Cognitive Psychology Overview
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What is the primary focus of cognitive psychology?

  • Understanding mental processes related to information (correct)
  • Exploring unconscious motives
  • Studying behavior in social contexts
  • Analyzing emotions and feelings

    • Introspection is a method that involves studying other people's thoughts.

    False

    Name one limitation of using introspection as a method in cognitive psychology.

    Mental processes occur too quickly for us to access them.

    Cognition involves the processes of acquiring, storing, and __________ information.

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

    Match the following cognitive psychology methods with their characteristics:

    <p>Introspection = Systematic examination of one's own thoughts Experiments = Use of behavioral evidence to infer cognitive processes Surveys = Gathering self-reported thoughts and feelings Think-aloud procedures = Participants verbalize their thoughts during tasks</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of evidence do cognitive psychologists often aim to infer from experimental tasks?

    <p>Behavioral evidence</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Behavioral measures in cognitive experiments are usually assessed through speed and accuracy.

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

    The method of __________ asks participants to explain their thoughts while performing a task.

    <p>think-aloud procedures</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does a meta-analysis combine?

    <p>Data from a large number of similar studies</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Individual differences in studies have no practical consequences.

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

    What is Cohen's d used for in meta-analysis?

    <p>To standardize effect sizes.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The '____' problem refers to the inclusion of studies that are not similar in a meta-analysis.

    <p>Apples and Oranges</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the problems identified in meta-analysis with their descriptions:

    <p>Apples and Oranges Problem = Including dissimilar studies File Drawer Problem = Difficulty in publishing nonsignificant findings Garbage in—Garbage out Problem = Inclusion of low-quality studies</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a likely future direction for computational modeling mentioned in the content?

    <p>Models with distributed representations</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Meta-analyses can summarize findings from tens of studies effectively.

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

    List one reason why studying individual differences is growing in importance.

    <p>They may have practical consequences.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary function of the hippocampus?

    <p>Memory encoding and spatial knowledge</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The amygdala is only active during joyful situations.

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

    What role does the thalamus play in the brain?

    <p>It functions as the brain's relay station and regulates the state of consciousness.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The ____________ is involved in maintaining balance and performing movements.

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

    What does fMRI primarily measure in the brain?

    <p>Activity based on oxygenated blood flow</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The cerebrum is the only part of the brain that affects cognitive processes.

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

    Name the three important subcortical structures discussed.

    <p>Hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the brain structures with their primary functions:

    <p>Hippocampus = Memory encoding and spatial knowledge Amygdala = Emotionally arousing situations Thalamus = Relay station and consciousness regulation Cerebellum = Motor control and cognitive processes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of neurons displays high invariance or tolerance?

    <p>Neurons responding equally to objects regardless of orientation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Visual agnosia is a condition that affects visual sensations from reaching the brain.

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

    What distinguishes apperceptive agnosia from associative agnosia?

    <p>Apperceptive agnosia is due to deficits in perceptual processing, while associative agnosia involves difficulties in accessing knowledge about objects after recognition.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Apperceptive agnosia involves great difficulties in __________ discrimination.

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

    Where are more viewpoint-dependent cells located in the inferotemporal cortex?

    <p>Posterior part</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of fixations during face recognition?

    <p>The eyes and the nose</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the types of agnosia with their characteristics:

    <p>Apperceptive agnosia = Impaired shape discrimination Associative agnosia = Difficulties in accessing knowledge about objects</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Face-recognition performance was above chance even with only __________ fixation.

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

    What is primarily reported according to Deutsch's late selection theory?

    <p>The input that is most relevant to the task</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Top-down factors do not influence our attention to auditory messages.

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

    What is temporal coherence in relation to auditory attention?

    <p>Temporal coherence refers to tracking the similarity of an auditory signal over time.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the Posner cueing task, Reaction Time (RT) is fastest for valid cues, slower for neutral cues, and slowest for _______ cues.

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

    Match the following factors with their descriptions:

    <p>Bottom-up factors = Influenced by the characteristics of the stimuli Top-down factors = Influenced by prior knowledge and expectations Distraction = Can arise from salient and unexpected stimuli Multitasking = Dividing attention among multiple tasks</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is an example of a bottom-up factor in auditory attention?

    <p>Location of the auditory signal</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Individuals cannot be distracted by their own thoughts.

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

    What does multitasking refer to?

    <p>Multitasking refers to doing two or more tasks at the same time.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary issue with multitasking based on the provided information?

    <p>It divides attentional resources leading to poorer performance.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Attention can be both active and passive.

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

    What effect occurs when a single feature, such as color, is detected in parallel?

    <p>pop-out effect</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Selective attention allows individuals to focus on one input while ignoring __________.

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

    Match the type of attention with its description:

    <p>Selective attention = Responding to one stimulus while ignoring others Divided attention = Processing multiple inputs simultaneously Active attention = Top-down control by individual goals Passive attention = Bottom-up control by external stimuli</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What can be considered a bottleneck in the processing system?

    <p>An early filter that allows only one input based on physical characteristics.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The guided search model suggests that attention only serves to bind features of objects.

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

    According to the guided search model, what plays an important role in recognizing objects?

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

    Study Notes

    Lecture 1c: Cognitive Psychology

    • Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies information processes.
    • It's interested in how humans acquire, store, and transform information.
    • Cognition is not directly observable; thus, indirect methods to study cognition are needed.
    • Introspection, a systematic examination of one's own thoughts and feelings is an early method.
    • Introspection has limitations; mental processes occur too quickly, interpretation is subjective, and self-reported accounts may be inaccurate.
    • Modern day research may still use introspection as a tool.
    • Experiments are used to infer cognitive processes.
    • Surveys and questionnaires are employed to collect behavioral evidence.
    • Think-aloud procedures gather verbal descriptions of participants' thoughts as they perform a task.
    • Experiments employ tightly controlled conditions and clever designs to measure behavioral measures such as speed and accuracy.
    • A limitation of experiments is their lack of ecological validity. This means the results may not apply to real-world situations since the controlled environment differs drastically from how people think normally.

    Lecture 2: Sensation and Perception

    • Perception is fundamentally different from sensation.
    • Sensation is the initial intake of information (e.g., sights, sounds), which converts to signals the brain can process.
    • Perception interprets and understands these sensations.
    • The Gestalt psychologists identified key principles of perceptual organisation, which are still important today.
    • The law of proximity states that objects near each other tend to be perceived as a group.
    • The law of similarity states that objects appearing similar tend to be grouped together.
    • The law of good continuation states that we tend to perceive lines or objects in a continuous way rather than fragmented lines or discontinuous objects.
    • The law of closure states that we often perceive incomplete figures as complete.
    • The law of figure and ground states that visual stimuli are separated into the figure (more salient) and the ground.
    • These principles explain why visual illusions and ambiguous images are compelling.

    Lecture 3: Attention

    • Attention differs from perception.
    • It is a limited resource, selectively focusing on a certain part of the stimulus, thus often disregarding others.
    • Attention is divided into goal-directed (top-down) and stimulus-driven (bottom-up) processing.
    • Goal-directed attention is motivated by your intentions or goals.
    • Stimulus-driven attention is influenced by certain characteristics of the stimulus, like the unexpectedness or salience of the stimulus.
    • Attention is highly flexible and does not always need to be directed to adjacent regions of space.
    • Two theoretical models for how people focus on space, the spot light, and zoom lens models.
    • The Posner's cueing task demonstrated the role of attention in directing attention without moving the eyes.
    • Multitasking involves allocating attention between two or more tasks and is less efficient than focusing on one task.
    • The difficulty of a multitasking task depends on the task difficulty and the level of overlap in the task demands.

    Lecture 4: Short-Term and Working Memory

    • Short-term memory (STM) is a limited capacity storage system.
    • STM duration is approximately 20 seconds.
    • Information is lost through decay (a natural fading of information) or interference ( new information displaces older information).
    • Memory span refers to the number of items a person can retain in the correct order.
    • Rehearsal is crucial to transfer short-term memory (STM) to long-term memory (LTM), for example by repeating words or numbers
    • Working memory is a system (like STM but more complex) that is used for processing and manipulating information.
    • Working memory extends on STM, by adding more components like the Central Executive.
    • Baddeley and Hitch proposed four components:
      • Central Executive: the attentional controller.
      • Phonological loop: holds and manipulates verbal information.
      • Visuospatial Sketchpad: holds and manipulates visual and spatial information.
      • Episodic buffer: binds together information from other components to create a coherent representation.

    Lecture 5: Implicit and Explicit Learning

    • Explicit learning involves a conscious effort to learn.
    • Implicit learning occurs outside of conscious awareness.
    • Key approaches to learning include
      • Classical conditioning
      • Operant conditioning
      • Observational learning

    Lecture 6: Semantic Memory

    • Semantic memory is a type of long-term memory.
    • It stores general knowledge about the world, the meanings of words, and concepts, for example.
    • The common features approach to categorizing concepts suggests concepts are categorized based on characteristics they share.
    • The prototype approach is an alternative idea regarding knowledge
    • Exemplar approach: categorize based on previously encountered instances of those concepts.
    • Knowledge-based approach
      • concepts are defined using their causal, functional and structural properties
      • this approach takes context into account ( unlike the others ).

    Lecture 7: Everyday Memory

    • Everyday memory is concerned with events that have occurred in the past.

    • Everyday memory tasks, like recall of events, have particular features.

    • The memories involve social interaction, a sense of self, past experience and are very personal.

    Lecture 8: Autobiographical Memory

    • Autobiographical memory is a form of declarative memory centered around past events in your life
    • Contains a very high level of personal importance about those events, which are important to the sense of self
    • Highly personal, and experiences are unique
    • Episodic and semantic memories are also part of this.

    Lecture 9: Prospective Memory

    • Prospective memory is when you deliberately remember to do something in the future
    • Two main types - Time based - Event based
    • Factors can influence memory, such as situational context, stress, age and task complexity.

    Lecture 10: Problem Solving

    • Problem solving is when you don't have a clear strategy, or a clear solution available at the start. It is different from memory in that it requires thought and potentially multiple steps to determine the solution
    • Well-Defined problems vs Ill Defined
    • Heuristics vs Algorithms
    • Strategies (such as means-ends analysis or hill climbing) for solving problems
    • Mental Set: the tendency to solve problems by repeating the same successful strategies used in the past, even if a different strategy might be better
    • Functional Fixedness: the tendency to focus on a certain function of an object, thus hindering the possibility of applying a different, better strategy

    Lecture 11: Emotion

    • Emotions are defined as short-lived physiological states
    • Three main theories:
      • Categorical approach (Ekman)
      • Dimensional approach (Watson and Tellegen)
      • Embodied approach
    • Emotions have several properties:
      • Appraisal: The assessment of the stimulus and its significance
      • Autonomic Response (physiological components)
      • Action Tendency (motivational components)
      • Expression: observable physical responses
      • Feeling: the conscious experience of the emotion
    • Emotions affect cognitive processes, such as attention and memory

    Lecture 12: Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion

    • The importance of the amygdala in emotional processing.
    • The emotional appraisal process, which leads to specific emotional responses (e.g., anxiety to danger)

    Lecture 13: Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory & Testimony

    • Amnesia as a case study showing impairments in different kinds of memory
    • Eyewitness Testimony: the concept that memory is not static, but rather is easily influenced by misinformation, and suggestive questioning after an event of interest

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    Description

    This quiz explores the fundamentals of cognitive psychology, including key methods like introspection and meta-analysis. Test your understanding of the cognitive processes involved in acquiring and analyzing information, and discover the limitations of different research methods. Prepare to delve deeper into concepts like Cohen's d and the challenges of studying individual differences.

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