Term
| Who was associated with Structuralism? (2 people) |
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Definition
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Term
| When/Where was Structuralism dominant? |
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Definition
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Term
| What central question did Structuralism try to address? |
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Definition
| "What are the basic elements of consciousness?" |
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Term
| What methods were used in Structuralism? |
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Definition
| Analytic introspection (believed in mentalistic and reductionistic) |
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Term
| What aspects of Structuralism are still used in modern Cognitive Psychology? |
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Definition
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Term
| Who was associated with Functionalism? (2 people) |
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Definition
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Term
| When/Where was Functionalism dominant? |
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Definition
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Term
| What central question did Functionalism try to address? |
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Definition
| "What is the function of consciousness?" |
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Term
| What methods were used in Functionalism? |
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Definition
| Analytic introspection, techniques like reaction time, self-report (subjective types of measures). Mentalistic, focus on processes, applications. |
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Term
| What aspects of Functionalism are still used in modern Cognitive Psychology? |
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Definition
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Term
| Who was associated with Verbal Learning? (1 person) |
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Definition
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Term
| When/Where was Verbal Learning dominant? |
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Definition
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Term
| What central question did Verbal Learning try to address? |
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Definition
| "How is new knowledge acquired?" |
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Term
| What methods were used in Verbal Learning? |
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Definition
| Empirical, objective, learning and forgetting curves |
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Term
| What aspects of Verbal Learning are still used in modern Cognitive Psychology? |
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Definition
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Term
| Who was associated with Behaviorism? (2 people) |
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Definition
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Term
| When was Behaviorism dominant? |
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Definition
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Term
| What central question did Behaviorism try to address? |
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Definition
| "Behavior is important, not conscious experience." |
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Term
| What methods were used in Behaviorism? |
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Definition
| objective, anti-mentalistic, animal studies, classical conditioning (watson), operant conditioning (skinner). |
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Term
| What aspects of Behaviorism are still used in modern Cognitive Psychology? |
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Definition
| Empirical measures (objective) |
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Term
| Who was associated with Information Theory? (1 person) |
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Definition
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Term
| When/Where was Information Theory dominant? |
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Definition
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Term
| What central question did Information Theory try to address? |
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Definition
| "How much information can be processed in a given time?" |
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Term
| What methods were used in Information Theory? |
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Definition
| Performance, capacity limitations |
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Term
| What aspects of Information Theory are still used in modern Cognitive Psychology? |
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Definition
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Term
| How was Human Engineering developed? (no actual person associated) |
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Definition
| Developed from technological advances and needs in WWII. |
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Term
| When was Human Engineering dominant? |
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Definition
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Term
| What central question did Human Engineering try to address? |
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Definition
| "How to interact with technology" |
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Term
| What methods were used in Human Engineering? |
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Definition
| Performance, perception, decision-making |
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Term
| What aspects of Human Engineering are still used in modern Cognitive Psychology? |
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Definition
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Term
| Who was associated with Linguistics? (1 person) |
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Definition
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Term
| When was Linguistics dominant? |
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Definition
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Term
| What central question did Linguistics try to address? |
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Definition
| "Reinforcement cannot account for the complexity of language, important elements of language are innate." |
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Term
| How did work in ethology and linguistics raise problems for Behaviorism? |
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Definition
| Behaviorism couldn't account for some elements of animal behavior, such as fixed-action patterns and the critical period, which the ethologists discovered. They also couldn't account for human behavior in all cases, such as language being generative and that results of animal experiments didn't extend to human linguistic abilities, which linguistics discovered. |
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Term
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Definition
| Cognition is the collection of mental processes used in perceiving, thinking, remembering. |
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Term
| What are 2 assumptions of the Cognitive Approach? |
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Definition
1) asks which are the important questions to ask. we must pick a starting point, because we can't study everything at once. starting point is biased.
2) concerns beliefs about the mind (can be very general and vague) that affect how everyone thinks about vision, attention or memory before knowing anything about them. |
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Term
| Give an example (and explain the logic) of how response time (RT) can be used to measure mental processes. |
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Definition
| example: what is 39+53? what is 2+2? with the first question, there is a calculation involved and we can describe the process. in the second question, it's "automatic" and we can't describe the process of how we got to that answer. |
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Term
| Give an example (and explain the logic) of how accuracy (% correct) can be used to measure mental processes. |
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Definition
| example: show random letters for split second and then write down what they are. show the letters unscrambled, it spells elephant. this demonstrates that prior knowledge affects perception. perception for a real word will be better than for string of letters. (ELEPHANTS VS. PNLAESHITE.) |
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Term
| What is the basic idea behind (and the results) of the study looking at testing during lectures? |
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Definition
| To show that testing during lecture helps improve attention and recall later. The study provides an example of how to use accuracy (% material recalled) to study mental processes. |
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Term
| Define "bottom-up" and give an example. |
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Definition
| Processing based on incoming sensory information (data driven). The body/sensory information responds first, then emotion, then thought/brain/beliefs. An example is the reading test (scrambled letters). bottom-up processes is simply just SEEING the letters. |
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Term
| Define "top-down" processes and give an example. |
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Definition
| Processing based on prior knowledge, expectations. The brain/thought/beliefs responds first, then emotion, then the body/sensory information. An example is the reading test (scrambled letters.) Top-down is recognizing a word with scrambled letters. |
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Term
| Why is the distinction between bottom-up and top-down processes important? |
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Definition
| the distinction is important because we are prone to think of our visual experience as based on the information coming in from the real world, and we don't think as much about how our knowledge and expectations shape those early perceptual processes. |
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Term
| What are the 4 cortical areas (lobes) of the brain and what functions are they associated with? |
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Definition
| Frontal-motor, Parietal-somatosensory, Temporal-auditory, and Occipital-visual. |
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Term
| What does ERP measure and why is this valuable? |
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Definition
| each electrode summarizes millions of neurons, each of which is always slightly active. the researcher then administers tens or hundreds of trials that are similar to one another, then averages all EEG waves from these trials. This is valuable because the technique could tell you very precisely at what time you start to see a difference in successful and unsuccessful recall. |
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Term
| What do fMRI's measure and why is this valuable? |
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Definition
| calculates the ratio of oxygenated to deoxygenated blood in a local area in the brain to determine where the brain is damaged. this is valuable because it shows when the brain is more active, and where. |
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Term
| what do PET's do and why is this valuable? |
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Definition
| measures brain activity indirectly (similar to fMRI's). PET measures blood flow with small amounts of radioactive tracer that decays rapidly. The injected racer emits subatomic particles that collide with nearby electrons. all this is happening while the patient's head is in a large circle shaped device that determines where the gamma rays originated. more gamma rays mean more radioactive isotope, which means more blood, which means more neural activity. |
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Term
| what is brain stimulation and why is it important? |
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Definition
| Penfield stimulated different parts of the brain when he went in for brain surgery, and he was able to localize cognitive functions that way, showing where language, motor, etc. are controlled in the cortex. |
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Term
| Give an example of how an fMRI has helped us understand cognition better. |
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Definition
| fMRI is a brain imaging technique that evaluates activity in different parts of the brain by measuring blood flow (and specifically oxygen consumption). This technique can help clarify brain-behavior relationships by localizing some mental processes. For example, we can see whether one hemisphere is more active than another when performing arithmetic. Another example is that the right hemisphere may be more active than the left when a meaningless letter string is viewed, but the reverse occurs when a real word is viewed. |
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Term
| What are "split-brain" patients? |
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Definition
| When the corpus callosum connecting the two hemispheres of the brain is severed to some degree. (usually surgically cut). |
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Term
| What have we learned from studying "split-brain" patients? |
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Definition
The hemispheres can be tested separately. We learned that a word/image to left hemisphere can be named or drawn with right hand, and word/image to right hemisphere can be drawn with left hand (but not named).
Language is lateralized in the left hemisphere, where facial recognition is lateralized in the right hemisphere.
Left hemisphere will see objects, right hemisphere faces. |
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Term
| Define descriptive research, and give an example. |
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Definition
| one simply describes some behavior as one finds it in the world. three commonly used methods are descriptive: naturalistic observation, case studies, and self-report. The U.S. census is an example of this. |
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Term
| Define relational research, and give an example. |
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Definition
| examines two or more aspects of the world with an eye to seeing whether they are related. An example would be measuring memory ability and age, then determine whether one is related to the other. |
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Term
| Define experimental research, and give an example. |
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Definition
| Measure whether two things are related, but change one factor and observe the effect of the change on the other. An example would be manipulating people's self esteem by administering a fake personality test and giving false feedback, telling half that they are charismatic and the other half they aren't, then administering some cognitive task for them to perform. |
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Term
| Define independent variable. |
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Definition
| the variable that the researcher manipulates. |
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Term
| Define dependent variable. |
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Definition
| the variable the researcher measures. |
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Term
| Define ecological validity. |
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Definition
| The extent to which an experiment represents "the real world". High ecological validity means that the conditions of the experiment seem similar to the ones that would be encountered in everyday life. |
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Term
| Explain how visual information is processed, including what the visual receptors do, how information is sent to the brain, and what happens in the brain. |
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Definition
| Signals from the environment are taken into the nervous system through receptors (rods and cones); connected to bipolar, ganglion cells at retina. Information is constantly coded and transformed as it moves through the visual system. In the brain, there are feature detectors in cortex: simple, complex, hyper-complex, and grandmother cells. |
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Term
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Definition
| 120 million rods in each eye, found in peripheral, light sensitive, good for night vision and motion detection (not good for color). |
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Term
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Definition
| 6 million cones in each eye, found in central (fovea), color sensitive, good for high acuity and color. |
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Term
| What are the 4 types of feature detectors? |
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Definition
| Simple, complex, hyper-complex, grandmother cells. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| respond optimally to lines of specific orientation or moving in a specific direction. |
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Term
| Describe hyper-complex cells |
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Definition
| length and movement; angle and movement |
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Term
| Describe Grandmother cells |
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Definition
| specific stimulus, e.g. hand, face. |
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Term
| What are the three types of indeterminacies? |
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Definition
| shape and orientation; light source, reflectance, and shadow; size and distance. |
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Term
| Define shape and orientation indeterminacy. |
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Definition
| Refers to the fact that shape and orientation are indeterminate from a two-dimensional projection (e.g. a coin that looks like an ellipse if it is turned). |
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Term
| Define light source, reflectance, and shadow indeterminacy. |
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Definition
| Refers to the fact that the amount of light hitting the retina from an object depends on the light source, the reflectance of the object, and whether the object is in shadow (e.g. a piece of coal in a bright situation could be brighter than a white object in a dark room). |
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Term
| Define size and distance indeterminacy. |
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Definition
| Refers to the fact that the size of an object on the retina is determined by the actual size of the object and by the distance of the object from the observer (e.g. is the object far and big or close and small). |
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Term
| How are ambiguities resolved with respect to shape? |
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Definition
| shape and orientation are resolved by assuming that objects are not in unusual orientations. shape perception is also influenced by the frame of reference in which the object is viewed. |
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Term
| How are ambiguities resolved with respect to brightness? |
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Definition
| light source, reflectance, and shadow are resolved by making assumptions about the color of objects and typical ambient lighting. |
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Term
| How are ambiguities resolved with respect to size? |
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Definition
| size and distance are usually resolved by using cues to distance in the environment (e.g., an object that partially covers another must be closer to the observer). |
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Term
| What are the pictorial cues used in distant perception? |
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Definition
| cues to distance that can be used in two-dimensional pictures, like occlusion, texture gradient, linear perspective, relative height, and atmospheric perspective. |
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Term
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Definition
| a pictorial cue used in distant perception; an object that is in front of another will partly overlap it. |
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Term
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Definition
| a pictorial cue used in distant perception; a field is assumed to have a uniform texture gradient, so if more detail is visible in part of the field, it is assumed to be closer. |
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Term
| define linear perspective |
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Definition
| a pictorial cue used in distant perception; parallel lines converge in the distance, so the closer they are to converging, the farther away the location. |
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Term
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Definition
| a pictorial cue used in distant perception; objects that are higher in the picture plane are farther away. |
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Term
| define atmospheric perspective |
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Definition
| a pictorial cue used in distant perception; objects in the distance look less distinct because they are viewed through more dust and water particles in the air that scatter light. |
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Term
| what is the difference between viewer-centered and object-centered representations? |
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Definition
| viewer centered is a mental representation of what an object looks like relative to the observer, where object centered is a mental representation of what an object looks like relative to the object itself. the representation can support recognition of the object when it is viewed from any perspective. |
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Term
| What is the important elements of the Template Model? |
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Definition
| it is a bottom up model. the whole form must be stored; exact match required. what we have stored in our memory is a specific representation. |
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Term
| what is evidence to support the template model? |
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Definition
| good for machine reading because the symbols/etc. don't change and the machine has every pattern possible memorized. |
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Term
| what are the limitations of the template model? |
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Definition
| not effective way to recognize patterns. you'd have to have a template for all forms of an object. it's not flexible! |
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Term
| what are the important elements of the feature analysis model? |
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Definition
| bottom-up model. the list of parts of particular things are stored instead of whole forms; visual stimulus is broken down into basic parts. (letter T= vertical line and horizontal line). more economical in memory. Hierarchical: taking simple features and build to more complex shape. |
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Term
| what is evidence to support the feature analysis model? |
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Definition
| letters made up of vertical, horizontal lines. |
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Term
| what are the limitations of the feature analysis model? |
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Definition
| it doesn't take into acount context effects, in which it's easier to identify a letter in a word than by itself. would probably predict a letter would be indentified more slowly/less accurately when presented in a word, because feature of other letters might interfere. |
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Term
| what are the important elements of the analysis by synthesis model? |
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Definition
| it is top down PLUS bottom-up model. context, prior knowledge, expectations affect perception. generate hypothesis about what you think you're seeing, sample data to confirm, if doesn't confirm generate new hypothesis and resample. |
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Term
| what is evidence to support the analysis by synthesis model? |
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Definition
| context effects -- word superiority, warren phoneme restoration, visual and auditory sentence context effects. |
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Term
| what are the important elements of the Biederman's Recognition by Components model? |
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Definition
| came up with the idea that objects can be broken down into more basic components, called geons. edges are important, they remain invariant in relation to one another. mental representations (in memory) made up of geons. |
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Term
| what are limitations of the biederman's recognition by components model? |
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Definition
| the model is all bottom-up, evidence of context effects that are not accounted for, overall shape of an object can be perceived as quickly as components. some evidence for template-like representations (multiple-view theory) |
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Term
| what is the evidence that supports the biederman's recognition by components model? |
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Definition
| basic for computer models, data supporting importance of junctions, object-centered; can recognize from different angles. |
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Term
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Definition
| patients typically suffer damage to the border of the temporal and occipital lobes, and have difficulty recognizing objects sing vision but can do so using other senses. |
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Term
| what is apperceptive agnosia? |
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Definition
| impaired but OK vision, intact cognitive function, can identify objects from touch/sound, unable to copy letters/simple figures, unable to describe the outlines of simple objects. |
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Term
| what is associate agnosia? |
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Definition
| (object agnosia): perceptual processes good, good ability to copy "percept stripped of meaning", disconnection between perception and meaning stored in memory. |
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Term
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Definition
| face recognition deficit: dissociated from object agnosia: can have one and not the other, similar to object agnosia in other abilities, specialized cells that respond to faces, usually bilateral occipital-temporal lesions, but special role of right hemisphere. |
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Term
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Definition
| blending of senses: a stimulus from one sensory system produces an experience in another sensory modality. |
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Term
| what are some examples of synesthesia? |
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Definition
| notes of music stimulate experience of color, black numbers seen in color, tactile experience produces tastes. |
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Term
| what are characteristics of an automatic process? |
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Definition
| unintentional; cannot be prevented (stroop test). requires no limited capacity resources, allows us to do several things at once. is unconscious and rapid. |
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Term
| what is an example of an automatic process? |
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Definition
| walking, skiing, driving. |
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Term
| what are characteristics of an attentional process? |
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Definition
| occurs with intention, requires mental resources, effort. is conscious, open to awareness, is relatively slow. |
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Term
| what is an example of an attentional process? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the Stroop task and why is it important? |
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Definition
| there is word reading, ink color naming, then ink color naming of color words (interference condition). this is important because it gives insight to the internal retrieval processes through the reaction time and accuracy of the word name/ink color. |
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Term
| Define selective attention and why is it important? |
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Definition
| the ability to focus on one task and ignore distractions. this is important because it can improve performance, uses concentration and effort, and the ability to focus on some information and ignore others is a very helpful trait to have. |
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Term
| what are the characteristics of the early selection model? |
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Definition
| only information you're paying attention to is processed for meaning, not anything else. everything else is "blocked". also called the filter model. |
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Term
| what are the limitations of the early selection model? |
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Definition
| people tend to hear own name, even if it's in the unattended channel. if the stories switch ears, shadowing tends to follow content of story. |
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Term
| what are characteristics of the attenuation model? |
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Definition
| selection is based on physical features, only the selected information becomes conscious, but instead of the unselected info being blocked, it's just "weakened". |
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Term
| what are the limitations of the attenuation model? |
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Definition
| like the early selection model, highly meaningful information may be processed even if it's in the "weakened" channel. |
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Term
| what are characteristics of the late selection model? |
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Definition
| all info is processed for meaning, but only some information is selected for consciousness. this is based on the task you have to do. |
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Term
| what are the limitations of the late selection model? |
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Definition
| even if you're not aware of it, you're still processing all the information which can use a lot more effort than the other models (but not as much as the multi-mode model). |
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Term
| what are characteristics of the multi-mode model? |
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Definition
| the selection process/filter can be moved around depending on what you need to do. you can have a filter on early processing, do memory analysis of all information coming in then choosing what you want. |
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Term
| what are the limitations of the multi-mode model? |
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Definition
| difficult if trying to process everything then selecting what you want. requires a lot more effort and attentional resources. |
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Term
| describe the dual task and explain why it's used to study attention. |
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Definition
| Doing two things at once. it's used to study attention because it measures if there is interference in performance. |
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Term
| describe dichotic listening and explain why it's used to study attention. |
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Definition
| where you can select and repeat one message while each earpiece is playing a different message. it's used to study attention by studying how much the unattended material is processed. |
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Term
| describe the shadowing tasks and why it's used to study attention. |
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Definition
| in a dichotic listening task, you listen to material on headphones and each earpiece plays a different message. you are to attend to just one message and repeating the attended message outloud as you hear it. it's used to see if you can use dual tasking with different senses (talking while listening) |
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Term
|
Definition
| the ability to split one's attention between more than one task. |
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Term
|
Definition
| the ability to maintain attention to a task in which stimuli appear infrequently. |
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Term
| what is the difference between a simple feature search and conjunction search with respect to Treisman's feature integration theory? |
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Definition
| in the simple feature, or disjunctive, the target differs from the distractors on just one feature, as in the two top arrays. in a conjunctive, more than one feature differentiates the target from the distractors. (from the "find the letter" task.) |
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Term
| how does the difference between a simple feature search and conjunction search support treisman's idea that attention serves as the "glue" that hold features together? |
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Definition
| basic features (color, line orientation, location) cause a simple search, while conjunctions of features (color and shape) require attention. |
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Term
| what is the difference between serial and parallel processing? |
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Definition
| serial is item-by-item searching, while parallel is scanning whole scene and find what you're looking for; don't need attention. |
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Term
| how can you prove attention is object-based, not location based? |
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Definition
| attention is NEEDED to join features together into objects, if there is no attention, conjunction errors may occur. |
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Term
| why do cell phone conversations affect driving performance? |
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Definition
| Being in a dual-task affects visual processing. |
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Term
| what evidence do they provide for inattention blindness in distracted driving? |
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Definition
| They showed a surprise memory test at the end and asked the participant what objects were not shown during their drive while on the phone. the results showed that many of the participants could not correctly identify the wrong visual. |
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