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22 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is sensation? |
Taking in information from our sense organs - what we see, hear, taste, smell, touch These stimuli are transferred to the brain for processing. |
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What is perception? |
Organizing and interpreting what our sense organs take in - stimuli, when selected, is organized and given meaning by the brain Past experiences and motivations can affect how we select and organize information, which means perception can vary person to person |
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What is attention? |
The process by which people select some of the environmental input they receive for further cognitive processing - essential for moving information from SM to STM Attended information stays, unattended goes |
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What factors influence attention? |
- Size: attention tends to be drawn to larger objects - Intensity: brighter colours and loud noises attract attention - Novelty - Incongruity: something that doesn't seem to make sense within the context - Emotion: people relate to emotional associations - Personal significance: people attend to stimuli that is important to them - Competition between similar tasks |
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What is 'selective attention'? |
Giving priority to one stimuli and ignoring others. |
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What is 'divided attention'? |
Simultaneously focusing on two or more stimuli at a time (e.g. reading a map and driving) |
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Explain habituation. |
Habituation is when predictable or unchanging stimuli fail to command our attention - attention levels have been adjusted to ignore repetitive stimuli
E.g. a clock ticking, the voice/destination message on the train |
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Explain dishabituation.
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Dishabituation occurs when a change in events or activities causes us to pay attention E.g. a police/ambulance siren, sudden increase in the volume of music, a clap of thunder |
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What differentiates various states of consciousness? |
- Different levels of attention and awareness - Quality/intensity of experiences - Cognitive abilities - Perceptual abilities - Emotional awareness - Self-control - Physiological changes |
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What happens during sleep? |
Naturally occurring body rhythm - heart rate slows down, brainwave patterns alter, blood pressure and body temperature changes. NREM: Brainwaves go from alpha (first 1-5 min), theta to approx. 50% delta (where the sleeper would wake disorientated) REM: Characterized by frequent eye movements and is associated with dreaming and suppression of muscle and brainwave patterns. Brainwave activities can even mirror that experienced when fully awake. |
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What happens while daydreaming? |
Singer (1975) found that almost everyone has daydreams - fantasies where people are awake Attention shifts from external stimuli to internal ones |
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What happens during meditation? |
A key concept is focusing on only one thing (i.e. breathing) Breathing and heart rate slow, muscle tension and blood pressure reduce, pain is felt less. |
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What happens during hypnosis? |
Entering a sleep-like state of complete relaxation which is often used in therapy to access deep thoughts and memories. |
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Which physiological responses indicate altered states of consciousness? |
Electrical activity of the brain - measured by EEG (differs from usual fast, small waves while experiencing 'normal' consciousness) Heart rate - slows during sleep, slows with slower breathing, raised by stimulants Body temperature - drops by about a degree during sleep, alcohol dilates the blood vessels near the skin causing the drinker to feel warmer, fever increases body temperature |
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What is meant by the term 'perceptual expectancy'? |
A bias or readiness to respond to an event or activity because of expectations or preconceptions - can lead you to perceive what you expect to. |
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How do distortions of visual perception and illusions occur? |
Psychological illusions: Afterimages following bright lights or contingent perceptual aftereffect - causes a physiological imbalance while processing the visual information Cognitive illusions: Caused by unconscious inferences and interactions to do with our assumptions about the world, types include: - Ambiguous - Distorting/geometrical - Paradox - Fictions |
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What is memory? |
Taking in, organizing, storing and retrieving information. |
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Explain the findings of Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) in relation to the multi-store model of memory? |
- Information from the environment first enters the sensory memory - where it is held for a short time (e.g. visual memory = less than a second) - If the information is processed in a particular way, it moves onto the short-term memory (STM) - the processing of this information often requires long-term memory (LTM) - If it is again processed in a certain way it will move onto the long-term memory - It is assumed that information that doesn't leave the SM or STM is 'lost' (whether LTM can be lost is a matter of uncertainty) |
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What is short-term memory? |
Refers to the information you are aware of, can sometimes be called working memory, which means that the thoughts, words and images are available for decision making and problem solving |
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How long does short-term memory last? |
Information is stored for around 30 seconds. |
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What is the capacity of short-term memory? |
Millar (1956) - Proposed that the amount of unrelated material that could be stored in STM was between five and nine pieces Rehearsal enables information to be retained in STM for longer than usual, also used to transfer material to LTM |
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Explain Albert Ellis' approach to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). |
- Suggested a small number of core beliefs underlie most unhelpful emotions and behaviours: self-defeating rules (irrational beliefs)
- E.g. "I shouldn't have to feel discomfort and pain", "I need love and approval from those around me", "I can not allow myself to make mistakes". - Suggested that these cause two types of disturbance: Ego disturbance (perception that ones' self or personal worth is threatened) and discomfort disturbance (unfulfilled demands about the world) Solutions - Activities such as: reading, self-help exercises, experimental activities, journalling, thought-stopping, and intentional reframing - Core focuses are: A-activating event, B-beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, assumptions, C-consequences, feelings, emotions, behaviours, actions - Aims to leave client with better control over their emotions, behaviour and lifestyle |
