Cognitive Psychology Midterm Handouts PDF

COGPSY210 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Attention Attention – is a process of concentrating on specific features of the environment, or on certain thoughts or activities.  Selective Attention – the ability to focus...

COGPSY210 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Attention Attention – is a process of concentrating on specific features of the environment, or on certain thoughts or activities.  Selective Attention – the ability to focus on one message and ignore all others.  Broadbent’s filter Model -Donald Broadbent’s (1958) filter model is one of the classic theories in psychology because it was the first to describe the human as an information processor, and it was the first to depict the course of this information processing with a flow diagram. Broadbent’s model, which was designed to explain selective attention, states that in formation passes through the following stages. 1. The sensory store, which holds incoming information for a short period of time and transfers all of it to the filter. 2. The filter, identifies the attended message based on its physical characteritics things like the speaker’s tone of voice, pitch, speed of talking, and accent and lets only this message pass through the detector in the next stage. 3. The detector, where the information is processed to determine higher-level characteristics of the message such as its meaning. 4. Short-term memory. The output of the detector enters the memory system, where it can be used immediately or moved into long-term memory for later use. -Broadbent’s model is called an early-selection model, because the filtering step occurs before the incoming information is analyzed to determine its meaning.  Treisman’s Attenuation Theory – Treisman proposed that selection occurs in two stages. Instead of a filter, treisman substituted an attenuator. 1  COGPSY210 Attenuator – analyzes the incoming message in terms of 1. physical characteristics – whether it is high-pitched or low-pitched, fast or slow 2. language – how the message groups into syllables or words 3. meaning – how sequences of words create meaningful phrases. Dictionary Unit – contains stored words, each of which have thresholds for being activated.  Late-Selection Model - the evidence for late-selection models is based on experiments that show that words presented in the unattended channel can be processed to the level of their meaning. - Donald Mackay (1973) showed this by using ambiguous sentence that can be taken more than one way, such as They were throwing stones at the bank. In this example, “bank” could be a river or a financial institution.  Selection and Task Load - Nilli Lavie describe a high-load task as one that is difficult, requiring most of the person’s cognitive resources, and a low-load task as one that is easier, so some cognitive resources remain that can be used for other task. He makes the following predictions regarding selection under high- and low-load conditions: Under high-load conditions all cognitive resources are devoted to the selection task, so only the selected items will be processed. In contrast, low-load conditions do not require all of the person’s cognitive resources, so some additional information can be processed.  Divided Attention - people can pay attention to a number of things simultaneously.  The Effect of Practice – people can learn to do two fairly difficult things simultaneously.  The Effect of Task Difficulty - if the task is difficult, divided attention is sometimes not possible.  The Effect of Task Type – another factor that plays a role in determining whether divided attention is possible.  Visual Attention – mediate the selection of relevant and the filtering out of irrelevant information from cluttered visual scenes. 2  COGPSY210 Change Blindness – difficulty in detecting changes in scenes that are presented one after another. The changes are often easy to see once attention is directed to them, but are usually undetected in the absence of appropriate attention. The Spotlight of Visual Attention  Spotlight model of attention – conceives of visual attention as having an effect that is similar to a spotlight which, when directed at different locations, increases the efficiency for which signals at the location can be processed. Object-Based attention – model of attention proposing that the enhancing effects of attention can be located on a particular object. This contrasts with location-based attention, in which attention is focused on location. Location-based attention – models of attention that propose that the attention operates on whatever stimuli are at a particular location. This contrasts with object-based attention, in which attention is focused on a particular object.  Object-Based Visual Attention – the idea that attention is associated with objects has been supported by the fact that when attention is directed to one place on an object, the enhancing effect of this attention spreads throughout the object. Reference Goldstein, B.E. (2005) Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Thomson/Wadsworth 3  COGPSY210 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Sensory Memory, Short-Term Memory, and Working Memory Memory – is the process involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present. Purpose of Memory - Memory is important not only for recalling events from the distant past, but also for dealing with day-to-day activities. Modal Model of Memory - In 1968 Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin proposed a model of memory that included stages with different durations. Structural features 1. Sensory memory – an initial stage that holds information for seconds or fractions of a second. 2. Short-term memory (STM) which holds information for only 15-30 seconds. 3. Long-term memory (LTM) – which can hold information for years or even decades. - Atkinson and Shiffrin also describe the memory system as including control process, which are active process that can be controlled by the person and may differ from one task to another. - Sensory memory - the retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of sensory stimulation. HOW CAN WE DISTINGUISH BETWEEN SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM MEMORY? - Short-term memory and long-term memory are the central parts of the modal model. Differences in Coding Coding- refers to the way information is represented. 4  COGPSY210 Type Of Coding Example Visual Image of a person Phonological Sound of the person’s voice Semantic Meaning of what the person is saying Coding in Short-Term Memory - R. Conrad investigated coding in STM in 1964 - Conrad concluded that the code for STM is phonological (based on the sound of the stimulus) rather than visual (based on the appearance of the stimulus). - Do Conrad’s results mean that STM is always coded phonologically? Not necessarily. Some task, such as remembering the details of diagram or an architectural floor plan, require visual codes. - There is also evidence for semantic coding in STM. Coding In Long-Term Memory - Although some semantic coding does occur in STM, semantic coding is the predominant type of coding in LTM. Neuropsychological Evidence for Differences Between STM and LTM People With Functioning STM but Poor LTM - Clive Wearing, the musician who lost his memory due to viral encephalitis, is an example of a person who has a functioning STM but is unable to form new LTMs. - The property of H.M.’s memory that is important for distinguishing between STM and LTM is the demonstration that it is possible to lose the ability to form new LTMs while still retaining STM. This loss of one ability while the other remains intact is a single dissociation. People With Functioning LTM but Poor STM - T. Shallice and Elizabeth Warrington (1970) describe K.F., a patient with normal LTM but poor STM. - One indication of K.F’s problems with STM is her reduced digit span. Digit span – the number of digits a person can remember. What is the Capacity of Short-Term Memory? - One measure of the capacity of STM is the digit span of 5-8 ( or more for some people). - George Miller (1956)  One of the pioneers in the development of modern cognitive psychology. 5  COGPSY210  Begins with the title “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus two,” and goes on to present evidence that we can hold 5-9 items in our short-term memory. WORKING MEMORY: THE MODERN APPROACH TO SHORT-TERM MEMORY Working memory – is a limited capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex task such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning. From this definition we can see that working memory differs from STM in two ways: 1. Working memory consist of a number of parts. 2. Its function is not just briefly store information but to manipulate information to help us carry out complex cognitive tasks. Thus, the emphasis of the working memory concept is not on how information is briefly retained but on how information is manipulated to achieve complex cognitions such as thinking and comprehension. (Baddeley, 2000) Three Components of Working Memory  Phonological loop – holds verbal and auditory information. This loop is divided into two parts: 1. Storage – a place that holds the memory trace. The trace fades in about 2 seconds unless it is refreshed by rehearsal. This is a passive part of the phonological loop. 2. Rehearsal – the part of the phonological loop responsible for the repetition that refreshes the memory trace. This is the active part of the phonological loop.  Visuospatial Sketch pad – holds visual and spatial information.  Central executive – the part of working memory that coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad. Reference Goldstein, B.E. (2005) Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Thomson/Wadsworth 6  COGPSY210 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Long-Term Memory: Basic Principles Long-Term Memory - is an “archive” of information about past events in our lives and knowledge we have learned. Two Types of LTM  Declarative memory – memory that involves conscious recollections of events or facts that we have learned in the past. Two Types of Declarative memory  Episodic memory – is memory for specific events that have happened to the person having the memory. These events are usually remembered as a personal experience that occurred at a particular time and place.  Semantic memory – memory for knowledge about the world that is not tied to any specific personal experience. This knowledge can be things like facts , vocabulary, numbers, and concepts. In contrast with episodic memory, remembering these things does not create the feeling of reliving a personal experience.  Implicit memory – memory that occurs when an experience affects a person’s behavior, even though the person is not aware that he or she had the experience. Also called nondeclarative memory. HOW DOES INFORMATION BECOME STORED IN LONG-TERM MEMORY Encoding – the process of acquiring information and transferring it into memory. Retrieval - the process of remembering information that has been stored in memory. Maintenance Rehearsal and Elaborative Rehearsal  Maintenance Rehearsal – Rehearsal that involves repetition without any consideration of meaning or making connections to other information.  Elaborative Rehearsal – Rehearsal that involves thinking about the meaning of an item to be remembered or making connections between that item and prior knowledge. Levels-of-Processing Theory - In 1972 Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart proposed the idea of levels of processing(LOP). 7  COGPSY210 - According to LOP theory, memory depends on how information is encoded. Another way of saying this is that memory depends on how information is programmed into mind. -Craik and Lockhart’s LOP theory states that memory depends on the depth of processing that an item receives.  Depth of Processing – the idea that the processing that occurs as an item is being encoded into memory can be deep or shallow.  Shallow processing – processing that involves repetition with little attention to meaning. Shallow processing is usually associated with maintenance rehearsal.  Deep processing – processing that involves attention to meaning and relating an item to something else. Deep processing is usually associated with elaborative rehearsal. Levels-of-processing theory makes the following two predictions. 1. Deep processing takes longer than shallow processing. 2. Deep processing results in better memory than shallow processing HOW DO WE RETRIEVE INFORMATION FROM LONG-TERM MEMORY? - The process of retrieval is extremely important because most of our failures of memory are failures of retrieval. These retrieval failures occur when the information is “in there”, but we can’t get it out. - One of the most powerful ways to achieve this is to provide retrieval cues for that information. Retrieval Cues – cues that help a person remember information that has been stored in memory.  Transfer-appropriate processing – when the type of encoding that occurs during acquisition matches the type of encoding that occurs during acquisition. This type of processing can result in enhanced memory.  The Principle of Encoding Specificity – the principle that we learn information together with its context. This means that presence of context can lead to enhanced memory for the information.  State-dependent learning – the principle that memory is best if a person is in the same state for encoding and retrieval. Five Ways of Improving Learning and Memory 1. Elaborate 2. Organize 3. Associate 4. Take breaks 5. Match learning and testing conditions 8  COGPSY210 Reference Goldstein, B.E. (2005) Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Thomson/Wadsworth 9