Cognitive Psychology: Lab Methods

Laboratory Methods

• Backwards Masking (Visual): Assesses visual perception and consciousness via stimulus recognition after a quickly following mask.
  • The visual stimulus is manipulated by quickly following it with a mask.
  • The ability to recognize or recall the initial stimulus is measured.
  • Interpretation involves determining how quickly the brain processes stimuli before being masked.
• Paired Associates: Tests associative learning and memory through word-pair memorization and recall.
  • Participants are manipulated by memorizing word pairs
  • Accuracy of recalling the paired word when prompted with one word from the pair is measured.
• The Stroop Effect: Demonstrates automaticity in reading and interference by measuring reaction time naming ink colors of conflicting color words.
  • Participants are manipulated requiring them to name ink color of color words.
  • Reaction time and accuracy are measured.
• Shadowing: Tests selective attention by measuring how much of an unattended auditory message is processed while repeating another message.
  • Participants are manipulated repeating aloud one auditory message while ignoring another.
  • How much of the unattended message is processed is measured.
• Whole Report and Partial Report (Sperling): Explores sensory memory capacity by flashing letters in a grid and measuring recall.
  • Participants are manipulated by a display of letters in a grid for a brief time.
  • The number of letters recalled is measured.
  • Sensory memory holds more information than can be reported before it fades.

Definitions

• Attention: Selectively concentrating on specific stimuli while ignoring others.
• Automaticity: Performing tasks without conscious effort due to practice.
• Blindsight: Responding to visual stimuli without conscious perception, despite visual impairment.
• Bottom-up & Top-down Processing: Stimulus-driven (Bottom-up) vs. knowledge-influenced (Top-down) processing.
• Capacity & Duration of a Memory Store: It defines the limits on how much data is retained in sensory, short-term, and long-term memory and how long it is stored for.
• Change Blindness & Inattentional Blindness: Failure to notice visual changes (change blindness) or unexpected objects (inattentional blindness) due to attention limitations.
• Cognitive Neuroscience: The study of the neural basis of cognition.
• Divided Attention: Processing multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Interference (Proactive & Retroactive): Proactive interference is when old information disrupts new learning while retroactive interference is when new information disrupts old memories.
• Law of Parsimony (Occam’s Razor): States that the simplest explanation is preferred.
• Parallel & Serial Processes: Parallel involve multiple processes occurring simultaneously; Serial has 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 a rapid eye movement whereas fixation is a brief pause on a stimulus.
• Savings in Relearning: Faster relearning of previously learned material.
• Selective Attention: Focusing on one stimulus while ignoring others.
• Structuralism: An early psychology approach that focuses on breaking down mental processes into components.

Theories/Essays

• Antecedents of Cognitive Psychology:
  • Philosophy explores early ideas on knowledge and thought.
  • Psychophysics is a science for studying perception.
  • Behaviorism emphasizes observable behavior.
  • Computer Science develops 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 refers to 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 flows to Short-Term Memory which flows to Long-Term Memory
  • It explains how information is processed and stored.
• Capacity vs. Filter Models of Attention:
  • Capacity Models use limited resources to divide attention.
  • Filter Models are used when information is selectively attended to.
• Dichotic Listening Study Procedure:
  • If participants notice changes in the unattended ear (like name recognition), they are paying some attention.
• Stroop Effect & Automaticity:
  • Reading is automatic, causing interference when naming ink colors.
• Executive Attention Network:
  • Located in the prefrontal cortex, it’s responsible for high-level attention control.
• Sperling's Partial Report & Iconic Memory:
  • Participants could recall row-specific information when cued, proving location data was briefly stored.
• Path of a Visual Signal: A visual signal travels from the retina, to the optic nerve, to the optic chiasm, to the LGN (Thalamus), to the Primary Visual Cortex (Occipital Lobe).
• Rebound-from-Thought-Suppression Effect:
  • Suppressing thoughts can make them more persistent, leading to counterproductive behaviors.

Explores lab methods in cognitive psychology, including backwards masking, paired associates, Stroop Effect, and shadowing. These methods are used to study how different cognitive processes work.