Psych 240 Exam 1

Front 1

introspectionism

Back 1

look inside and think about your thoughts

titchner counted his sensations

aren't aware of processes, just end product

Front 2

behaviorism

Back 2

emphasis on what can be observed=stimuli, responses, reinforcements/rewards, rats in mazes

ignore the mind cause its unobservable

pavlov's dogs, bf skinner

cant limit science to the observable

Front 3

cognitivism

Back 3

infer whats going on in the box

mind is like a computer, input comes in through sensory organs, is stored in memory devices, and is processed using cognitive processes

Front 4

reaction time methods

Back 4

cognitivism

figuring out whats going on in the black box

Front 5

donders mental chronometry

Back 5

cognitivism

the study of the time course of mental processes

Front 6

information processing

Back 6

donders mental chronometry

each stage receives info from previous stage, transforms it and sends it to next stage

Front 7

simple detection task

Back 7

cognitivism

perceive stimulus and execute response

Front 8

choice task

Back 8

cognitivsm

multiple stimuli and you have to decide a response. need detection and decision

Front 9

subtractive method

Back 9

cognitivism. donders

collect reaction times for simple detection tasks and choice/decision tasks

Front 10

problems with subtractive method

Back 10

1. assumption of pure insertion (all stages stay same when new one is added)

2. assumption of additivity (duration of all stages yield together the reaction time) stages might operate in parallel, you can decide the response before you've really detected the stimulus

3. assumes you know the stages

Front 11

donder's contributions

Back 11

1. idea that you can measure mental processes

2. choice reaction time procedure

Front 12

fundamental methodological technique in science

Back 12

eliminating alternative explanations

Front 13

huppert and piercy

Back 13

amnesics and controls

problem in encoding
both groups scored 80%

Front 14

perception

Back 14

means by which info acquired from the environment is transformed via sense organs into experiences of objects, events, sounds, tastes

Front 15

stages in perception

Back 15

1. distal stimulus
2. proximal stimulus
3. perception

Front 16

lack of correspondence

Back 16

when percept doesn't correspond to distal stimulus (optical illusions)

Front 17

paradoxical correspondence

Back 17

when proximal stimulus doesn't correspond to distal stimulus (but percept does)

moving objects, moving eyes

Front 18

perceptual constancy

Back 18

our perception of an object's features remain constant even when viewpoint (and proximal stimulus) change

1. distance
2. light
3. angle

Front 19

theoretical approaches to perception

Back 19

direct perception
constructivist theory

Front 20

direct perception theory

Back 20

environment provides all necessary cues, brains are pre-wired to pick up the clues, stimulus information is unambiguous

Front 21

constructivist theory

Back 21

perception uses data from from world and prior knowledge and expectations. sensory information is ambiguous

ex- cubes, dalmation

Front 22

bottom-up processing

Back 22

processing driven by external stimulus rather than internal knowledge

Front 23

top-down processing

Back 23

processing driven by knowledge and expectation (bottom-up and top-down)

Front 24

depth perception

Back 24

distal stimulus is 3D, proximal stimulus is 2D, but perception is 3D

paradoxical correspondence

we exploit environment cues to recover depth

Front 25

depth cues

Back 25

1. linear perspective
2. shape
3. relative size
4. interposition
5. shadows
6. retinal disparity
7. accomodation
8. convergence

Front 26

order of visual system front to back

Back 26

ganglion- bipolar- photoreceptor layer

Front 27

rods

Back 27

photoreceptor

detect brightness

Front 28

cones

Back 28

concentrated in fovea

blue, green, red

Front 29

potential

Back 29

difference in charge inside vs. outside of axon

Front 30

neural firing!

threshold

Back 30

potential must get over a threshold level for neuron to fire (generate an action potential)

Front 31

neural firing!

all-or-none

Back 31

action potential always has same strength

either fires or doesnt

Front 32

neural firing!

propagation

Back 32

once past threshold, active process (ion pumping) propagates action potential down axon

Front 33

neural firing!

refractory period

Back 33

short period after firing before neuron can fire again

Front 34

electrochemical neurotransmission

Back 34

1. involved electrical action potential within cells
2. involves chemical neurotransmitter between cells

Front 35

summation

Back 35

if combined effects at all synapses take potential across axon above thereshold, then neuron will fire an action potential

Front 36

center surround organization

Back 36

ganglion cells

functions-
1. point detection
2. edge detection
3. light-on-dark or dark-on-light

Front 37

lateral geniculate

Back 37

magnocellular and parvocellular

Front 38

magnocellular

Back 38

transient response
large receptive field
movement/location

Front 39

parvocellular

Back 39

sustained response
small receptive field
patterns/color/form

Front 40

occipital visual cortex!

simple cortical cells

Back 40

bars of light
specific orientation
specific retinal position

Front 41

occipital visual cortex!

complex cortical cells

Back 41

edges, movement

Front 42

occipital visual cortex!

hypercomplex cells

Back 42

very specific shapes
corners
gaps

Front 43

edge detection

Back 43

edges in images correspond to edges in real-life objects, offer depth cues, all parts of 3D objects to be identified

Front 44

dorsal

Back 44

(fin) "where" pathway

Front 45

ventral

Back 45

(belly) "what" pathway

Front 46

positron emission tomography

Back 46

mental activity, neural activity, blood flow, more radioactive tracer, more positrons emitted

Front 47

PET study?

Back 47

kohler study- spatial vs object processing

spatial (where) task- activate occipital and parietal regions, area 39

object (what task) activate occipital and temporal regions, area 37

Front 48

population coding

Back 48

no grandmother cell

need patterns of activation across a population of cells to recognize objects

Front 49

bottom-up pattern recognition theories?

Back 49

1. template theories
2. feature theories
3. structural description theories

Front 50

template theory

Back 50

perceptual representation matches memory represenation

puzzle piece

Front 51

problem with template theory?

Back 51

1. transformation
2. obstructed objects

Front 52

feature theories

Back 52

visual system decomposes scenes into primitive features

Front 53

evidence for feature theory

Back 53

1. physiology-
2. stabilized retinal images
3. visual search

Front 54

evidence for feature theory

physiology?

Back 54

receptive field of simple cells in the visual cortex. certain orientations make cell fire. certain inhibit cell from firing

Front 55

evidence for feature theory

stabilized retinal images

Back 55

stare at one point and photoreceptors tire out and disappear feature by feature. eyes shake to move retinal image and use different photoreceptors

Front 56

evidence for feature theory

visual search

Back 56

trying to find a target amongst distracters that are all similar in features is hard

Front 57

pandemonium model

Back 57

feature theory

image demon- receive input
feature demon
cognitive demon
decision demon

Front 58

problems with feature theory

Back 58

doesnt tell spatial relationship between them

different arrangements of same features produces different objects

Front 59

structural description theory?

Back 59

recognition-by-components theory- basic shapes serve as features of object recognition (geons)

arranged in a particular structural description, which allows recognition

Front 60

rbc- non-accidental properties

Back 60

properties that are not an accident of your viewpoint. a straight line and an edge are straight no matter what. property is guaranteed to be there

Front 61

matching process for rbc theory

Back 61

1. detect elementary features, edge
2. find non-accidental properties
3. determine component geons
4. match to memory

Front 62

evidence for structural description theory

Back 62

1. partial or degraded objects- deleting non-accidental properties is hard to identify object. when you obscure accidental is easier

2. object complexity- more complex easier to recognize

3. unsual orientations- when you obscure non-accidental properties is difficult

Front 63

problems for structural description theory

Back 63

1. similar objects- geons of hillary and madonna are same

2. brain evidence no compelling when viewing geons

3. top-down effects- context effects

Front 64

rbc theory is good for

Back 64

1. transformations
2. relationships between features
3. explaining how we make sense of nonesense objects

Front 65

top-down processing

Back 65

processing that originates in higher cognition and proceeds downward toward sensation

Front 66

bottom-up processing

Back 66

processing that originates in sensation and proceeds upward toward higher cognition

Front 67

types of top-down processing

Back 67

1. expectation/bias (signal detection matrix)
2. context effects
3. higher levels of analysis that affect lower ones

Front 68

expectation/bias

Back 68

your own expectations/biases can affect the way you perceive something

Front 69

signal detection

Back 69

expectation/bias in top-down

detecting some "signal" in the presence of noise/distraction

Front 70

sensitivity

Back 70

in signal detection, top-down processing

how easy/difficult it is to discriminate signal from noise

Front 71

bias

Back 71

in signal detection, top-down processing

your bias/tendency to say "yes" vs. "no" is determined by expectations of payoffs

Front 72

signal detection matrix

Back 72

hit-correct identification
miss-missed detection
correct rejection-knew nothing was there
false alarm-is no signal but you say is

Front 73

accuracy in signal detection matrix

Back 73

accuracy- % of hits + % of correct rejections

depends on:
-proportion of trials with signal present/not present
-bias
-sensitivity

Front 74

context

Back 74

when perception of an object is affected by its context/environment

Front 75

types of context effects

Back 75

top-down processing

1. subjective contours
2. letter recognition
3. objects out of context

Front 76

subjective contours

Back 76

context effect

perceive triangles even when they aren't there.

Front 77

letter recognition

Back 77

context effect

perceive letters from shapes based on context "I3"

Front 78

objects out of context

Back 78

context

performance is worse when identifying objects out of context

Front 79

higher levels of analysis that affect lower ones

Back 79

1. word superiority effect
2. interactive activation model

Front 80

word superiority effect

Back 80

top-down processing

easier to identify letters when they are part of a word

better with pronounceable words

higher-level (words) affects lower-level (letters)

Front 81

interactive activation model

Back 81

visual input- feature level- letter level- word level

bottom up- features excite or inhibit letters
bottom up- letters excite or inhibit words
top down- words inhibit or excite letters
net result- words inhibit or excite letters

Front 82

explanation of word superiority effect

Back 82

WORD: D gets both top-down and bottom-up activation
LETTER D: only gets bottom-up activation

misperceive typos in words

Front 83

interactive activation in brain

Back 83

dorsal and ventral streams have both bottom-up and top-down processing which----> interactive activation between levels

Front 84

types of attention

Back 84

1. focused attention- provide 2 or more inputs and see how well people concentrate on one and ignore the other
2. divided attention- provide 2 or more inputs and see how well people can concentrate on more than one

Front 85

example of focused attention

Back 85

stroops task

Front 86

example of divided attention

Back 86

combat-cockpit
talking on cell while driving

Front 87

dichotic listening and shadowing

Back 87

listening to 2 messages, one in each ear and repeating one of the messages.

people are good at shadowing

Front 88

basis for selection in auditory attention during dichotic listening

Back 88

1. location
2. intensity and pitch
3. meaning (bad)

Front 89

early filtering model

Back 89

auditory attention

a filter between detection and recognition that blocks out one channel and lets the other go through

only attending info reaches the recognition stage where meaning is assigned

Front 90

problems with early filtering model

Back 90

1. some unconscious processing- galvanic skin response
2. notice your own name
3. bilinguals notice message is same in both languages

Front 91

attenuation model

Back 91

auditory attention

processing of unattended message attenuated at earlier stage than processing of attended message

dampens down information from unattended channel between detection and recognition

highly relevant info gets through

Front 92

late filter model

Back 92

filter after recognition

only attended stuff reaches conscious awareness

Front 93

visual attention

Back 93

1. eye movements- ignored info is outside field of vision or in peripheral vision
2. covert shifts of attention- can also focus attention without shifting gaze

Front 94

posner experiment

Back 94

covert shifts of attention in visual attention

cost and benefit attention task
spotlight or zoom-lens model where attention is like a spotlight that you move around in visual space

invalid trials worse than neutral trials

Front 95

feature-integration theory

Back 95

visual attention

rapid parallel process in which all features in the stimulus are registered at once. doesnt depend on attention

Front 96

parallel search

Back 96

can be distinguished from the background by a unitary feature

dont need attention; it pops out

independent of number of distracters and is automatic

Front 97

serial search

Back 97

search for a conjunction of features
there is no single feature that will allow you to discriminate from the background

requires attentional glue. depends on number of distracters. is controlled

Front 98

visuospatial neglect

Back 98

damage to right parietal lobe

neglect to process contralateral (left) sides of displays

Front 99

clinical tests of visuospatial neglect

Back 99

1. spontaneous writing
2. reading one side of page
3. line-bisection task
4. copying on right side of page
5. line cancellation task

Front 100

neglect theory 1

Back 100

disengage deficit: difficulty disengaging attention from right side of space

maybe disengagement mechanism is located on right hemisphere?

Front 101

neglect theory 2

Back 101

unbalanced competition: hemispheres inhibit each other, when processing stimuli on one side it inhibits processing on other side

damage to one hemisphere causes other hemisphere to dominate

Front 102

visual memory is poor when....

Back 102

1. unimportant and unattended details
2. when stimuli lack meaning
3. when foils are similar

Front 103

richer code?

Back 103

no. memory for line drawing and detailed drawing of flower is the same.

better than memory for verbal description

Front 104

dual-hypothesis code

Back 104

encode both nonverbally/visual code and a verbal code

abstract words can't be encoded non-verbally
concrete words are remembered better

Front 105

memory is bad for unattended details because...

Back 105

is no verbal code

Front 106

memory is bad when foils are similar because...

Back 106

visual code doesn't help

Front 107

cognitive maps

Back 107

counteracted behaviorism

mice create visual map of space around them, don't just memorize the turns

humans accurate in pointing to cities, able to keep track of things when orientation changes

good distance estimation

Front 108

weaknesses of cognitive maps

Back 108

we use heuristics

Front 109

heuristics

Back 109

1. symmetry
2. right-angle bias (rectilinearization)
3. rotation
4. alignment
5. relative-position
6. subjective clusters
7. observer perspective

Front 110

depictive code

Back 110

globe corresponds to actual globe being imagined.

can use in discrete imaginable situations. not abstract.

Front 111

evidence for depictive code

Back 111

1. image scanning
2. interference effects
3. zooming
4. transforming/mental rotation

Front 112

kosslyn image scanning

Back 112

if imagery is like perception then you have to scan the image in your mind

if we had propositional code distance wouldnt matter

Front 113

demand characteristics for image scanning

Back 113

subjects think you want them to act a certain way or expect a certain set of results

get similar results when they were told that scanning shorter distances would take longer

Front 114

interference effects

Back 114

perform 2 tasks simultaneously, and if they interfere then they must be using the same mental system

isn't interference, for example, when you use visual and auditory imagery at the same time
is interference, for example, when you use auditory imagery and detection at the same time

Front 115

transforming/mental rotation

Back 115

takes longer to rotate something in your head
catch people in intermediate rotations

Front 116

propositional code

Back 116

spatial relationships don't correspond to actual relationships
has a truth value. mental representation more powerful than a picture

Front 117

how imagery isn't like perception

Back 117

1. perception has metric qualities that imagery doesnt- judgments not as accurate with imagery
2. part-whole relationships- parallelogram in star of david
3. ambiguous figures- better in perception

Front 118

compromise theory (kosslyn)

Back 118

1. basic code is propositional (long-term storage)
2. propositional code used to create depictive images
3. depictive images can be scanned, zoomed, etc.

Front 119

images are ordered sequentially

Back 119

draw letters in grids. draw image in mind like you do on paper. more segments, the longer it takes

Front 120

motor cortex in imagery?

Back 120

damaged patients have difficulty generating images

use to mentally draw image