This is a summary of the manual literature of the course Theoretical Psychology. There is a complete timeline at the end of the document and important words are highlighted.
Lecture 1 – From phrenology to scientific theory
Pre-scientific approaches
Aristotle (383-322 BC):
- Associationism: mental processes proceed via associations. Assumed that
the mind lacks content at birth, being a tabula rasa, and is filled by
perception. Maintained that the senses provide modality-specific sensory
images that come together in a supra-model; common sense. Here are the
associations formed.
- Law of contiguity: if two things repeatedly occur together, then the
occurrence of one thing remember us of the other
Enlightenment (late 17th century – end 18 th century): embraced reason and
science modern scientific psychology
- John Locke: mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) at birth and all knowledge is
obtained via the senses called empiricism
- Blank slate assumption: mind is empty at birth
- Sensoristic assumption: our senses provide the elementary mental
images
- Atomistic assumption: elementary sensory images are the building
blocks for the construction of more complex mental contents
- Associative assumption: this construction is done by association
- René Descartes: Innate mental abilities and knowledge is called nativism
Donald Hebb: when neurons fire simultaneously, synaptic changes occur. Did
research to the hippocampus of rabbits. Neural mechanism involved: long-term
potentiation
David Rumelhart & James McClelland: connectionism (modern associationism):
formalizes associative networks and processes through mathematical equations
in computer programs
Aristotle and Locke assumed that mental functions are domain-general
(horizontal faculties): operate in the same way in different content domains.
Frans-Joseph Gall:(mind consists of domain-specific functions only (vertical
faculties). Every domain-specific function has a specific location in the brain, the
organ of the mind: localizationism. All functions were assumed to be bilaterally
localized. When a function is well developed, it will occupy more space in the
brain this leads to bumps on the skull. Phrenology: how well a function is
developed can be assessed by determining the size of the bump.
Pseudo-scientific approaches: not based on solid empirical evidence, difficult to
test empirically
- Physiognomy: belief that a person’s character is reflected by features of
the face
- Mesmerism: belief that magnets may cure mental disorders
- Spiritualism: belief that particular persons (mediums): may establish
contact with the spirits of the dead
- Mental healing: belief that mental illnesses may be cured by establishing
correct thinking
,Neuroanatomy, time, and psychophysics
Jean Pierre Flourens: contested the proposal by Gall which led to the controversy
over localization versus holism. He made localized lesions to the brains of living
pigeons and rabbits.
- Lesions to the brain stem loss of vital functions
- Lesions to the cerebellum loss of motor coordination
- Lesions to the cerebral cortex impaired higher-level functions
(perception & memory). He found no specific regions for perception and
memory, so he concluded that their functions are distributed
across the whole cerebral cortex (holism)
Paul Broca: ability to articulate speech is localized to a specific area
of the human brain; posterior part of the left inferior frontal gyrus
Broca’s area. This supported the assumption that higher mental
functions are localized. Stores motor images of words
Carl Wernicke: damage to the posterior part of the left superior
temporal gyrus Wernicke’s area. Damage resulted in speech
comprehension problems. Stores auditory imaged of words.
- Aphasia: language impairment after brain damage
- Broca’s aphasia: difficulty producing speech and repeating heard
words, comprehension is spared
- Wernicke’s aphasia: difficulty understanding speech and repeating
heard words, speech production is spared
- Damage to fibre connection between Wernicke’s area and Broca’s
area: repetition of heard speech is impaired, but production and
comprehension are spared.
The view that concepts consist only of perceptual features (e.g., how an apple
looks)
and motor features (e.g., how an apple is grasped) is nowadays called embodied
cognition.
Johannes Müller: maintained that processing proceeds ‘infinitely fast’ in
physiological time. Due to this, speed of neve conduction cannot be measured.
Hermann von Helmholtz: embedded a motor muscle of a nerve of a dead frog in
an electrical circuity that was connected to a clock. Measured the speed of a
nerve conduction to be about thirty metres per second. Concluded: conduction of
the nerve impulse takes time and can be measured.
Frans Donders: invented a subtraction method to measure the speed of mental
processing. He used three types of tasks of increasing complexity
- Task A required a simple reaction: pressing a button or making a vocal
response
- Mental stages involved: perception and action
- Task B required a choice reaction: pressing one of several buttons or
making one of several vocal responses
- Mental stages involved: perception, recognition, choice, and action
- Task C required a go/no-go reaction: pressing a button or making a vocal
response when one of several stimuli was presented
, - Mental staged involved: perception, recognition, and action
- Task C – Task A = duration of recognition
- Task B – Task C = duration of choice
Conclusion: mental processes take time, which can be measured. Mental
chronometry: measuring the time required by mental operations to obtain
insights into the mind.
Saul Sternberg: additive factors method: aimed to identify particular mental
stages of processing. Example: clarity of the stimulus (low or high) should
influence the duration of the perception stage, whereas the number of responses
should influence the duration of the choice stage.
Ernst Weber: experimental work and findings on the sensation of touch.
Conclusion about just noticeable difference: Weber’s Law: “in observing the
disparity between things that are compared, we perceive not the difference
between the things, but the ratio of this difference to the magnitude of
things compared” ∆R/R = k
- R: Reiz: stimulus (indicates first weight)
- ∆R: extra weight that is needed for the second weight so that the
difference can be perceived
- K: a constant
Gustav Fechner: Fechner’s Law: logarithmic relation
between the stimulus intensity and the sensation
S = k log R
- S = sensation
- Difference between 30g and 60g versus 60g
and 90g is physically the same (a = b) but
psychologically different (a > b)
Modularity of the mind
Jerry Fodor: combined aspects of the historical theories
of Gall and Flourens. According to him, the human mind
consists of localized modules and holistic central
systems.
- Modules, domain-specific (vertical faculties)
- Central systems, domain-general (horizontal
faculties)
Input and output modules may be linked with each other. E.g., someone can
repeat heard speech without understanding the words (Wernicke’s area to
Brocka’s area)
For the vertical faculties, Fodor states nine characteristics.
Characteristics Example (perception of faces)
1. Domain specific Processes faces but no other visual
objects
2. Their operation is mandatory Triggered into operation by any
stimulus that satisfies the basis
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