PSYC 355

2. Describe the early history of cognitive psychology, focusing on the contributions of each of the following: e. Frederick Bartlett

- A British psychologist conducted research on human memory. - Remembering: An Experimental and Social Study: He used meaningful materials, such as lengthy stories in his research and discovered that people make errors when recalling stories. - He proposed that memory is an active, constructive process in which we interpret and transform the info we encounter, and search for meaning while we try to integrate the information so that it is more consistent with our personal experiences. - Bartlett's work was largely ignored in the US because psychologists were focused on behaviourism.

2. Describe the early history of cognitive psychology, focusing on the contributions of each of the following: b. Hermann Ebbinghaus (memory)

- A German psychologist and the first person to study human memory and developed factors that may influence memory performance. - Used nonsense syllables (instead of words/letters) in his research to prevent confounding when people tried to recall lists. - Ebbinghaus also reported the classic forgetting curve, in which there is rapid forgetting in the first 24 hours, followed by a plateau that persists for months and even years.

Describe the following theories of object recognition, and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each 4. Viewer Centered Approach

- A modification of the recognition-by-components theory of object recognition. However, the viewer-centred approach proposes that people store a small number of views of a three-dimensional object, rather than just one view. ○ Process: see an object from an unusual angle, and this object does not match any object shape we have stored in memory. We must then mentally rotate the image of that object until it matches one of the views that are stored in memory

Summarize research on consciousness about processing

- Consciousness about processing: our inability to bring certain thoughts into consciousness -Nisbett and Wolson argued that we often have little direct access to our thought processes. We may be fully conscious of the products of thought processes (mother's maiden name), but not conscious of the process that created the product. (How did your mother's maiden name immediately come to you?)

Types of Selective Attention Tasks 1. Dichotic Listening

- Dichotic Listening: A laboratory technique in which one message is presented to the left ear and a different message is presented to the right ear. □ When asked to shadow one message from one of the ears, listeners often make mistakes suggesting that attention isn't being selective enough. For the second unattended message, listeners often report little to no information when prompted. However, likelihood increases when (1) both messages are presented slowly, (2) the main task is not challenging, and (3) the meaning of the unattended message is immediately relevant. □ Cocktail party effect: when inserting the name of the person who is listening in the unattended message people often notice. Ex. Hear your name being said in a crowd. People with high working-memory capacity noticed their name less compared to those with a low working memory capacity -> people with a relatively low capacity have difficulty blocking out the irrelevant information such as their name

Atkinson & Shiffrin's Model of Information Processing

- Information Processing model. • external stimuli from the environment first enter sensory memory (stays for 2s) ○ Sensory memory is a storage system that records information from each of the senses with reasonable accuracy • Some material passes from sensory memory to short-term memory (very fragile, can be lost within 30s if not rehearsed) • Fraction of information that is rehearsed is passed onto long-term memory (not fragile -> memories from minutes ago to 20 years ago) Control Processes -> intentional strategies (rehearsal) that people use to improve their memory Critiques: now believed that sensory memory is a part of perception

Unit 2: Define "perception," and provide an original example of perception. Define "object recognition,"

- Perception: Using previously acquired knowledge to gather and interpret the stimuli registered by the senses. An example is using our eyes to see an outdoor scene , and knowledge previously acquired to organize that stimuli into recognizing the scene as a wedding. - combined (1) information registered by your eyes, (2) your previous knowledge about the shape of the letters of the alphabet, and (3) your previous knowledge about what to expect when your visual system has already processed the fragment perception. - Object/Pattern Recognition: is when we identify a complex arrangement of stimuli, and perceive this pattern as separate from its background. - When you recognize an object, your sensory processes transform and organize the raw information provided by your sensory receptors. You also compare the sensory stimuli with information that you have stored in your memory.

Semantic Similarity of the Items in Short-Term Memory c. what is proactive interference? How does it affect short-term memory?

- Proactive interference (PI) means that people have trouble learning new material because previously learned material keeps interfering with their new learning. We can experience a release from proactive interference and often improve memory, when category items are re-framed, shifted, or presented in a new way, such as from letters to numbers. Ex. When participants undergone a Brown/Peterson Technique they were asked to remember various fruits, veggies, flowers, meats, and finally occupations. After a few trials, they were asked to recall some of the semantic categories. Results show that Semantic factors influence the number of items that we can store in short-term memory. Specifically, words that we have previously stored can interfere with the recall of new words that are similar in meaning (fruits, veggies, meat, flowers). Furthermore, the degree of semantic similarity is related to the amount of interference. In the graph, it shows that semantically similar categories showed poorer recall compared to the semantically different category (occupations), it had experienced release from proactive interference (more recall).

Semantic Similarity of the Items in Short-Term Memory a. What is Semantics? b. Describe how the semantic meaning of words can affect working memory capacity?

- Semantics: the meaning of words and sentences (word meaning influences the probability of recall)

Types of Selective Attention Tasks 2. Stroop Effect

- Stroop Effect: The observation that people take a long time to name an ink color that has been used in printing an incongruent word, even though they can quickly name that same ink color when it appears as a solid patch. Ex. The word RED is colored with yellow ink □ people may require about 100 seconds to name the ink color of 100 words that are incongruent color names (for example, blue ink used in printing the word YELLOW). In contrast, they require only about 60 seconds to name the ink colors for 100 colored patches -> takes longer to pay attention (selective attention) to the colour when disrated by a different stimulus (the incongruent word) □ Those with phobic disorders (fear of spiders) have an attention bias -> they pay close attention to stimuli that are related to their phobia if asked to name the colour of the printed word hairy/crawl it takes significantly longer to name the colour of the word ® Similarly, people with eating disorders take longer than other people to report the ink color of words related to body shape. ® In addition, in Combat Veterans suffering from PTSD they took significantly longer to name the colour of words related to combat (bomb/shoot), MEG imaging exhibited reduced activity around the right ventral prefrontal cortex when processing combat-related words, relative to those without PTSD

Define Cognition

- Subdiscipline of experimental psychology -> mental processes that give rise to our perceptions and interpretations of the world around us - The term cognition refers to our mental activities. It is used to describe how we receive, store, transform and use knowledge. The term also refers to our memory, language, problem solving, reasoning and decision making.

Summarize research on Thought Suppression

- Thought Suppression: our inability to let certain thoughts escape from consciousness When people engage in thought suppression, they attempt to eliminate the thoughts, ideas and images that are related to undesirable stimulus. Wegner uses the term ironic effects of mental control to describe how our efforts can backfire when we attempt to control the contents of our consciousness. - reboud effect when trying to suppress thoughts, instead you will think about what you are trying to suppress

Types of Selective Attention Tasks 3. Visual Search

- Visual Search: A task requiring the observer to find a target in a visual display that has numerous distractors. - we can locate a target faster if it appears frequently, if it differs from irrelevant objects on only one dimension (e.g., color), and if a specific feature of a stimulus (e.g., a line) is present rather than absent.

What factors affect eye movement during reading?

- When fixated on a word, readers need to make decisions about how long to stay at the current location, and where to move next. These decisions are complex, but illustrate one selective attention component of the reading process. □ Factors that affect eye movement: - Text patterns influence eye movements (spaces between words, etc.) - Skill level of reader -> good readers make larger saccadic movements and have less regressions (going back to previous parts of the sentence)

2. Describe the early history of cognitive psychology, focusing on the contributions of each of the following: c. Mary Calkins (memory)

- a memory researcher - She discovered the recency effect through her work, which refers to the observation that we best recall the final item in a list. - She also emphasized that psychology should study how people use their cognition in the real world, not just lab. - First Woman President of the APA.

Summarize research on Blindsight

-Blindsight refers to an unusual kind of vision without awareness. It is a condition in which an individual with a damaged visual cortex claims not to see an object, however, he or she can accurately report some characteristic of that object such as its location. People with blindsight believe they are really blind-consciousness says "I can't see". However, they can often perform better than chance when reporting the location of a visual stimuli. -One explanation is that most of the info registered on the retina travels to the visual cortex, but a small portion travels to other locations in the cerebral cortex that are located outside of the visual cortex. - The research suggests that information must pass through the primary visual cortex to be registered into consciousness. However, if part of the information detours to other brain regions, the person may not be conscious of the visual experience, but may indeed perceive it.

Identify 5 themes of Cognitive Science

1) The cognitive processes are active, rather than passive: Behaviorists believe that humans are passive, simply waiting for stimuli from the environment. In contrast, cognitive approaches propose that people actively seek out information. Also, memory is a lively process involving actively synthesizing and transforming information. 2) The cognitive processes are remarkably efficient and accurate: Language development, material stored in memory, learning, etc. Ex. eating lunch with friends at a busy restaurant. Your attentional abilities allow you to direct your attention to the speech of your friends. At the same time, they also provide you with the ability to filter out all of the background noise in the restaurant. 3) The cognitive processes handle positive information better than negative information: We understand sentences better when worded in the affirmative; ie; Mary is honest, instead of , Mary is not dishonest. We also tend to perform better on pleasant tasks, rather than unpleasant ones. Our cognitive processes are designed to handle what is, rather than what is not. 4) The cognitive processes are interrelated with one another: they do not operate in isolation: All higher mental processes require integration of our more basic cognitive processes. Problem solving, logical reasoning, decision making are all complex. 5) Many cognitive processes rely on both bottom up and top-down processing: Bottom up emphasizes the importance of stimuli registered by sensory receptors and uses only low-level sensory analysis of the stimuli. Top-Down refers to how our concepts, expectations and memory all influence our cognitive processes.

4 Sources of auditory variability (The pronunciation of a specific phoneme varies greatly, depending upon the vocal characteristics of the speaker, imprecise pronunciation, and the variability caused by coarticulation)

1. Word Boundaries: between words in languages are few, but in our own language we can perceive them. The acoustical stimulus contains no clear-cut pauses, people are very accurate in determining the boundaries between adjacent words. 2. Inter-speaker variability: different speakers of the same language produce the same sound differently (factors - age, gender, regional dialect) in phoneme pronunciation. 3. Imprecise phonemes - people often fail to produce phonemes precisely, and is often sloppy. So, listeners must decode it. Ex. Speaker said supposed but it actually sounded like sposed 4. Coarticulation: when pronouncing a particular phoneme, your mouth remains somewhat in the same shape as the previously pronounced phoneme, and because you are beginning to prepare to pronounce the next. So, phonemes you produce vary from time to time, depending on surrounding phonomes. Ex. d in idle sounds different from the d in don't.

3 important points about working memory

1. Working memory IS short-term memory 2. All the info learned through research/concepts (ex. chunks) on "short-term" memory applies to working memory 3. New research suggests that working memory and long-term memory are basically the same

Describe the following theories of object recognition, and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each 1. Template matching theory

1. template matching theory: says that visual system compares the stimulus with a set of templates stored in memory and finds which template the stim matches in order to identify the object ○ Advantages: explains how humans are fast at recognizing patterns (gestalt view) ○ Disadvantages: perception is more flexible than this -> think of how different hand-writing can be

Describe the following theories of object recognition, and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each 2. Feature-analysis models

2. feature-analysis models: visual stimulus is compared to a small number of characteristics or components (each visual characteristic is called a distinctive feature - ex. the letter 'R' has a curve, a straight line and a diagonal line) ○ Advantages: backed by neuroscience research, the approach suggests perception is flexible (true) ○ Disadvantages: fails to go beyond simple recognition of letters, shapes in world are more complex (Ex. How to you recognize a horse, a horse moving?)

Describe the following theories of object recognition, and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each 3. Recognition-by-components model

3. recognition-by-components model: a specific view of an object can be represented as an arrangement of simple 3-D shapes called geons. Individual recognition of geons and combining them in specific ways to form an arrangement gives people enough info to categorize/recognize an object. ○ Advantages: Addresses how humans recognize complex stimuli (how we recognize 3D shapes) ○ Disadvantages: Doesn't explain how we recognize objects from different angles/views

Describe the Isolated-feature/Combined feature effect & Present/absent feature effect

3.1A Is an example of Distributed Attention 3.1B is an example of Focused Attention

Baddeley's model of working memory 1. Central Executive

> central executive integrates information from the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer—as well as from long-term memory. > The central executive is important in such tasks as focusing attention, selecting strategies, transforming information, and coordinating behaviour and suppressing irrelevant information. However, it does not store information. > helps you decide what not to do, so that you don't become sidetracked from your primary goal. > executive decides which topics deserve attention and which should be ignored. > executive also selects strategies and decides how to tackle a problem.

Information Processing Approach - Describe the 4 stages

A theory of cognition proposing that (1) mental processes are similar to the operations of a computer and (2) information progresses through the cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time Stage 1: stimuli occur in one's environment. This information is transported to your sensory receptors (eyes, ears) through physical medium (light, sound waves). Then sensory receptors process than info and transport it to brain. Stage 2: Information is provided to brain via senses and decoded over course of multiple processing stages. For example, upon seeing a chair, your visual system seems to first process different features of the chair such as its color, its edges, and its size. After those features are recognized, information progresses to other parts of the visual object recognition system in order for the features to get bound together. Then it is matched to stored knowledge. Stage 3: After processing enough for identification and interpretation, a decision how to respond to stimulus Stage 4: Decide to respond to stimulus, motor command is sent to parts of body and coordinate movement you have decided and then initiate action to respond to stimuli

What is Artificial Intelligence? Pure AI? Computer sim?

Artificial intelligence: explores human cognitive processes by creating computer models that show "intelligent behaviour" and also accomplish the same tasks that humans do (Ex. Recognize a face, create a mental image, write a poem) Pure AI: program that completes a cognitive task as efficiently as possible (better than humans) Ex. Chess is extremely complex game that has numerous moves one can complete. AI named Hydra can outcompete top chess players Computer simulation: different from pure AI in that it takes human limits into account. Goal of computer simulation is to perform cognitive task in way similar to how humans would perform it. However, is currently limited to certain processes. Ex. May produce similar amount of errors to correct responses as a human would.

Example of Working memories limits: Explain research results on Brown/Peterson Technique

Asked research participants to study three unrelated letters of the alphabet, such as CHJ. The participants then saw a three-digit number, and they counted backwards by threes from this number for a short period. This counting activity prevented them from rehearsing the three-letter sequence during the delay. (Rehearsal means repeating the items silently.) Finally, the participants tried to recall the letters they had originally seen. On the first few trials, people recalled most of the letters. However, after several trials, the previous letters produced interference, and recall was poor. After a mere 5-second delay—as you can see from Figure 4.1—people forgot approximately half of the letters they had seen. showed that our memory is fragile for material stored for just a few seconds

Define Behaviourism

Behaviourism: objective, observable reactions to stimuli in the environment, rather than on subjective processes such as introspection

What was the earliest theory on Attention called?

Bottleneck Theory (early theory): a "bottleneck" that limits the amount we can pay attention to, but this perspective is now considered too simplistic and not flexible enough

Example of Working memories limits: - Brown/Peterson & Peterson Technique

Brown/Peterson & Peterson Technique: Presented some items that the person was to remember, then the person performed a distracting task, (allowing for no repeating) and finally they were asked to recall the original item. The research demonstrated that material held in memory for less than one minute is frequently forgotten.

Describe the Computer Metaphor

Cognition and computers are complex, multipurpose machine that processes information quickly and accurately. Both humans and computers can compare symbols and can make choices according to the results of the comparison. Furthermore, computers have a processing mechanism with a limited capacity.

What is Cognitive Science

Cognitive Science: interdisciplinary field that tries to answer questions about the mind, includes cognitive psychology, neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, and linguistics. - Thinking requires us to manipulate our internal representations of the external world.

Connectionist Approach/ Parallel Distributed Processing

Connectionist Approach: A theory describing cognitive processing in terms of networks that link together neuron-like units. These networks perform operations simultaneously and in parallel, rather than one step at a time (like the info processing theory). Also known as the Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) and the neural-network approach. - Developed after the discovery of the cerebral cortex and the numerous connections among neurons, a pattern that resembles many elaborate networks. Information is stored throughout these neuron networks. Certain regions activate for specific processes.

Distinguish between consciousness and attention.

Consciousness and attention are related, but not identical. Consider the processes we're not usually aware of when we perform tasks that are automatic, distributed forms of attention. Consciousness is associated with the kind of controlled, focused attention that is not automatic.

Define "consciousness" as used in the Matlin and Farmer text.

Consciousness means the awareness that people have about the outside world and about their perceptions, images, thoughts, memories, and feelings. • "The contents of consciousness can include your perceptions of the world around you, your visual imagery, the comments you make silently to yourself, the memory of events in your life, your beliefs about the world, your plans for activities later today, and your attitudes toward other people." - Perception: Using previously acquired knowledge to gather and interpret the stimuli registered by the senses.

Neuroscience Imagery Methods 3. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Do not use radioactive substances. Uses magnetic field to produce changes in the oxygen atoms, scanning of these atoms takes place during a cognitive task. Preferred over PET because more precise identification of exact time of sequence of cognitive tasks. fMRI can also subtle differences in how the brain processes language.

Ecological Validity

Ecological Validity: A principle of research design in which the research uses conditions that are similar to the natural setting where the results will be applied. - Low Eco-validity doesn't mean no value. An experiment where you memorize random words on a screen is low eco-validity because it doesn't really apply to the real world but still tells a lot about cognitive processes.

Emergency of Cognitive Psychology

Emergence of Cognitive Psychology: started in 1956 (research on attention, memory, language, concept formation, problem solving emerged), then in 1967 Ulric Neisser published the book Cognitive Psychology - Changed the psychology field, new view that mental representations influence behaviour

Define Gestalt Approach

Gestalt Approach: emphasizes that we humans have basic tendencies to actively organize what we see, and furthermore, that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. - Emphasis on problem-solving -> trying to solve a problem, the parts of the problem may initially seem unrelated to each other. However, with a sudden flash of insight, the parts fit together into a solution. Ex. Initially, the brain constructs the image as a face rather than an oval and 2 horizontal lines

Why is the study of cognitive psychology important?

In Psychology, cognition can mean mental activity, and it can also refer to a particular theoretical approach. Psychology is interested in cognition because humans mental processes are pivotal to daily life. Almost everything we do requires use of our ability to think, remember, make decisions and use language. Cognition influences behaviours. Further, cognitive psychology influences other areas of psychology, for example, a depressed patient may provide a very brief example when asked to recall a specific memory, whereas a person who is not depressed tends to describe an extended memory in more detail. Also, facial recognition in neuropsychology. Finally, Cognitive Psychology helps us understand our personal mind better and could help us improve our own performance.

Cognitive Neuroscience

Interdisciplinary approach combines research techniques of cognitive psychology with various methods for assessing the structure and function of the brain. Areas of the brain activated during specific tasks, and what kind of cognitive processes we use during interactions with other people (social cognitive neuroscience). Ex. Standing up is extremely complex task requiring billions of neurons and more than 50 regions of the brain to accomplish.

Define Long- & Short-term memory

Long-term: The large-capacity memory for experiences and information accumulated throughout one's lifetime. Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed that information stored in long-term memory is relatively permanent and not likely to be lost. Short-term: The part of memory that holds only the small amount of information that a person is actively using. The more current term for this type of memory is working memory.

2. Describe the early history of cognitive psychology, focusing on the contributions of each of the following: a. Wilhelm Wundt

Most people would consider him the "founder of psychology". He proposed that psychology should be the study of mental processes, or "introspection", however the techniques used were very subjective/not scientific.

What is Phonemic restoration?

Phonemic restoration: reconstruction of auditory stimuli when a sound is missing. When a sound is missing from speech, listeners frequently demonstrate phonemic restoration, using context to help them perceive the missing sound. Actively use top-down processing to use our expectations and knowledge about language to create what we might hear.

Neuroscience Imagery Methods 1. Brain Lesions

Refers to the destruction of an area of the brain, often by strokes, tumors, blows to the head and accidents. Studies of legions help to understand the organization of the brain, but hard to interpret because legions are not limited to only one area.

Explain the relation between working memory and short-term memory. What is a chunk? - Provide original example

Short-term memory is the older term for what is now known as Working Memory. - Miller: This memory system is limited in both its duration and its capacity when you must remember new information -> people can remember about seven items (give or take two). -> Referred to as Chunks (is a memory unit that consists of several components that are strongly associated with one another Ex. suppose that your telephone area code is 617, and all the office phone numbers at your college begin with the same digits, 346. If 617 forms one chunk and 346 forms another chunk, then the phone number 617-346-3421 really contains only six chunks (that is, 1+1+4). The entire number may be within your memory span.

What do these effects indicate about the role of top-down processes in visual object recognition? (THEME 2)

Smart Mistakes in Object Recognition -> cognitive processes are efficient and accurate, but we occasionally make mistakes, although these errors can be traced to a "smart mistake" i.e. overusing top-down processing Visual system is fairly accurate in creating the "gist," or general interpretation of a scene. Focuses on proximity/important details that are relevant and ignores unimportant details.

Define Speech Perception & Phoneme

Speech perception: The process by which the auditory system records sound vibrations that are generated by someone talking. The auditory system then translates these vibrations into a sequence of sounds that are perceived as speech. In language, the phoneme is a basic unit of sound (ex. a, k, and th), English has 45

Neuroscience Imagery Methods 2. Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

The brain uses chemicals (oxygen) to support neural activity, as the brain does not store oxygen. Blood flow increases in the activated brain site in order to carry oxygen to the site. PET measures blood flow by injecting a radioactive chemical just before a cognitive task. Cameras produce images of the accumulated chemical in specific brain areas. Takes several seconds to produce data, so not very precise.

Why was the episodic buffer developed after the other three components?

The central executive couldn't explain how some information from both long-term memory and the other 2 modules of working memory all came together. So, Baddeley added a final addition to his working memory model to account for that phenomenon.

Describe the two attentional networks that have been identified by neuroscience researchers, and explain the role they play in the attentional phenomenon. 2. Executive Action Network

The executive action network: Develops around age 3, and is responsible for the kind of attention we use when a task focuses on conflict. The executive attention network inhibits your automatic responses to stimuli. The prefrontal cortex is the brain region when the executive attention network is especially active. It is primarily involved during top-down control of attention.

Describe the two attentional networks that have been identified by neuroscience researchers, and explain the role they play in attentional phenomenon. 1. Orienting Attention Network

The orienting attention network: The orienting network develops during the first year of life and is generally responsible for the kind of attention needed in a visual search, in which one must shift attention around to various spatial locations. lesioning studies have found the people with damage to the right side of the parietal region have trouble noticing a visual stimulus on the left side and vice versa.

Describe the two attentional networks that have been identified by neuroscience researchers, and explain the role they play in attentional phenomenon.

The orienting-action network is typically active while we are searching for objects. The executive attention network is typically active when we must inhibit automatic response and produce a less obvious response. It is also active during academic learning.

Baddeley's model of working memory

The working memory approach. Explored the question "What does short-term memory actually accomplish for our cognitive processes?" They discovered that its major function is to hold several interrelated bits of info in our minds, all at the same time, so that a person can work with this info and then use it appropriately. Working memory does not simply STORE info, it actively WORKS with that info. - According to the working memory approach, our immediate memory is a multipart system that temporarily holds and manipulates info while we perform cognitive tasks. This model is different than previous models because it proposes multiple components for our working memory. - The four components of working memory: Cental executive, visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, phonological loop.

What is the serial position curve?

U shaped graphical relationship depicting both primacy and recency effects on people's ability to recall items on a list -> predicts the probability for recall of a specific word in a list

Describe the ambiguous figure-ground illusion and the illusory contour effect. What do these illusions indicate about visual perception?

Vase-faces effect - Initially viewed as a vase against blue background, but then you see two blue faces against white background - ambiguous situation, our perceptual system imposes organization on a stimulus, so that one portion stands out and the remainder recedes into the background - Reversal Explanation -> two components: (1) The neurons in the visual cortex become adapted to one figure, such as the "faces" version of Figure 2.2, so you are more likely to see the alternative or "vase" version; and (2) furthermore, people try to solve the visual paradox by alternating between two reasonable solutions

2. Describe the early history of cognitive psychology, focusing on the contributions of each of the following: d. William James

Was not impressed with introspection and preferred to study everyday psychological experiences. Best known for his textbook called "Principles of Psychology", which emphasized that the human mind is active and inquiring.

Unit 4 Define Working Memory

Working Memory: The brief, immediate memory for the limited amount of material that a person is currently processing. Part of working memory also actively coordinates ongoing mental activities. In the current research, the term working memory is more popular than a similar but older term, short-term memory.

Neuroscience Imagery Methods 5. Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

records magnetic field fluctuations produced by neural activity during the processing of stimuli presented to participants - Provides time course info like ERP but also provides coarse-grained info about neural sources responsible for the observed fluctuations

Neuroscience Imagery Methods 4. Event-related Potential (ERP)

records the brief fluctuations in the brain's electrical activity in response to a stimulus, such as an auditory one. Electrodes are placed on the scalp, which measure the electrical activity generated by a group pf neurons located directly beneath the scalp. Can measure the activity of a group of neurons, not single ones.

Describe the Research on Neuroscience of Attention

• According to case studies, some people who have a brain lesion in the parietal region of the right hemisphere cannot notice visual objects in the left visual field. In contrast, people with damage in the left parietal region have trouble noticing a visual stimulus on the right side • PET-scan research has also established that the orienting attention network is active when people perform visual searches or when they notice spatial locations. • The executive attention network engages the prefrontal cortex. • This executive attention network is important in attention tasks that focus on conflict (e.g., the Stroop task), in the top-down control of attention, and in learning new information.

What does the neuroscience research on face recognition indicate? Summarize the applied research on face recognition. What do these findings reveal about our object recognition skills?

• Area responsible for facial recognition is found in the temporal cortex (lower portion) ○ fMRI studies found that the fusiform face area is more activated when an individual is exposed to images of faces. In addition, faces presented in normal position (rather than upside-down -> face-inversion effect) show more activity in this region and are more easily identified. ○ However, fusiform area may be more involved with familiarity recognition as this region is active when car experts are exposed to photos of cars. • Applied research suggests that people are not very accurate in judging whether a photo matches the face of the cardholder. Furthermore, people are not very accurate in judging whether a photo of an unfamiliar person matches a person in a video that they saw earlier. • Individuals with schizophrenia can identify facial emotion as accurately as people in a control group, when the two groups are matched for age, gender, and intelligence, although individuals with schizophrenia typically take longer to make these decisions.

Unit 3: What is attention?

• Attention: a concentration of mental activity that allows you to take in a limited portion of the vast stream of information available from both your sensory world and your memory - Attention is limited and can only be focused to a certain degree. Can focus on everything at once.

Define and describe "bottom-up processing" and "top-down processing." Give original examples of each type of perceptual processing. (THEME 5) a. Bottom-up Processing

• Bottom-Up Processing: In the bottom-up processing approach, perception starts at the sensory input, the stimulus. This info is then passed to higher more sophisticated levels of the perceptual system. Thus, perception can be described as data-driven. For example, a cup (distal) is then formed on a person's retina (proximal) -> physical features: shape, size, colour, and other info are registered on retina. Then, object recognition process begins by bringing it to primary visual cortex where more sophisticated cognitive regions of the brain assist in identification.

Cognitive Revolution

• Cognitive Revolution: A shift in psychology, that began in the 1950's, from behaviourism. Complex human behaviour couldn't be explained using behaviorist concepts (observable stimuli, responses, and reinforcement). - Movement toward memory -> strategies for problem solving, storage of language - Piaget's developmental movement and work on the child's thought processes -> children actively explore their world to understand concepts, and change as they mature - Noam Chomsky work on linguistics (believed behaviourism couldn't explain acquisition of the complex language of humans, must in inborn)

Consider the following letter pairs: E and F, K and M, Z and B, and N and M. Which pair of letters shares the most features, and which pair shares the least? Which pair would require the most time for someone to determine whether they are different? Which pair would require the least amount of time to arrive at this determination?

• Distinctive features (feature analysis model) -> we store a list of distinctive features for each letter. For example, the distinctive features for the letter R include a curved component, a vertical line, and a diagonal line. When you look at a new letter, your visual system notes the presence or absence of the various features. It then compares this list with the features stored in memory for each letter of the alphabet. People's handwriting may differ, but each of their printed Rs will include these three features. - Less distinctive features = more time to compare -> W O only share one feature, while I & L Share 2, X & Y Share 3

Compare Divided-attention and Selective attention What is a multitask?

• Divided-attention tasks: A situation in which people try to pay attention to two or more simultaneous messages, responding appropriately to each message. Both speed and accuracy frequently suffer during this task. (increases further if tasks are more complex) ○ Ex. Focusing on a lecture and a nearby conversation ○ Multitask: try to accomplish two or more tasks at the same time. Multitasking strains the limits of attention and their working memory, and long term memory. Ex. College students walk more slowly when they are on their cellphone ○ Research on divided attention has been directed towards distracted driving. Research shows that driving while using a handheld phone (in any capacity - texting, talking, handsfree Bluetooth) increases the number of driving errors. Strayer found that a form of inattentional blindness existed when using cell phones. Their attention was reduced to information that appeared in their center of vision. • Selective attention tasks: A situation in which people are instructed to pay attention to certain kinds of information, while ignoring other ongoing information. - THEME 2 (our cognitive apparatus is well designed) shows that selective attention prevents the brain from being overwhelmed by stimuli.

Summarize Treisman's feature-integration theory of attention. How does Treisman's feature-integration explain feature-present/feature-absent effects and illusory conjunctions? Be sure to include a description of the binding problem and current status of the theory.

• Feature-Integration Theory: The basic elements of feature-integration theory assumes that we sometimes look at a scene using distributed attention and we process all parts of the scene at the same time. Other times, we use focused attention and process the scene one item at a time. The two forms of attention form a continuum, rather than two distinct categories, therefore we use a kind of attention that is somewhere in the middle. • Focused attention: requires slower processing, as you identify one object at a time, as when objects are more complex. Focused attention also identifies which features belong together. • Distributed attention allows you to register features automatically, by using parallel processing across the scene and registering all features simultaneously. This is low-level processing that is so effortless, we barely recognize we're using it. - Treisman and Gelade and other researchers have found that people need more time to find the target when there are a large number of distractors in a focused-attention task. When we are overwhelmed with too many simultaneous visual tasks, we sometimes form illusory conjunction, which is an inappropriate combination of features. (perhaps combining one object's shape with a nearby object's color.) When we cannot use focused attention, (attention is over-loaded), we sometimes for illusory conjunctions to fit our expectations. - This is because the human visual system actually processes an object's features independently. For example, when you look at a red apple, you actually analyze its red color separately from its round shape = binding problem (characteristics such as color and shape are registered separately; as a result, the visual system does not represent these important features of an object as a unified whole.) Focused attention fixes this by acting like a form of glue, so that an object's color and its shape can stick together. (Combines red colour and round shape -> apple) - when we are distracted (not focused) illusionary conjunctions are more common Current status: Triesman's feature-integration theory is still able to account for many important aspects of visual attention

Summarize the application of working memory research in education and the clinical population: 1. Education 2. Clinical Depression 3. ADHD 4. GAD (General Anxiety Disorder)

• Research shows that high scores on working-memory tasks are correlated with intelligence, grades in school, reading ability, and verbal fluency. • Adults who experience major depression frequently have difficulty with a variety of tasks involving the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the central executive. • Individuals with ADHD show working memory deficits in both visual and verbal working memory tasks, relative to control groups. This difference is most likely due to deficits in central executive functioning. • Individuals with GAD have a degree of interference with working memory due to excessive anxiety. Working memory resources are limited in capacity paired with taxing anxiety taxes the working memory resource pool, thus reducing the amount of working memory resources left over to support other cognitive processes.

Explain how the McGurk Effect relates to visual perception and speech perception

• Speech perception occurs in the superior temporal sulcus in the part of the cortex that integrates sight and sound. This is explained by the McGurk Effect - people use visual cues to facilitate speech perception. - Studies show that when participants are able to view a person speaking (watching their face, lips) when compared to listening to speech with not physical context. Those with context were able to re-create the sound better than the no context group.

Two Theories of Speech Perception 2. General Mechanism Approaches

• The General Mechanism Approaches: Most theorists favour this approach. The general mechanisms approach argues that we can explain speech perception without proposing any special phonetic module, or that humans use the same neural mechanisms to process both speech sounds and nonspeech sounds. Speech perception would therefore be a learned ability. Brain studies demonstrate that adults show the same sequence of shifts in the brain's electrical potential, whether they are listening to speech, or music.

Two Theories of Speech Perception 1. Special Mechanism Approach

• The special mechanism approach: AKA: speech-is-special approach, assumes humans are born with a specialized device that allows us to decode speech stimuli. As a result, we process speech sounds more quickly and accurately than other auditory stimuli, like music. ○ Supporters of this theory argue that humans have a phonetic module (aka speech module), a special neural mechanism that processes all aspects of speech perception and does not handle any other forms of auditory stimuli. ○ The special mechanisms approach suggests that the brain is organized in such a way that speech perception would not rely on other general cognitive functions, or work interrelatedly and in dependence with other cognitive processes. - One argument in favour of special mechanisms approach is categorical perception. When people are exposed to ambiguous sounds, like a sound between b and p, they tend to hear these sounds as clear cut b or p, suggesting they showed categorical perception.

Define and describe "bottom-up processing" and "top-down processing." Give original examples of each type of perceptual processing. (THEME 5) b. Top-down Processing

• Top-down processing: refers to how our brains make use of information that has already been brought into the brain by one or more of the sensory systems (Bottom-up). Top-down processing is a cognitive process that initiates with our thoughts, which flow down to lower-level functions, such as the senses. Emphasizes how a person's concepts, expectations and memory can influence object recognition (expectations or experience with object previously will allow rapid recognition). ○ Top Down is higher level mental processes that help us identify objects. ○ Top-Down processing is strong when a stimuli is registered for only a fraction of a second, or when stimulus are incomplete or ambiguous. ○ For example, you recognize a coffee cup because of two almost simultaneous processes: (1) Bottom-up processing forces you to register the component features, such as the curve of the cup's handle; and (2) the context of a coffee shop encourages you to recognize the handle on the cup more quickly, because of top-down processing. ○ One classic example of top-down processing in action is a phenomenon known as the Stroop effect. In this task, color words are printed in other colors. So, for example, the word "Red" might be printed in blue, the word "Pink" might be printed in white, and so on. Participants are asked to say the color of the word but not the actual word itself. When reaction times are measured, people are much slower at saying the correct color when the color and the word are not the same. Top-down processing explains why this task is so difficult. People automatically recognize the word before they think about the color, making it easier to read the word aloud rather than to say the color of the word.

How is face perception different from normal object recognition? Define "prosopagnosia."

• Unlike object recognition it is easier to recognize a face when it is in the context -> facial features are recognized in the context of the whole face rather than in total isolation • Recognize faces on a holistic (recognition) basis—that is, in terms of their overall shape and structure. We perceive a face in terms of its gestalt, or overall quality that transcends its individual elements. It makes sense that face perception has a special status given the importance of faces in our social interactions • Prosopagnosia: people who cannot recognize human faces, but can perceive objects normally. They see the features of the person's face as independent of one another (instead of being unified in a normal person)

Explain how top-down processing affects object recognition using this demonstration.

• top down processing is strong when stimulus is incomplete or ambiguous - an ambiguous letter—can sometimes be perceived as an H and sometimes as an A. In this demonstration, you began to identify the whole word "THE," and your tentative knowledge of that word helped to identify the second letter as an H. Similarly, your knowledge of the words "MAN" and "RAN" helped you identify that same ambiguous letter as an A in this different context.

What is "word superiority effect"? How is word superiority effect related to top-down processing?

• word superiority effect: we can identify a single letter more accurately and more rapidly when it appears in a meaningful word than when it appears alone or in a meaningless string of unrelated letters ○ recognize the letter p more easily if it appears in a word such as plan than if it appears in a nonword such as pnla. In fact, dozens of studies have confirmed the importance of top-down processing in letter recognition

Baddeley's model of working memory c. Phonological Loop

□ Processes sound -> language, sound you hear, subvocalization (when you read words in your head) The phonological loop is also used for long-term memory, self-instruction, learning new words, producing language, and solving problems. □ Can be used for self-instruction (remind yourself you need to do something in the future □ Used to learn new words (have to silently say phonological to understand how it is read) Limits: □ Can't process two phonological tasks at once: Unable to do a counting rehearsal while saying "the"

Baddeley's model of working memory a. Visuospatial Sketchpad

□ stores visual and spatial information. The capacity of this feature is also limited □ allows you to store a coherent picture of both the visual appearance of the objects and their relative positions in a scene □ stores visual information that you encode from a verbal description Ex. A friend tells you a story -> you visualize the scene as he tells it Limits: can't perform one task requiring a mental image—with both visual and spatial components Ex. Can't drive (spatial) and daydream (visual)

Baddeley's model of working memory b. Episodic Buffer

□ this component temporarily stores material from the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory. □ Helps to solve the theoretical problem of how working memory integrates information from different modalities □ Bind together stimuli that were not previously connected Ex. you might suddenly recall a time when a person had made a rude comment to you. You can then link your friend's reaction with your own personal experiences. The episodic buffer also binds words into meaningful "chunks" or phrases, which you can remember much more accurately than words in random order > Episodic buffer allows us to create a richer, more complex representation of an event. This complex representation can then be stored in our long-term memory.

What does Neuroscience research reveal about Central Executive?

○ Central executive cannot perform two complex tasks simultaneously Ex. Daydreaming interferes with generating a random-number sequence > Daydreaming takes up a lot of the executive and therefore participants can't generate random numbers ○ According to neuroscience research, the central executive primarily activates various regions within the frontal lobe. > central executive guides and organizes various cognitive activities

Describe the phenomenon known as "change blindness."

○ Change Blindness: The failure to detect a change in an object or a scene due to overuse of top-down processing. Ex. participants looked at a photo, which was briefly presented twice. Then a slightly different version of the photo was briefly presented twice. This sequence of alternations was repeated until the participants detected the change. Unless multiple alterations were changed, we are relatively blind to obvious changes in the objects they are perceiving as top-down processing encourages us to assume the basic meaning of the scene will remain stable.

Visual System: What is "distal stimulus," and "proximal stimulus."

○ Distal Stimulus: The actual object that is "out there" in the environment ie: pen or lamp on my desk. ○ Proximal Stimulus: The information registered on sensory receptors, ie: the image that the pen on my desk creates on my retina. Process: Object recognition is when we are trying to figure out the identity of the distal stimulus even when info of the proximal stimulus is far from perfect. Ex. In the oval and 2 horizontal lines image, you recognized a human face even though it lacked a nose, mouth or ears. We recognize shape, better than color or texture when identifying objects (THEME 2 - efficient at recognizing patterns).

Define "fixation" and "perceptual span."

○ Fixation: occurs during period between saccadic movements. We cannot process much visual information while our eyes are moving. Visual system pauses briefly in order to acquire information that is useful for comprehending the written text - Perceptual Span: refers to the number of letters and spaces that perceive during a fixation. Perceptual span is lopsided and benefits the right (in English) this lopsided effect is called the parafoveal preview. □ Parafoveal preview: when readers can access information about the upcoming words even though they are currently fixated on a word to the left (in English) of those word. Creates shorter fixation durations on nearby word (spans about 8 spaces, allows for processing of word length and fluid continuation onto the next word)

Define "inattentional blindness," and indicate how it differs from change blindness.

○ Inattentional Blindness: The failure to notice an unexpected but completely visible object that suddenly appears while attention is focused on some other events in a scene. Inattentional blindness results from the overuse of top-down processing. Ex. participants watched a videotape of people playing basketball. These participants were instructed to mentally tally the number of times that members of a specified group made either a bounce pass or an aerial pass. Shortly after the video began, a person dressed in a gorilla suit wandered into the scene and remained there for 5 seconds. Amazingly, 46% of the participants failed to notice the gorilla!

What are Saccadic Eye movements?

○ Saccadic Eye movements: The very rapid movement of the eyes from one spot to the next is known as saccadic (suh cod dik) eye movement (eyes don't smoothly move across a line of text). The purpose of saccadic eye movement is to bring the center of the retina, specifically the fovea, into position over the words you want to read. - People do not smoothly and continuously move their eyes across a line of text when they read. Instead, eye movements during reading are saccadic eye movements—or, extremely quick jumps from one location to another. - Saccadic movement patterns depend on factors such as the language of the text, the difficulty of the text, and individual differences in reading skill

What does Neuroscience research reveal about the Visualspatial Sketchpad?

○ Storage of visual scene exercise -> when eyes closed, briefly stores previous image -> allows you to touch object accurately while blind ○ two visuospatial tasks will interfere with each other if they are performed simultaneously. ○ Activation of the visuospatial sketchpad is typically associated with the right hemisphere, especially the occipital region (for visual tasks), the frontal region, and the parietal region (associated with attention)

How does working memory affect the shape of the serial position curve?

○ The curve shows a strong recency effect, with better recall for items at the end of a list. ○ The serial-position curve also shows a strong primacy effect, with enhanced recall for items at the beginning of the list, probably because they 1) don't have to compete with other list items, 2) people rehearse these early items more frequently. ○ Less recall for middle list items.

Visual System What is sensory memory and visual sensory memory How are visuals processed?

○ The sensory memory is the brains storage system that records information from each of our senses with reasonable accuracy. The visual sensory memory (aka, iconic memory), preserves an image for a brief period after the image has disappeared (down to 1/10 second). - Process: Visual stimuli (distal) is registered on the retina (proximal stimulus), then travels though the group of neurons between the retina and the primary visual cortex known as the visual pathway. The primary visual cortex is located in the occipital lobe and handles the basic processing of visual stimuli. - Info produced on retina travels to primary visual cortex (50-80ms), it sorts the information and other regions of the brain assist in processing it to determine object (recognize) Ex. Parietal lobe assists in object recognition of tools (fork, spoon, etc.)

What does Neuroscience research reveal about the Phonological loop?

○ items stored in the loop can be confused with other similar-sounding items. ○ Neuroscience research reveals that phonological tasks typically activate the left hemisphere (language area), including the frontal lobe (for rehearsal), and the parietal lobe (for storage). ○ TMS techniques disrupt the phonological loop so that researchers can see how the loop works (through disruption) They found that disrupting the areas of the brain involved in the loop created more errors of remembering in participants