Cognitive Psychology PDF

CH. 1: WHAT IS COGNITIVE perception, and attention. PSYCHOLOGY? (what/how) - CN: Examines how the brain and COGNITION: its structures physically in...

CH. 1: WHAT IS COGNITIVE perception, and attention. PSYCHOLOGY? (what/how) - CN: Examines how the brain and COGNITION: its structures physically influence - originates from the Latin word these mental processes, using cognito, tools like brain scans to see what - Means “knowledge” or “getting to happens in the brain during know” thinking or decision-making. - derived from Latin verb (where/why) cognoscere, - meaning “to get to know,” “to WHAT IS COGNITIVE PROCESS?: recognize” or to become acquainted with” - refers to the mental activities involved in acquiring, processing, COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: storing/ using information. These - Branch of psychology that focuses processes include thinking, on the study of mental processes reasoning, memory, perception, - Covers how people perceive, decision-making, problem-solving, think, remember, learn, solve and language comprehension. problems, make decisions Essentially, it's how our brains - Also examines how individuals understand/interact with the world process information, form around us. concepts, develop language, how WHAT IS A NEURAL PROCESS?: memory functions - Involves understanding internal - refers to the activities and process of behavior/how these interactions that occur within the processes influence actions and brain/nervous system to support interactions with the world various functions, including cognition, sensation, and COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY VS movement. These processes COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE: involve: - Both study mental processes, but - Neural Activation: When neurons differ in focus/methods (nerve cells) in the brain fire or - CP: Focuses on understanding become active in response to how people think, learn, stimuli or during certain tasks. remember, and solve problems by - Synaptic Transmission: The studying behavior/mental process by which signals are processes like memory, passed between neurons through  connections called synapses, 5. Rehearsal: Repeating information using chemical messengers over and over to keep it in short- known as neurotransmitters. term memory or to encode it into - Neural Plasticity: The brain's long-term memory. ability to reorganize/adapt by 6. Retrieval: The process of recalling forming new neural connections, or accessing stored information especially after learning or injury. from memory when needed. - Signal Integration: How neurons combine incoming signals from multiple sources to produce a response, contributing to decision-making and other complex behaviors. - These processes underlie everything the brain does, from simple reflexes to complex thought and emotion LEARNING SOMEONE’S NAME: 1. Attention: The process of focusing mental resources on specific information, stimuli, or tasks while ignoring others. 2. Perception: The interpretation and organization of sensory information (like sights, sounds, or smells) to understand the environment. 3. Encoding: The process of converting information into a format that can be stored in memory. 4. Association: Linking new information to existing knowledge, which helps in understanding and remembering it better.  Repeated head injury (like football players, boxers, soccer players) could cause brain damage VIOLENT BEHAVIORS/NEURAL CH. 2: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE FUNCTION: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE VS Intentional acts of violence are COGNNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: considered culpable (blameworthy) Cognitive Neuroscience: focuses on brain (neural) mechanisms to Accidental acts of violence are understand cognition more tolerated (forgivable) (understanding how the brain Brain disorders/brain injuries can works to help us think) alter behavior, raising ethical Involves measuring signals/activity questions about culpability (electrical) to study cognition/ NEUROETHICISTS: examine thinking processes moral questions that arise from Cognitive neuroscience is a newer advances in our understanding of field compared to cognitive the brain/nervous system psychology, which focuses more NEURONS on how we think rather than what's happening in the brain - Dendrites: Branch-like extensions from the cell body that receive PROSOPAGNOSIA: signals from other neurons and Comes from prosopon means send them to the cell body. “face” and ognosia means “not - Cell Body (Soma): The main part knowing” or “ignorance” of the neuron that contains the A condition where a person cannot nucleus and other components recognize faces that keep the cell alive. CONGENITAL PROSOPAGNOSIA - Axon: A long, thin extension of the (born with) vs ACQUIRED neuron that transmits electrical PROSOPAGNOSIA (head trauma) signals from the cell body to other Linked to damage or dysfunction neurons or muscles. in the brain’s face recognition - Action Potential: An electrical areas (fusiform face/occipital signal that travels along the axon area) - Synapse: The tiny gap between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of another  neuron, where signals are regulating things like chemical transmitted. levels and fluid balance. - Neurotransmitters: Chemicals IMMUNE DEFENSE: act as the that help neurons communicate brain’s immune system, cleaning up damaged cells and fighting off PRESYNAPTIC (sending) infections to keep the brain POSTSYNAPTIC (receiving) healthy. GLIAL CELLS: CH. 2: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE CONTINUED provide structural support to neurons, helping to maintain their WHAT DOES GLIA DO? shape and position, also offer protection by isolating neurons support cells in the brain that help from harmful substances and maintain neurons, provide assisting in the repair of damaged nourishment, remove waste, tissues. assist in signal transmission NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT: deliver and protect against infections food and oxygen to neurons to essential for the overall keep them healthy. function of the nervous WASTE REMOVAL: remove waste system, but they do not directly products from the brain. For transmit nerve signals like example, microglia act as immune neurons do cells that clean up debris and SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY damaged cells, helping to maintain a healthy neural Synapses are plastic b/c their environment. strength or efficiency of signal SIGNAL HELP: help speed up the transmission between neurons messages that neurons send to can change w/ experience each other. Their ability to strengthen/weaken REPAIR AND REGENERATION: over time, depending on activity help fix and heal damaged levels, is crucial for processes like neurons and support their learning/memory formation recovery. They assist in repairing Experiences such as learning new injured brain areas and help new skills/forming memories lead to cells grow when needed synaptic changes that make the HOMEOSTASIS: help keep the transmission of info between brain’s environment stable by neurons more efficient SYNAPTIC CLEFT (Relationship between brain/behavior) tiny gap between two nerve cells use brain imaging techniques, where neurotransmitters are such as MRI and CT scans, to look released to send signals from one for structural or functional neuron to another abnormalities in the brain CORPUS CALLOSUM work with people with a variety of conditions, including brain Thick band of nerve fibers that injuries, neurological disorders, connect left/right hemispheres of learning disabilities, and mental the brain health disorders Allows communication between 2 EX: A stroke in the frontal lobe hemispheres can cause major changes in Has to do with sensory, cognitive, thinking and behavior, leading motor information to a clinical evaluation and SPLIT BRAIN SYNDROME: occurs research by a when the corpus callosum is neuropsychologist. severed or damaged, leading to difficulties in communication ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPGHY (EEG) between the brain's left and right Invented by Hans Berber 1924 hemispheres, which can affect a technique that records electrical coordination/perception activity in the brain through HEMISPHERIC LATERALIZATION: sensors placed on the scalp (alpha waves or Berber waves) the idea that the left and right measures the brain's electrical hemispheres of the brain have activity in real-time specialized functions and (consciousness/sleep) processes, with each side being more dominant for certain tasks FUNNCTIONAL MRI (FMRI) LEFT: technique that measures changes Language/logic/verbal/analytic in blood flow to identify brain RIGHT : Creative/intuitive activity while a person performs thinking/spatial awareness/visual tasks NEUROPSYCHOLOGISTS: measures changes in blood flow to the brain to detect activity, study how brain injuries or providing detailed images of brain disorders affect behavior, regions cognition, and emotions TRANSCRANIAL DIRECT CURRENT STIMULATION (tDCS) a technique that uses a low electrical current applied to the scalp to modulate brain activity and potentially improve cognitive functions or treat certain neurological conditions EX: enhance learning functions by making neurons more likely to fire action potentials can decrease neural excitability making neurons less likely to fire  a small area in your vision where you can't see anything because there are no light-sensitive cells in that part of your eye. Your brain usually fills in this gap, so you don't notice it FOVEA a small, central part of the retina where vision is sharpest, packed with cones for detailed and color vision CONES: are photoreceptor cells in the eye that detect color and work best in bright light, allowing you to see CH. 3: PERCEPTION/MENTAL IMAGERY fine details PERCEPTION RODS: are photoreceptor cells in the eye that are more sensitive to low how you see, hear, or understand light and are responsible for black- things around you using your senses and-white vision and peripheral vision involves your brain filling in gaps from what you see, hear, or feel to make MODAL COMPLETION: sense of things is when your brain fills in missing SENSATION VS PERCEPTION visual information based on patterns or shapes, so you perceive a SENSATION is the process of complete image even if parts of it are receiving raw sensory input from the missing or incomplete. For example, environment (like seeing light or if you see a circle with gaps, your feeling a touch), while PERCEPTION brain might still recognize it as a full is how your brain interprets that circle sensory input to make sense of what you're experiencing (like recognizing a AMODAL COMPLETION: face or understanding that something is when your brain perceives a whole is hot object even if parts of it are hidden or RETINA blocked from view. For example, if you see a cat partially behind a is the light-sensitive layer at the back curtain, you still perceive the entire of your eye that captures images and cat even though you can't see all of it sends signals to your brain, allowing you to see BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING (DATA DRIVEN): BLIND SPOT  is when perception starts with the raw away, even though its image on your sensory data (like sounds, sights, or eyes gets smaller smells) and your brain builds up an understanding of what you're PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCY experiencing from that basic information. It’s like putting together is the brain's ability to recognize that a puzzle without knowing what the objects remain the same in terms of final picture will look like size, shape, color, and brightness, EX: Hearing a New Song: When you even when the sensory input changes listen to a song for the first time, your due to different viewing angles, brain processes the individual notes, distances, or lighting conditions. For rhythms, and tones from the sensory example, you perceive a door as a input before recognizing it as music rectangle whether it's open or closed, even though its shape on your retina TOP-DOWN PROCESSING (KNOWLEDGE changes DRIVEN): is when your brain uses prior CH. 3: PERCEPTION/MENTAL IMAGERY knowledge, expectations, or context to interpret and make sense of CONTINUED sensory information. It’s like knowing COLOR CONSTANCY: This is when your brain what the puzzle picture is and then sees the color of an object as being the same, fitting the pieces together accordingly even if the lighting changes. For example, if (like a blurred face) you see a red apple in sunlight or in shade, your brain still recognizes it as red, even PREDICTIVE CODING though the lighting is different is a theory where your brain LIGHT CONSTANCY: This is when your brain constantly makes predictions about understands that the brightness of an object what you’ll perceive based on past stays the same, even if the light around it experiences, and then updates those changes. For example, a white piece of paper predictions with new sensory looks white whether it's in bright sunlight or information dim lighting, even though it might appear SIZE CONSTANCY darker in the shade. is the perception that an object’s size IS PERCEPTION “COGNITIVELY remains the same even when its PENETRABLE”? distance from you changes, so it Some researchers think that what you appears smaller or larger on your believe, what you know, and what you retina. For example, a car doesn't want can affect how you see and look like it's shrinking as it drives understand things. For example, if  you're really hungry, you might see clues, like lighting and context, to food differently. figure out which it is Other researchers believe that some studies mix up actual perception PERCEIVING A 3-DIMENSIONAL WORLD: (how you see things) with people's BINOCULAR DISPARITY: This is the opinions or judgments about what difference between what each of your they saw. two eyes sees. The closer an object COGNITIVELY IMPENETRABLE is, the bigger the difference between PERCEPTION: means that your the two images. Your brain uses this beliefs, knowledge, or motivation do to understand depth and how far not change how you see something. away something is. For instance, no matter what you BINOCULAR DEPTH CUES: These are think, you'll still see the sky as blue. depth clues that your brain gets by COGNITIVELY PENETRABLE using both eyes together. They help PERCEPTION: means that your you see things in 3D. beliefs, knowledge, or motivation can MONOCULAR DEPTH CUES: These change how you see things. For are clues your brain uses to figure out example, if you believe a picture is depth with just one eye. Your brain scary, you might perceive it as scarier uses these to turn the flat image from than someone who doesn't your eye into a 3D understanding of the world. INVERSE PROJECTION PROBLEM: LINEAR PERSPECTIVE: When you a challenge in perception where your look at two parallel lines, like train brain tries to figure out what a 3D tracks, they seem to get closer object looks like based on the 2D together as they go into the distance. image your eyes see. This gives you a sense of depth. Here’s why it's tricky: The image on TEXTURE GRADIENT: The farther your retina (the back part of your eye) away something is, the smaller and is flat, but the world is 3D. Your brain closer together its textures (like must "reverse" this flat image and patterns or details) look. This helps guess the true shape, size, and your brain understand how far away distance of objects in the real world. objects are Since different 3D objects can create the same 2D image in your eye, it’s PERCEING OBJECTS/THEIR CONTEXT: hard to figure out exactly what you're FIGURE GROUND ORGANIZATION: seeing. refers to how your brain decides what For example, if you see a circle on the part of an image is the main object ground, it could be a round plate or a (the "figure") and what part is the large, flat coin. Your brain must use background (the "ground"). Sometimes, it's hard to tell which is  which because both sides of a AMODAL COMPLETION: This is when boundary can be seen in different your brain "fills in" the missing parts ways. of an object that are hidden behind ENCLOSURE: something else. Your brain assumes SYMMETRY: the object continues even though part CONVEXITY: of it is not visible. For example, Rubin's vase is a famous BOUNDARY EXTENSION: This image where you can either see two happens when you remember a faces looking at each other (the picture as having more in the scene figures) or a vase in the middle (the than what you actually saw. Your figure), depending on how your brain brain imagines or extends the edges interprets it. This creates an of the picture, filling in more than was ambiguous situation where the figure originally there and the ground can switch places in your perception AI/VISUAL PERCEPTION Artificial intelligence (AI) has difficulty GESTALT RULE OF ENCLOSURE: with OBJECT SEGMENTATION, which objects enclosed or surrounded by a means identifying and separating boundary (like a circle, square, or any different objects in an image. This is shape) are perceived as a group or a because the process involves single unit. Our brain naturally complex perception, like recognizing organizes things within a border or shapes, edges, and overlapping outline as related, even if they aren't objects, which the human brain does connected. naturally. For example, if you see several dots RECOGNITION BY COMPONENETS: inside a circle and others outside, your brain will group the dots inside explains how we recognize objects by the circle together because they are breaking them down into basic "enclosed" by the shape shapes (GEONS). For example, you can recognize a chair because your brain identifies its basic parts, like PERCEIVING OBJECTS/THEIR CONTEXT: cylinders for legs and a rectangular OCCLUSION: When one object is back, then puts them together to partially blocking another, you can't recognize it as a chair see the whole object, but you know MENTAL IMAGERY: it's still there. For example, if a tree is blocking part of a car, you understand When you visualize or "see" that the rest of the car is behind the something in your mind without tree, even though you can't see it. seeing it in front of you. For instance, if I asked you to picture an apple,  you'd form an image of an apple in the relationship between objects in a your mind even though there’s no linguistic or abstract format actual apple in front of you KOSSLYNS DEPICTIVE THEORY: MENTAL ROTATION: suggests that mental imagery works when you mentally turn or rotate an like a kind of map. When you visualize object in your mind to see it from a something, it’s as if you’re creating different angle. For example, if you're and manipulating an image in your looking at a picture of a letter "R," you mind, like how you would handle a can imagine what it would look like if physical picture. For example, if you you rotated it upside down or imagine a cat sitting on a mat, sideways Kosslyn’s theory would propose that APHANTASIA: your mind creates a visual image of this scene that you can inspect and a condition where a person is unable manipulate to create mental images or visualize things in their mind. For example, someone with aphantasia might struggle to picture a beach or a loved one’s face when trying to recall it ASSOCIATIVE AGNOSIA: a condition where a person can see/describe objects but cannot recognize or identify them. For instance, someone with associative agnosia might be able to draw a picture of a key but wouldn’t be able to name it as a "key PROPOSIONAL (Pylyshyn): According to this view, mental images are more like abstract, symbolic representations rather than actual pictures. When you think about "the cat is under the table," your brain uses a kind of abstract code or description, like UNDER (CAT, TABLE), rather than creating a detailed visual image. It's more about  EX: if you’re watching a movie, your external attention is on the screen and what’s happening in the film (noticing a bird outside your window) INTERNAL ATTENTION: focusing on your own feelings, thoughts or memories (our inner voice). EX: if you’re daydreaming about a vacation, that’s internal attention because you’re concentrating on your own ideas and not what’s happening around you (thinking about what you will have for lunch) ATTENTION: the mental process of concentrating on something specific. (select, modulate, sustain) EX :when you’re reading a book and paying close attention to the story, that’s using your attention (focusing/looking at a picture in a book) ATTENTION IS CAPACITY LIMITED Your brain can only handle so much information at once. EX: trying to juggle reading a book, texting a friend, and listening to music at the same time can make it hard to do each task well because your CH. 4: EXTERNAL ATTENTION attention is spread thin EXTERNAL ATTENTION: (doing HW/watching TV at the same time) when you focus on things outside CAPACITY LIMITED: there’s a limit to how your body, like sounds/sights in your much information you can focus on at one environment. time.  EX: if you’re studying for a test, you EX, you might listen to someone might only be able to focus on a few talking while looking at your phone. key concepts at a time without feeling OVERT involves physically moving overwhelmed your eyes to focus on something, l EX turning your head to look at a new (trying to remember too many phone object numbers at once) (like listening to a conversation while INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS: pretending to read a book vs directly When you’re focused on one thing, watching a movie) you might completely miss other SACCADES: things happening around you. EX: if you’re focused on a puzzle, you rapid, jerky movements of your eyes might not notice someone entering as they shift from one point to the room another. EX: when you read, your eyes make (not seeing a person in a funny costume while quick jumps from one word to the you’re looking at your phone) next CHANGE BLINDNESS: (when your eyes dart from one word to when you don’t notice changes in another while reading) something you’re already looking at. REFLEXIVE ATTENTION: EX: if you’re watching a movie and the scene changes subtly, you might not Automatically paying attention to realize the change because your things that suddenly grab your focus, attention is on the dialogue EX: when a loud noise makes you instantly look towards it (not seeing your friend’s new haircut because you’re too busy talking) (looking at a loud noise or a bright light) INATTENTIONAL VS CHANGE: EXOGENOUS ATTENTION: Inattentional blindness happens Attention that is driven by things when you miss something entirely happening outside you because you’re not paying attention type of attention is driven by to it at all. Change blindness occurs EX: a bright light or a sudden noise when you don’t notice changes in grabs your attention automatically what you’re already paying attention to (head turning towards a loud sound) COVERT VS OVERT ATTENTION: ENDOGENOUS ATTENTION: COVERT is when you focus on something without moving your eyes.  Attention that comes from within you, EX: An arrow points to where you (controlled by your own goals or should look, and you choose to follow intentions) it EX: if you decide to focus on a DORSAL (TOP) PORTION OF BRAIN: particular task, like studying for an exam, you’re using endogenous In charge of ENDOgenous (voluntary), attention to stay concentrated If injured, you will have trouble paying attention to something voluntary (deciding to focus on a math problem even though other things are happening around VENTRAL (BOTTON) PORTION OF BRAIN: you) in charge of EXOgenous (reflective), CH. 4: EXTERNAL ATTENTION PT 2 If injured, you will have trouble paying attention to something automatically EXOGENOUS ATTENTION: FEATURE BASED ATTENTION: when something outside grabs your attention automatically. (without Focusing on a specific feature, like conscious effort) environment color or shape. EX: A loud noise makes you look EX: Searching for a red balloon in a toward it without thinking sea of blue ones SIMPLE FEATURE SEARCH: This is ENDOGENOUS ATTENTION: when you find something by looking when you choose to focus on for just one feature. something. (with conscious effort) EX: Finding a white circle in a group of internal black squares—you're only looking for EX: You decide to pay attention to color (white) (EASY) your homework instead of playing CONJUCTION SEARCH: when you find something by looking for more SPATIAL ATTENTION: than one feature at the same time. This is focusing on a specific location EX: Finding a white circle among in space. white squares and black circles—you EX: Looking at a ball rolling across the need to look for both color (white) and floor and ignoring everything else shape (circle) to find it (HARD) EXOGENOUS (PERIPHERIAL CUES): (where’s waldo?) Something outside grabs your attention quickly. (REFLEXIVE) TEMPORAL ATTENTION: EX: A flashing light makes you look at Focusing on the right moment in time. it EX: Watching a timer so you can ENOGENOUS (CENTRAL CUES): catch when it hits zero A clue helps you choose to focus on ATTENTION BLINK: A short moment something. (VOLUNTARY) when you miss something because  your brain is still processing the last EX: listening to a specific voice at a thing. party and ignoring others (SIMPLE EX: Missing a word in a list because FEATURE SEARCH) you're still thinking about the word LATE SELECTION: before it You take in everything first, then OBJECT BASED ATTENTION: decide what to focus on. Focusing on a whole object, not just EX: Listening to all the sounds in the part of it. park, then realizing you hear a bird EX: Watching a car drive by, focusing chirping (CONJUCTION FEATURE on the entire car instead of just the SEARCH) wheels EARLY VS LATE SELECTION: SPATIAL NEGLECT: patients with right parietal lobe Early is when you focus right away, lesion show spatial neglect and late is when you process things ignore or fail to notice things on their before deciding. left side. EX: Early = hearing your name and affects their left visual field (the left paying attention; late = hearing lots of half of what they can see). sounds, then focusing on one EX, they might, only draw the right side of a picture, miss objects or FEATURE INTEGRATION THEORY (FIT): people on their left. Your brain puts different features happens because the right side of together, like color and shape, to the brain controls attention to both recognize things. sides, but when damaged, the brain EX: Seeing a red circle and knowing struggles to pay attention to the left it's a ball side ILLUSIONARY CONJUCTIONS: when your brain mixes up features from different objects, like color and CH. 4: EXTERNAL ATTENTION PT 3 shape, and combines them PREATTENTIVE PROSSESING: incorrectly. EX: If you see a red circle and a blue when your brain notices something square, you might mistakenly think quickly without you trying. you saw a blue circle. EX: Seeing a red balloon in a bunch of IMPLICATION: Attention is necessary blue ones right away to avoid perceptual mistakes when EARLY SELECTION: binding features. Your brain decides what to focus on DICHOTIC LISTENING: before you fully see or hear everything. (POPS OUT)  Hearing two things in each ear and EX: Knowing your mom's voice, so you focusing on one. focus on it in a crowd EX: Listening to music in one ear VOLUNTARY/ GOAL-DIRECTED: while someone talks in the other ear You choose to focus on something IGNORED CHANNEL: because you have a goal. The sound or info you’re not paying EX: Paying attention to your attention to. homework because you want good EX: Ignoring the music in one ear grades while focusing on a conversation KNOWLEDGE BASED: ATTENTED CHANNEL: You focus on things based on what The sound or info you are paying you already know. attention to. EX: If you love cars, you'll notice them EX: Focusing on the person talking to more on the road you and ignoring background noise BIASED COMPETITION: SHADOWING TASK: Your brain picks what to focus on Repeating what someone says while when lots of things compete for ignoring other sounds. attention. EX: Someone tells you a story, and EX: Deciding to watch your favorite you repeat it while ignoring TV noise cartoon when the TV and tablet are both on BROADBEND’S FILTER MODEL: VISUAL FIELD: everything you can Your brain has a "filter" that decides see in front of you without moving what to pay attention to early on. your eyes or head. (central/edges) EX: Filtering out background noise to EX:: When you look straight ahead, listen to your friend talk you can still see things off to the sides, like a ball rolling by. TREISMAN’S ATTENUATOR MODEL: Instead of blocking other info, your VIGILANCE: brain turns it down like a volume Staying alert and ready to notice knob. something over a long time. EX: Lowering the volume of EX: Looking out for your friend at background chatter to focus on your the park for a while teacher CONTINOUS PERFORMATIVE TASK: TOP-DOWN SELECTION: (ATTENTION) A task where you must keep paying Using what you already know to attention for a long time. decide what to pay attention to.  EX: Watching a long movie and When something emotional makes staying focused the whole time you miss other things around you. EX: Seeing a scary picture makes you HIGH COGNITIVE TASK: miss other pictures that come right A tough task that needs a lot of after thinking. (REDUCE VIGILANCE: missed signals) EX: Solving a tricky math problem LOW COGNITIVE TASK: An easy task that doesn’t need much thinking. (REDUCE VIGILANCE: disengagement/boredom) EX: Coloring a picture MODERATE COGNITIVE LOAD: A task that needs a medium amount of thinking—not too easy, not too hard. (BALANCED VIGILANCE) CH. 5: COGNITIVE CONTROL/WORKING EX: Doing a puzzle that takes some MEMORY effort but isn’t super tricky COGNITIVE CONTROL: ATTENTION BIAS: brain's way of staying focused and When your brain keeps focusing on choosing the right action when there one type of thing, even when other are distractions. things are there. EX: Ignoring your phone while doing EX: Always noticing dogs when you're homework walking, but not the trees DOT-PROBE TASK: – participants try MENTAL RESOURCES: to respond quickly to a dot that can brain's energy or effort needed to do appear in one of two locations something. ATTENTIONAL BIAS MODIFICATION: EX: Solving a tough math problem uses more brain power than tying your Training your brain to stop focusing shoes too much on certain things. EX: Practicing to not get distracted by INTERNAL ATTENTION: loud noises when you study When you focus on thoughts or things EMOTION INDICED BLINDNESS happening inside your head. EX: Remembering what your teacher said earlier while taking a test COGNITIVE LOAD: When you keep making the same mistake even though you know it’s How much stuff your brain is juggling wrong. (SCHIZOPHRENIA) at one time. EX: Continuing to use an old EX: Trying to study while watching TV password after you’ve changed it is too much for your brain to handle well INHIBATION: COFNITIVE INTEFERANCE: Stopping yourself from doing something you want to but shouldn’t. When something gets in the way of EX: Not grabbing a cookie even thinking clearly. though you really want one EX :Noise in the background making it hard to focus on reading STOP-SIGNAL REACTION TIME (SSRT) TASK: COGNITIVE OVERLAP: test that checks how quickly you can stop doing something once you're When two tasks share similar mental told to stop. processes, making it harder to do EX: When you're told to stop running, both. how fast can you stop? EX: Looking at a map while driving CLASSIC TASKS: DUAL-TASK EXPERIMENTS: Well-known experiments used to test Tests where people do two things at how our brain works. once to see how their brain handles it. EX: The Stroop Task (see below) EX: Walking while counting backward from 100 STROOP TASK: AUTOMATIC PROCESS: test where you say the color of a word, but the word says a different Something your brain does without color. thinking or much effort. EX: The word “RED” is written in blue EX: Brushing your teeth—it’s so easy ink, and you have to say “blue. you don’t have to think about it SIMON TASK: CONTROLLED PROCESS: test that checks if you can respond to Something that needs more focus a signal in the correct spot, even if the and attention to do. (requires signal appears in the wrong place. PREFONTAL CORTEX) EX: Pressing a button on the right EX: Learning a new dance move for when you see a signal on the left the first time FLANKER TASK: PERSERVATION ERRORS:  A test where you focus on a middle When the brain solves the confusion object while ignoring objects around and picks the right action. it. EX: Ignoring the color of the word in EX: Picking the direction of a middle the Stroop Task and saying the arrow when arrows on the sides point correct word instead the other way ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX (ACC): CONGRUENT TRIALS: A part of the brain that helps spot When things match up and make problems and fix them. sense together. EX: It tells you when you’re making a EX: The word “BLUE” is written in blue mistake during a test ink DORSAL PREFONTAL CORTEX : INCONGUENT TRIALS: A part of the brain that helps with When things don’t match up and planning and controlling actions. make it harder to focus. EX: Deciding what steps to take to EX The word “BLUE” is written in red solve a puzzle ink PREDICTION ERROR: PERCEPTUAL INTERFERANCE: When what you expect doesn’t match When what you see or hear makes it what really happens. harder to do a task. EX: Thinking you’ll get an A on a test EX: Trying to read while someone is talking but getting a B instead loudly nearby ERROR-RELATED NEGATIVITY: RESPONCE INTERFERANCE: A signal from the brain that happens When something gets in the way of when you make a mistake. (the bigger how you react. the error, the more likely you are to spot that error) EX: Seeing a green light but hearing a buzzer, making it harder to press the EX: Your brain quickly realizes when “go” button you give the wrong answer in a game CONFLICT MONITORING: CH. 5: COGNITIVE CONTROL/WORKING MEMORY PT 2 The brain's way of keeping track of when things are tricky or don’t match WORKING MEMORY: up. Your brain's sticky note—it EX: Realizing you’re saying the wrong holds/manipulate small bits of answer during the Stroop Task information for a short time so you CONFLICT RESOLUTION: can use them.  EX: Remembering a phone number ACOUSTIC SIMILARITY EFFECT: long enough to dial it Words that sound the same are (SHORT TERM) STORAGE: harder to remember because they get mixed up. Keeping information in your brain like EX: "Bat," "cat," and "rat. putting toys in a toy box for later use. EX: Remembering your home address IRRELEVANT SPEECH AFFECT: (WORKING MEMORY) MANIPULATION: Hearing random talking makes it harder to focus on what you're trying Playing around with stored to remember. information, like solving a puzzle with EX: Someone chatting loudly when the pieces you have. you’re trying to study EX: Doing math in your head, like adding numbers ARTICULATORY SUPPRESION: THE STRUCTURE OF WORKING MEMORY: When you talk out loud, it makes it harder to repeat things in your head. 1. CENTRAL EXECUTIVE EX: Trying to repeat a list while talking 2. PHONOLOGICAL LOOP makes it tough to remember 3. VISUOSPACIAL SKETCHPAD 4. EPISODIC BUFFER VISUAL SKETCHPAD (VISUAL SHORT- TERM MEMORY): (about 4 pictures at a THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE: (DORSAL) time) The boss of your working memory, The part of your brain that holds telling the other parts what to do pictures in your mind for a little while. (planning/decision making). (visual) EX: When you plan out your EX: Remembering what a picture homework tasks for the day looked like after you glance at it THE PHONOLOGICAL LOOP: EPISODIC BUFFER: The part of your brain that helps you The part that connects pieces of remember sounds and words for a information to create a story or little bit. (HEARING/SPEKING) experience. EX: Repeating a grocery list in your EX: Remembering a trip to the zoo, head including what you saw and heard WORD-LENGTH EFFECT: RELATION TO LONG TERM MEMORY: It's harder to remember long words Working memory is like the doorway, than short ones. and long-term memory is the storage EX: "Cat" is easier to remember than room where info is kept for a long time "hippopotamus LONG TERM MEMORY: EGO DEPLETION: The brain's giant storage room where When using a lot of self-control information can stay for a long time. makes it harder to use more self- EX: Remembering your best friend’s control later. birthday EX: Resisting candy all day makes it harder to resist it at night COGNITIVE EMOTION/CONTROL: ENHANCING COGNITIVE Your brain’s way of managing CONTROL/WOKRING MEMORY: emotions and staying calm. EX: Taking deep breaths when you're Ways to make your brain stronger so angry. you can focus better and remember more. EMOTION REGULATION: EX: Practicing memory games or The ability to control and change how puzzles you feel. ATTENTIONRESTORATION THEORY: EX: Cheer yourself up when you're feeling sad Taking breaks in nature helps your brain recharge so you can focus RUMINATION: better. Thinking about the same thing over EX Going for a walk to clear your mind and over, usually something after studying upsetting. EX: Replaying a mistake in your head again and again STRESS/WORKING MEMORY: Stress can make it harder for your brain to remember things and solve problems. EX: Forgetting what you studied CH. 6: EVERYDAY MEMORY during a test because you're nervous MEMORY: YERKES-DODSON CURVE: Encoding, storing, retrieving info A little bit of stress can help you perform better, but too much stress SHORT TERM MEMORY: makes things worse. A small amount of information we can EX: Feeling pumped up before a game remember for a short time, like a helps, but being too nervous makes phone number you just heard. you mess up  EX: Remembering a friend's name EX: Knowing that the capital of France right after they tell you is Paris THE MAGICAL NUMBER SEVEN: NON-DECLARATIVE: We can usually remember about Memory we don't think about but still seven things at once, like seven influence our actions, like riding a colors in a rainbow. (7 -/+ 2 items for bike. 20-30 seconds) EX: Knowing how to tie your shoes EX: Trying to remember a short list of without thinking about it. items, like apples, bananas, and oranges. CAPACITY VS WORKING MEMORY LONG TERM MEMORY: Capacity is how much we can hold in memory, while working memory is Information we can keep for a long how we use that information right time, like our favorite childhood now. memories. EX: Capacity is like a backpack that EX: Remembering your first day of can hold toys; working memory is school playing with those toys right away VIRTUALLY UNLIMITED CAPACITY: FORGETTING MECHANISM: ways our brains Our brain can store a huge amount of lose or fail to retrieve information over time information over time, like an endless MEMORY PARADOX: library. EX: Knowing thousands of songs refers to the surprising way our throughout your life memories can be both reliable and unreliable at the same time TRANSFER MECHANISM: MNEMONISTS: The process of moving information from short term memory to long term People with amazing memory skills memory, ENCODING like saving a who can remember lots of game on a console. information quickly, like memory CONSOLIDATION champions. (association/repetition) EX: Someone who can recall a long EX: Studying for a test to remember list of words after hearing it only once. what you learned for a long time METHOD OF LOCI: DECLARATIVE: A memory trick where you imagine Memory for facts and events we can placing things you want to remember consciously recall, like remembering in specific locations, like putting a historical date. items in rooms of a house.  EX: Remembering your grocery list by Thinking about how we think and imagining each item in your bedroom learn, like checking if we understand something. ENCODING: EX: Asking yourself if you really know The process of getting information how to solve a math problem into our memory, like taking a picture METAMEMORY: with a camera. EX: Learning a new word in school Understanding your own memory abilities and how well you can SENSORY MEMORY: remember things. very short-term storage of information EX: Knowing that you need to study we get from our senses (like sight, more because you forget things easily sound, and touch) right after we GOOGLE MEMORY: experience Relying on technology like Google to ICONIC MEMORY: remember information instead of our A very brief visual memory of what we brains. see, like a snapshot that fades EX: Looking up the answer to a quickly. (lasts 250-500 ms) question online instead of trying to EX: Remembering what a colorful remember it painting looked like for a few seconds CHUNKING: after looking away Breaking information into smaller ECHOIC MEMORY: pieces to make it easier to remember, A short memory for sounds, like the like grouping phone numbers. last part of a song you just heard. EX: Remembering a long number like (lasts 2-4 seconds) 123-456-7890 instead of 1234567890 EX: Remembering the last few words ELABORATION: someone said right after they said them. Adding extra details to help remember something better, like ENCODING STRATEGIES: making a story about a fact. Techniques to help remember EX: Imagining a whole scene when information better, like making a song learning about a historical event to memorize something. EX: Using rhymes to remember the DEPTH OF ENCODING: alphabet How deeply we process information, METACOGNITION: with deeper processing leading to better memory.  EX: Understanding a story's meaning Learning is more effective when study (deep) vs. just remembering the sessions are spread out over time, words (shallow) like taking breaks between study sessions. SHALLOW: EX: Studying for 30 minutes every day A basic way of processing instead of cramming all night information, like just reading without DISTURBED PRACTICE: thinking about it. EX: Skimming a book without trying to Practicing over multiple sessions understand it rather than one long session, which helps with memory. INTERMIDIATE: EX: Studying for a test for a little bit A more thoughtful way of processing, each day instead of one big study like summarizing what you read. session the night before EX: Writing down the main points of a MASSED PRACTICE: chapter you just read. Trying to learn a lot of information all DEEP: at once, which isn’t as effective for Thinking critically and personally memory. about information, leading to strong EX: Studying everything the night memories. before a big exam EX: Relating a lesson to your own life CH. 6: EVERYDAY MEMORY PT 2 experiences MAKING MEMORY WORK: SELF-REFRENCE EFFECT: How we remember things, like when Remembering things better when they you try to remember a fun day you relate to ourselves, like a favorite had at the park hobby. EX: Remembering a fact about your RETRIVAL: favorite movie better than one about a Taking something out of your subject you don't like memory, like pulling a toy out of a toy HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION: box. EX: You remember what you ate for Arranging information in a structured breakfast yesterday way, like making an outline. EX: Organizing your notes by main TESTING EFFECT: topics and subtopics Practicing by testing yourself helps SPACING EFFECT: you remember better.  EX: Quizzing yourself on math facts Remembering things from your own helps you learn them faster. life, like a personal storybook in your mind. GENERATION EFFECT: EX: Your first day at school You remember things better when you FLASHBULB MEMORIES: come up with the answers yourself. EX: Making up your own sentence Very strong memories of surprising or using a new word helps you important events. remember that word EX: Remembering exactly where you were during a big family celebration RETRIVAL CUES: RETROGRADE MEMORY ENHANCEMENT: Clues that help you remember something. You remember old things better after EX: Smelling a pie helps you experiencing something new. remember baking with grandma EX: Learning about a historical event helps you remember what you read CONTEXT DEPENDENT MEMORY: about it last year You remember better when you're in INFANTILE AMNESIA: the same place where you learned it. EX: You remember school facts better Not remembering anything from when when you're back in the classroom you were a baby. EX: You don’t remember your first STATE-DEPENDENT MEMORY: birthday party You remember things better when HYPERTHYMESTIC SYNDROME: you're in the same physical or mental state as when you learned them. This Having a super good memory and could be things like being tired, alert, remembering almost everything from or even under the influence of your life. something. EX: Someone remembering every EX: If you learned something while detail of what happened on any feeling sleepy, you'll remember it random day better when you're sleepy again MEMORY DISTORTION: MOOD-DEPENDENT MEMORY: When your memory changes or gets Being in the same mood helps you mixed up. remember things from when you felt EX: Thinking you had ice cream last that way. week, but it was actually pizza EX: When you're sad, you remember MEANING MAKING TENDENCY: sad moments more easily AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY:  We try to make sense of things, so we EX: Thinking you always liked sometimes change memories to fit broccoli, even if you hated it as a kid our ideas. EX: Remembering a tough time as something that helped you grow. SCHEMAS AND FILLING GAPS: Your brain uses what it knows to fill in missing details. EX: If you know dogs usually bark, you might think a dog barked even if you didn't hear it. COHERENCE/ACCURACY: Coherence is when your memories make sense, and accuracy is when they’re actually true. EX: Your story about what happened sounds logical (coherence) but may not be exactly right (accuracy) MEMORY BIASES: Ways your mind might change your memories based on your feelings or ideas. EX: Remembering a vacation as better than it really was because you miss it MISINFORMATION EFFECT: When new, wrong info changes your old memories. EX: Someone tells you a movie ended differently, and you start remembering it their way CONSISTENCY BIAS: We tend to remember things in a way that fits with our current beliefs.