PSYC 3330: Exams

What is the most accurate with regard to specificity coding?

It is unlikely to be correct because there are too many stimuli in the world to have a separate neuron for each

____ represents the physical connection of axons in the brain. ______ represents areas in the brain that show correlated activity during certain tasks

Structural connectivity; Functional connectivity

A synapse is:

The gap that separates two different neurons

Accidental viewpoints are an example of:

The inverse projection problem

What BEST describes experience-dependent plasticity?

The more you are exposed to a stimulus, the more neurons will be dedicated to that stimulus.

What is the key function of an axon?

Transmits signals to other neurons

T/F: According to the Ecological approach to perception, information for action can be directly perceived without the need for memory or knowledge.

True

Neurotransmitters bind to receptors on the dendrite to open ion channels. Positive ions flow into the cell and trigger depolarization. This electrical impulse traveling down the axon is called the __________.

action potential

Wundt's procedure in which trained participants describe their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli presented under controlled conditions is known as:

analytic introspection

The cognitive revolution:

occurred rapidly, within a period of a few years, in response to the attacks on Skinner and the development of computers

Research shows that people perceive water to be hotter if it is in a red bowl compared to a blue bowl. This is an example of:

expectation-based perceptual sets

What is NOT an argument supporting Behaviorism?

information processing theories are oversimplified

According to Ecological Theory, ____________ are patterns/relationships that stay the same despite transformations over time and space.

invariants

What is a criticism of analytic introspection

it produces variable results from person to person

Recording from single neurons in the brain has shown that neurons responding to specific types of stimuli are often clustered in specific areas. These results support the idea of...

localization of function

When conducting an experiment on how stimuli are represented by the firing of neurons, you notice that neurons respond differently to different faces. For example, Arthur's face causes 3 neurons to fire, with neuron 1 responding the most and neuron 3 responding the least. Roger's face causes 3 different neurons to fire, with neuron 7 responding the least and neuron 9 responding the most. Your results support ____ coding.

sparse

Which object recognition theory cannot account for differences in the style, position, and orientation of a stimulus?

template theory

What 2 events helped start the Cognitive Revolution?

1. the introduction of the IBM personal computer 2. Army research on training pilots during WWII

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

_____ is emitted from a light source, and reflects off surfaces of the environment to create _____.

Radiant light; Ambient light

If the intensity of a stimulus that is presented to a touch receptor is increased, this tends to increase the ____ in the receptors axon

Rate of nerve firing

What is the key function of dendrites?

Receives signals from other neurons

________ theory suggests that objects are recognized by the spatial configuration of their basic geometric shapes.

Structural

what are 3 arguments that support Behaviorismt?

- introspection is not a suitable technique to understand the mind - mental processes can never be known or measured - external behavior produces observable data

What are 2 limitations of Experimental Cognitive Psychology?

1. Laboratory settings may not replicate real world behavior 2. Studying behavior does not directly study brain functioning

What is the correct order of these philosophies from oldest to newest? - introspection - cognitive revolution - behaviorism - nativism

1. Nativism 2. Introspection 3. Behaviorism 4. Cognitive Revolution

What DOES characterize the information processing approach to the study of cognition?

- depicts the mind as processing information in a sequence of stages - involves the use of computers as a metaphor to understand human cognition - traces the sequence of mental operations involved in cognition

What is true about optic flow?

- Optic flow is the transformation of the optic array due to movement - Different patterns of optic flow specify different events in the environment - Birds use optic flow to determine when they will collide with something

Perception researchers claim that the retinal image is "impoverished," and must be enriched through cognitive processes. How is the retinal image impoverished?

- The retinal image is upside-down and reversed - The retinal image is distorted/stretched

What is NOT an example of a physical regularity?

Angled orientation

Which object recognition theory claims that the perceiver generates hypotheses about what caused a stimulus, and then chooses the most probable one?

Bayesian theory

What does the field of Neuropsychology study?

Behavior of people with brain damage

A researcher presents rats with painful stimulus whenever they walk to a specific corner of their cage, and records the rat's movement in the cage for 1 week. This research aligns with which historical perspective?

Behaviorism

What is the key function of somas?

Completes metabolic functions

What is using a computer program to predict how humans will perform on a decision-making task an example of?

Computational Cognitive Science

Which functional network is most active when a participant is not involved in a specific task?

Default mode network

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has made it possible to:

Determine which areas of the brain are involved in different cognitive processes

What is NOT a research method used to determine functional areas in the brain?

Event-related potentials

T/F: The Ecological approach to visual perception would be considered a top-down approach.

False

Neurons that respond to basic qualities of objects, such as orientation, movement, and length, are called:

Feature detectors

You look at a rope coiled on a beach and are able to perceive it as a single strand because of the Gestalt principle of...

Good continuation

What does NOT characterize the information processing approach to the study of cognition?

IP emphasizes stimulus-response relationships in cognitive processes

What best describes the inverse projection problem?

Many configurations of the world can create a single retinal image

Rene Descartes introduced a philosophy of dualism in the 1600s that separated ___ and ___.

Mind; Body

What DOES NOT reveal the impact of top-down processing on perception?

Optical invariants

What is the key function of a fMRI?

to measure blood flow in the brain

What is the key function of a ERPs?

to measure electrical activity at the scalp

What is the key function of a TMS?

to temporarily stimulate or inhibit regions of the brain

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

Members of a security team are stationed on rooftops surrounding a large city plaza before a scheduled rally. Suddenly, three team members in different locations radio in to the command center, each stating that they have spotted a suspicious box on the ground with a pipe coming from the top. What enables the security team members to report seeing the same object despite being stationed on different rooftops?

viewpoint invariance

What is the main premise of nativism?

we are born with knowledge of the world

What is the main premise of empiricism?

we build knowledge about the world through experience/observation

What is the main premise of rationalism?

we create knowledge of the world through reasoning