Term
| How do Atkinson and Shiffrin describe the process of learning? |
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Definition
| The world is constantly stimulating us with sensory information. We parallel process information from each sense and keep this information for a short amount of time in sensory information stores. It then passes to short term memory after being filtered by our attention. If processed properly, that information then goes into long term memory where it can be stored and later recalled. |
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Term
| Describe how the experiments of Sperling determine the properties of sensory memory (SIS). |
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Definition
| Sperling, 1960. Tested how much information the iconic store can contain. Showed that we can recall visual stimuli from the large capacity of the iconic store accurately for only a very short amount of time (about 500ms); after a delay, it passes into the short term memory. |
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Term
| What is a serial position curve? What does it suggest about how our memory works? |
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Definition
When read a list of words, we remember words towards the beginning and end of the list better.
Recency effect – we remember words at the end of a list (short term memory dump)
Primacy effect – we remember words at the beginning of a list (rehearsal) |
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Term
| Describe the case of HM. What does this case demonstrate about the nature of learning and memory? What does it suggest about the relation between cognition and brain function? |
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Definition
| Patient HM had temporal lobe seizures so his amygdala, hippocampus, & part of his temporal cortex were removed. He stopped having seizures but also lost the ability to consolidate information and put episodic or semantic information into long term memory. He kept his procedural memory though. See Fifty First Dates, Memento, Dory from Finding Nemo, etc. Brain function determines cognition. |
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Term
| How is reconstructive recall like normal perception? How does this impact the regard we should have for our memories? Does this apply to all types of memory? |
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Definition
| Reconstructive recall – we can make up memories with suggestions and stereotypes from others. In perception, we make our best guess about what’s going on in the world around us, and memories are recalled the same way, so we should be wary about whether our memories are really correct or not. |
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Term
| How does the prisoner’s dilemma confound the assumption that people should always be rational decision makers? |
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Definition
| You and a friend have robbed a bank and been arrested. The police officer offers you a deal – if you confess and he doesn’t, he’ll get 20 years while you go free. But if he confesses and you don’t, he’ll go free while you get 20 years. However, if you both confess, you’ll both get 5 years. If you both stay quiet, you’ll both stay in jail for just 1 year. Person A can confess and expect 0 years in jail, or stay quiet and spend 1 year in jail, so the rational decision would be to confess. However, the best decision is actually to stay silent. So acting rational is actually not the best decision. |
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Term
| What is the rationale by which analyzing variances allows a conclusion about means? |
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Definition
| The variance is the square of the standard deviation. The null hypothesis states that there are no differences between the means, and the variances within each group (or the variance of the group means) are estimators of the variance of the population. Again if the null hypothesis is true, the ratio of the variances of each group should be close to one. |
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Term
| Describe the generation and propagation of an action potential in an axon. |
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Definition
There are voltage-gated sodium channels on the axon membrane that can be opened by a trigger voltage, allowing sodium to enter.
This causes successive depolarization down the axon – the inside of the axon becomes positive due to the entering sodium and the voltage spikes. A high enough voltage closes the channels. The spike in voltage travels down the axon, opening & closing gates in quick succession. The exit of potassium restores the voltage to normal. |
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Term
| What are the functions of the four major subdivisions of the nervous system? Give an example for each that shows how each is involved in your daily life. |
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Definition
•Sensory system – responds to light and sound
•Somatic system – allows control of skeletal muscle
•Sympathetic – fight or flight, a panic attack
•Parasympathetic – calms you down |
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Term
| The lens and fovea are tinted yellow. The receptor cells in the fovea are insensitive to blue. Why? |
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Definition
| Chromatic aberration – blurriness caused by light refracting at different wavelengths. Can be solved by tinting the lens yellow, tinting the area by the fovea yellow, and making the fovea insensitive to blue light. |
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Term
| What does the visual cliff research contribute to the nature/nurture debate about depth perception? |
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Definition
| If the mother stands beyond the edge of the cliff, the baby is cautious about moving, if it moves at all. If the mother stands on the near side, the baby goes to its mother without hesitation. It could be that the baby innately knows that it can fall and avoids the cliff, though it might also be that it has learned this behavior from watching its parents. |
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Term
| Many contemporary theorists liken a person to an information processor (a computer). What does the ‘Chinese room’ say about strong AI? |
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Definition
| Searle & the Chinese Room. An English-speaking person sits in a room and receives Chinese messages. He then uses a Chinese dictionary to formulate a response in Chinese, even though he knows no Chinese. This is comparable to the function of a computer – it manipulates symbols but understands no meaning. This implies that a computer has no consciousness. |
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