Cognitive processes exam 1

Which of the following pieces of evidence would NOT be consistent with claims about the articulatory rehearsal loop?

"Repeating a nonsense syllable over and over interferes with the ability to hold a sequence of abstract shapes in working memory" involves shapes and syllables, which are not purely verbal information.

bistable figures

The Necker cube and face-vase illustration are examples of bistable, or reversible, figures because they can be seen from two perspectives.

what does the limbic system do/composed of?

The amygdala, thalamus, and hypothalamus are all components of the limbic system that play a role in learning and memory.

Where is the primary somatosensory projection area located?

The anterior parietal lobes

What are the primary projection areas?

The arrival and departure points for informatoin entering (sensory areas) and leaving (motor areas) of the cortex. The rest of the cortex has traditionally been considered the association cortex.

Which of the following is TRUE of the working-memory system?

The assistants are responsible solely for the storage of information. Both the articulatory loop and the visuospatial sketch pad are involved in storing information.

Brain lesions

The destruction of brain tissue caused by strokes, tumors, or accidents.

Intellectual functions like making judgments, retrieving memories, and paying attention depend primarily on tissues specialized for these purposes, which are located in the

The forebrain is the part of the brain involved in higher cognitive functions.

Cortical organization is contralateral

The left side of the body or perceptual world has more representation on the right side of the brain, and vice versa

What is cognitive psychology?

The scientific study of thought. A branch of experiemental psychology based on research

Perceptual constancy

The sensory information we recive changes but object properties appear as constant

Least associated with behaviorism

What someone believes is an internal characteristic, which cannot be observed by, and therefore is not part of, behaviorism.

capacity theory of attention

attention is limited. The amount of processing info gets is based on the resources availabile (cognitive load/budget)

In EEG recordings, alert wakefulness is indicated by __________ waves, while deep sleep is indicated by __________ waves.

beta; delta. Beta waves are produced during alert wakefulness and theta waves are produced during deep sleep. Delta waves occur in REM deep sleep.

In one study, investigators monitored activity levels in a brain area (the fusiform face area, or FFA) that seems particularly responsive to pictures of faces, and also in another area (the parahippocampal place area, or PPA) that seems particularly responsive to pictures of places. Their data showed that

brain activity in these two regions depended on what the person was consciously perceiving and not just what the stimulus was

FMRI

Uses magnetic properties of hemoglobin in blood to show where activity is taking place. Areas with greater activity "light up"

Using converging methods when constructing a theoretical account is

good because it works to eliminate alternative hypotheses. Using converging methods allows you to test different aspects of a question, which will help with discounting possible alternative hypotheses.

You've met a researcher at a conference who says she is of the same school of thought as the famous nineteenth-century scholars Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener. You can gather from this statement that she feels that the best way to study thoughts is to

have only highly trained and qualified people introspect about their own thoughts. Wundt and Titchener felt that only trained people could access their thoughts accurately.

change blindness

inability of observers to detect changes in scenes they are looking directly at

Second-order relational information

individual features and small variations in spatial relationships that individuate the face.

How to avoid/suppress unwanted thoughts? Wegner et al 1987

instead of avoiding thinking about stimuli rather think about something else.

Early cognitivists- Donders

mental chronometry:measuring the timing of mental processes (ex: tapping on shoulder exercise) Simple reaction time VS choice reaction time Mental behavior must be inferred from observable behavior

If stimulating an area of the brain does not cause a behavior but disabling the same area with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) prevents the behavior, then that area is __________ for that behavior.

necessary but not sufficient

Where is the primary visual projection area located?

In the occipital lobes

PET scan

Indicates area of high blood flow (high glucose metabolism), assuming that means greater activity. Areas with greater activity "light up"

broadbent's filter model (early selection)

Information is filtered right after it comes in (at the sensory/physical characteristics level Content of the unattended ear is not processed.

Recognition by analysis of features (two types)

Interactive activation model: letter/word recognition by activation of features, letters, and words. Recognition by components: 3D objects. Instead of having lines, curves, or colors, the features are 3D shapes that can be put together to form objects

How is the cortex divided?

Into the left and right cerebral hemispheres by the longitudinal fissues

Concerns of cognitive psychology research

Just because something happens in a laboratory experiment does not mean it necessarily happens that way in real-life settings. Because cognitive psychology uses an experimental approach, it will inevitably have problems with applications to real life.

contrast effect

Lateral inhibition produces this effect and shadow amplifies this. Thinking that one square is darker than the others

2 hemispheres of the brain

Left; Language, math logic Right: Face recognition, visual/spatial skills, and music Halves communicate via corpus callosum

Early cognitivists- Watson

Little albert study; used classical contidioning to condition an emotional response. A white rat was paired with a loud noise. Albert was conditioned to fear a white rat and began crying soley based on seeing the white rat.

Rods

Lower sensitivity, lower acuity, color-blind, periphery of the retina

Perception

Making sense of sensory input. Relies on top-down and bottom up processing.

Which of the following is the clinical term we use to describe a disturbance in the initiation or organization of voluntary action?

A lack of ability to move something has to do with apraxia. Aphasia has to do with language, neglect with attention Agnosia with object recognition.

A psychologist who adheres to the behaviorist school of thought would most likely attribute someone reaching for a slice of pie to

A learned behavior in response to specific environmental triggers. Behaviorism is the study of how behavior changes in response to external stimuli.

Treismans attenuation model

Analyisis of content in the unattended ear is not filtered. Content analysis is just weak (compared to full content analysis of attended ear)

Cerebellum

Balance, control of involuntary movement. largest area of the hindbrain

Dissociations

Based on the idea of localization: different areas serve different functions Single: in a single person one function is intact, while another is damanged Double: In 2 people with different damgage, having opposite patteres of spared/impaired functioning

Different approaches to gathering data

Behavioral Physiological (heart rate)

How do we study mental processes?

Cognitive revolution: Introspection to study mental events and understand behavior. Not scientific Experimentation: Manipulation and measuring

Early cognitivists- Ebbinghaus

Controlled scientific approach to studying memory did a list recall experiment where he had nonsense syllabuls. Thought there was a savings in your brain; it is easier to relearn vs learn

Depth perception

Depth through motion. Motion parallax; visual cues that result from our motion Optical flow: the pattern of apparent motion of object

multiple neuron recording

EGG- record of electrical activity of neurons, taken from electrodes placed on the scalp

binocular disparity

Each eye recieves different stimuli

Monocular distance cues

Each eye's muscles adjust Cues are Pictorial cues, Interposition, linear perspective, and texture gradients

Deutsch & Deutsch's late selection model

Everything gets processed for content, then attention works to select what to respond to

Influence of the environment on the brain

Experience-dependent plasticity: continuing process of the creation and organization of neuron connections that occurs as a result of a person's life experiences. Differing life situations and circumstance influence how certain areas of the brain develop and continue to grow.

Face recognition

Face recognition is "special" different than object recognition. We know because of the face inversion effect. First-order relational information: spatial relationship between features of a face Second-order relational information: individual features and small variations in spatial relationships that individuate the face. We are poor at recognizing parts of faces

Early cognitivists- Wundt

First psychologist and often called the father of psychology. Thought psychology should focus on the study of conscious mental events- feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and recollections. Introspection.

Frontal lobe

Front of frontal lobe: assiciated with decsion making, problem solving, and impulse control Back of frontal lobe: Primary motor cortext which controls movement.

Each cerebral hemisphere can be divided into four lobes

Frontal lobes. parietal lobes, temporal lobes, and occipital lobes

What is applied research?

Having a specific research question in mind.

Temporal lobe

Hearing, memory, and language

Unconscious inference

Hermann von Helmholts noted that as objects size doubles the image size decreases by half. Thought that human vision is incomplete and that details are inferred by the unconscious mind to create a complete picture.

Cones

Higher sensitivity, higher acuity, color-sensitive, in the fovea (center of the retina)

Basic life functions, such as the breathing and basic cardiac functions, depend primarily on activity in the

Hindbrain

Advice on attention

Multitasking is difficult unless one task is automatized because you will hit your capacity limit Beware of inattentional blindness: results from a lack of attention where an individual fails to perceive an unexpected stimuli in plain sight Trying to suppress an unwanted thought is not a good way to make it go away

Early cognitivists- Bartlett

Naturalisitic approach to studying memory schemata. Very little of an event is actually perceived at the time of its occurrence but that, in reconstructing the memory, gaps in observation or perception are filled in with the aid of previous experiences. He found that memories of past events and experiences are actually mental reconstructions that are colored by cultural attitudes and personal habits rather than being direct recollection of observations made at the time.

Early cognitivists- Skinner

Operant conditioning study. Behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated and behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated and die out. Studied reinforcment. Skinner box: placed animals into the box. Used positive reinforcement: when the rat knocked over the lever a food pellet would drop into the box. Negative reinforcement: removal of an adverse stimulus which is rewarding: It strengthens behavior because it stops or removes an unpleasant experience. Did this by an unpleasant electrical current, by knocking over the lever the current would stop. Punishment: designed to weaken or eliminate a response. Aversive event that decreases the behavior that it follows. By applying a shock.

__________ measures how much glucose is being used at specific locations in the brain, whereas __________ measures how much oxygen is being consumed at specific locations in the brain.

PET; fMRI PET measures glucose metabolism in the brain, whereas fMRI measures oxygen metabolism. MRI measures brain structures and does not measure metabolism of glucose or oxygen.

Which of the following claims about working memory is NOT accurate?

Performance in working-memory tasks does require some focus but is not disrupted by relatively mindless tasks such as saying "tah-tah-tah" aloud while holding items in working memory. Reason why: The tah-tah-tah task ties up the articulatory loop and lowers people's ability to perform verbal working-memory tasks.

Where is the primary motor projection area located?

Posterior frontal lobes

Top-down processing

Process driven by knowledge, experience, expectancies

Which of the following strategies might you suggest to a child who is having trouble remembering a list of things?

Repeat the list over and over either inside the head or out loud; either will be very effective By keeping the items in the articulatory loop, you increase the possibility that they will be stored permanently in long-term memory.

shadowing

Repeating back what someone is saying in your head or verbally word for word. dichotic listening attended channels vs unattended channels

What are cortical maps?

Represent sensory of motor information in an orderly manner. Organization is by region of the body, region in space, or auditory frequency. Cortical space is assigned disproportionately; greater sensory acuity or motor precision is associated with larger cortical representation

what is basic research?

Research for the sake of research. Just wanting to learn more about a topic.

Photoreceptors

Rods and cones

Parietal lobe

Sensory information comes in and is the processing center for that information

How do we measure the typical brain?

Single neuron recording: drilling through the skull, place an electrode on an individual neuron Multiple neuron recording: EGG- record of electrical activity of neurons, taken from electrodes placed on the scalp PET scan: Indicates area of high blood flow (high glucose metabolism), assuming that means greater activity. Areas with greater activity "light up" FMRI: Uses magnetic properties of hemoglobin in blood to show where activity is taking place. Areas with greater activity "light up"

If the corpus callosum is cut, what will happen to the two hemispheres of the brain?

Some information will be exchanged by other commissures. Information exchange will still occur but will be much slower and less complete than normal.

Early cognitivists- Helmholtz

Studied unconscious inference. Working backwards to something you can see. Theory of visual perception. human vision is incomplete and that details are inferred by the unconscious mind to create a complete picture.

How to investigate the Atypical brain

Study of people with brain lesions helps us learn about the functions of brain rergions in healthy people. AKA the localization of function

Where is the primary auditory projection area located?

Superior temporal lobes

Commissues

Thick bundles of nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres. The largest is the corpus callosum. Divided into the anterior and posterior region by the central fissure

Problem with recognition of the whole theory

We would have to have millions of templates stored

What behavior is most difficult to explain from a behaviorist perspective?

Your response to a stimulus is dependent on how you interpret that stimulus. Interpretation of a stimulus occurs within an individual and is not observable.

Single neuron recording

drilling through the skull, place an electrode on an individual neuron

What does the amygdala do?

emotions

__________ is a brain-imaging technique that shows us precisely which areas of the brain are active at a particular moment in time; __________ is a technique that shows us the exact structure of each of the brain's parts.

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Modern psychologists follow the lead of Immanuel Kant in arguing that the solution to the impasse between introspectionism and behaviorism lies in a method in which we begin with __________ and then proceed to __________.

observable facts; likely internal causes This is called transcendentalism and involves matching what can be observed with an unobservable cause.

figure-ground organization

organizing a perception so that part of a stimulus appears to stand out as an object (figure) against a less prominent background (ground). Knowledge can impact this. Some figures are neutral. ex: face and vase image

bottom-up processing

processing driven by low-level sensory processing and or the data (stimulus) itself

Divided attention

refers to the skill of performing multiple tasks simultaneously

The left cerebral hemisphere receives its main input for vision from the

right half of the visual field in both eyes.

acuity

sharpness of vision

First-order relational information

spatial relationship between features of a face

Downside of automaticity?

takes longer and becomes apparent when overriding an automatic response. Ex: stroop task

Recognition of the whole

template matching, you recognize objects by matching them with cognitive templates. would be top down processng

Electroencephalography (EEG) measures which of the following?

voltage changes occurring at the scalp. which reflect activity in the brain underneath.

A synapse is usually composed

the end of an axon, a space, and the receiving membrane on another neuron's dendrites.

corpus callosum

the largest commissue. Nerve fibers joining the two hemispheres of the brain

Constructive/intelligent perception

the perciever builds (constructs) a cognitive understanding (perception) of a stimulus using sensory information as the foundation (bottom-up) but also on our knowledge and inferences (top-down)

Cognitive psychology is primarily concerned with which of the following?

the relationship between environmental input and behavior. Cognitive psychology is the study of knowledge.

The all-or-none law states that

the signal traveling down a neuron's axon does not vary in size or strength. This law has to do with an action potential that occurs within a neuron.

Selective attention

the skill through which one focuses on one input or one task while ignoring other stimuli

The existence of functional localization is supported in part by the fact that

the symptoms produced by brain damage depend on exactly where in the brain the damage is located. Functional localization has to do with assigning a function to a particular brain region.

Idea of recognition by features (IAM)

word superiority effect: Recognizing a letter is easier if the letter is part of a word than if its part of a non-word. Suggets both top-down and bottom up processing

Context effects

word superiority: words that are viewed frequently are easier to perceive and words that have been viewed recently. Words themselves are easier to view than isolated letters configural superiority: object recognition is better in the context of a familiar configuration