cognitive neuropsychology: study of behavior of people with brain damage. Cognitive neuroscience: study of physiological basis of cognition.

Determining the sequence of DNA in humans was a major scientific advance that opened the door to new ideas about illness and approaches to treatment. An individual's unique DNA sequence is similar to which of the following?

Connectome

Which of the following terms does NOT reflect functional network activity in the brain?

Consistent

Which of the following could be considered as always taking a "working vacation"?

Default mode network

What does the principal of neural representation state?

Everything a person experiences is based on representations in the person's nervous system.

Taking clay and sand to create bricks, which are then used to build modular wall panels, which are then assembled to construct tall buildings, is similar to which of the following neural concepts?

Hierarchical processing

Which of the following illustrates how we can miss things even if they are clearly visible?

Inattentional blindness

In the mid-20th century, the study of the mind began using which technique or model inspired by digital computers?

Information processing model

Which of the following is a criticism of analytic introspection?

It produces variable results from person to person.

Which of the following is NOT true of positron emission tomography (PET)?

It replaced functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) because it was less expensive.

What types of neurons respond while a subject watches an action being performed in the same way as if the subject was performing the action?

Mirror neurons

Which substance is released when signals reach the synapse at the end of the axon?

Neurotransmitters

Amhad is doing an experiment in which he has to choose between the object he has been shown previously (the target object) and another object. Choosing the target object will result in a reward. What sort of task is Amhad doing?

Object discrimination problem

Which of the following statements is correct?

Objects in central vision fall on the small area called the fovea.

selective vs. divided attention

Selective focus is focus on one thing to exclusion of others. Divided attention involves focusing on several things at once "multitasking".

In the textbook's use of the Olympic Rings example, which Gestalt law contributes to the correct perception of five interlocking circles rather than nine separate segments?

Simplicity

How does the phenomenon of apparent movement work?

The perceptual system creates the perception of movement from stationary images.

Which of the following is true about Bayesian inference?

The probability of an outcome is determined by the prior probability and the likelihood of the outcome

According to Treisman's attenuation model, which of the following would you expect to have the highest threshold for most people?

The word 'platypus'

With which of the following sentences would the author disagree?

We can consider the mind extraordinary if it is used for extraordinary purposes.

Illusory conjunctions are

combinations of features from different stimuli.

A technique in which trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli is known as

analytic introspection.

Eye tracking studies investigating attention as we carry out actions such as making a peanut butter sandwich found that a person's eye movements

are determined primarily by the task.

Action potentials occur in the:

axon

Which of the following is the process by which features such as color, form motion, and location are combined to create our perception of a coherent object?

binding

Difference between bottom up and top down processing.

bottom up processing: starts at the bottom or beginning of system, when environmental energy stimulates receptors. Top-down processing: originates in brain at top of perceptual system. persons knowledge of environment.

The sequence of steps that includes the image on the retina, changing the image into electrical signals, and neural processing is an example of _____ processing.

bottom-up

The key structural components of neurons are the

cell body, dendrites, and axons.

The difficulty we have in recognizing even an obvious alteration in a scene is called __________ blindness.

change

The ability to focus on one stimulus while filtering out other stimuli is called

cocktail party effect

Attention, perception, memory, and decision making are all different types of mental processes in which the mind engages. These are known as different types of

cognition.

The study of the physiological basis of cognition is known as

cognitive neuroscience.

Your text describes the occurrence of a "cognitive revolution" during which dramatic changes took place in the way psychology was studied. This so-called revolution occurred parallel to (and, in part, because of) the introduction of

computers.

perception pathway (what)

cortex to temporal lobe. Perception of cups handle. Pathway leading from straiate cortex to temporal lobe. Heaviness of cup.

Newell and Simon were among the first to use computers for artificial intelligence. Their computer program

created proofs for problems in logic.

Brain imaging has made it possible to:

determine which areas of the brain are involved in different cognitive processes.

The technique where the participant's task is to focus on the message in one ear, called the attended ear, and to repeat what he or she is hearing out loud is known as:

dichotic listening

feature binding

different characteristics (orientation, size shape, color, and location) are integrated to create an object.

The idea that specific cognitive functions activate many areas of the brain is known as

distributed representation.

Proponents of multitasking would note ________ to support their opinion, whereas opponents of multitasking would point to ________ to justify their perspective.

divided attention; distraction

Which of the following word strings all refer to the same pathway?

dorsal, where, action

Principle of neuronal representation

everything a person experience is based not on direct contact with stimuli, but on representations in persons nervous system.

Information processing model

feature detectors

Each time you briefly pause on one face, you are making a(n) ______________.

fixation

A bottom-up process is involved in fixating on an area of a scene that

has high stimulus salience

When we search a scene, initial fixations are most likely to occur on __________ areas.

high-saliency

Distributed representation

idea specific cognitive functions activate many areas of the brain.

You are walking down the street and see a nice car drive by. You notice its color, movement, and shape. All of these features are processed

in different parts of the brain.

what techniques may be applied for studying electrical activity of brain; or for neuroimaging?

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Fusiform fave area (FFA), Paranippocampal Place area (PPA), Extra striate body area (EBA).

By comparing reaction times across different tasks, Donders was able to conclude how long the mind needs to perform a certain cognitive task. Donders interpreted the difference in reaction time between the simple and choice conditions of his experiment as indicating how long it took to

make a decision about the stimulus.

Neurotransmitters

makes it possible for signal to be transmitted across the gap that separates end of axon from dendrite or cell body of another neuron.

The Stroop effect demonstrates people's inability to ignore the __________ of words.

meaning

Groups of neurons or structures that are connected within the nervous system are called __________.

neural networks

inattention blindness

not attending to something that is clearly visible. Unaware of clearly visible stimuli if they aren't directing attention to them.

The investigation of how behavior is strengthened by presentation of positive reinforcers (e.g., food) or withdrawal of negative reinforcers (e.g., shock) is best known as

operant conditioning.

The process by which small objects become perceptually grouped to form larger objects is the principle of perceptual

organization

Speech segmentation is defined as

organizing the sounds of speech into individual words

The use of a machine that tracks the movement of one's eyes can help reveal the shifting of one's __________ attention.

overt

how did cognitive psychology emerge as a field and who were the key scientist who brought forth this paradigm shifts?

people wanted to know more about the mind. Ideas that properties of the mind cannot be measured. Francise vs. Donders, first lab of scientific psychology with cognitive experiments (reactions). Wilhelm Wundt first lab in germany (structuralism) Hermann Ebbinghaus, memory quantitative, savings. William Jame's, American, harvard, principles of psychology, own mind, native attraction. Watson changed to behaviorism.

Ebbinghaus's "memory" experiments were important because they

plotted functions that described the operation of the mind.