Cognitive ch 1

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Interested in determining the nature of memory and forgetting—specifically, how rapidly information that is learned is lost over time. Used quantitative measures. Memorized 3 letter nonsense syllables.

Donders

Interested in reaction times and tested simple reaction time and choice reaction time. One of the first cognitive experiments. Mental -> behavioral response. Mental responses are inferred.

William James

Wrote Principles of Psychology. Focused on perceptions and attention but did not do experiments.

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

localization of function.

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.

In a procedure called diffusor tensor imaging (DTI), the way in which ________ diffuse(s) along the length of a nerve fiber is measured to determine how different nerves communicate with each other.

water

Order of psychologists

Donders, Wundt, Ebbinghaus, James

Process model

A model that represents the processes involved in cognition. An example is the flow diagram for Broadbent's filter model of attention.

Classical conditioning

A procedure in which pairing a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response causes the neutral stimulus to elicit that response.

Analytic introspection

A procedure used by early psychologists in which trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli.

Cognitive revolution

A shift in psychology, beginning in the 1950s, from the behaviorist approach to an approach in which the main thrust was to explain behavior in terms of the mind. One of the outcomes of the cognitive revolution was the introduction of the information-processing approach to studying the mind.

Structuralism

An approach to psychology that explained perception as the adding up of small elementary units called sensations.

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

Classical conditioning

Logic theorist

Computer program devised by Alan Newell and Herbert Simon that was able to solve logic problems.

John Watson

Founded behavioralism, which rejects analytic introspection and focuses on observable behavior. "Little Albert" experiment. Classical conditioning like Pavlov.

Wilhelm Wundt

Founded the first laboratory and used the structuralism approach. Used analytic introspection (no reliable results), but still made great contributions to laboratory psychology as a science.

Simon and Newell

Goal was to create a computer program that could create proofs for problems in logic; logic theorist

Savings

Measure used by Ebbinghaus to determine the magnitude of memory left from initial learning. Higher savings indicate greater memory.

Cognitive map

Mental conception of a spatial layout.

Pavlov

Paired ringing a bell with presentation of food. Classical conditioning along with Watson.

Savings curve

Plot of savings versus time after original learning.

Donald Broadbent

Proposed the first flow diagram of the mind. Provided a way to analyze the operation of the mind in terms of a sequence of processing stages and proposed a model that could be tested by further experiments

Tolman

Rat in maze experiment. Brought reemergence of mind into psychology. Mental map

Simple reaction time

Reacting to the presence or absence of a single stimulus (as opposed to having to choose between a number of stimuli before making a response). See also Choice reaction time.

Structural model

Representation of a physical structure. An example is a model of the brain or structures within the brain and their connections.

Skinner

Researched operant conditioning with rat in box experiment. Argued children learn language through operant conditioning (incorrect)

Noam Chomsky

Saw language development as being determined not by imitation or reinforcement, but by an inborn biological program that holds across cultures. Believed that language is a product of the way the mind is constructed, rather than a result of reinforcement

Mind

System that creates mental representations of the world and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning.

Artificial intelligence

The ability of a computer to perform tasks usually associated with human intelligence.McCarthy; Simon and Newell.

Information-processing approach

The approach to psychology, developed beginning in the 1950s, in which the mind is described as processing information through a sequence of stages.

Behaviorism

The approach to psychology, founded by John B. Watson, which states that observable behavior provides the only valid data for psychology. A consequence of this idea is that consciousness and unobservable mental processes are not considered worthy of study by psychologists.

Cognitive psychology

The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making. In short, cognitive psychology is concerned with the scientific study of the mind and mental processes.

Cognition

The mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making.

Reaction time

The time it takes to react to a stimulus. This is usually determined by measuring the time between presentation of a stimulus and the response to the stimulus. Examples of responses are pushing a button, saying a word, moving the eyes, and the appearance of a particular brain wave.

Which of the following stimuli were used in Ebbinghaus's "memory" experiment discussed in your text?

Three-letter nonsense words

Choice reaction time

Time to respond to one of two or more stimuli. For example, in the Donders experiment, subjects had to make one response to one stimulus and a different response to another stimulus.

Operant conditioning

Type of conditioning championed by B. F. Skinner, which focuses on how behavior is strengthened by presentation of positive reinforcers, such as food or social approval, or withdrawal of negative reinforcers, such as a shock or social rejection.

Regarding children's language development, Noam Chomsky noted that children generate many sentences they have never heard before. From this, he concluded that language development is driven largely by

an inborn biological program.

Newell and Simon were among the first to use computers in cognitive psychology. Their computer program

created proofs for problems in logic.

According to Ebbinghaus's savings curve, savings is a function of

elapsed time.