Cognitive Psychology Ch 1-3 Study Guide Book and Lecture MSU

George Miller

"Magical # 7 plus or minus 2" said there are limits to amount of info a human can take in and remember.

Savings Curve (Ebbinghaus)

% savings over time. Most rapid losses 1st two days then it levels off. Showed memory and functions of the mind can be quantified and graphed.

Adrian's Other Discoveries

(1) Action potentials travel down the axon w/o changing height or shape. Ideal for signaling over a distance. (2) Experimented to relate nerve signals to stimuli in the environment. (3) while shape and height stayed same, rate of firing increased with increased stimuli.

3 Methods of Studying Cognitive Neuroscience

(1) Recording from single neurons (2) studying the effects of brain damage in humans and (3) creating images of the brain

Cajal's Other Discoveries

(1) There's a small gap between the axon of one cell and the dendrite of another called the synapse (2) Neurons not connected indiscriminately but form connections only to specific neurons in groups called neural circuits. (3) Neurons are in brain and in other areas of body that are specialized to pick up information from the environment (ear, eyes, skin) called receptors. These are still basic principles still used to today to explain cognition.

Savings (Ebbinghaus)

(Original time to learn something) - (time to re-learn something). Provided a measure for forgetting. Smaller savings=more forgetting.

How nerve impulses effect the electrodes

-70mLv at rest. As a nerve impulse enters passes the electrode the charge becomes more positive. As it leaves, the charge becomes more negative until it is at rest again.

Action Potential Properties

-usually result from synapses from multiple neurons -Can be: inhibitory (decrease rate of firing) or excitatory (increase rate of firing) -Propagated -travels from one end of neuron to other -allows for transmission over a long distance

Limitations of Cognitive Experimental Research

1. Ecological validity- do things happen in outside world like they do in the lab? 2. Inferential based on response to stimuli- not directly measuring 3. Ignores brain functioning 4. Verbal theories-sometimes vague 5. Ignores individual differences (IQ, cultures, etc) 6. No overarching theory

Watson's Issues with Analytic Introspection

1. extremely variable person to person 2. Results difficult to prove.

The Brain neurons and connections

100 Billion Neurons and 10 trillion connections

William Wundt

1879 founder of first Psychology lab. Founded "structuralism." Wanted to create a "periodic table" of sensations. Uses analytic introspection to achieve the scientific components of experience. Structuralism: experience is determined by combining elements of experience called sensations. Trained many PhDs that formed psychology departments at universities all over the world. (5 note chord experiment) No reliable results.

Edgar Adrian

1920s Was able to record electrical signals from single sensory neurons using micro-electrodes that pick up electrical signals from electrode tip and conduct back to recording device.

Watson defines behaviorism

1940s to 1960s. purely objective, experimental branch of natural science. goal is to predict and control behavior. No introspection involved. focus from consciousness to behavior. Restrict study only to observable results. Focus was how does stimuli and the environment affect behavior.

William James

1st Psychology Textbook: Principles of Psychology. Recorded observations about his own mind and processes rather than experimenting.. "Paying attention to one thing requires withdrawing from other things" Still valid today

Decline of Behaviorism

3 main events: 1. post wwII research on human performance 2.Inability to explain behavior (breland , chomsky) 3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advent of the computer.

Edward Chase Tolman (1st discovery challenged behaviorism)

A "behaviorist" from Berkley who used behavior to infer mental processes. Thus, one of the first cognitive psychologists. 1918-1954 Studied rats in mazes. Coined "cognitive map" stating when rat was in maze he created a conception in his mind about the maze layout rather than just turning a specific direction where food had previously been. Inferred something other than stimulus was at play- which is contrary to behaviorism.

Propogation

Action potential starts at the axon hillock - reaches excitatory state -Changes concentration of Na+ -Moves toward place in axon where still in resting place Action potential leaps down axon -gains entrance via Nodes of Ranvier -Continues until Axon terminal

Inferred Conclusions

All cognitive psych experiments rely on inferred data by measuring the relationship between the stimulus and the response.

Nerve Impulse AKA Action Potential

An electrical response that is propagated down the length of an Axon(nerve fiber). AKA Action Potential. Lasts about 1 millisecond

MIT Symposium on Information Theory

Another AI conference. Miler presented his 7 +/- 2 theory there.

Biggest Challenge in Research

Asking the right questions

Cognitive Revolution

Began in the 1950's. Psychology shifted from Behaviorism to trying to understand the operation of the mind.

Neurons

Cells that are the building blocks and transmission lines of the nervous system. They create and transmit information about what we experience and know. Billions in the brain.

2 Areas of New Study

Cognitive Neuropsychology - studying brain damaged patients like A.C. He had strokes. He couldn't tell you if a dog had feet but could tell you if he could swim and what sound they made. Cognitive neuroscience / brain imaging - ERP, PET, MRI, MEG, TMS Computational Cognitive Science : develop computational models that can predict human behavior and connectionist models.

Noam Chomsky

Debunked Skinner's theory about child speech development (verbal learning) He said language is an inborn biological program that holds across cultures. His work opened the door to psychologists turning away from exclusive behaviorism and beginning to study the why behind the behaviors again. "Her go to bed" "Me hate Sissy"

Monitors

Display the difference in charge between the two electrode tips.

Sternberg Paradigm

Do we search serially or parallel(simultaneously)? Experiment: flashes 6 numbers on screen. Then asks if a number was in the set. Did you think serially or look at numbers as one image? Results: we search serially because for each additional number in the series it takes 38 extra ms to answer the question.

Neurotransmitters

Dopamine: inhibitory, too little leads to Parkinson & depression. Too much leads to addiction and schizophrenia

Colin Cherry (James Protege)

Drew on William Jame's theory of being able to withdraw from external stimuli to focus on 1 thing. He had audio piped into both ears and told person to focus on one (attended message) and ignore the other (unattended message). When people focused, they could hear the unattended message but couldn't recall the content.

Study Techniques

Elaborate (relate material to other things you know. Use associations and visual techniques) Generate and Test (Creating and taking practice tests helps identify what you know AND helps you remember the information) Organize (creating outlines or other methods organizing data) Take Breaks (study in a number of shorter sessions instead of cramming. Called Spacing Effect) Avoid illusions of learning (i.e. rereading increases fluency but doesn't help you remember. Also creates familiarity which is an illusion of learning. Beware of highlighting)

Point of using study techniques

Encode in such a way to make retrieval easier

Modern Cognitive Psychology Research

Experimental, tightly controlled, scientific experiments. In labs with healthy participants. Build upon prior research creating research trail.

Operant conditioning (skinner)

Focused on how behavior is strengthened by positive reinforcement or withdraw of negative reinforcers.

Process of Research

Following a trail in which one thing leads to another. The path depends on questions asked.

High Working Memory Vs Low Working Memory

HWM Vs LWM - HWM subjects work out math problems, LWM subjects use inaccurate shortcuts in low pressure situations. In high pressure the HWM subjects switch to the shortcut as well.

Pavlov's Dog Experiment 1890s

He paired feeding a dog with a bell. Eventually the bell alone made the dog salivate.

John MCCarthy

Held A.I. conference in 1956 to see if they could program a computer to work like a brain. First use of the term "Artificial Intelligence"

Ebbinghaus Memory Experiment

Hermann Ebbinghaus 1885/1913 german Psychologist.. Studying nature of memory and forgetting. How rapidly information that is learned is lost over time? Quantitative measurement of mental process. Experiment tested him learning something then forgetting parts and then seeing how long it took him to re-learn. Calculated "savings" over various periods of time. More time lapsed = less savings.

Long Term Memory

High capacity system that holds info for long periods of time. When we remember something from LTM it goes back into short term memory. Ex: Lists of presidents, or events from prior weekend.

Working Memory

Hold information in memory as it is being manipulated. Beilock found a link between working memory and choking. Pressure takes up working memory and timed tests cause pressure.

Sensory Memory

Holds info for a fraction of a second then passes it to short term memory

Donder's Experiment 1868 (early cognitive psychologist) 1868

How long does it take to make a decision? Is cognition measurable by time? Do more complex processes take more time? Studied reaction time SIMPLE VS CHOICE. Measures the difference between reaction time and choice reaction. (1/10 of a sec) 1st cognitive psychology experiment. Also, showed how mental processes can't be measured directly. They must be inferred from behavior. (Flashing light experiment)

Working Memory and Load Conditions

In low load tasks, HWM outperformed LWM. In high load tests, they were equal. Kane & Engle LWM subjects less likely to choke under pressure.

Donald Broadbent

Inspired by Cherry's work he designed the first flow diagram of the mind. Input--->Filter--->Detector--->Memory The models could be tested by further experimentation. They have become the standard way of depicting the operation of the mind,

B.F. Skinner

Introduced operant conditioning. Book: Verbal Behavior. Kids imitate speech they hear and repeat it correctly because they are rewarded.

3 Metatheories of Psychology

Introspection Behaviorism Cognitive

Low Load Conditions Vs High Load Conditions

Low load is a verbal task presented alone. High load is when subject is asked to do another task while doing the verbal task.

Artificial Intelligence

Making a machine behave in a way that would be called intelligent if a human were doing it

Information Processing Approach

Modeled from computers, approach that traces sequences of mental operations involved in cognition. Many studied how people focus on something specific when being presented with multiple stimuli. Do searches occur simultaneously or in parallel? Bottom Up Processing. Ignores top down processing

Modern approaches

Multi-disciplinary combines experimental and cognitive neuroscience Cognitive Science : interdisciplinary combines linguists, computer science, cognitive philosophy, A.I., and Anthropology

Receptors (cajal)

Neurons in other areas of body that are specialized to pick up information from the environment (ear, eyes, skin) They have an axon and a specialized receptor to pick up info.

1800's Cognitive Psych

Not possible to study the mind. Mind cant study itself. Properties can't be measured. Franciscus Donders studied it anyway in 1868

Structuralism (Wundt)

Our overall experience is determined by combining basic elements of experience called sensations. Abandoned by the early 1900's.

Classical Conditioning

Pairing a stimulus with a previously neutral stimuli causes changes to the response of the neutral stimuli. Demonstrated by Pavlov in 1890s.

Cognitive Processes

Perception, paying attention, remembering, categorizing, visualizing, language, problem solving, decision making

Procedural Memory

Physical actions such as riding a bike ro playing piano.

Process Models

Process Models illustrate how a process operates. They represent the processes that are involved in cognitive mechanisms with boxes representing specific processes and arrows indicating connections between processes. Like a flow chart. They make complex systems easier and provide research starting points. Example Broadbent filter model. Input >sensory mem>short term mem>output OR Longterm Mem.

Ulrich Neisser

Published first text book "Cognitive Psychology" and coined the term. It emphasized the information-processing approach still used today. Experiments use behavior to reveal how the mind works.

Camillo Golgi

Questioned nerve net theory in 1870s by staining with silver nitrate. Stained <1% of cells. Allowed us to see the structure of individual cells instead of the net.

Structural Model

Structural represent specific physical structures in the brain that are involved in functions. Can be a realistic model of the structure OR can be a diagram showing how different parts of the structure are connected. They are simplifications.

Goal of Cognitive Psych

Study how the mind achieves what it does

Definition 1 of Mind (define)

The mind creates and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning

Levels of Analysis

The reason we believe that both behavioral and physiological experiments are necessary. Refers tot he idea that a topic can be studies in a number of different ways with each approach contributing a part tot he overall understanding. Like studying the performance of a car compared to studying the engine of a car compared to studying the piston firing in a car.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The study of the physiological mechanisms of cognition. Provides insights into what researchers have learned from purely behavioral experiments about how the mind works.

Nerve Net

Theory by 19th century anatomists. After staining the brain they saw what appeared to be a continuous network that provided a complex pathway for conducting uninterrupted signals through the network.

Goals of Cognitive Psychology

To use relationships found in behavior to reveal how the mind operates. Ultimate goal is to understand the mind.

Helmholtz 1856 (early cognitive psychologist)

Unconscious interference. Perception based on inference not just input from the environment. Also inside the mind. EX: triangle is an example of unconscious inference.

Ramon y Cajal (Neurons)

Used the golgi stain on newborn animals (since they have fewer neurons). He was able to see the cells were not continuous in the nerve net. Discovered that individual neurons were the basic building blocks of the brain. Inspired Neuron Doctrine.

Top Down Processing Example

We don't see the double word because we aren't expecting it.

Retrieval

What happens when you remember material

Sodium Channel and Action Potential

When info is transmitted inside the neuron, the sodium channel is opened up and the positive ions move toward the negative ions on the inside. Sodium gates shut when become depolarized. Potassium (K+) leaves returning the neuron to resting polarized potential.

Computers

When scientists saw flow diagrams of how computers processed information in stages they related that to the brain.

Analytic Introspection (Wundt)

Wundts technique where trained subjects described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli.

1956

Year of these conferences known as the "Birthday of cognitive psychology"

Definition 2 of Mind (define)

a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals

John Watson

american - father of Behaviorism. Rejected introspection. eliminated consciousness. Promoted behavior as main topic. Classical/Operant conditioning. Little Albert.

Cognitive Psychology

branch of psychology concerned with studying the mind. Use experimental methods to: Input > make small changes to stimuli Output>Observe impact of change on behavior INFER>processes based on observations

Neuron Dendrite

branch out and receive signals from axons

Synapse (cajal)

gap between axon and dendrite

Herb Simon and Alan Newell

goal was to create a computer program that could solve math problems with logic. Presented their program, logic theorist, at the A.I. Conference.

Neural Circuits (cajal)

groups of interconnected neurons

Reaction Time (Donder)

how long it takes to respond to a presentation of a stimulus. RT for choice < RT for simple Why? Perception and Decision Inference Conclusion: Complex processes take more time

Neuron Doctrine (cajal)

idea that individual cells transmit signals in the nervous system and these cells are not continuous with other cells as proposed by nerve net theory.

Short Term Memory

limited capacity -hold info for a few seconds.

Reference Electrode (type 2 of 2)

located outside the axon some distance away so it's not affected by electrical signals.

Neuron Axons (AKA Nerve Fibers)

long processes that transmit signals to other neurons.

Little Albert Experiment Watson and Rosalie Rayner)1920

made a loud noise every time a rat approached the baby. Eventually the baby was scared of the rat.

What is the "mind"

memory holder, problem solver, decision maker, normal functioning brain, something valuable that should be used, intelligence or creative center.

Cognition

mental processes such as perception, attention, and memory

Neuron Cell Body

metabolic center of cell. Keeps the cell alive.

Recording Electrode (type 1 of 2)

recording tip inside the neuron

Models

representations of structures or processes that help visualize or explain the structure or process.

Sian Beilock

researched "choking under pressure"

Micro-electrodes (adrian)

small shafts of hollow glass filled with conductive salt solution that can pick up electrical signals and send to recording device. Modern ones are metal. Recording and Reference electrodes.

Resting potential

the difference between the electrode tips when the axon(nerve fiber) is at rest. -70 millivolt ( 1/1000 of a volt) between inside and outside of the axon. Polarized. Chemical change at synapse causes electrical change inside the neuron.

Simple Reaction Time (Donder)

time to respond to a stimulus

Choice Reaction Time (Donder)

time to respond when presented with a decision

Encoding

what is happening when you learn new material

Breland & Breland

wrote "misbehavior of organisms" studied raccoons, chickens & pigs. Was unable to predict and control the behavior of animals over their instincts. Debunked conditioning and behaviorism.