PSY 211 Exam 2

What is the modal model of working memory and what are some of its main predictions?

-Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) -proposed 3 types of memory-sensory, short-term, and long-term -more time in STM, better yield in LTM

Memory Span Coglab

-measures working memory -7 plus/minus 2

What was Broadbent's theory for how (and when) selective attention operates?

-"Bottleneck" theory (1958) -attention operates as a peripheral gate that stops the unattended message from getting through -no awareness of the filtered message -early selection -filter before conscious recognition of the meaning

What theory of selective attention does current research support (early, late, flexible)? What are the 3 main pieces of evidence we discussed in class that indicate early selection occurs?

-Current research supports flexible selection theories which propose that attention can operate at early or late stages depending on which stage or stages are overloaded by stimuli or task MORE INFO NEEDED!!!!

What is binding and why is it necessary?

-binding= process where features (colors, form, motion, etc) are combined to create our perception of an object -necessary=because different parts of the brain perceive different things

What is Anne Treisman's feature integration theory?

-color and orientation maps -theory to explain "binding problem" -we can perceive simple features (color) w/o focused attention BUT we need attention to perceive objects defined by multiple features

What are covert and overt attention, how do they differ, and how are they each measured?

-covert=paying attention w/o moving eyes (fixation cross attention tests) -overt=selectively processing one location over others by moving eyes to point at a certain location (eye tracker)

Visual Search Coglab

-feature condition= distractors are blue squares and you want to look for green circle (green circle pops out in this instance) -conjunctive condition=still looking for green circle but distractors are green squares and blue circles (green circle no longer pops)

What is the Posner cuing paradigm and what results did they find with this experiment? What did it tell us about attention?

-look at + sign in the middle of the screen and clap when a white square pops up on either side (a yellow line will appear around one of the sides before the white box) -tests cover attention -subjects put more attention on the side that got the yellow box -fastest=trials where the white square appears where the yellow box was -slowest=trials where the white square appears where the yellow box was not -tells us that a peripheral cue will attract attention while a central cue will not

What is the Stroop task and what are the typical results?

-participants are shown words of color that are also in colored ink -they are asked to say the ink color not the word shown -if the word and the color are the same=faster at saying the word, slower at saying the color -if the word and color are different=faster at saying the word, slower at saying color -harder to do test where word and color are different

How does "chunking" work and how many chunks did Miller initially propose we can hold in short-term memory?

-small units can be combined into large, meaningful units -increases ability to hold info in STM -7 plus/minus 2

What is the dichotic listening experiment, how does it work, and what is it used to measure? What results were found with this task?

-the dichotic listening experiment was done by Cherry in 1953 -participants wore headphones and listened to many thing but had to focus on one=near perfect performance -they could not repeat back the unattended message -measures selective attention

How did Sperling's partial-report and whole-report techniques differ from one another? What were the results of each procedure and what did they tell us about memory?

-whole=people are briefly shown combo of letters and numbers and they are asked to try and remember them and report them back to the experimenter -whole report=usually remember about 5; taps into STM because they must remember them long enough to report back;DOES NOT TELL US ABOUT ICONIC MEMORY -partial report=same as whole except now there is a cue tone so people know which row to report -partial=people usually report back a good amount of items -conclusions=iconic (visual) memory exists; it has a huge storage capacity; it decays rapidly

How is working memory for objects measured and what are the results of these experiments? What has this taught us about working memory?

-working memory system has a buffer for the temporary storage of information about visual objects -Visual working memory has a capacity of 3-4 objects -Visual working memory stores integrated object representations (Treisman's object files) rather than separate features -Commonly tested with the "change detection" task=can you detect the change in the two pictures

What is Baddeley's model of working memory and what are some of its main predictions?

-working memory= system that is used to store and manipulate information in the service of various tasks -modality-independent="central executive" & modality-dependent="slave" storage system Sensory input>sensory memory>central executive that works back and forth with LTM, response systems, and slave systems

What is the cocktail party problem?

ability to filter out other inputs while trying to focus on one

What is the difference between controlled and automatic processing?

controlled=ex. rehearsal of a phone number to remember it automatic=ex. locking the door or driving home

What are feature search and conjunction search, and how do they differ in terms of task and results?

feature search=you can find the target by looking for a single feature conjunction search=you have to search for a combination of features

What is an illusory conjunction?

psychological effects in which participants combine features of two objects into one object EX. small green ball and yellow triangle; person reports a yellow ball

What are the differences between sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory?

sensory=continued perception of stimulus after it's gone, huge storage capacity, short duration STM=currently active info, small storage capacity, rapid decay in absence of rehearsal LTM=info that is available but not active, huge storage capacity, little or no decay