Cognitive Psychology Overview: Chapters 1-12
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Questions and Answers

What does the cerebellum control?

Bodily coordination, balance, muscle tone, and some aspects of memory involving procedure-related movements.

What structures make up the convolutions of the cerebral cortex?

  • Sulci
  • Fissures
  • Gyri
  • All of the above (correct)

    • The left hemisphere specializes in spatial visualization.

    False

    What is the primary function of the primary motor cortex?

    <p>Planning, control, and execution of movement.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which lobe is primarily responsible for auditory processing?

    <p>Temporal Lobe</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The corpus callosum connects both _____ of the brain.

    <p>hemispheres</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain suddenly breaks?

    <p>Hemorrhagic Stroke</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the role of neurotransmitters?

    <p>Transmit information across the synaptic gap to the receiving dendrites of the next neuron.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What technique uses a thin electrode to record changes in electrical activity of a single neuron?

    <p>Single-cell recording</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is less invasive than other imaging techniques.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do PET scans measure?

    <p>Increases in oxygen consumption in active brain areas during particular kinds of information processing.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of brain injuries involve an intact skull but damage to the brain?

    <p>Closed-head injuries</p> Signup and view all the answers

    _____ refers to the back part of the brain.

    <p>Caudal</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is defined as the study of the brain structures and functions postmortem?

    <p>Postmortem studies</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are cones?

    <p>Short and thick photoreceptors that allow for the perception of color.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the function of photo pigments?

    <p>They react to light and transform physical electromagnetic energy into an electrochemical neural impulse.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What forms the optic nerve?

    <p>The axons of the ganglion cells.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the role of the lateral geniculate nucleus?

    <p>It processes visual information before it reaches the primary visual cortex.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the dorsal pathway process?

    <p>Location and motion</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which pathway is referred to as the ventral pathway?

    <p>What pathway</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is bottom-up perception?

    <p>An approach where perception starts with stimuli taken in through the eyes.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is direct perception according to Gibson's theory?

    <p>Perception is solely based on the information in our sensory receptors.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the purpose of feature-matching theories?

    <p>To match features of a pattern to those stored in memory.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are geons in recognition-by-components theory?

    <p>Simple geometric shapes used to recognize 3-D objects.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the law of Prägnanz state?

    <p>We tend to perceive visual arrays in the simplest way possible.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The ability to perceive an object as stable despite changes in the proximal stimulus is known as _____ constancy.

    <p>perceptual</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is simultaneous agnosia?

    <p>Inability to pay attention to more than one object at a time.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is prosopagnosia?

    <p>Severely impaired ability to recognize human faces.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which theory emphasizes that perception is constructed using prior knowledge and sensory data?

    <p>Top-down theory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the main bottom-up theoretical approaches to pattern perception?

    <p>All of the above</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are agnosias?

    <p>Deficits of form and pattern perception associated with brain lesions, causing inability to recognize objects.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the definition of attention?

    <p>The means by which we actively select and process a limited amount of information.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Signal-detection theory (SDT) explains how people pick out important stimuli embedded in a wealth of __________ stimuli.

    <p>irrelevant</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Consciousness has no overlap with attention.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the attentional models with their characteristics:

    <p>Early Filter Model = Filters information at the sensory level Attenuation Model = Weakens the strength of stimuli other than the target Late-Filter Model = Filters out stimuli after analyzing physical properties and meaning Selective Filter Model = Allows high-importance messages to break through the filter</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the three primary symptoms of ADHD?

    <p>Inattention, hyperactivity, impulsiveness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Change blindness refers to the inability to detect changes in objects or scenes.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the term 'automatic processes' refer to?

    <p>Processes performed without conscious awareness that require little effort.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary neurotransmitter involved in the alerting function of attention?

    <p>Norepinephrine</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which factor can influence our ability to pay attention?

    <p>All of the above</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a 'slip' in the context of automatic processes?

    <p>Error in carrying out an intended means for reaching an objective</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does priming in psychology refer to?

    <p>Facilitating recognition through prior exposure to a stimulus</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a good predictor of academic success?

    <p>Working memory capacity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which areas are involved in the visuospatial sketchpad? (Select all that apply)

    <p>Prefrontal cortex</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of memory does Endel Tulving distinguish between?

    <p>Semantic memory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Lesions in the frontal lobe affect recollection of when a stimulus was presented.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the phenomenon called when memory retrieval of seemingly forgotten memories is achieved?

    <p>Hypermnesia</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What kind of amnesia is characterized by the inability to recall events prior to a traumatic event?

    <p>Retrograde amnesia</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main effect of Alzheimer's disease on memory?

    <p>It leads to progressive memory loss.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is Amnesia?

    <p>Severe loss of explicit memory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The model called HERA demonstrates greater activation in the left prefrontal hemisphere for tasks requiring retrieval from ______ memory.

    <p>semantic</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The neural connections among nodes in connectionist models are essential for the representation of knowledge and ______.

    <p>memory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the dyad of triads task?

    <p>Participants identify which of two triads is coherent and which word links the coherent triad.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon refer to?

    <p>A situation where a person cannot readily retrieve a stored memory but can retrieve related information.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Blindsight occurs when someone has no conscious awareness of visual sensations.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one of the main functions of attention?

    <p>Identifying important objects</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What distinguishes controlled from automatic processing?

    <p>Controlled processes are slow and intentional, while automatic processes are fast and unconscious.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What technique do researchers use to measure sensitivity to targets?

    <p>Signal-detection Theory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the difference between recall and recognition tasks?

    <p>Recall involves producing information from memory, while recognition involves identifying it from options.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The traditional model of memory includes three stores: sensory store, short-term store, and __________.

    <p>long-term store</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the capacity of the sensory memory according to research?

    <p>12 items</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is procedural knowledge?

    <p>Knowledge of how to perform tasks and skills, often acquired through practice.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which phenomenon reflects facilitation of the ability to utilize missing information?

    <p>Priming</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The higher the level of processing, the lower the probability of remembering the item.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In which model of memory is working memory a central focus?

    <p>Working Memory Model</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is cognitive psychology?

    <p>Cognitive psychology is the study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which philosophical perspective emphasizes knowledge through logical analysis?

    <p>Rationalism</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Who is considered the father of structuralism?

    <p>Wilhelm Wundt</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Behaviourism focuses on observable behaviour and not on mental states.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the law of effect according to Edward Lee Thorndike?

    <p>A stimulus will tend to produce a certain response over time if an organism is rewarded for that response.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did Ivan Pavlov study?

    <p>Classical conditioning</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Who proposed the concept of cell assemblies?

    <p>Donald Hebb</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following methods is used in cognitive psychology research?

    <p>All of the above</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main criticism of behaviourism?

    <p>Behaviourism did not account for complex mental activities, such as language learning and problem-solving.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Neuroscientific research looks at the relationship between cognitive performance and cerebral events.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The ________ is essential for thinking and other mental processes.

    <p>cerebral cortex</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the upper limit with which an observer can match a response to information given called?

    <p>Magic Number Seven</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which research method involves individuals describing aloud all their thoughts during a task?

    <p>Verbal protocol</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What concept did Noam Chomsky criticize in regards to language acquisition?

    <p>Skinner's theory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the name of the network of neurons essential for regulating consciousness and attention?

    <p>Reticular activating system</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    • ory memory storage prior to filtering relevant informCognitive Psychology Overview

      • Cognitive psychology studies how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information.
      • Heuristic methods serve as mental shortcuts for information processing.
      • Dialectic development includes thesis, antithesis, and synthesis stages.
      • Cultural influences impact cognitive processes, including concepts of intelligence.

      Philosophical Foundations

      • Cognitive psychology originates from rationalism (logical knowledge, Plato, Descartes) and empiricism (knowledge from observation, Aristotle, Locke).
      • Immanuel Kant synthesized these views, while Hegel described dialectical progression of ideas.

      Historical Development of Psychology

      • Structuralism, founded by Wilhelm Wundt, analyzes the structure of the mind through introspection.
      • Functionalism, led by William James, emphasizes the functions and processes of thought.
      • Associationism links learning with mental associations, highlighting contiguity, similarity, and contrast.
      • Behaviorism, championed by John Watson and B.F. Skinner, focuses solely on observable behaviors and their environmental contingencies.

      Theoretical Evolution

      • Edward Tolman introduced goal-directed behavior into behaviorism.
      • Gestalt psychology promotes understanding phenomena as organized wholes.
      • Cognitive psychology arose through a synthesis of behaviorism and Gestaltism in the 1950s, emphasizing internal mental processes.

      Key Figures in Cognitive Psychology

      • Karl Spencer Lashley emphasized the brain's organization of behavior.
      • Noam Chomsky critiqued behaviorism's approach to language acquisition, advocating for innate cognitive structures.
      • George Miller introduced concepts like the "Magic Number Seven" related to short-term memory.

      Research Methodologies

      • Cognitive psychologists employ various research methods:
        • Laboratory experiments with independent and dependent variables.
        • Neuroscientific studies linking cognitive processes to brain function.
        • Self-reports and case studies for insight into cognitive processes.
        • Computer simulations and artificial intelligence to model cognition.

      Current Issues and Focus Areas

      • Cognitive psychology addresses ongoing debates between rationalism and empiricism, and the importance of cognitive structures and processes.
      • Major research topics include attention, memory, language, problem-solving, intelligence, and the effects of culture on cognition.

      Brain Anatomy and Function

      • Brain divided into forebrain (cerebral cortex, limbic system), midbrain (eye movement, arousal), and hindbrain (basic life functions).
      • The cerebral cortex is vital for higher-level thinking, emotional regulation, and memory.
      • Key structures include the basal ganglia for motion, hippocampus for memory formation, and thalamus for sensory information processing.

      Hemispheric Specialization

      • The brain has two hemispheres with distinct functions, connected by the corpus callosum.
      • The left hemisphere is specialized for language and analytical functions, while the right hemisphere excels in spatial and holistic processes.
      • Split-brain patients illustrate functional asymmetries between hemispheres.

      Practical Implications

      • Cognitive psychology’s integration with AI and neuroscience fosters advancements in understanding human cognition.
      • The discipline continues to explore fundamental cognitive processes and their applications in real-world scenarios.### Frontal Lobe
      • Involved in motor processing and higher thought processes, such as abstract reasoning, problem-solving, planning, and judgment.
      • Crucial for speech production; damage can lead to speech difficulties.
      • Prefrontal cortex integrates information over time, facilitating complex motor control tasks.
      • Primary motor cortex is responsible for planning, controlling, and executing movements, with a contralateral organization for body control (homunculi maps).

      Parietal Lobe

      • Located at the upper back of the brain; plays a role in somatosensory processing and spatial awareness.
      • Primary somatosensory cortex receives sensory information related to pressure, texture, temperature, and pain.

      Temporal Lobe

      • Situated below the parietal lobe; primarily handles auditory processing and language comprehension.
      • Retains visual memories, aiding in the recognition of objects and events.

      Occipital Lobe

      • Located at the back of the brain; specialized in visual processing with various areas analyzing color, motion, and form.
      • Contains the primary visual cortex, critical for interpreting visual stimuli.

      Brain Orientation Terms

      • Rostral: Refers to the anterior part of the brain.
      • Ventral: Indicates the inferior surface of the brain.
      • Caudal: Means posterior, resembling the tail region.
      • Dorsal: Signifies the superior part of the brain.

      Neuronal Structure and Function

      • Neurons consist of four main parts: soma (cell body), dendrites, axon, and terminal buttons.
      • Soma contains the nucleus and connects dendrites to the axon.
      • Dendrites collect information from other neurons while axons send electrochemical signals to other neurons.
      • Myelin sheaths around axons speed up signal transmission; nodes of Ranvier enhance conduction.
      • Terminal buttons release neurotransmitters across the synapse to relay information.

      Neurotransmitters

      • Chemical messengers allow communication across synapses; categories include:
        • Monoamines, amino-acid neurotransmitters, and neuropeptides.
      • Key neurotransmitters include:
        • Acetylcholine: Associated with memory, sleep, and arousal.
        • Dopamine: Linked to attention, learning, movement control, and motivation.
        • Serotonin: Regulates eating behaviors, body weight, aggression, and impulsivity.

      Brain Research Methods

      • Postmortem Studies: Connecting behaviors to brain anomalies, e.g., Broca's patient Tan.
      • Nonhuman Animal Studies: Techniques like single-cell recordings, lesioning, and genetic knockout procedures.
      • Live Human Studies: Include:
        • Electrical Recordings: EEGs track brain wave activity; ERPs measure changes in response to stimuli.
        • Static Imaging: CT and MRI scans assess structural and functional aspects of the brain.
        • Metabolic Imaging: PET scans and fMRI examine brain activity based on glucose and oxygen use.

      Brain Disorders

      • Stroke: Sudden blood flow disruption, leading to cognitive function loss. Two types: ischemic (blockage) and hemorrhagic (bleeding).
      • Brain Tumors: Can be primary (originating in brain) or secondary (spread from elsewhere). Symptoms may include severe headaches, nausea, and cognitive changes.
      • Head Injuries: Classified as closed (intact skull) or open (breached skull). Symptoms include abnormal breathing, speech disturbances, and cognitive issues.

      Perception Concepts

      • Sensation to Perception: Recognizing and organizing sensory information.
      • Basic Perception Terms: Distal object (external), informational medium (stimuli), proximal stimulation (sensory receptor interaction), perceptual object (mental representation).
      • Sensory adaptation can affect perception, e.g., the Ganzfeld effect where constant stimuli lead to perceived disappearance.

      Visual System Function

      • Vision begins with light entering through the cornea and passes through the pupil, lens, and vitreous humor, ultimately focusing on the retina.
      • Contains photoreceptors: rods (night vision, peripheral sensitivity) and cones (color perception, concentrated in the fovea).
      • Signals travel via bipolar and ganglion cells to form the optic nerve and transmit visual information to the primary visual cortex.

      Visual Processing Pathways

      • What-Where Hypothesis: Dorsal pathway processes spatial information while the ventral pathway identifies objects.
      • What-How Hypothesis: Focuses on object identification and interaction pathways.

      Bottom-Up Perception Theories

      • Four primary theories:
        • Direct Perception: Emphasizes the sufficiency of sensory information for perception.
        • Template Theories: Suggest recognition occurs by matching stimuli to stored templates.
        • Feature-Matching Theories: Compare stimulus features to stored memory features.
      • Pandemonium Model: Illustrates the hierarchical processing of stimulus features through metaphorical "demons" with specific responsibilities.### Feature Matching Theories
      • Feature demons detect matches between stimuli and specific features, calling out relevant information.
      • Cognitive demons identify stored patterns in memory corresponding to features noted by feature demons.
      • Decision demons evaluate input based on the frequency of cognitive demons' outputs.
      • Global features provide the overall shape, while local features concern detailed aspects of patterns.
      • Global precedence effect: Slowed identification when recognizing small 'S's forming a large 'H' compared to small 'H's forming a large 'H.'
      • Local precedence effect: Faster recognition of widely spaced local features than global forms, especially with contradictory stimuli.

      Neuroscientific Evidence

      • Visual cortex neurons respond to specific stimuli types, such as orientation.
      • Each neuron corresponds to a specific retinal receptive field, illustrating a hierarchical complexity in responses.
      • Gnostic units or “grandmother cells” are neurons linked to recognizing complex objects.

      Recognition-by-Components (RBC) Theory

      • Recognition of 3-D objects involves decomposing them into simpler geometric shapes known as geons.
      • Geons possess viewpoint invariance, aiding general recognition but struggling with specific instances.
      • Neurons in the inferior temporal cortex are sensitive to viewpoint invariance and may show varying responses based on object rotation.

      Top-Down Theories

      • Perception is influenced by high-level cognitive processes, prior knowledge, and expectations, forming a constructive approach.
      • Constructive perception combines sensory data with cognitive understanding.
      • Color constancy maintains the perception of color despite lighting changes.
      • Hypotheses about percepts are formed from sensory data, memory knowledge, and inferences.
      • Context effects demonstrate how surroundings influence perception; complex configurations improve recognition efficiency.

      Gestalt Laws of Perception

      • Gestalt principles explain perception through holistic approaches, emphasizing the organization of visual arrays into coherent forms.
      • The law of Prägnanz favors simple organization of visual elements.
      • Principles include figure-ground perception, proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, and symmetry.
      • Human children utilize Gestalt principles, differing notably from other primates.

      Recognition of Patterns and Faces

      • Two systems for pattern recognition: feature analysis focuses on parts, while configurational analysis emphasizes whole configurations.
      • Face recognition is primarily managed in the fusiform gyrus, with a distinct response to faces compared to other objects.
      • The "face positivity" effect indicates older adults prefer happy faces.
      • Amygdala activation connects emotional responses with face processing.
      • Prosopagnosia illustrates severe difficulties in recognizing faces, linked to damage in the configurational system.

      Perceptual Constancies

      • Perceptual constancy ensures stable perception despite changing sensory conditions; includes size and shape constancy.
      • Size constancy involves perceiving an object's size as constant, irrespective of proximal stimulus changes.
      • Shape constancy retains perceived shape despite changes in proximal stimuli.

      Depth Perception

      • Depth is understood as the distance from surfaces, driven by binocular and monocular cues.
      • Monocular cues include texture gradients, relative size, interposition, linear perspective, aerial perspective, and motion parallax.
      • Binocular depth cues rely on the disparity and convergence of images from both eyes, interpreted by the brain to gauge distance.

      Deficits in Perception

      • Agnosias are deficits caused by brain lesions affecting the ability to recognize objects.
      • Visual-object agnosia permits seeing parts without recognizing objects; simultagnosia limits attention to one object.
      • Prosopagnosia severely impairs face recognition capabilities.
      • (Optic) ataxia disrupts visual guidance of movements linked to the dorsal pathway.

      Anomalies in Color Perception

      • Color perception anomalies, more common in men, include rod monochromacy (no color vision) and various types of dichromacy.
      • Types of color blindness vary by which color perception mechanisms fail: protanopia (red-green), deuteranopia (green), tritanopia (blue-yellow).

      The Nature of Attention and Consciousness

      • Attention actively selects information from environmental stimuli, enhancing reaction speed and accuracy toward salient stimuli.
      • Consciousness encompasses awareness and linking past memories with present sensations.
      • Functions of attention include signal detection, vigilance, search, selective attention, and divided attention.
      • Signal-detection theory assesses effectiveness in identifying targeted stimuli among distractions.

      Search Mechanisms

      • Search involves scanning the environment for specific features, distinguishing between feature and conjunction searches.
      • Feature search targets one characteristic unaffected by distractors, while conjunction search combines multiple features; complexity increases with the number of distractors.
      • Feature-integration theory suggests a two-stage process in object perception, first recognizing features and then linking them.

      Selective Attention

      • The cocktail party problem illustrates the ability to focus on one conversation amidst distractions.
      • Dichotic presentation reveals how individuals can notice sensory changes in unattended messages but miss semantic ones.
      • The early filter model posits sensation.

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