Fisher, Cognitive Processes Final, Notes

Front 1

define 'morpheme' and give examples

Back 1

a basic unit of meaning: re-, -ly, -s. giraffe is 1 morpheme, reactivated has 4: re-active-ate-ed, each adding meaning to the word.

Front 2

define 'syntax' and give an example of how it can be used with nonwords

Back 2

the grammatical rules that govern how we organize words into sentences; 'The smirched frazmin mellfully gloxed umpteen nerfs.'

Front 3

describe the difference between knowledge and response bias in decision making.

Back 3

You can make a correct decision because you are knowledgeable and tend to make good decisions (i.e., you discriminate) or because you have a bias to make a particular response, which just so happens to be correct (coincidence)

Front 4

what is the goal of the Signal Detection Theory?

Back 4

to try to single out 2 components: knowledge/skill & response bias

Front 5

what were the examples of response bias vs skill/knowledge given in class? understand these examples. (11/10)

Back 5

-good student/bad student
-football test
-fabric shopping test
-legal reasoning test
-woman has surgery

Front 6

describe signal detection experiment (11/12)

Back 6

-subjects are told they may or may not hear a signal over background noise.
-there are 4 possible answers:Hit, Miss, Correct Rejection, & False Alarm.
-when looking at graph of answers, you can tell if there's a response bias if it is a 'skewed' (not centered) graph.

Front 7

what is a dichotomous decision?

Back 7

there are only 2 options

Front 8

describe criteria in reference to response bias and the Signal Detection Theory(11/12)

Back 8

subjects use criteria (cutoff point) to judge how to answer/decide.
subjects cannot change ability/knowledge, but they can change their criterion. They could change their criterion to avoid 'Misses', but this would be a response bias.
the Signal Detection Theory helps us identify where the criterion is and how much discrimination (ability/skill) vs response bias is going on.

Front 9

using signal detection graph/curve, how do you measure knowledge? (12/10)

Back 9

measure the distance btwn 2 curves, which represent dichotomous answers. if the measure is large, it shows good ability and high discrimination. if the measure is small (or none), it shows laziness & a response bias. a small measure would equal many Misses and False Alarms.

Front 10

what is a 'riskless decision'? what is a 'risky decision'?

Back 10

riskless is when all the possible outcomes are known. risky is when you don't know all the outcomes.

Front 11

how do we use criteria in decision making?

Back 11

when assessing decisions, we make an approximate list of criteria (decision-making factors).
some criteria might carry more weight than others.

Front 12

in decision making, describe compensatory and non-compensatory models.

Back 12

some criteria may score low, some score high. the high scores might compensate for the low. eg: option A has x,y,z factors, but not m,n,o factors. it's possible that x,y,z scores higher & therefore compensate for not having m,n,o.

Front 13

is it possible to make a 'perfect decision'? explain. what is a 'satisfactory decision'

Back 13

no, you would need infinite resources to make a 'perfect' decision. in reality, you must narrow your search/options by focusing on the most important elements. when you eliminate resources to make an efficient decision, you are making a 'satisfactory decision'.

Front 14

what is the difference between how regular people determine risk/value & how casinos/lotteries/insurance companies determine risk/value?

Back 14

'lay' people tend to decide on intuition and are usually inaccurate. they generally undervalue winning and overvalue loosing. they don't consider $ in actual cash value (eg. just as happy w/5 million as 10 million.
casinos, etc hire statisticians who mathematically calculate probabilities of winning/loosing (risk). they consider $ gained or lost in actual cash value.

Front 15

why do people overcalculate the value of playing a game? (lottery)

Back 15

they are thinking anecdotally. the availability of an example (of someone winning the lottery) makes them think that the odds are better than they really are. this is an example of a heuristic.

Front 16

define E.V. how do you calculate it? (11/17)

Back 16

Expected Value Theory allows us to calculate probability of an event & it's costs.
it's found by calculating the outcomes of the probabilities multiplied by the costs.

Front 17

understand the combinations rule with possibilities. (11/17)

Back 17

combinations rule helps to calculate the total number of possibilities.

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Front 18

what is a 'fair bet'? how would you calculate it?

Back 18

probability times bet equals total value of playing game.
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Front 19

you have a 10/1000 chance of having disease X. you take a test that comes out positive, w/an accuracy rate of 90%. what is the probability that you actually have disease X? explain. (11/19)

Back 19

look at chart on 11/19. actual odds are 9/109 =.08. even though test is very accurate, it is likely to be wrong. people tend to think chances are higher b/c they don't consider the base rate (prior odds).

Front 20

what is Bayes Theorem?

Back 20

states that judgments should be influenced by 2 factors: base rate & the likelihood ratio.
probability that a hypothesis is correct.

Front 21

define heuristics.

Back 21

general strategies that typically produce a correct solution.

Front 22

describe the 'Anchor & Adjustment' method of decision making.

Back 22

a person takes a given option as a starting point (anchor) and then adjusts from that point depending on what they know/believe. anchors usually come from an outside source (eg. salesperson).

Front 23

how do base rate considerations affect lineups?

Back 23

police tend not to consider base rates (probability of the 'perp' actually being in the lineup).

Front 24

compare Abstract vs Pictorial views of mental imagery. (analogue vs propositional)

Back 24

Pictorial (analogue) views are similar or identical to the represented item.
Abstract (propositional) views represent the meaning/characteristics of the item. Research shows that they both occur.

Front 25

describe the experiment for levels of processing of pictures. which view of mental imagery does it support?

Back 25

subject is presented w/a picture of a face.they are asked either 'Would you trust this person?' or 'Is this face round?'.
subjects complete a multiple choice recognition test to identify the picture they saw.
Results: subjects remembered better the photos that they processed meaningfully (Abstractly)

Front 26

describe the 'Droodles' experiment. which view of mental imagery does it support?

Back 26

subjects were shown odd, nonsensical pictures (droodles). subjects were then tested on recognition???
subjects were shown more droodles, but with an organizing framework (midget trombone player in a phone booth). tested on recognition???
Results: having an organizing framework facilitated memory (Abstract)

Front 27

describe the 'Geography Teacher' experiment. which view of mental imagery does it support?

Back 27

subjects are shown a picture of a female teacher in a polka dot dress teaching geography.
subjects are then tested on recognition ??? with three photos, 1 which is identical, 1 which shows a female teacher in a red dress teaching math, the last shows a male teacher teaching geography.
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most subjects chose the picture that was semantically similar- geography lesson (Abstract)

Front 28

describe the 'R rotation' experiment. which view of mental imagery does it support? (11/24)

Back 28

subject is shown a picture of an R in one of 8 positions (mirror images).
subject is then asked whether the R is a conventional R.
response time is measured.
Result: it took people longer to answer the farther away from a conventional R the stimulus was. 180 degrees took the longest(Pictorial)

Front 29

define isomorphism

Back 29

when the structures of the mind follow physical laws of nature. (eg. mentally, it takes twice as long to move an object twice the distance)

Front 30

define second-order isomorphism

Back 30

a mental structure is not EXACTLY the same as the item it represents, but is very similar

Front 31

describe the 'Map' experiment. which view of mental imagery does it support? (11/24)

Back 31

subject looks at a map and is asked to look from Florida to Kansas.
subject is then asked to look from Florida to Washington.
Results: it takes longer to look from FL to WA than FL to KS (Pictorial)

Front 32

what is the difference between an abstract and concrete word? give examples.

Back 32

a concrete word has an easy visual representation. an abstract word does not. concrete: mountain, table. abstract: kindness, philosophy.

Front 33

what is the dual coding hypothesis?

Back 33

visual and verbal information are processed differently and along distinct channels with the mind creating separate representations for information processed in each channel. mental images are analogue codes, while the verbal representation of words are propositional codes.

Front 34

when the connecting fibers btwn the right & left hemispheres are severed, left & right brain do not communicate. describe how this affects memory of faces or words shown on each side. why? (11/24)

Back 34

if a picture is to the left, it is only seen by the right brain. the picture is remembered better if it is a face rather than a word.
if a picture is to the right, it is only seen by the left brain. it is remembered better if it is a word rather than a face.
the left brain is (generally) better w/language while the right brain is better w/faces.

Front 35

what is plasticity? give an example.

Back 35

the ability of the brain (or parts of the brain) to take over the function of damaged areas. if the left hemisphere is damaged, the right hemisphere will take over some of the language work originally done by the left brain.

Front 36

compare how music is processed by a novice vs an expert. explain (11/24)

Back 36

music is sequential and is more likely to be processed by the right brain in a novice.
an expert (composer) sees music as patterns/logic/mathematical, therefore it will be processed by the left brain.

Front 37

which experiments are evidence of facilitation or interference when it comes to Abstract and Pictorial imagery?

Back 37

'electronic serenade' is evidence of pictorial information facilitating abstraction.
'droodles' is evidence of abstract info facilitating pictorial processing.
'Stroop Test' is evidence of pictorial info interfering w/abstract info.

Front 38

how does expectation affect the mental representations we use (abstract vs pictorial)?

Back 38

if you expect to recognize a diagram, you would probably use pictorial/analog; however, if you need to interpret the diagram, you would use verbal/abstract. If you expect to have to use sensory qualities, you would use analog. If you expect to use meaningful qualities, you would use abstract images.

Front 39

describe strategies and limitations when it comes to information processing. give examples of each (11/26)

Back 39

if we could process everything perfectly, we would not need strategies in order to divide attention. There are limitations in terms of how much information we can process. the digit span test is an example of limitations. heuristics are examples of strategies (eg. availability)

Front 40

understand the difference btwn, and use of, data-driven processes and concept-driven processes.

Back 40

Sometimes relying fully on data driven processes causes us to miss data and make errors; therefore, we also use conceptually driven processes. We don’t remember everything that happens and our memory is partially reliant on these conceptually driven processes, so we use general knowledge (heuristics) to make inferences about events.

Front 41

what is a schema & how is it affected by the patterns of someones' behavior?

Back 41

a schema is a type of heuristics which allows us to predict what will happen in a new situation (going to a new restaurant). it is a set of general rules that typically occur. people who don't have behavior patterns have poor schemas.

Front 42

how do schemes (set of rules) play into decision making?

Back 42

Sometimes we use others’ knowledge (scheme) and adjust our decision based on our own experiences.
When a schema is unreliable or unused, we cease to rely upon it.

Front 43

what are the benefits and drawbacks of spoken language vs written language?

Back 43

With spoken language, there are cues (tone of voice, body language, eye contact) that help us interpret information, but we cannot go back to missed info. pauses & speed are helpful to the listener.
W/written language, it is possible to go back to forgotten (missed) information, but we might miss some meaning intended by the writer (that would have been easy to get if spoken).

Front 44

what is the nature of the grammatical rules we know? how does this affect a child's learning language?

Back 44

Many rules are implicit (know but can’t formally state). children learn and use these complex rules early, before learning simpler mathematical functions.

Front 45

discuss phonemes pertaining to specific languages. how are infants affected?

Back 45

sounds (phonemes) can be specific to certain languages & the speaker of one language may not pick up on the sounds of another language. infants can initially distinguish btwn sounds, but lose this ability as they're only exposed to a specific set of phonemes.

Front 46

what is the behaviorists view of language processing?

Back 46

there is simply a stimulus and then a response. an individual learns that a certain sound refers to a certain meaning.

Front 47

how do we know the behaviorists view of language processing is inaccurate?

Back 47

by the behaviorist view, 'Dinner is ready' would simply mean 'dinner is done' -nothing about 'come to the table'. but, people process the meaning, not simply the words. this is also seen in telling/understanding jokes.

Front 48

compare surface structures vs deep structures.

Back 48

surface structures are the actual words that are spoken or written in a sentence. deep structures are the abstract meaning of sentences. sentences can have identical surface structures and different deep structures, or visa versa.

Front 49

define psycholinguistics

Back 49

the study of how people use language

Front 50

how do negations and restrictions affect spoken language?

Back 50

negations can be misworded when spoken, 'I don't think you should' (doesn't make sense to say what you don't think).
restrictions can be misplaced, 'I only went to the movies' (only should go after went).
speakers tend to unload their negations and restrictions at the beginning to unburden their working memory.

Front 51

compare active and passive voice in sentences. how do active, passive, and negation affect comprehension?

Back 51

active is the essence of the sentence: Mary kissed John.
passive uses extra words that don't add extra info, just for style: John was kissed by Mary.
passive and negation make comprehension more difficult for the listener/reader.

Front 52

how does changing the function of words affect language production (speech or writing)?(12/3)

Back 52

changing the function (eg. verb to noun) forces you to add extra words that don't add meaning. 'The singing of the song was poor'; the verb 'sing' becomes the noun 'singing' & forces you to include 'The' & 'of'.

Front 53

what is the psychological reality/evidence of the Chomsky's deep structure- surface structure theory?

Back 53

1.Transitional error probability.
2.Click migration studies.
3.Parsing- word target. [parse= to analyze the grammatical structure of a sentence; to
describe the grammatical role of a word]

Front 54

describe the 'transitional error' experiment in relation to deep structure- surface structure theory. (12/5)

Back 54

subjects learn a sentence and are later tested on recall.
Results: if subjects make a mistake in recall, they will likely make them between the major segments (transitions) of the sentence. shows that people subconsciously break down surface structures into 'noun phrases' & 'verb phrases'.

Front 55

describe 'click migration' experiment in relation to deep structure- surface structure theory.

Back 55

subjects hear a sentence and are told they will hear clicks during the sentence.
subjects are asked where in the sentence they heard the click.
Results: subjects are more likely to hear clicks at the boundaries of major units (noun phrase- verb phrase), even when the clicks actually interrupted these units. shows that people break down surface structures into 'noun phrases' & 'verb phrases'.

Front 56

describe 'parsing- word target' experiment in relation to deep structure- surface structure theory.

Back 56

subject hears a sentence in one ear and a list of random words in the other ear (non-attended message), listening for a target from the word list.
subject is asked if & when during the sentence they heard the target word.
Results: subject is more likely to hear the word if it’s between major units of the sentence, and will more likely miss it if it interrupts a major unit. shows that people break down surface structures into 'noun phrases' & 'verb phrases'.