Cog Psych Exam 1 Study Outline PDF

1. Definition of Cog Psych, differentiate between cog psych and similar fields Cog psych: study of mental processes, approach to understanding human cognition by observing how people perform various cognitive tasks Cognitive Neuropsychology: focuses on studying participants with...

1. Definition of Cog Psych, differentiate between cog psych and similar fields Cog psych: study of mental processes, approach to understanding human cognition by observing how people perform various cognitive tasks Cognitive Neuropsychology: focuses on studying participants with brain damage/injuries to understand brain functioning Cognitive neuroscience: combines evidence from brain and behavior to understand human cognition Computational Cognitive Science: involves modeling human cognitive processes with computers 2. How cognitive psych differs from approaches that preceded it – specifically how is the cognitive approach different from behaviorism/associationism Behaviorist models are only interested in stimuli and response to the stimuli. Cognitive psych is interested in the steps in between (mediational processes), and the response/action 3. IPR Models thought of the brain/mind as analogous to what? A computer Presentation of stimulus -> attending to stimulus -> perception of stimulus -> cognitive processes which use or transform that info -> some decision is made (response or action) based on that info 4. Differences between bottom-up and top-down processing, and serial vs parallel processing Bottom-up: processing directly from stimuli Top-down: processing is affected by previous knowledge, expectations and goals Serial Processing: only one process can occur at a time, process must finish before another can start Parallel processing: more than one process can occur at the same time 5. Limitations of Cognitive psych Ecological validity (applicability of findings to real world settings) Experimenter bias (how a researcher can influence research participants behavior) 6. 5 assumptions of cognitive neuropsych Modularity – suggests that brain is made up of modules that work independently Domain specificity – each module is specialized for a specific purpose Anatomical modularity – each module belongs to specific part of the brain Uniformity of functional architecture across people: assumes everyone’s brain modules are all organized in approximately the same way Substantivity: if a module is injured, it does not change the functioning or add new functions, it simply impairs it 7. Why are single dissociations, double dissociations, and associations useful? (single) dissociations: participant can perform one task normally, but not another. Evidence that two tasks rely on different modules Double dissociations: when one participant can perform normally on one task, but not another. Another participant can do the opposite. Different functions exist in separate modules Association: one participant is impaired on two tasks, might suggest those cognitive functions share same module May be able to tell us what area(s) of brain particular tasks occur 8. 4 main lobes Parietal – top (dorsal, superior) back (posterior) Frontal – front (anterior/rostral) Occipital – towards back (bottom: ventral/inferior) Temporal – side (lateral) 9. In neuroimaging techniques, what are spatial resolution and temporal resolution? Of the techniques we discussed, which have better (and worse) spatial and temporal resolutions? It may also be useful to review the figure I showed in class, from the textbook, that graphs the spatial and temporal resolutions for different techniques. (Hint: also know the abbreviations used for the techniques that have them, such as EEG for electroencephalogram; fMRI for functional magnetic resonance imaging, etc.) Spatial resolution: how they can identify where activity occurs in brain Temporal resolution: how they can measure when activity occurs Single-Unit processing, EEG (electroencephalography; high temporal but worse spatial resolution), MEG (magnetoencephalography; good spatial and temporal), PET (positron emission tomography; decent spatial, poor temporal), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), fMRI (functional MRI; BOLD “blood oxygen level-dependent contrast” and BOLD signals are what they measure), TMS (transcranial magnetic simulation) 10. What are “converging operations” and why are they useful? When research using different approaches to the same question leads to the same conclusion, we can be more confident in that conclusion. On the other hand, if results lead to different conclusions, that should indicate further research and refinement of the theory(ies) will be needed 11. Difference between rod and cone cells. How are inputs from rods and cones collected and sent onward to other visual processing regions of the brain? Rods: specialized for low light and motion vision, located in periphery Cones: specialized for color and detailed vision, located in fovea  The retinal ganglion cells collect the signals from rods and cones, travel down optic nerves to retina-geniculate-striate pathway, signals meet at optic chiasma, then to lateral geniculate nucleus, to primary visual cortex (V1), and occipital lobe (V2) 14. Properties of M and P Pathways, ventral and dorsal pathways M and P come before V1, ventral and dorsal come after M pathway: magnocellular pathway, most input come from rod cells, most sensitive to info about movement P pathway: parvocellular pathway, most input comes from cone cells, sensitive to color and fine details Dorsal pathway: M pathway, “how/where”, proceeds to posterior parietal complex, faster Ventral: P pathway, “what”, proceeds to inferotemporal cortex, stores more 15. Dual Process Theory. Understand how different colors and brightnesses are encoded by combos (and oppositions) of input from 3 different types of cone cells Dual process theory: Refers to the idea that color perception involves two distinct stages: an initial stage where the eye detects basic color information using cone receptors (trichromatic processing), followed by a second stage where the brain processes color information in opponent pairs like red-green and blue-yellow, known as "opponent process theory." 3 different types of cone cells: short wavelength (blue), middle (yellow green), and long wavelength (red) 16. Different conditions Prosopagnosia: face blindness, can be due to brain injuries (acquired) or without brain injuries (developmental), further evidence that facial recognition is a different process than object recognition, Achromatopsia: condition involving little to no color perception Akinetopsia: motion perception is impaired, caused by injury to ventral stream Optic ataxia: condition in which there are problems with making visually guided movements despite reasonably intact visual perception Visual form agnosia: severe problems in shape perception Dichromacy: deficiency in color vision in which one of the cones is missing Object Agnosia: deficit in object recognition despite intact intelligence 17. What is the difference between pattern and object recognition? Pattern – identification of 2d patterns Object recognition - identification of objects 19. Gestalt Psychologists; laws they discovered How complex visual stimuli are organized  Law of Pragnanz: fundamental principle, usually we perceive stimuli following simplest possible organization Law of Proximity: elements that are closer together tend to be perceived as grouped together Law of Similarity: more similar elements tend to be grouped together Figure-ground segregation: one part of a visual image may be perceived as the figure, which has a perceived form or shape, and the rest of the image is the ground 20. Two-Systems Model and Recognition-by-components theory Two-systems model – suggests object recognition occurs primarily in ventral stream, and the greatest neuronal activity and largest receptive fields occur at higher levels of visual processing, the dorsal stream is involved via global processing Recognition-by-components – objects consist of basic shapes called “geons”, different combos of geons (and how specifically they are connected) provide representation of more complex objects o Perceived combos of geons are matched with stored representations that best fits o Theory is used to explain how we can perceive an object correctly from different angles and rotations 21. Holistic/configural processing. Why part-whole and face-inversion effects are thought to occur Holistic: integrating info from entire object Configural: integrating info from part of an object Face-inversion effect: inverted faces are disproportionately harder to recognize than upright faces relative to objects, involves more holistic processing Part-whole: a face part is recognized more easily when presented as part of whole face than when presented in isolation 22. What types of stimuli is the Fusiform Face Area especially activated by? Area in ventral temporal cortex that has been found to specialize in face processing Activated during face recognition tasks 23. What is Expertise? A high level of knowledge and performance in a specific domain achieved through years of practice 24. Bruce and Young model for face processing Face is first detected Structural encoding Emotion, gender, etc. OR face memory