Psych 120A Midterm - Rissman

The Attenuation Model (Early Selection Model)

(By Anne Tresiman: sensory register, attenuation control, threshold, perceptual process, STM) -Unattended information is not completely blocked but attenuated (weakened). -The likelihood of information getting through depends on its threshold. Important words tend to have lower thresholds (like your name)

Broadbent's Filter Model (Early Selection Model)

(Input, sensory register, perceptual process, STM) -Information is selected based on a characteristic level (like which ear) and its relevance. Then selected information will undergo further processing and information that wasn't selected are completely blocked (no processing at all)

The Deutsch-Norman Selection Model (Late Selection Theory)

(Sensory register, perceptual process, selective filter, STM) -Proposed a second stage of selection after processing occurs -Selection is based on semantic context; might not be aware of it

The Biderman Experiment

- Wanted to test if mental rotating objects has effect on priming. -Primed subjects twice with object, 2nd time some with rotation -Predicted that structural descriptions of objects don't change with rotation, so priming shouldn't be effected -RESULTS: Prediction was correct

Hebbian Theory/Learning (Donald Hebb)

-'Neurons that fire together, wire together' -If one neuron is stimulating some other neuron repeatedly, then the strength of the connection between the two neurons will be increased

Hemispatial Neglect

-A disorder of attention where lesion on one side of the brain (usually right side) -When lesion is on one side of the brain, can't detect or respond to stimulus that is on the opposite side of the visual field (See stimuli on the same side as lesion) -Can implicitly process information from hemi-neglect side with sustained attention

What Are and Are Not Mental Images?

-A mental representation that have picture-like characteristics; they involve sensory modalities. They preserve metric spatial information, change with viewpoint, show empty spaces, and are experienced using spatial attention -Symbolic or linguistic representations (structural descriptions) ARE NOT mental images

Anterograde Amnesia & Retrograde Amnesia

-Anterograde - inability to remember events you experience and facts you encounter after brain injury -Retrograde - inability to remember past events (Ribot's Law: time gradientl; recent memories more likely lost than remote ones)

Feature Integration Theory (Anne Tresiman)

-By Anne Tresiman -We have distinct feature maps and they are processed without attention -In isolated search, only consult one map. In combined search, consults multiple maps -There is a preattentive stage in which features pop out at you and are processed in parallel, so attention isn't needed -There is a focused stage in which there are combined features and you must do a serial search and pay attention

Change Blindness vs. Inattentional Blindness

-Change Blindness - Failure to detect change in environment when not paying attention -Inattentional Blindness - Failure to detect a stimulus in plain sight due to attention being focused somewhere else

Declarative Memory, Episodic Memory, Semantic Memory

-Declarative Memory - any memory that you can express verbally -Episodic Memory - memories of events -Semantic Memories - general knowledge and facts about the world

Propositional Theory Response to Shepard & Metzler's Results

-Elaborate structural descriptions can explain rotation -Chambers & Reisberg Experiment: shown image for 5 seconds and make an interpretation. Remove image and form mental image. Results: couldn't make 2nd interpretation -Propositional code might override imaginary code

Scaling of Mental Images (Stephen Kosslyn)

-Examined how people scan and use mental images -Experiment is to imagine a rabbit next to an elephant or a bee -Easier to recall features of rabbit when asked with bee than elephant. Takes longer time to scan a big object next to a small object

Patient H.M. (Henry Molaison)

-Experienced anterograde amnesia -could still learn new skills (procedural memory) shown by mirror tracing task -Couldn't remember what task he was doing but gradually got better at it because of implicit learning

Memory Formation (event coding) & Memory Retrieval (event retrieval)

-Formation - hippocampus receives highly processed information and organizes it -Retrieval - when you see retrieval cue, hippocampus has neurons reactivate connections from memory created (CALLED PATTERN COMPLETION)

Lobes & Fissures of the Brain and its Functions

-Frontal Lobe - reasoning, planning, speech -Parietal Lobe - spatial and body awareness -Temporal Lobe - auditory processing and object recognition -Occipital Lobe - Vision processes -Cerebellum - Movement coordination -Central Fissure - divides frontal and parietal -Lateral Fissure - divides frontal and temporal

Incidental Learning & Intention Learning

-Incidental Learning - deep processing of information leads to learning with absence of intention -Intentional Learning - learn because you want to learn something specific

Maintenance Rehearsal & Elaborative Rehearsal

-Maintenance Rehearsal (Item-specific rehearsal) - simply focusing on items that you want to remember -Elaborative Rehearsal - give meaning to information and relate it back to other things you know, gives more context

Mass Encoding & Spaced Encoding

-Mass Encoding - basically cramming. Only focusing on learning one thing -Spaced Encoding - there is space in between time of learning

Memory Errors & Reconstruction Process

-Memory is not like a video camera. You remember the gist of an experience but not explicit details -Use schemantic knowledge to help us fill in the gaps of memory

Shepard & Metzler's Results

-Mental rotation of an object increases reaction time -When visualizing distance, increase in reaction time when distance increases

Problems with RBC Theory

-Need metric information, not just structural -Difficult to extract geons from real images -Ambiguity -Structural representation difficult -Don't account for context

Non-declarative Memory, Procedural Memory

-Non-declarative Memory - memories that can't be expressed verbally -Procedural Memory - memories of skills and habits (like riding a bike)

The Capacity of STM & Chunking (George Miller)

-Our STM recall without error capacity is about 7 +/- 2 items but 4 with chunking (Nelson Cowan) -Chucking - The ability to group information together in segments for better/meaningful recall

Dissociation of Phonological Loop & Visuo-Spatial Buffer

-Patient D.V - damage to left temporal & frontal lobe. Performed well on audio task but not visual task -Patient E.L.D. - Suffered stroke to right temporal & frontal lobe. Performed well on visual task but not audio task

Phonological Loop & Visuo-Spatial Buffer

-Phonological loop - maintains linguistic info in phonological form (rehearsing phone numbers) -Visuo-spatial buffer - aids in temporary maintenance of visual/spatial information

Serial Position Effects: Primary & Recency Effect

-Primacy Effect: When you remember first couple of words on a list bc you are able to rehearse and move info to LTM (slower presentation yields better recall for first and middle words) -Recency Effect: When you remember words at the end of the list bc its still in working memory (presentation rate doesn't influence)

Recollection & Familiarity

-Recollection - remember context and source of information -Familiarity - remember something but don't know where information is from

The Baddeley & Hitch Model of Working Memory

-Replaced STM with multicomponent WM -WM has storage components (phonological loop & visuo-spatial buffer) and a processing component (central executive)

Representation & Processes

-Representation - A set of objects that stand for another set of objects by virtue of having the same causal relational structure -Processes - Operations that transform one representation to another

Shallow Processing & Deep Processing

-Shallow Processing - process basic features and don't really think about it -Deep Processing - examining meaning and think about it more

Dichotic Listening/Shadowing Task

-Subject wears headphones and each ear is playing a different audio stimulus. Told to pay attention to one ear only and say exactly when that ear says -Results: don't know what other ear is saying. We can only remember low-level information like human voices, gender, BUT NOT CHANGE IN LANGUAGE

Thamalus, Hypothamalus, Amygdala, Hippocampus

-Thalamus = Relay station for all sensory information to the pre-frontal cortex - Hypothamalas = Controls motivated behaviors (Maintain physiological processes intact - breathing, standing, sex...) -Amygdala = Emotion processing center -Hippocampus = Learning and memory center

Angelo Mosso: Brain Activity & Blood Flow

-The case of Michele Bertino, a 37 year old farmer with wide skull fracture -His fracture bone was removed a 2cm brain mass was exposed in the right frontal region -Angelo asked the patient to multiply 8 x 12, and brain pulsations increased. -KEY INSIGHT: Increased brain activity = increased blood flow to that region of the brain

#TheDress

-The dress teaches us about top-down processes and context -How you see the color of the dress depends on your assumption of the lighting conditions: if in shadow, you naturally brighten image and see white and gold. If in bright light, you naturally darken image an see blue and black

Recognition by Components Theory (RBC)

-Theorized by Irving Biederman - States that we recognize objects based on the the geometric shapes (GEONS) that objects contain

The Analog Viewpoint (Stephen Kosslyn)

-This view says mental images are like pictures (Mental scanning is like scanning a picture in real life, mental rotations resembles actual movement of an object in real life, "zooming in" to a mental picture takes time)

The Propositional Viewpoint (Zenon Phlyshyn)

-This view says mental images are structural descriptions (Participants unable to reinterpret a mental image, having verbal labels help people recognize ambiguous objects)

Types of Illusions

1) Ambiguities - images that can flip through many possibilities (Necker Cube) 2) Distortions - perceived shapes and sizes of objects can be distorted through context (Table Illusion) 3) Paradoxes - objects that seem plausible in 2D but are impossible in 3D (Penrose Triangle) 4) Fiction - When you see features that aren't there

2 Problems with Early Selection Models

1) Cocktail Party Effect - can hear important or interesting information (like your name) in a loud room even when you're not paying attention 2) Predicts no semantic processing of unattended information - but there is evidence that you do process unattended information on a semantic level

2 Types of Visual Searches

1) Disjunctive/isolated search - When you look a single differing feature in a bed of other features. This search is done in parallel and doesn't require attention 2) Conjunctive/combined search - when you look for multiple features in a single object in a bed of other features. This a serial search and requires attention

Problems with the Template Theory

1) No such thing as a perfect match! There's many viewpoint in the world, you would need a infinite amount of templates in LTM 2) Even with being able to transformation representations, there is still not enough invariance

Frame of References in Attention Deficits

1) Object-Based - can only see half of each object in space 2) Space-Based - can only see half of space

2 Forms of Memory (William James)

1) Primary Memory (STM/WM) - immediate contents of consciousness, can easily recall, limited in capacity 2) Secondary Memory (LTM) - Memories of the past, can recall with time, unlimited capacity

Basic Properties of Geons

1) Robust to noise - geons can be identified even if some parts are missing 2) Easily discriminated - geons are easy to tell apart because they're so different from one another 3) View-invariant - geons look the same from most viewpoints

3 Elements of Vision

1) Spatial Position - keeping track of where object is in space 2) Rhythm - identifying which sensory elements belong with which 3) Attention - Binds together the separate features

What does illusions teach us about perception?

1) there is a disconnect between perception and the world 2) Our perception consists of guessed so we can make sense of the world 3) Can discover principles of perception (physiological adaptions, top-down and bottom-up processing, cognitive rules and assumptions)

Feature Net

A layered system that helps us recognize words. The initial layer contains "detectors" that help recognize the features of a letter. Later layers are more complex that can detect letters then words (think of these "detectors" like neurons)

Lateral Inhibition & Single Cell Recoding

A pattern in which stimulated cells inhibit the activity of neighboring cells. Single Cell Recording - certain cells activate based on whether or not the stimuli triggers its threshold of its receptive field (Some cells prefer square shapes to be triggered/activated). Also mapped out neurons receptive fields -REMEMBER, THERE ARE MULTIPLE TYPES OF RECEPTIVE FIELDS

The Central Executive System

A set of control processes that process information from phonological loop and visuo-spatial buffer. Specializes in goal management, selection, and scheduling

The Inverse Optics Problem

Although we only see in 2D and our world is 3D, there are infinite number of 3D things that can produce the same 2D retinal image (things just have to be at a certain angle to be viewed as 3D)

Sensory Registers

Any information from all sensory modalities that is initially stored in separate registers (Iconic, Echoic, Haptic)

Why is Attention the "glue"?

Attention binds spatially associated features (This is where the binding problem comes up but can be fixed when neurons fire together when looking a stimulus, mind is able to tell that its all about the same stimulus)

The Importance of Context

Because perception is not automatic, we have to have a lot of processing in order to create a coherent representation of something. When some features are missing, our top-down process helps "fill in the gap" to see the whole object

Repetitive Priming

Being a exposed to a stimulus over and over and over again. When word or object are more frequent, it is easily recognized

CT Scans, PET Scans, MRI Scans, fMRI Scans

CT Scans/MRI Scans= Study brain structure (MRI is based on water molecules & has high spatial resolution) PET Scans/fMRI= Study brain function/activity (fMRI measures BOLD signals and has better temporal resolution than MRI; PET is invasive with radioactive tracer injection and tells us what regions of the brain are active based on the positrons)

Contralesional & Ipsilesional

Contralesional = opposite side of lesion Ipsilesional = same side as lesion

Longitudinal Fissure

Deepest groove in the brain; tissue that goes from the front to the back of the brain and separates the left and right brain hemispheres

Excitatory Connections and Inhibitory Connections

Excitatory Connections - Connections that allow detectors to activate neighboring detectors when activation threshold is met Inhibitory Connections - Connections that inhibit or deactivate detectors

Sir Francis Galton (Mental Imagery)

First to study mental images and did it through introspection. Results showed that people think mental images are like pictures

Geons

Geometric elements that all objects are composed of. There are a total of 36 geons.

Transcendental Method

Having observable facts and then going backwards to see initial cause of event (to see what caused the event)

Dissociation in Memory

Hippocampus damage and cerebellum damage are independent of each other. Hippocampus can do well with implicit learning but cerebellum damage can do well in declarative memory (opposites of each other)

Apperceptive Agnosia

Inability to put separate feature information into a whole object (failure in recognition due to failure in perception) - can't draw from viewing a model but can through memory

Misinformation Effect (Elizabth Loftus)

Misleading information after an event can lead to misinformation of the event itself (CAR CRASH & STOP/YIELD SIGN EXPERIMENT)

Template Theory (how we recognize objects)

Must have representation of physical stimulus in STM/WM, find the representation in LTM that matches the best - these representations are "templates". Can have mental transformations to better fit LTM templates

Capgras Syndrome

Occurs when someone has brain damage (temporal lobe); When someone recognizes someone else's face but have no sense of familiarity

The Problem of Inverse Optics

Our world is in 3D but our retinas only allow us to see in 2D. Our brain can't reconstruct a 2D representation of the 3D world

Generation Effect

Paired associative learning. Remember a pair of words or having one word needing to guess the other word; results in better recall

Bigram Detectors

Paired-letter detectors

Slezak Figures

People asked to mentally rotate an ambiguous figure (duck up right, rabbit when horizontal) and couldn't identify the second figure bc of structural interpretation

Perceptual, Shape, Size, and Light Constancy

Perceptual - We perceive the constant properties of objects in world even though our sensory information on the object changes with viewpoint Shape - we perceive the constant shape of an object even when viewpoint changes Size - we perceive constant shape of an object despite changes in viewing distance Light/brightness - we perceive lightness of an object regardless of dim or strong light

Geons and Object Recognition: Support for RBC

Photos that have missing "pieces" can still be recognized if the geons are still in place. If geons are not completely blocked, then recognition can take place

Role of Hippocampus

Plays a critical role in the formation of new declarative memories, both semantic and episodic). It helps create connections between memories and overtime there is decrease in dependency on hippocampus after further consolidation in cortex

Working Memory (Short-term Memory)

Receiving and holding information in consciousness and being "worked on" to later be transferred to long-term memory

Testing Effect

Remember things better when you constantly test yourself on subject

State-dependent Recall

Retrieve information better when you're in the same mental state in which when you learned the information (has to do with emotions)

Short-Term Memory & Long Term Memory

STM = information that you hold actively in mind and only for a short period of time (<20secs). Maintains and manipulates information relevant to goals LTM = holds records of prior experiences

Differences Between Short-Term Memory & Long-Term Memory (Donald Hebb)

STM relies on temporary activation (maintenance) and LTM relies on structural changes in neurons and its connections (Maintenance and manipulation)

Attention is ... (like a beam of light)

Shiftable (you can shift attention to something else), divisible (you can divide your attention to multiple things, kinda), sustainable (can pay attention to one thing for a long time), and selective (you can choose where to direct your attention)

The Importance of Sleep

Sleep helps consolidate information you learned and "teaches" your cortex. Then your memory is free for more learning

Contralateral Control

Stimulation to one side of the brain causes the other side of the body to move/function

The "Modal Model" of Memory (Attkinson & Shiffrin)

The basic model of how memory is encoded. (Stimulus, sensory input, STM (rehersal), LTM (retrieval))

Corpus Callosum

The commissure (think bundle of fibers the pass information from both sides of brain hemisphere) that separates the left and right hemisphere

Figure-Ground Organization

The determination of what is the figure (the focus) and what is the background (the context)

Introspection

The process in which one "looks within" to observe and record own mental context and processes

Deese - Roediger - McDermott (DRM) Experiment

Themed list of words and tricks into false memory. Believe a related-to-theme word is on the list but it really isn't

Gestalt Principles - The Law of Pragnaz

These principles are ways to interpret the world - we try to see things in its most simplified form. 1) Similarity - the tendency to group things together that are similar 2) Proximity - the closer things are together, the more related they are 3) Good Continuation - when two lines/curves overlap, its just two lines that overlap not a break in the line 4) Closure - Incomplete objects tend to be "closed" due to other things surrounding object 5) Simplicity - try to view things in the most simple way

The Mcclelland & Rumelhart Model

This model is better for identifying well-formed strings of letter than irregular strings and also better at identifying letters in context than in isolation. This can be achieved without bigram detectors. Higher-level detectors can activate low-level detectors and vice versa (other models say low to high only)-has excitatory and inhibitory connections

Top-Down & Bottom-Up Processing

Top-Down - Conceptually driven; based on knowledge and expectation Bottom-up - Data Driven; based on incoming sensory information from a stimulus

Circuit Model of Brain (Felleman & Van Essen)

Tried to build a circuit model of the brain, and hippocampus is at the top of the circuit. Hippocampus receives highly processed information from different parts of the brain and organizes/does something with it

Context Effect

Try to replicate study environment during test

Ventral and Dorsal Stream

Ventral Stream = the "what" system, involved in object recognition Dorsal Stream = the "where" stream, involved in spatial information (i.e. know where to reach when grabbing an object)

Over-Regularization

We tend to make mistakes in recognizing words/letters because we are biased towards frequent letter combinations

Word Superiority Effect

We tend to recognize/remember a letter more when in context of a word than in isolation or a non-word

Visual Agnosia (Associative Agnosia)

When a brain damage patient has the ability to reach for an object (because they know where it is) but is unable to recognize the object (damage to the ventral stream)

Optic Ataxia

When a brain damage patient has the ability to recognize objects but has difficulty reaching for the object (damage to the dorsal stream)

Double Dissociation in Neuropsychology

When lesion in one part of the brain disrupts function A but not B, but when lesion in another part of a brain disrupts function B but not A

Distributed Knowledge

When units of the network all recognize/know stimulus - if you collect all the data from detectors you are able to full picture or a full word

Binding Problem

When viewing a stimulus, our brain has to figure out which features belong to the stimulus

Why is Focusing a Tradeoff?

When you focus broadly, you are able to look at all features at the same time but are not able to distinguish what features belong to what. When you focus narrowly, you look at features one at a time but you are able to can identify combined features.

Self-Reference Effect

When you relate the new information you learned to yourself because you remember things better when it is context on yourself

Visual Illusions

When your perception of an image/anything is false; deception in perception