Cognitive Psychology

Prototype Model Problems

how are prototypes represented neurologically?

Where are motor neurons located?

in the Premotor Cortex

Perception

interpretation or organization of sensory information

Parietal Lobe

sensations

What is a dendrite?

A structure in a neuron that receives information from other neurons

Concept related to B.F. Skinner:

Behaviorism

Template Matching

Bottum-Up, compare stimulus to set of templates or specific patterns stores in memory; when exact match is found, perception is complete

Prototype Model

Bottum-Up, we store prototypes (abstract, idealized patterns in memory and compare stimulus to prototype

CAT Scan

Computerized Axial Tomography: shows structure, looks for tumors/abnormalities, still photograph

What is the right hemisphere of the brain associated with?

Creativity, navigation, spatial processing, musical ability

EEG

Electroencephalography: electrodes on the scalp, measures brain waves and different states of consciousness

ERP

Event-Related Potential: electrodes on the scalp, measures the brain's response to different events/stimuli

What are the four lobes of the brain?

Frontal, Parietal, Occipital, Temporal

FMRI

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: looks at function/activity, lets you see how blood is moving through the brain, can ask individual questions and you can respond to see where the blood is moving

Good Continuation

GPPO; elements forming continuous lines or curves are grouped together

Proximity

GPPO; we tend to group things together when they are closer to one another

Closure

GPPO; when a viewer's perception completes a shape which is not complete, closure occurs example: USA logo

Similarity

GPPO; when items look alike, they tend to be grouped together

What is introspection?

The procedure in which trained participants desribe their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli presented under controlled conditions

What is a synapse?

The space between neurons

What is Cognitive Psychology?

The study of how we acquire, store, retrieve, and use information

Which Psychologists are associated with Structuralism?

Wundt and Titchener

Concept related to William James:

"Principles of Psychology"

Concept related to Gestaltist:

"the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"

Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization

(GPPO); how elements in environment are changes and how it affects perception

Movement's Affect on Perception

(top-down and bottum-up theories don't take this into account) can perceive on object better if it moves or if we can move around it or manipulate it.

MRI

Magnetic Resonance Imaging: no radiation, much clearer picture than a CAT scan, can't have if you have a metal implant or pacemaker, inject non-radiation material, shows sill photos

PET Scan

Positron Emission Tomography: radioactive injection, measures blood flow, shows where brain is active, still photograph

Concept related to Donders:

Reaction time experiments

What is the last part of the brain to develop?

The Frontal Lobe

What is Structuralism?

The idea that experience is derived from the combination of basic elements

What is localization?

The idea that specific areas of the brain specialized for specific functions and neurons in different areas respond best to different stimuli

What is distributed processing?

The idea that specific functions are processed in many parts of the brain

Purpose of Mirror Neurons

help us understand people, identify with them in order to react appropriately

Brain imaging has made it possible to...

determine which areas of the brain are invlved in different cognitive processes

Feature Analysis Problems

difficult to explain complex patterns

Top-Down / Conceptually Driven Processing

expectations and context affect perception, same stimulus with different interpretation

Problems with Template Matching

extremely inflexible, doesn't account for everything, and leaves too much time for processing (not viable, but leads to other theories)

Prototype Model Advantages

flexible, recognizes there are differences between stimuli

Temporal Lobe

hearing/auditory, language, facial recognition, little memory

What is the left hemisphere of the brain associated with?

logic, analytical processes, mathematics, language, serial processing

Cerebellum

movement, balance, attention shift across mentalities

Experience-Dependent Plasticity

neurons can be influenced by your experience so that these neurons respond best to the environment which they/you grew up in; seeing changes at the cellular level

Mirror Neurons

neurons that respond in the same way when actually performing an act and when observing someone else perform the act; sensitive to action

Pragnanz / Simplicity / Good Figure

objects in the environment are seen in a way that makes them appear as simple as possible

Bottum-Up/Data Driven Theories of Perception

perceiver uses information or data from environment to form a perception/relies on data

Physical Regularities

physical environmental factors can alter perception

Feature Analysis Advantage

physiological evidence

Frontal Lobe

planning, judgement, motor movement, personality, and higher executive functions

What is lateralization?

specialization of two hemispheres

Sensation

stimulation of sensory receptors and transmission of sensory information

What is plasticity?

the ability of the brain to "take over" functions of damaged areas

Semantic Regularities

the characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes

Familiarity

things are more likely to form groups if the groups appear familiar or meaningful

Function of the Corpus Callosum

transfers information between the two hemispheres

Recognition by Components

upload version of feature detection, perceive geons or elementary features, combine geons to form objects

Occipital Lobe

vision

Feature Analysis / Distinctive Feature Model

we make discriminations among objects on the basis on a small set of characteristics or features