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Cognitive Psychology summary (IBP)
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1Chapter 1: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology = the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the
mind
Cognitive Psychology: Studying the mind
What is the Mind?
→ many different definitions
1. The mind creates and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory,
emotions, language, deciding, thinking and reasoning. → focus on mental abilities
→ included different types of cognitions (= The mental processes involved in perception,
attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning and decision making)
2. The mind is a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to
achieve our goals. → focus on functioning and survival
→ indicates how the mind operates
⇒ not incompatible
Studying the mind: Early work in cognitive psychology
1868: Donders’ pioneering experiment: How long does it take to make a decision?
→ reaction time: two measures of reaction → simple reaction time and choice reaction time →
use 2 lights + ask participants to push button on side of light
→ reaction time in choice task was longer than in simple (expectation confirmed) → decision making
takes up to 100 ms (conclusion from exp)
→ esp important because: first cog psych exp + illustrates mental responses cannot be measured
directly but must be inferred from behavior
1879: Wundt’s psychology laboratory: Structuralism and analytic introspection
→ structuralism → look at sensations → “periodic table of mind”
→ thought to achieve this by analytic introspection
→ exp: ask participants to describe their experience of hearing five-note chord playing on the piano →
idea of Wundt was abandoned in 1900s
BUT seen as leading to empiricist approach
1885: Ebbinghaus’ memory experiment: what is the time course of forgetting?
→ interested in determining the nature of memory and forgetting
→ use quantitative method → self-experiment: repeated lists of 13 nonsense syllables to himself one
at time at constant rate → determine how long it took to remember list completely right → then time to
relearn list
→ found out that the more reps the quicker → find out about how much info was retained to after
particular delay → savings (savings = original time to learn list - time to re-learn the list after the
delay)
→ reduction of savings provided measure of forgetting → the smaller the savings the more forgetting
→ savings curve
1890: William James’ Principles of Psychology
→ observation not only based on the results of experiments but also on
observations about the operation of own mind
→ accuracy of James’ observations
, 2
Abandoning the study of the mind
1913: Watson founds behaviorism
→ unsatisfied by analytic introspection because 1. very variable results; 2. results difficult to verify
→ behaviorism → points of this approach: 1. reject introspection as a method; 2. observable
behavior not consciousness is the main topic of the study → go beyond data drawn from
unobservable mental events
→ classical conditioning (originally pavlov)
1938: Skinner’s operant conditioning
→ operant conditioning → skinner box
→ behavior can be understood by studying stimulus-response relationships → big influence
→ can be applied in many fields → eventually led to rebirth of study of mind
Problem: cannot explain why people stms react to different aspects of same stimulus → controlling
stimulus is often defined after the fact
🔍
1948: Tolmans’ cognitive map
→ rat in maze: after exploring once the rat quickly knows where to find the food no matter where it
was put → rat develops a cognitive map of the maze
→ difficult to accept back them because it violated the rules of behaviorism
1959: Chomsky’s critical review of Skinner’s language development theory
→ Skinners ide: children learn language through operant conditioning
→ Chomsky: children say many sentences that have never been rewarded → language acquisition
because of determination not because of reinforcement BUT inborn bio program holds across culture
Rebirth of the study of the mind
from 1950 on: cognitive revolution → shift from behaviorism to understanding operations of the
mind → could be established with new computer techniques
Introduction of the digital computer
1954 first computers available for general public → uni labs
Flow diagrams for computers
→ interests in info processing of computers → →
develop information-processing approach → processing of mind as a number of steps that are
occuring → first studies: focus on attention of some info when other info is present
Flow diagrams for the mind: Information processing stages
→ Cherry (1953): diagnostic listening experiment: subjects → 2 auditory messages (one per ear)
→ told to listen to one(attended message) and one (unattended message) → results: hear sounds of
unattended message but not recall info
→ Donald Broabent →
Artificial intelligence and information theory
→ John McCarthy: first to define artificial intelligence
→ 1956: first conference dedicated to this topic → called programm logic theorist
→ important paper: George Miller: show how many items can simultaneously be held in
mind/immediate memory → 7 +- 2 → to achieve further processing, memory processes must actively
recode info → new way of thinking
The cognitive “revolution” took a while
→ Neisser’s Cognitive Psychology
emphasized the info-processing approach to
studying the mind
→ Cognitive Psychology accepts the
existence of unobserved processes that can
be scientifically studied (contrast behaviorism)
, 3
Modern research in cognitive psychology
Role of models in cognitive psychology
Models are repr. of structures or processes to visualize/explain them
→ structural models: repr structures in the brain that are involved in specific functions
→ process models: illustrate how process operates
Structural models
= representations of a physical structure → mimic the appearance of an object, 3D models
→ purpose: simplify, and rep structures involved in specific functions
Process models
= represent the processes that are involved in cog
mechanisms (often flow charts) e.g.:
→ makes complicated processes easier to understand
Resource models
= closely related with process models but focus on
mental effort or resources that these processes
require
→ important thought: processes often share resources or
efforts put in
→ multiple resource model → predicting performance
differences in multitasking settings
→ 3 dimensions: 1. processing dimensions (perceptions
and cognition); 2. codes of processing (verbal/linguistic
activities); 3. modalities (auditory, visual)
Benefits for science, society and you!
→ still a lot to discover but knowledge now can already be
used to solve problems in society (thought attention filter
mechanisms, etc.)
→ important to understand factors influencing our decision-making processes, knowing about facial
recognition
→ suggestion between working memory, executive functioning and intelligence → increase interest in
developing and testing brain training etc.
→ understanding how learning and memory work can provide us with important info to improve
education
Cognitive strategies in enhancing learning
→ Spacing and interleaving: repeated presentation and reviewing of info facilitates learning +
improved memory → spacing = distribution over time → interleaving = intermixing topics within a
particular domain improves performance (need to discriminate more)
→ Retrieval-based learning: reading and then recalling several times is the most efficient way to learn,
need to retrieve things from our memory to actively learn them
→ note taking and elaboration: taking notes by hand leads to superior performance in contrast to
computer taken notes → also lead to better elaboration than just transcribing lectures
Something to consider
Applying Donders’ subtraction methods
use PET scans to examine which brain areas become active while participants are involved in a
semantic association task
→ subtraction method can be used to isolate specific
cognitive processes
→ illustrated how cog psychology tries to understand
the operations of the mind by identifying and analyzing
different processes or stages of information processing
→ find out how they relate to each other
, 4
Chapter 2: Cognitive Neuropsychology
cognitive neuropsychology = study of physiological basis of cognition
Why study cognitive neuropsychology?
level of analysis = idea that a topic can be studied in number of different ways → each approach =
own dimension of understanding
→ fully understand any phenomenon needs to be studied at different levels (whole brain structure,
structures w/i the brain, chemicals in brain, etc.)
→ here: describe structures + add methods that have been used to study cog neuropsych
Neurons: Communication and representation
neurons: create & transmit info about experience and knowledge
Microstructure of the brain: Neurons
→ long: mystery of brain structure; little indication of build-up
→ early 19th cent: beginning of discovery of neural pathways → anatomists: add stain to color brain
tissue → see nerve net (believed to be conduct signal uninterruptedly)
- reason to describe it like that: no small details visible - no conclusion about discontinuity between the
nerves → seem to be continuous
→ C. Gogli: new staining technique: only few cells stained: see overview and discontinuity; used
techn on newborn animals → prevent too high density of cells → clearly see discontinuity →
deduction of the neuron doctrine (= idea that individual cells transmit signals in the NS + cells are
not continuous (more cell properties than nerve net))
cell body = metabolic center of neuron (contains mech to keep
cell alive)
dendrites (= branch out from cell body to receive signals from
other neurons
axon = nerve fiber = long processes that transmit signals to
other neurons
→ other important conclusion by Gogli:
1. small gap btw dendrite and cell body of other neuron =
synapse
2. neurons are not connected indiscriminately to other
neurons but only special neurons → form neural circuits
3. receptors exist: pick up info from the environment (neurons in eye, ear etc.)
!! notion: idea that cells communicate with other neurons = huge
improvement/ very important !!
Signals that travel in neurons
→ E. Adrian 1920s: record electrical signals from sgl sensory neurons
→ Nobel Prize
→ resting potential = approx. -70 mVolt → as long as no signal
stays the same
→ stimulation by nerve impulse (trans down axon) → charge goes
up to +40 mVolt compared to outside (when past the electrode - back
to -70 mVolt) = action potential
Method of recording neurons
- use microelectrodes (then: made of glass; now made of
metal)
- 2 electrodes: recording electrode (inside the neuron) &
reference electrode (far enough to be not effected by electrode; outside neuron)
- difference btw 2 elect put in computer
- invasive method; usually used in lab animals but also in brain surgery
→ ac pot: abput 1/1000 of a second
→ additionally to rec of single neurons:
, 5
1. no change in height or shape when traveling down axon → electrical trans
2. chemical called neurotransmitter (NT) transmits signal across gap → chemical trans
3. usually does not create a train of signals bc: a. what/how much is transmitted and b.
🔍
what/how much can be received by other cells
⇒ electrical signals rep the intensity of stimulus; : pressure that generates crowded electrical
signals feels like stronger pressure in comparison to stim that create longer but more separate signals
Principle of neural representation
principle of neural representation = everything a person experiences is based not on direct contact
with stimuli but on representations in the person’s NS
→ important approach: understand experience need to be represented in both brain and mind
Representation by neurons
🔍
→ use perception as example here, but can be applied to all cognitions like memory, language and
thinking: : magnitude of experience: related to rate of nerve firing
→ quality across the senses = different experiences associated w/ each sense
→ quality within a particular sense = differences in a sense like sweet, bitter, sour etc.
How to determine the qualities? source and rate but more detail
🔍
Feature detector
: cat present visual stim → determine which specific stim causes specific neurons firing
→ finding: each neuron in visual cortex resp to specific type of stim presented at small area of retina
→ neurons called feature detectors bc respond to specific stim features → different neurons capture
different features → combi make picture a whole
→ simple features. occipital lobe; more complex features/ added stimuli: temporal lobe
Neurons that respond to complex visual stimuli
→ discovery: complex stimuli are followed by reaction in the temporal lobe was by accident (monkey
experiment; neurons started firing after seen shadow of hand on screen)
→ found that this specific neurons respond to finger-like shapes; other neurons found that reps best to
faces but nothing else etc.
Summary: 1. visual cortex neurons - simple stimuli; 2. temporal lobe neurons - complex geometric
stimuli; 3. other temp neurons - faces, hand
⇒ lower level structures send to higher levels structures like temp to combine simple stimuli etc. →
hierarchical processing
Sensory coding → approaches to neural representation of objects
- problem neural repres for senses → problem of sensory coding (sensory code = how neurons
represent various characteristics of the environment)
- specificity coding = idea that an object could be represented by the firing of a specialized neuron
that responds to one object only (=ref to as ‘grandma cells’) → unlikely to be correct approach → too
many different stimuli to look for
- population coding = representation of a particular object by firing of large number of neurons →
combi of neurons makes response to different pattern
- sparse coding = smaller group of neurons is involved → particular object is represented by a
pattern of firing of only a small group of neurons
⇒ memories are also rep by firing of neurons → dif btw rep of perceptions and rep of memories
- perception: firing associated w/ what is happening during the perception occurs
- memory: associated w/ info about past that has been stored in brain → likely to be basic
principle of population and sparse coding
Organization: Neuropsychology
→ basic principle: localization of function = specific functions are served by specific areas of the
brain
→ most cog functions in cerebral cortex = 3mm thick layer covering the brain
→ early evidence for loc of funct comes from neuropsychology
Localization demonstrated by neuropsychology
→ much research been conducted w/ people w/ brain damage
, 6
- Broca: look at patient w/ damage in left frontal lobe
→ Broca’s area: difficulty talking and telegraphic speech → production of language
- Wernicke: patient w/ damage in left temporal lobe
→ Wernicke’s area: fluent speech, but speech has nothing to do with question asked → language
comprehension
- occipital lobe = visual cortex, signals from eyes, back of head
- upper (superior) temporal lobe = auditory cortex, signals from ears
- lower (inferior) temporal lobe = processing of complex visual informations, e.g building faces
- parietal lobe = somatosensory cortex, signals from skin, anterior part of p lobe, responsible for
perception of pressure, touch, or pain
- frontal lobe = signals from all senses, responsible for coordination of the senses + higher cog
functions (problem solving and thinking)
→ damage in inferior temporal lobe (right side) = prosopagnosia = inability to recognize faces → can
tell that it is a face but not whom it belongs to → ? conclude: right inferior temporal lobe recognizes
faces??
→ reach more definite conclusions: number of different patients w/ damage to same area →
demonstrate double dissociation → example prosopagnosia: found out that area is distinctly
responsible for recognizing faces and not other objects
Method: Demonstrating double dissociation:
occurs if damage to one area of brain causes function A to be absent w/ function B being present and
damage in other area when function B is absent but A is present → need to find participants who
satisfy criterion above → also in Broca - Wernicke
Organization: Brain Imaging
- MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) → made possible to create images of structures w/in the living
brain → since 80s standard in detecting tumors and other brain abnormalities
- fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) → determine how various types of cog activate
different brain areas
Brain Imaging evidence for localization of function
most functions determining which brain areas were activated when people observe picture of object
Looking at pictures
→ looking at faces: activate specific area = fusiform face area (FFA) → located in fusiform gyrus on
underside of temporal lobe
→ often fMRI experiments: parahippocampal place area (PPA) → information about spatial layout
important for area → show scenery/pictures of empty and furnished rooms during fMRI
→ other spatial area: extrastriate body area (EBA) → active in pictures of body/body parts (no
faces)
Looking at movies
fMRI study: participants watch 2 hours of movie clips w/ stimuli sim
to environment
→ made list of what is in sceen → compare activity of different
areas w/ what is in scene → conclude w/ stats which characteristic
evoked which response in the brain (e.g. sky present in many
scenes → brain active lot)
⇒ paradox results: 1. results confirm old research that identified
specific brain areas responsible for the perception of specific type
of stimuli 2. new results reveal map that stretches over large area
of cortex → need to consider brain as whole to understand physiological basis of cognition
Distributed representation across the brain
distributed representation = idea that specific cognitive functions activate many areas of the brain
→ complements the location of function idea
→ e.g.: faces are recognized in FFA but not only there → also evokes reaction in other areas
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