Term
| The definition(s) of cognitive psychology |
|
Definition
Definition: The study of how people acquire, store, transform, and use information.
Theoretical orientation: Focuses on mental structures and their underlying processes
By topic: Perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, decision making |
|
|
Term
| Scientific historical roots |
|
Definition
Gustav Fechner (1801-1878) mapped relationships between the physical and the psychological. His contribution: quantified relationships between incoming stimuli and corresponding perceptions.
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) studied visual perception and unconscious interference. |
|
|
Term
| Gustav Fechner (1801-1878) |
|
Definition
| mapped relationships between the physical and the psychological. His contribution: quantified relationships between incoming stimuli and corresponding perceptions. |
|
|
Term
| Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) |
|
Definition
| studied visual perception and unconscious interference. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
* An implicit assumption made by our perceptual systems about some characteristic of an incoming stimulus.
1. Perceiver plays an interpretive role in what is perceived (perception is not a passive process)
2. Perceptual abd cognitive processes are influenced by previous experience.
3. Perceptual and cognitive processes often occur outside of conscious awareness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
* An early approach to the study of consciousness that emphasizes breaking it down in terms of its most elemental components. These components can be broken down into 3 categories; sensations (the basic sensory dimensions that we encode from stimulus), feelings (emotions aroused by stimulus)and images (mental impressions that seem sensory in nature)
ex: A sunrise is a complex experience made up of simpler ones --> Sensations (warmth on skin), Images (the colors in the sky), Feelings (contentment)
Modeled Psychology after Chemistry, a science in which simple chemical elements combine to form complex chemical elements. They used this approach to explain the conscious experience--believing that the complexities of life could be broken down into distinct and basic elements of consciousness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| * An early approach to the study of consciousness that emphasized the discovery of the basic uses of consciousness and how it helps us adapt in daily life. (What are the FUNCTIONS of the mind? - A functionalist would study the emotion of anger by trying to determine the purpose or function of being angry) |
|
|
Term
| Behaviorism (S-R Psychology) |
|
Definition
* An early approach that eschewed (avoids) the study of consciousness in favor of a scientific analysis of overt behavior.
John B. Watson's notion was to banish consciousness from scientific study, since the hallmarks of scientific study are observation, measurement and repeatability, and the study of consciousness allowed for none of those.
Behavior can be observed, measured and repeated and therefore Watson felt that BEHAVIOR should be the focus of scientific psychology.
John B. Watson's approach to psychology was to study observation RESPONSES and their relation to observable STIMULI. |
|
|
Term
| Ebbinghaus's Memory Research |
|
Definition
Ebbinhaus tested and retested his memory under rigorously controlled conditions of presentation and testing. He memorized list after list of nonsense syllables (strings of letters that do not form words) and recorded the number of study trials that it took to learn the list to perfection. After varying periods of time he would attempt to relearn the list to perfection again. It took him fewer and fewer trials to relearn previously memorized lists to perfection.
Ebbinhaus coined the term SAVINGS to refer to this reduction in the number of trials it took to relearn a list. (His previously experience in perfectly learning the material SAVED him some trials the second time he tried to learn it) |
|
|
Term
| Ebbinhaus's Forgetting Curve |
|
Definition
* A function relating memory to time passage. A good deal of forgetting occurs soon after study, then slows down over time.
Forgetting occurs rapidly early in the retention interval, then slows down considerably. |
|
|
Term
| Rise of cognitive psychology in the 1950s |
|
Definition
| George Miller fixed the birthdate of cognitive psychology as September 11, 1956. This is the date that psychologists interested in the study of the mind gathered at MIT for the Symposium on Information Theory. This conference featured a number of papers that employed the new approach to mind including Chomsky's theory of language, Allen Newell and Herbert Simon's "Logic Theory Machine" and George Miller's presentation of his view of short-term memory as a limited information processing mechanism that could hold approximately 7 +/- 2 items. |
|
|
Term
| The information-processing approach |
|
Definition
* A descriptive approach that likens the functioning of the mind to the operation of a computer.
Lachman, Lachman and Butterfield (1979) identified some major assuptions of this approach.
1. Humans are "symbol manipulators" who encode, store, retrieve, and manipulate symbolic data stored in memory.
2. Representation: the data of the human information-processing system consist of representations that correspond to information from the environment (objects/events) and processes (remembering/problem solving)
3. Human thought is best characterized as a system of interrelated capacities and processes that all affect each other. The components cannot fully be understood in isolation from one another. |
|
|
Term
| Connectionism (Parallel Distributed Processing) |
|
Definition
A model that uses a brain-based metaphor to describe cognitive processes in terms of complex and interconnected networks of individual processing units that operate in parallel.
Connectionist models describe cognitive processing in terms of connections between simple units, which correspond to the basic unit of the brain, the neuron. The billions of neurons in the brain form complex neural networks, which serve as the basis for knowledge representation and cognitive processing. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The degree to which results from a research experiment can be generalized to everyday situations. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The degree to which extraneous variables are controlled.
A well-designed experiment offers a great deal of control and precision, enhancing their internal validity, but fall short in terms of naturalness (how they represent everyday life) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Descriptive Methods: Naturalistic observation, case studies, self-reports
Experimental Methods: systematic manipulation and measurement of variables and observations of their effects on one another in a controlled setting. Can also determine causality. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| describe, predict, explain and modifie unobservable processes/representations. |
|
|
Term
| Characteristics of an Experiment |
|
Definition
| Control, Randomization (sampling/assignment), Dependent Variable, Independent Variable, Operational Definition. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Hypothesized cause of effect.
Manipulated by the INVestigator |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Variable that is measured.
The outcome DEPends on the IV |
|
|
Term
| Disadvantages of Experiments |
|
Definition
Lack ecological validity
Expentancy effects |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Same participants in every condition
(the same subjects receive each level of IV) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
two of more IV's
study independent and interactive effects of IVs |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| assess how likely difference is due to chance |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an interdisciplinary field of study, combining neuroscience and cognitive psychology, that attempt to relate cognitive processing to its neural substrates. |
|
|
Term
| Cognitive Neuroscience Research Methods Disadvantages |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Cognitive Neuroscience Research Methods Advantages |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Advantages of Experiments |
|
Definition
Explanatory Power
Internal Validity |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Brain as an integrated System |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A nerve cell, the basic building block of the nervous system |
|
|
Term
| Global Neuronal Work Space |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an all-or-none reaction of a neuron that occurs when stimulation reaches some critical threshold. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Sensory Register - Perception |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (Perceptual set) a tendency to visually analyze scenes in a particular way |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A tendency to segregate visual scenes into a background and a figure that seems to be superimposed against it. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a tendency to encode the overall features of a scene before apprehending scene details. (see the forest before a tree) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (conceptually driven) the identification of a stimulus with the help of context, previous knowledge, and/or expectations |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (Data driven) the identification of a stimulus through the assembly of its component features. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the purported tendency to be influenced by stimuli presented below the level of awareness |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
an approach to psycho-physics that characterizes perceptual experiences as the joint product of sensitivity and response bias.
perception = sensitivity + response bias.
Sensitivity (absolute threshold - the lowest intensity at which stimulus can be detected 50% of the time)
Response Bias (Decision Criterion - how certain in order to report) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the lowest intensity at which stimulus can be detected 50% of the time |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Misperceptions. Awareness doesn't eliminate effect. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
- more than one true/precise perception is possible
-difficult to see both perceptions at the same time.
-certain regions and contours favor one perception.
perception can be influenced by expectation |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
images that are the opposite or complement of actual images
-caused by fatigued cells in retina responding to light. fades quickly |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
perception "flips" back and forth between two interpretations.
-contradictory cues for depth perception
-difficult to determine what part of the figure is closest to you. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| condition in which a person fails to recognize objects due to a functional impairment of the occipito-temporal vision areas of the brain. Other elementary visual functions such as acuity, colour vision, and brightness discrimination are still intact. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Perceiving the stimulus in 2 or more modalities at once
The experience of sensations in a sensory modality different from the sense that has been physically stimulated |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Transduction – the conversion of one kind of energy into another kind of energy |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Each Participant in only one condition.
(different subjects receive different each level of the IV) |
|
|
