PSYC 3330 - Exam 1

replication

THQ: Scientist A is trying to produce the same results that Scientist B reported, using the same methods. This is called...

peripheral and central nervous systems

THQ: The nervous system is generally divided up into which two subsystems?

the human brain because of the lack of understanding of its processes and their intricacies

THQ: What is the most sophisticated computing device in the (known) universe?

independent variable

THQ: a researcher conducting an experiment on hearing presents words at different decibel levels and measures whether the participant can correctly identify them. What is the best description of the role that decibel level plays in this experiment?

including a large sample of participants

THQ: a researcher is studying a theory of memory that requires participant to learn and recall a lot of information under different experimental conditions. The researcher is concerned that there will be a high degree of variability among participants' performance, due to differences in underlying aptitude for learning, rather than the experimental condition. Which of these techniques would typically be used to deal with this kind of variability?

one hundred billion (86 billion)

THQ: about how many neurons are there in the human brain?

consistent practice

THQ: automatic behaviors develop after which of the following? (Stroop effect lab)

the color names being displayed in different colors

THQ: for this lab, interference in certain tasks was caused by which of the following? (Stroop effect lab)

flexible thinking (making decisions about how to respond to novel, constantly changing conditions that have never been encountered before)

THQ: historically, artificial intelligence has been least successful at tasks that require what kind of capability?

the mind may be thought of as software, running on the hardware of the brain

THQ: in computer terminology, "hardware" refers to the physical structure of a computer (the monitor, transistors, memory cards, etc.) while "software" refers to the programs running on the computer, such as a search engine or a video game. Which one of these most appropriately describes the idea of thinking of cognition as a kind of computation?

nurture

THQ: in the context of the nature-versus-nurture debate, what did behaviorists believe produced cognition?

applied research

THQ: let's say a company is designing a new screen for use in a laptop. They hire a researcher to test different designs to determine which ones lead to better visibility. Which kind of research would they be conducting?

removing an unpleasant stimulus - negative reinforcement generating an unpleasant stimulus - positive punishment removing a pleasant stimulus - negative punishment generating a pleasant stimulus - positive reward

THQ: match the description to the correct operant learning technique

a visual pattern presented to an experimental subject - stimulus the behavior of the experimental subject based on the visual pattern - response

THQ: match the description to the correct term

idealism - only the mind exists physicalism - only the body exists dualism - both the mind and body exist separately neutral monism - the mind and body are the same thing

THQ: match the philosophical view with its description

mental chronometry

THQ: measuring the timing of different mental processes is termed... (Stroop effect lab)

detection condition, discrimination condition, choice condition

THQ: order the different conditions of Donder's experiment, based on observed average reaction times, from shortest to longest

reaction time for reading the color in which the word is printed

THQ: the dependent variable (the variable you are measuring) for this study is which of the following? (Stroop effect lab)

an algorithm

THQ: what is the name for a technique used to compute a function?

computer programs that can learn rather than being programmed (they no longer have to rely on step-by-step processing)

THQ: what is the primary driver of recent dramatic progress in artificial intelligence?

introspection

THQ: what technique did the structuralists use to study the mind?

function

THQ: what word describes a mapping between a set of inputs and a set of outputs?

learning in the absence of reinforcement

THQ: which of the following best describes latent learning?

variation in people's behavioral responses

THQ: which of the following is typically accounted for by performing multiple trials for a given condition in an experiment?

to show that behavioral responses can be dramatically modified by conditioning

THQ: which of the following was the purpose of the Little Albert experiment?

cognition depends on non-physical mechanisms other options: the brain is enormously complex the brain is embedded in the larger context of the body and the world the brain must be considered within the contexts in which it operates

THQ: which of these is NOT an offered reason as to why studying the physical brain alone might be insufficient to understand cognition?

secrete hormones into the bloodstream other options: gather information from sensory systems, send information to the brain, direct the movement of muscles

THQ: which of these is not one of the basic goals of the nervous system mentioned above?

the mind and brain are separate entities and the non-physical mind causes intelligent behavior

THQ: which of these viewpoints is the least compatible with the scientific study of cognition?

digestion

THQ: which of these would not be considered part of cognition?

artificial intelligence

a branch of computer science and engineering concerned with building machines that can perform human-like intelligent behaviors AI has been able to advance in recent years (particularly regarding visual object and speech recognition) because computers are now being programmed to learn in an approach called machine learning

Skinner box

a chamber used to contain and automatically provide behavioral feedback to an animal during operant conditioning experiments

hippocampus

a complex structure which is involved in memory formation and is structurally an extension of the temporal lobe of the cortex and is involved in the formation of long-term memories

cortical blindness

a condition in which an individual with damage to the visual cortex will report having no visual experience, despite having working eyes

transistor

a device used in computers to control whether or not a current flowed through parts of the system

human factors

a field of psychology concerned with applying scientific findings to the design of systems that people interact with; applied research

cognitive psychology

a field of psychology concerned with studying intelligence through the observation of behaviors generally depends on measuring behaviors, such as how long it takes to respond to some presented stimulus, in order to develop theories of the underlying neurophysiological processes; "indirect" and drawing a lot of conclusions

cerebral cortex

a folded, layered structure that is the largest single structure and the most superficial portion of the human brain bigger in humans than in any other species; the site of cognition

reinforcement learning

a form of behavioral conditioning based on punishment and reinforcement (reward) feedback

classical conditioning

a learning protocol in which an involuntary behavior is paired with a stimulus, eventually leading to that behavior being elicited by the stimulus alone; discovered with Pavlov's dogs; showed us that behavior can be learned

reaction time (RT)

a measure of how long it takes an experimental subject to respond to a given task or query

operant conditioning

a method of conditioning that reinforces certain behaviors through a system of rewards and punishments

cognitive revolution

a movement in the 1950s that proposed that the mind could be understood as a computational system

experimental subject/participant

a person upon whom a psychological experiment is being conducted

blindsight

a phenomenon in which someone who reports blindness due to cortical damage still shows behavior consisting with come perception

nervous system

a portion of the body consisting of neurons, nerves, and glial cells whose function is to allow different portions of the body to communicate with one another

peripheral nervous system (PNS)

a portion of the nervous system consisting of all neurons, nerves, and glial cells outside of the nervous system; input

replication

a process in scientific research in which a previous experiment is repeated using the same methods as the original

Stroop effect/inference

a psychological phenomenon in which reporting the ink color of words is slowed down when the words spell out the name of a different color

think-aloud protocol

a research method that involved having participants verbally describe their thought process as they are performing a specified task

naturalistic observation

a research technique in which the behaviors of people or other organisms are observed as they occur in their natural environment, without any experimental intervention

fight-or-flight

a response by the sympathetic nervous system that prepares the body with increased strengths and stamina in response to a perceived threat

behaviorist

a school of psychology that emphasized using observable stimuli and behaviors as the basis of scientific experimentation; Watson & Skinner; intervening processes a "black box" whose workings could not be analyzed scientifically

structuralism

a school of psychology whose approach relied on introspecting on one's own conscious mental states in order to understand the mind

behavioral neuroscience

a scientific field that assesses behavior and neurological factors in animals as models of human function

cognitive neuroscience

a scientific field that merges brain imaging with behavioral experimentation

computational neuroscience

a scientific field that uses computer models of the brain to model real brain function

algorithm

a set of operations that produces the input/output mapping of a function

hypothalamus

a small but highly complex cluster of neurons that lies in the center of the brain that regulates multiple involuntary behavioral functions involved in regulating involuntary functions like body temperature, hunger and thirst, fatigue, and certain sexual behaviors

brainstem

a stalk-like structure at the base of the brain that connects it to the spinal cord and regulates involuntary functions like heart rate and breathing

parasympathetic nervous system (PNS)

a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system that regulates certain bodily functions under conditions when immediate action is not needed

sympathetic nervous system

a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system that unconsciously regulates certain functions of the body to prepare for immediate action

introspection

a technique employed by the structuralists to study the mind by training people to examine their own conscious experiences

optogenetics

a technique used to control the activity of brain cells based on introducing light-sensitive proteins into the cells and activating them with light

cognitivism

an approach in psychology that uses behavior as a method of developing and testing theories of the underlying processing of the mind; a more "indirect" kind of science

information processing

an approach to human cognition that views it as a type of computation with sensory information serving as an input which is processed by the brain to determine a behavioral output

stimulus

anything used to stimulate the senses as part of an experimental procedure, such as an image or a sound

nerves

bundles of connective tissue between neurons that allows them to communicate with one another and other parts of the body

glial cells

cells within the nervous system that provide support for neurons and overall nervous system function

speed-accuracy tradeoff

in an experiment with a speeded response, this refers to when participants sacrifice accuracy for greater speed or vice-versa

latent learning

learning in the absence of any reward or punishment conditioning, as in Tolman's maze experiments; goes against hard-core behaviorism b/c it demonstrates ability to generate novel, intelligent behaviors

opsins

light activated proteins

functions

mappings from inputs to outputs

autonomic nervous system (ANS)

portion of the peripheral nervous system that connects to most organs in the body and regulates certain unconscious bodily functions

automatic processing

processing that happens even without the allocation of selective attention, typically for highly familiar stimuli or tasks

trials

repetitions of an experimental condition, typically used in order to compensate for variability in performance across attempts

applied research

research conducted with the goal of developing a useful product, tool, or solution to a problem

basic research

scientific research that is concerned with trying to understand the world and its phenomena, without regard to a specific end-use of this knowledge

neurons

specialized cells that can receive and transmit information

congruent

stimuli are consistent between name and color (Stroop effect lab)

controlled tasks

tasks that require attentional monitoring to execute

response

the behavior an experimental subject engages in after a stimulus is presented

independent variables

the conditions that are being manipulated by the experimenter in order to determine their effects on the dependent variable

neuroscience

the field of science with the study of the brain and related physiological systems

cerebrum

the largest portion of the human brain, sitting at the top of the brain and consisting of the cerebral cortex and related structures devoted to controlling and regulating voluntary behavior

white matter

the layer of the cortex underneath the gray matter, consisting of axonal nerve tracts

central nervous system (CNS)

the portion of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord; cognition primarily takes place here (in the brain); processing/output

dependent variables

the properties that are being measured in an experiment

mind-body problem

the question of how mental events, such as thoughts, beliefs, and sensations, are related to physical mechanisms taking place in the body (such as cellular or molecular processes in the brain)

mental chronometry

the scientific study of the speed of mental processes

reflex action

the simplest form of autonomic behavioral responses in which the spinal cord generates the behavioral signal without the brain stimulus generates an immediate behavioral action triggered by the spinal cord before the information reaches the brain; ex. jerking your hand back from a hot stove

cognition

the sum of mental activities resulting in the acquisition of information from the environment, processing that information, and using it to make a behavioral decision the acquisition and processing of sensory information about the world in order to make behavioral decisions the field of cognition is primarily concerned with understanding the processes that allow things to go right in people's minds and brains

gray matter

the topmost layer of the cortex, consisting of neuronal cell bodies

idealism

the view that all of reality is mental in nature (type of monism)

physicalism/materialism

the view that all reality is physical or material in nature (type of monism)

neutral monism

the view that the mental and physical are identical and all of reality is made of this one kind of thing

dualism

the view that the mind and body consist of fundamentally different kinds of substances or properties (body = physical, mind = mental)

monism

the view that there is only one kind of basic substance in the world, whether exclusively physical or exclusively mental

computational modeling

understanding the brain based on simulating brain processes of functions using computer-based models; want to imitate human cognition

individual differences

variations in performance across different individuals in cognitive tasks

neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and computational modeling

what are the three main approaches to studying cognition?