Exam 1 PDF

**Chapter 1** [algorithmic level of analysis-] aims to understand the rules, mechanisms, and representations the mind uses [behavioral neuroscience-] The branch of neuroscience that uses animal models to understand neural mechanisms underpinning behavior [Behaviorism-] A psychological movement ch...

**Chapter 1** [algorithmic level of analysis-] aims to understand the rules, mechanisms, and representations the mind uses [behavioral neuroscience-] The branch of neuroscience that uses animal models to understand neural mechanisms underpinning behavior [Behaviorism-] A psychological movement characterized by its focus only on outwardly observable behavior [Chomsky\'s (1957) review of Verbal Behavior-] states that skinner\'s use of behaviorist terminology is not precise when applied to language. \*rats proved w/ cognitive maps and maze [classical conditioning-] A form of learning in which observable changes in behavior result from learned associations between stimuli. [cognitive maps (Tolman, 1948)-] A mental representation of locations within an individual's environment. [cognitive neuroscience-] The interdisciplinary study of the neural mechanisms of cognition and behavior. [cognitive revolution-] A period during the 1950s and 1960s marked by rapid and radical shifts in approaches to the study of cognition [cognitive science-] A formal effort to synthesize insights across diverse disciplines attempting to understand the mind. [computational level of analysis-] An analytical framework centered on understanding what the mind is trying to compute and why. [computational modeling-] The use of mathematical functions to constrain and predict aspects of human cognition. [Fechner\'s law-] The principle that the intensity of subjective experience of a stimulus increases in proportion to the stimulus's measurable intensity. [ ] [filter model of attention (Broadbent, 1958)-] [forgetting curve (Ebbinghaus)-] An estimate of the rate at which information fades from memory. [Functionalism]- A historical movement that aligned itself with William James's focus on psychological functions. [General Problem Solving (Newell, Simon, & Shaw,1957)-] [Gestalt movement-] An early-twentieth-century movement promoting the idea that conscious experience as a whole cannot be sufficiently explained by examining individual components [implementational level of analysis-] An analytical framework centered on understanding how the brain physically enables the processes of human cognition. [information theory (Shannon, 1948)-] A cross-disciplinary field that focuses on the processes by which information can be coded, stored, transmitted, and reconstructed [\*innate knowledge (Socrates)- ] [internal model introspection-] A method whereby some early psychologists attempted to objectively observe their own mental experiences [just noticeable difference]- The minimum perceptual difference between two stimuli (e.g., in length, brightness, or pitch) needed for the difference to be detected [mental processes-] Ways of encoding, transforming, storing, interpreting, and acting on information [mental representations-] The mind's way of storing and processing information about the world [operant conditioning-] Learning in which observable changes in behavior result from associations between an organism's actions and desired or undesired outcomes. [\*Psychology as the behaviorist views it (Watson)- ] [Psychophysics-] The study of the relationship between physical stimuli and mental experience. [Punishments-] Negative outcomes that decrease the likelihood that an action will be repeated selective attention [Structuralism-] A movement, founded by Wilhelm Wundt, that focuses on the structural components of mental life [subtraction method (Donders)-] Donders hypothesized that the speed of higher mental processes could be similarly measured (the brain, after all, is composed of billions of nerves, called neurons). Donders reasoned that the time course of different mental processes could be isolated by measuring the difference in reaction times for tasks of varying complexity. [Turing machine-] A hypothetical machine, proposed by Alan Turing, that could implement any conceivable calculation. [unbridgeable gap-] half a second between when we think something and do it [unconscious inference (Helmholtz)-] The perceptual process of making educated guesses based on visual clues, without being aware of this process. [\*Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957)- ] [Weber\'s law-] The first precise formula specifying the relationship between a physical aspect of the environment and the mind's ability to perceive it. **Chapter 2** [action potential-] An electrical signal in a neuron, which travels down the axon once an activation threshold is crossed. [Axon-] The part of a neuron that carries nerve impulses away from the cell body, toward the receiving dendrites of other neurons [ ] [Broca\'s area-] An area in the brain's left frontal lobe, with functions linked to speech production. [ ] [cognitive neuroscience-] The interdisciplinary study of the neural mechanisms of cognition and behavior [ ] [Dendrites-] A branchlike component of a neuron, receiving input from sensory receptors or other neurons [Dualism-] The idea, credited to the seventeenth-century philosopher René Descartes, that there is a distinction between the physical world, where the brain resides, and a nonphysical world, where the mind and soul reside [ ] [electroencephalography (EEG)-] A method of using electrodes on the scalp to measure electrical activity in the brain [ ] [event-related potential (ERP)-] The time-locked EEG waveform that occurs in response to a stimulus, event, or task [ ] [functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-] A technique that measures and localizes blood oxygen levels throughout the brain to infer brain activity. [ ] [functional specialization-] The principle that different brain areas serve different perceptual and cognitive skills, what happens where, rogers and patterson model (2007) [glial cells-] Non-neuronal cells in the brain and spinal cord that provide both structural and functional support to the neurons [lobes of the cerebral cortex-] occipital lobe: A region in the back of each brain hemisphere, devoted to visual perception. Temporal lobe: A region in the lower side of each brain hemisphere, important for complex perception, memory, and language. Parietal lobe: A region in the upper back side of each brain hemisphere, important for controlling action. Frontal lobe: A region in the front of each brain hemisphere, involved in thinking, planning, decision making, and cognitive control [materialism -] The modern view that the mind is entirely a product of the brain. [\*metabolically expensive] [Neuropsychology-] The study of the behavioral consequences of brain damage [ ] [Neurotransmitters-] A chemical through which neurons communicate with other networked neurons [ ] [Prosopagnosia-] A neurological condition characterized by difficulty recognizing faces; also known as face blindness. [regions of interest (ROIs)-] A brain area designated by an investigator to be the focus of study [ ] [single cell recording / electrophysiology-] The direct measurement of electrical activity from neurons, either from single cells or from an aggregate of cells [ ] [soma (cell body)-] The neuron's core, which receives input and provides the metabolic machinery for the neuron [Synapses-] A gap between neurons, across which chemical or electrical signals are transmitted. [ ] [transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)-] A brain stimulation technique that involves applying a weak electrical current across the skull to modify brain activity, thereby increasing or decreasing the likelihood that underlying neurons will fire. [ ] [transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-] A brain stimulation technique that involves applying a weak electrical current across the skull to modify brain activity, thereby increasing or decreasing the likelihood that underlying neurons will fire. Shutting down brain to observe it [Wernicke\'s area-] A region in the brain's left temporal lobe, important for comprehension of language **Chapter 3** [\*abstraction, compression, & invariance (Marr, 1982) ] [Agnosia-] A visual condition involving difficulty recognizing objects. Apperceptive agnosia- The inability to perform simple visual feature tasks, implying impaired object recognition stems from deficits in early vision. Associative agnosia- The inability to recognize or name objects, despite functioning early vision [binocular depth cues-] Visual cues that support depth perception but which require the use of both eyes. [ ] [binocular disparity-] A phenomenon in which the closer something is to you, the greater the difference between what your two eyes see. [ ] [bottom-up information-] The sensory input in perception [ ] [boundary extension-] A phenomenon in which people tend to remember pictures as having extended beyond their edges. [cognitive penetrability of perception-] cognitively impenetrable- Referring to a property of perceptual processing that is not influenced by high-level cognition (e.g., by beliefs, knowledge, or motivation). [ ] [depictive / analog view-] In mental imagery, referring to the view that the brain creates representations of mental images the same way it creates real images perceived through the eyes. [ ] [figure-ground organization-] The perceptual segmentation of a visual scene into objects ("figure") and backgrounds ("ground") [ ] [\*fusiform face area (FFA) ] [holistic processing of faces-] The processing of a whole object at once, including the relations of the individual parts to each other. [ ] [\*McGurk effect ] [mental imagery-] The ability of the mind to construct images without immediate input from the environment. [ ] [mental rotation (Shepard & Metzler, 1971)-] The ability of the mind to compare and match rotated images. As shown, the time it takes to mentally rotate and match two objects is directly proportional to the amount of rotation that separates the objects. It is as if one were turning one of the objects at a fixed speed with one's mind, just as they might with their hands [ ] [mental scanning task (Kosslyn, 1978)-] The process of moving from one point in a mental image to another. The time it takes to travel or scan this distance is proportional to the distance between the objects, much like the time for mental rotation is proportional to the objects' angular separation. This similarity suggests that imagery is like perception (also see Kosslyn, 1976). In sum, mental images seem to contain spatial relationships. [ ] [monocular depth cues-] Visual cues that the mind uses to construct a three-dimensional understanding when the eyes have the same view. [ ] [\*object ambiguity ] [object constancy-] The ability to recognize objects despite different orientations, lighting, and other variation [ ] [\*object recognition ] [object segmentation-] The visual assignment of the elements of a scene to separate objects and backgrounds. [ ] [phoneme restoration effect-] missing phonemes are perceptually replaced and we are often not aware that this happens [ ] [predictive coding-] The ability of the visual brain to predict what input the eyes are about to receive [ ] [primary visual cortex-] An area at the back of each brain hemisphere, specialized for basic visual feature processing [ ] [propositional / abstract view-] Referring to the view that mental images are held in a post-perceptual, abstract way, more like a linguistic description than a picture [ ] [recognition by components (Biederman, 1987)-] A model proposed by Biederman to explain object recognition according to basic shapes or component parts, called geons. [ ] [spatial neglect-] Following a brain injury, the failure to process stimuli on one side of the visual field. [Template-] A mental representation that fully describes the shape of an object [ ] [top-down information-] The knowledge and expectations that influence and enhance the interpretation of sensory input [ ] [Transduction-] The process by which physical signals from the environment are translated to neural signals the brain can use. [ ] [unconscious inference-] The perceptual process of making educated guesses based on visual clues, without being aware of this process. [ ] [what and where pathways-] dorsal is where, ventral is what. Can tell what something is based on temporal and where something is based in parietal. For example, impulse enters eyes and travels to occipital lobe and we know it is a spherical white object. Dorsally we know it is moving toward me at a high speed (where), ventrally we know it is a baseball (what) **Chapter 4** [attentional blink-] The failure to see the second of two targets in a rapid succession of items when it appears soon after the first target. [ ] [attentional capture-] Involuntary (reflexive) grabbing of attention by certain kinds of stimuli. [ ] [biased competition model of attention-] A model of attention in which visual stimuli falling within the same receptive field compete with each other, and in which attention biases the competition in favor of one over the other. [ ] [Broadbent\'s (1958) filter model-] The notion that attention acts as a filter determining which information gains entry to more complex processing and which information gets excluded; in Broadbent's version, information is filtered based on "early" stimulus characteristics (e.g., pitch or loudness) prior to the processing of semantic meaning. [change blindness-] The failure to notice often large changes from one view to the next. [ ] [covert vs. overt attention-] covert attention: Attention directed in a manner that is not outwardly observable. Overt attention: Attention directed in an outwardly observable way, such as by moving the eyes to the attended location. [ ] [dichotic listening-] An experimental task in which participants listen to two different messages played simultaneously over headphones. Goal is to block out one channel and hear the other [early vs. late selection-] early selection: In attention, the theory that we attentionally select stimuli on the basis of physical features such as color, pitch, or location, and that we register their meaning only after we have selected them. Late selection: The attention theory that we process the meaning of everything around us before we select what will gain entry to heightened awareness. [Endogenous vs. Exogenous cues-] endogenous cue: A cue that engages voluntary attention and symbolically directs attention to a potential target location. Exogenous cue: A cue that engages reflexive attention and can appear at one of multiple target locations, it attracts attention to its location instead of directing attention symbolically. [ ] [explicit vs implicit attention-] explicit attention: Attention resulting in conscious awareness; measures of it usually rely on conscious report. Implicit attention: Attention that does not necessarily lead to conscious awareness; measured via response time, eye-movements, and other measures that do not rely on conscious report. [external attention-] Attention directed outwardly to the world. Ex. paying attention to lecture [feature integration theory (Treisman & Gelade, 1980)-] The theory that focusing attention on an object causes its features to become bound (integrated) together and perceived as a cohesive subject. [feature-based attention-] Tuning attention to prioritize features such as color, shape, or motion. [ ] [inattentional blindness-] The failure to notice an unexpected item right in plain view when our attention is preoccupied. [ ] [internal attention load theory-] The theory that the availability of mental resources to process information depends partly on the demands of an attended task. [\*multiple object tracking ] [\*neural systems involved in voluntary and reflexive attention ] [object-based attention-] Attention directed to an object rather than to a point in space. [ ] [Posner cueing task-] An experimental task used to reveal the movement of attention in space; participants respond to targets on a screen as quickly as they can, and attention can be directed toward or away from the target location by exogenous or endogenous cues. [reflexive attention-] Attention to a stimulus without actively choosing to attend to it. [spatial attention-] Selection of a stimulus on the basis of location. [temporal attention-] The ability to pay attention to points in time. [Treisman\'s attenuator model-] A theoretical model proposed by Anne Treisman in which meaningful information needs to meet a lower threshold of processing in order to reach awareness. Attenuation boosts desired signals and attenuates (limits) undesired signals [Vigilance-] Related to sustained attention, a state of heightened attentional anticipation that enables people to better respond to stimuli before they appear. [ ] [visual search task-] An experimental task in which participants look for a target embedded in an array of non targets. [voluntary attention-] The intentional effort to select goal-relevant information. [ ] [working memory load-] The working memory demands of a task.