PSYC 203 Exam 1 Review

Observing input/output relations from the mind, treating it as a black box, before cognitive psychology was adopted (which aimed to study constructs and functions in the mind)

Behaviorist advocate - children learn language through exposure to language - reinforcement or punishment would then follow

Challenges BF Skinner's view of imitation of language as main method of learning - language acquired by Language Acquisition Device - if child says "We runned around," she couldn't have heard that, so there is deeper workings in play. Speculate on mental phenomena

The father of information theory - representation of information as bits

First automatic electronic computer with which we can draw parallels to the mind: data input, storage, symbolic + algorithmic processing, data ouput

The study of mental structures:*\ and functions:*\ present in intelligent agents, primarily humans

____ "systems"
-Sensory
-Attentional
-Perceptual
-Memory
-Language
-Response

-Computer Analogy - Brain as computer, mind as SW
-Serial vs. Parallel Processing
-Bottom-up vs. top-down processing
-limited cognitive resources
-automatic processes

Encode a face, then use to argue against distractor image

Show one object, then either show another that is same type (congruent) or different type (incongruent.) Congruent leads to faster categorization

Tracks distance between light shines on eye and pupil to determine where person is looking
-Can track regression path in reading text
-Regression path duration

Studying people with brain injury - stroke, concussion/traumatic brain injury, surgery, illness

e.g. Clive Wearing - anterograde and retrograde amnesia - could play the piano but would constantly scratch out thoughts on notepad

Temporal resolution, spatial resolution

Invasively tapping one neuron to see its firing patterns when person/animal exposed to different stimuli.

e.g. cat looking at rotating light bar

Electroencephelogram + Evoked Response potentials

Extracranial placement
Functional - direct measure of neuronal activity
Good temporal resolution
Bad spatial resolution

ERP is averaged reading of all EEG channels.

Electrocorticography - nodes placed directly on the brain (invasive), recording E-field potentials

Magnetoencephalography - measuring produced magnetic fields by brain
Good temporal, spatial resolution
Noninvasive

Like MRI, but better for bone. Structural (non-functional)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (strong magnetic field,) better with soft tissue. Structural.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging - reveals white matter tracts of brain (axons of brain's neurons)

functional MRI - measures blood oxygenation level depedent signal, inferring neuronal acitvity from this. Delayed temporal resolution.

Positron Emission Technology - radioactive tracer injected to which glucose binds, to show brain activity. Delayed temporal resolution.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation - temporaririly lesion the brain with strong magnetic field which can boost or diminish area's main functionality

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation - low electrical current for several minutes to make neurons more or less responsive

Central Nervous System - Brain, Spinal Cord

Camillo Golgi - dyeing technique. Santiago Ramon y Cajal - identified and categorized first neurons

Support cells for neurons (not neurons) - guide development of nervous system, provide neuron scaffolding, makes up myelin sheath

Cell body, Dendrites, axon, myelin sheath, axon terminal

Space between axon terminal of pre-synaptic neuron's axon terminal (transmitting) and post synaptic neuron's dendrites (receiving)

~10k synapses per neuron

Interneurons - Connect Sensory and Motor Neurons
Sensory Neurons - convey sensory information to brain
Motor Neurons - carry signals from spinal cord to muscles to produce movement

General idea of neurons changing their shape when learning

Decrease in neurons that are no longer needed as growing older

Within the neuron - electrical potential signal
Between neurons- chemical signals - movement of chemical signals create temporary potential difference to transport neurotransmitters

Resting potential --> Depolarization (when past threshold) --> Repolarization --> Hyperpolarization

Refractory period: duration after activation potential which new actional potential cannot be initiated

Change downstream neuron's cell membrane - excitatory or inhibitory

knoblike structure at the end of axon that forms synapse, where neurotransmitters are sent

Capsule in which neurotransmitters are stored in cell body before crossing synapse

Receive neurotransmitter (post-synaptic neuron)

Neurotransmitters reabsorbed by terminal buttons of pre-synaptic neuron

Neurotransmitters broken down in synaptic transfer by enzymes

Neurotrasmitters diffuse "drift" away from the synaptic junction (lost)

Neurotransmitters bind to receptors sites on pre-synaptic neuron

wire together

hierarchy of neurons working from the bottom up combining simple features of object (bottom) to forming a full realization of an object (top)

e.g. table recognition

Horizontal/transverse: top down
Coronal: from front to back
Sagittal: from side
Superior: Towards top of brain
Inferior: Bottom of body
Dorsal: Top of the brain
Ventral: abdominal area / bottom of brain
Rostral/Anterior: towards nose / front of brain
Caudal/Posterior: towards back of brain
Medial: middle of the brain when looking from top down view

Joining the 2 hemispheres of the brain, brain's largest piece of white matter

Division of the brain into its 2 hemispheres

Processing something from the visual field (L or R) in the opposite hemisphere of the brain

--> Split brain video - cannot process shown pan, but can draw it

Reticular formation
Pons
Medulla
Cerebellum
Spinal Cord

Superior, inferior colliculus
Tectum
Tegmentum

Cerebral Cortex: outermost layer of brain visible to naked eye

Subcortical structures:
-Thalamus
-Hippocampus
-Pituitary Gland
-Amygdala
-Hypothalamus

Frontal: specialized areas for movement (motor cortex), thinking/planning, memory, & judgement
Parietal: processes information about touch
somatosensory cortex
Temporal: hearing and language
Occipital: visual processing
Insula: sensory experience and emotional valence

Temporal lobe --> auditory sensations
Occipital lobe --> visual sensations
parietal lobe --> primary somatosensory cortex - skin tactile sensations
Each has a "map" of the sensory environment

Precentral Gyrus (frontal lobe) - primary motor cortex - sends info to muscles via spinal cord
Contains map of the body's muscles

No longer recognizing the emotional connection a person had with someone, only recognizing their figure
Damaged amygdala, frontal lobe

Data is correlational, not causal!
Causal - Lesions, TMS

All humans have the same functional architecture

Different parts of the brain do different things; damage to one area of the brain can affect a cognitive function but leave others intact

Spear through the head damaged his frontal lobe --> personality/cognitive control affected

affected hippocampus (forming new memories) and both have severe amnesia

Recruit other brain areas to do a task which would originally be devoted to lesioned area

What occurs when sensory information detected by sensory receptor

body converting physical signals into neural signals sent to CNS

Sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time - need to notice changes in our environment to survive

Interpretation of info received from our senses - how we understand what is being sensed

responsiveness to faint stimuli

minimal intensity needed to just barely detect stimulus

Ability to distinguish 2 very similar stimuli

The change in a stimulus that is just noticeable is a constant proportion of the standard stimulus

e.g. 1 vs. 4 quarters in envelope vs. shoe

Physically unimpaired vision, inability to perceive motion

can only focus on handful of stimuli

In certain situations perception can be error-prone

Changes in environment conditions do not change perceptiopn of an object

Primary lobe for interpreting visual information

Backside of eye containing cones+rods, where light is focused

Color-sensitive, cannot function in low light, near fovea, higher acuity

What they perceive depends on wave
length (color), amplitude (brightness), and number of wavelengths (saturation)

Spread around edges of retina --> periopheral vision, color-blind, lower acuity, sensitive to low light

L, M, S cones

photoreceptors --> bipolar cells (inhibitors) --> ganglion cells (inhibited for edge enhancement)

Edge enhancement by inhibiting ganglion cells (by bipolar cells) where light --> dark transition occurs

e.g. mach bands

Neural firing frequency in visual cortex depends on where stimulus lands of visual field (outside = slowest, in center = fastest)

Where system - dorsal - occipital to posterior parietal, perception of object's location
What system - ventral - occitpital to inferotemporal (what am I looking at?)

(Where: top, what: bottom)

Integrated perception when characteristics of stimuli are processed separately

-both systems share spatial position
-neural synchrony
-attention: binding errors when attention overloaded

Vision is our dominant sense in perception - "bababa" video

Brightness Constancy: correctly perceiving color of objects across different lighting conditions
Size Constancy: correctly perceive the size of an object as the same despite its size on the retina changing
Shape Constancy: correctly perceive the actual shape of an object despite its shape on the retina changing. e.g. door opening when looking at it head-on

Perceptual Constancy illusions: 2 monsters in a tunnel, shepard's tables

Depth perception cues that only depend on what each eye sees by itself
-Lens adjustment (focus)
-Linear perspective (train tracks)
-Texture gradient (desert ground)
-Interposition (fruit medley on table)
-Relative height (field of flowers, involving depth)

Depth perception cues depending on combination of what eyes see
Binocular disparity: difference between each eye's view of the stimulus

nearby objects seem to move faster than further ones (depth)

as a result, pattern of stimulation changes as you move toward or away from an object

Treisman & Gelade 1980 - Basic features procesed in parallel, conjunctions of features take more time (where attention is necessary)

Cons:
-model being oversimplified makes it harder to distinguish between basic vs conjunction stages for complex stimuli
-does not fully account for top-down influences on perception

Wolfe and Horowitz 2004
- create saliency map of features processed in parallel
- conjunction - combine saliency maps to single out item in question
- emphasizes top-down processing (task goals and context) in guiding attention

whole is perceived more than sum of its parts

- Good figure - grouped together perceived as single object
- Similarity - objects tend to be grouped together if similar
- Closure - visually completing connections between objects that are not actually connected
- Proximity - objects grouped together if close together
- Continuation - intersection does not halt flow of objects

sometimes conjunction of features easier to identify than single feature alone
emergent features - arrow and triangle from L and diagonal line - whole easier to distinguish than its parts

e.g. shape info interpreted by moving occipital lobe info to temporal lobe in ventral stream

3 levels of procesing: computational, algorithmic, implementation

-computational: problem to be solved
-algorithmic: how the problem is broken down
-hardware: how this breakdown of the problem is realized in "hardware"

2D primal sketch (retina image features) --> 2.5D image of outline sketch and depth determined by shadows --> 3D realization

match objects to a template we have created in our mind

problem: infinitely many templates would need to be made for all viewpoints as it does not consider constancy

Eleanor Gibson (60s): visual stimuli composed of distinctive features. e.g. curves of letters

Problem: too simple, what about more complex objects and those with similar features?

Recognition of features in "feature receptors" which build bottom-up to complex objects. Like hierarchical neural networks

Feature net model - build up geons from feature detectors --> geon assemblies --> object model. Vertices important vs. midsegments.

Evidence from priming experiments show geon recognition is not hindered when primed with the same object but rotated;
--> priming with image even with its rotated form will boost performance

Objects typically are recognizable from just a few geons

Doesn't specify how smaller details like color and texture are processed (could you tell if a firetruck is what it is without its red color?)

area in the brain used for processing faces
--> but not only for faces! bird experts use it for bird identification, car experts for car identification

Faces are processed holistically - very hard to distinguish people if just shown a part of their face

Difficult to identify modifications to face when it is flipped upside-down

Bottom-up: Edges, occlusions, geons
Top-down: from existing knowledge, expectations, predictions
e.g. memory of similar illusions to image you are looking at

William James + Harold Pashler

James's definition:
1) Suppression of unattended information
2) Selection of some information for enhanced perception / mental operations

you try to attend to only one source of info while ignoring other stimuli

two or more tasks performed at the same time

Controlled - thoughtfully engaged attention
Automatic - spontaneous response attention

Capacity - it requires mental effort - can find its limits in lab experiments

Parietal lobe damage (part of the where stream) - Normal vision, but fail to pay attention to stimuli in one part of the visual field

Unattended channel unconsciously influences given response - late selection

information from the unattended channel can be noticed (e.g. your name being mentioned at a party)

Filtering occurs at sensory analysis - only attended inputs are analyzed (bottleneck theory)

evidence - EEG recordings of attended vs. unattended channels in dichotic listening task - significant difference

All inputs are analyzed, but only attended inputs reach consciousness

evidence - influence from unattended channel in dichotic listening task

Failure to see a prominent stimulus even if staring right at it due to attention focus

E.g. gorilla in background of men passing basketball

Failure to see prominent change in scene as attention is elsewhere

E.g. women's clothes changing while sitting at table
E.g. + sign on screen changing and looking directly at it (but told to focus on dot)

The information that "leaks through" in the unattended channel (e.g. cocktail party instance), while rest is filtered; leaking through info makes it past this filter

Repetition priming - can focus attention quicker on object that has been primed by seeing multiple times
Expectation priming - garners attention to where cue suggests, but can be costly

Limited capacity of attention - if arrow prime is to the left, takes away from "right side detectors"

Attention moves around like a spotlight - can adjust scope of beam, can fragment this beam
--> note can't (effectively) fragment so much as attention is limited cognitive resource

Attention influenced by importance, interests, goals, etc.

Alerting - ready brain for upcoming event
Orienting - shifting attention focus on one thing to another
Executive - focus on certain stimuli while ignoring others (e.g. finish a paper)

Attention shifting to certain features automatically

--> quicker response time at shorter SOAs after peripheral exogeneous cue
--> longer SOA causes inhibition of return (reversed slow response effect)

voluntarily controlled attention

Endogeneous based cueing with arrows (valid or invalid cue.)

Skill of performing mutiple tasks simultaneously - limited capacity limits how well we multitask

As task similarity grows, so does interference between the tasks
(the greater the difference, usually the better retained performance across tasks)

Executive control, "energy supply" and perceptual load
--> Perceptual load: active perception requires energy, we have a "cognitive budget"
--> General mental resource cap

Control one's thoughts, organize one's thoughts, keep goals in mind, shift plans, change strategy

Practiced skills require less mental resources / less frequent use of resources --> decrease in interference between tasks

-Stores 7 +/- 2 items (of different forms)
-lasts 15-30 seconds
-equated to WM in this course
-retrieval easy (when info active)

-Encode data
-Store data
-Retrieve data
--> these stages interact and problems can occur at any stage

-Sensory input briefly lasting after input is gone
-Large capacity for short interval of time
-Unattended information lost:*\

Iconic, Echoic Sensory Memory:*\

rehearsal needed to hold items in short-term memory

Final stage of memory; thoughtful attention needed, no capacity limits, retrieval can be slow and unsuccessful

Retrograde amnesia - trouble remembering memories before incident
Anterograde amnesia - inability to form new long-term memories (hippocampus)

Some retorgrade amnesia, and also anterograde amnesia; could not remember what symbols matched with numbers once sheet was removed, but could match symbols with numbers when in front of her (STM intact)

Damaged supramarginal gyrus - intact long-term memory, but STM so impaired that cannot repeat 2 words in order right after they are told to her

Central Executive - directs info to Visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop with priority function (deciding what info to attend to,) problem solving capability
Visuospatial sketchpad - Store visual + spatial information about objects - e.g. used in mental rotation task
Phonological loop - Spoken and written material, articulated rehearsal to keep info active - used for learning new vocabulary

Since WM has a "priority" storing method, there is shared cost even if even split between VS sketchpad and phonological loop

Primacy effect - remembered as effortfully encoded into LTM
Recency effect - most recent remembered as in STM

Learning in absence of intention to learn (LTM)

Deliberate learning, with knowledge that memory will be tested later

Repetition, reciting

Consider the material in terms of personal relevance, existing knowledge + context, and building on that

e.g. building on concepts in mathematics from existing math knowledge

Superficial - e.g. are words presented in capital or lowercase letters

Thinking about meaning of the material - e.g. are the words animals you could keep as a pet?

More connections made leads to better retrieval - link with more existing concepts in the mind to effectively connect it to them

best LTM processing is deep + elaborate

more connections made in the mind by the elaborate nature of the sentence

-Mnemonics (e.g. PEMDAS)
-Visualization strategies (e.g. method of loci (memory palace))

Recreating context of the learning episode leads to better performance when testing that knowledge (e.g. seat you sit in for class)

LTM - Knowledge that you can verbally communicate

LTM - Things you show you know by doing
-> Skills and habits, priming, conditioning

Shows his skill stored in his implicit memory for drawing the star as he gets better over trials, but does not remember having drawn the stars before (damaged MTL so cannot create new explicit/declarative memories,) so is surprised when performing better

Explicit LTM - Memory for events

Explicit LTM - meaning of words, facts, vocabulary

Explicit LTM - information about yourself

How we know Episodic and Semantic memory is separate; could remember facts about brother's wedding, but not his experience of it

Implicit LTM - performance of actions and skills, automatically, unconsciously retrieved

Implicit LTM - exposure to one stimulus effects your response to a following stimulus unconsciously

e.g. unconsciously humming a song after hearing its first few notes

Implicit LTM - unconscious associations you make with stimuli

e.g. Pavlov's dogs, thumbtack in hand experiment

Female with impaired explicit memory (from anterograde amnesia) pricked with thumbtack when shaking man's hand. Next time when meeting him, does not remember him (explicit memory,) but is still afraid of him because of conditioning stored in implicit memory

One patient with amygdala damage and the other with hippocampal damage - when shown a blue light and then loud sound, amygdala damage patient has no fear response but remembers the event (explicit memory,) and hippocampus patient had fearful reaction but no recollection of experiment

Changes in strength of snynaptic connections, increase in number of synapses - high frequency train of impulses makes for long-lasting increase in response of post-synaptic cell

-more neurotransmitter release
-more postsynaptic receptors, ion channels
-more surface area in synapse (dendrite or terminal button)

McClelland (2000) - individual items not "stored in memory," rather pattern of activity in network makes up a memory
--> needs to inhibit some connections and excite others in order to recall memories

Nodes of information - episodic, semantic; associative links bind together

NOT representative of actual underlying neural structure

"What is it?" Requires memory search

"Is this it?" More dependent on feeling of familiarity, without need for source memory

Remembering typically associated with source information, knowing typically only accompanied by feelings of familiarity

Memories take time to "consolidate into" LTM - hippocampus crucial role in consolidation of explicit memories

What happens after learning event may interfere with to-be-remembered items

e.g. remembering old phone number after getting new one

High levels of brain activity, reprocessing recent events, especially emotional. For this reason also called "paradoxical sleep"

Amygdala triggers increased response in hippocampus --> better LTM consolidation

Salient or important, jarring event, that people feel they have especially long-lasting memories of

-> Despite this confidence, can include errors

Lapse in attention causes memory failure - no effortful encoding - remember attention is limited

Memory fades over time - not used, so connections weaken

We have memory, but temporarily can't access it; tip-of-the-tongue feeling

Incorrectly assign the source of a memory - a concerning negative factor in eyewitness testimony

Our memory can be changed via misleading info from outside sources

-Wording of questions, talking about memories w/ others there too

e.g. conflictng stories w/ people in same scenario

Intrusive recollection of events we wish we could forget
e.g. PTSD, traumatic memories, flashbulb memories

Memories fade over time

new learning may disrupt older memories - confused connections in the memory network

Memory intact, but cannot be accessed

Retention interval - time between initial learning and subsequent retrieval

Forgetting curve models memory as an exponential decrease over time.

In LTM network theory, reflects general weaking connections between nodes.

Members of rugby team asked to recall teams but as more games played, less accuracy, overwriting of old information links with new ones

Memory's error-proneness, suggestibility

suggestibility example - asking about how fast cars were going paired with varying action verbs for colliding.
result: when people later asked about collision, those who were given more significant words reported false details of crash like broken glass

Used to frame a situation in a context that may be false to exploit memory's suggestibility

Police can:

-make promises they can't keep
-lie about evidence
-invite suspects to "imagine" how the crime might have happened
-convey certain emotions in situations they like/dislike when interrogating someone

young people more prone to falling for these techniques.

-Based off Freud's proposal of repression of childhood traumatic events later causing mental health problems
--> clients of therapists would remember traumatic memories, but were they real (was the therapist actually guiding the patient into fabricating these memories?)

Loftus and Pickrell '95 - participants reading stories about childhood, one of them fake, contributed by relatives, claim to "remember" details of fake story. Sins of distortion: misattribution, suggestibility, bias

People tend to trust memory that they confidently express

But confidence can be driven by feedback from authority figures, situation they are in such as testifying (stressful, so confident in their claim, yet could be wrong)