Cognitive Psychology: Lab Methods

Laboratory Methods

• Backwards Masking (Visual): A visual stimulus is presented briefly, immediately followed by another stimulus (the mask).
  • This method gauges the ability to recognize or recall the initial stimulus.
  • It explores visual perception and consciousness by assessing the brain's processing speed of stimuli before the mask "erases" them.
• Paired Associates: Participants learn pairs of words.
  • Later, they are prompted with one word from each pair and asked to recall its mate.
  • The accuracy of recalling the paired word is measured to assess associative learning and memory.
• The Stroop Effect: Participants are asked to name the color of ink of words that spell out color names.
  • Reaction time and accuracy are measured.
  • This illustrates the interference effect and automaticity in reading.
• Shadowing Tasks: Participants repeat aloud one auditory message while ignoring another.
  • The extent to which the unattended message is processed is gauged.
  • It assesses selective attention.
• Whole Report and Partial Report (Sperling): Letters are displayed in a grid for a short period.
  • The number of letters recalled is measured.
  • Sensory memory holds more information than can be reported before it disappears.

Definitions

• Attention: Selectively concentrating on specific stimuli while ignoring others.
• Automaticity: Performing tasks without conscious effort due to practice.
• Blindsight: Visually impaired individuals respond to visual stimuli without conscious perception.
• Bottom-up & Top-down Processing: Bottom-up processing is stimulus-driven, while top-down processing is influenced by prior knowledge.
• Capacity & Duration of a Memory Store: Limits exist on how much and how long information can be retained in sensory, short-term, and long-term memory.
• Change Blindness & Inattentional Blindness: Failure to notice visual changes due to attention limitations.
• Cognitive Neuroscience: The study of the neural foundation of cognition.
• Divided Attention: Processing multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Interference (Proactive & Retroactive): Proactive interference occurs when old information disrupts new learning.
  • Retroactive interference occurs when new information disrupts old memories.
• Law of Parsimony (Occam’s Razor): The simplest explanation is preferred.
• Parallel & Serial Processes: Parallel processes occur simultaneously.
  • Serial processes occur one step at a time.
• Pattern Recognition: Recognizing objects or stimuli based on stored knowledge.
• Psycholinguistics: The study of how language is processed and understood.
• Psychophysics: The study of relationships between stimuli and perception.
• Saccade & Visual Fixation: Saccade is rapid eye movement.
  • Visual Fixation is a brief pause on a stimulus.
• Savings in Relearning: Faster relearning of material previously learned.
• Selective Attention: Focusing on one stimulus while ignoring others.
• Structuralism: An early psychology approach that focused on breaking down mental processes into components.

Theories/Essays

• Antecedents of Cognitive Psychology: Philosophy involves early ideas on knowledge and thought.
  • Psychophysics involves studying perception scientifically.
  • Behaviorism emphasizes observable behavior.
  • Computer Science involves information processing models.
• Contributions of Key Figures: Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab and used introspection.
  • Hermann Ebbinghaus studied memory and forgetting curves.
  • Mary Calkins developed paired-associates learning.
  • William James distinguished primary and secondary memory.
  • Jean Piaget studied cognitive development.
• Distinguishing Concepts: Cognition involves mental processes like memory and attention.
  • Cognitive psychology is the study of cognition through experiments.
  • Cognitive neuroscience focuses on the brain structures behind cognition.
• Testability of Theories: A theory is testable if it can be empirically verified through experiments.
• The Modal Model (Three-Box Model): Sensory Memory goes to Short-Term Memory, which in turn goes to Long-Term Memory.
  • This model explains how information is processed and stored.
• Capacity vs. Filter Models of Attention: Capacity models involve limited resources dividing attention.
  • Filter models suggest information is selectively attended to.
• Dichotic Listening Study Procedure: Participants may be paying some attention to the unattended ear if they notice changes there (like name recognition).
• Stroop Effect & Automaticity: Reading is automatic, thus causing interference when naming ink colors.
• Executive Attention Network: Located in the prefrontal cortex and is responsible for high-level attention control.
• Sperling's Partial Report & Iconic Memory: Participants could recall row-specific information when cued, which proves location data was briefly stored.
• Path of a Visual Signal: The path is Retina → Optic Nerve → Optic Chiasm → LGN (Thalamus) → Primary Visual Cortex (Occipital Lobe).
• Rebound-from-Thought-Suppression Effect: Suppressing thoughts can make them more persistent.
  • This leads to counterproductive behaviors such as overeating.

Overview of lab methods in cognitive psychology: backwards masking, paired associates, Stroop effect, shadowing tasks. These tasks are designed to test various cognitive processes, including perception, memory, attention, and interference.