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Definition
| Performed one the first cognitive psychology experiments in 1868, measuring reaction time (both simple reaction time and choice reaction time, which involved choosing between two buttons) |
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Definition
| Did memory experiment-- taught himself nonsense syllables, recorded the number of trials necessary to learn and relearn them. Calculated "savings" and plotted curve, which started steep and then flat-lined. |
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Definition
Founded first scientific psychology lab in 1879. Believed in structuralism, that experience is made up of sensations. Used analytic introspection.
Proposed that images were an element of consciousness. Images accompany thought, so studying images is a way of studying thinking. |
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Definition
| Wrote first psychology textbook, "Principles of Psychology" in 1890 |
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| Founded behaviorism, studied the observable only, nothing mental. Performed little Albert experiments, which showed classical conditioning-- pairing stimuli with responses. |
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Definition
| Introduced operant conditioning, focusing on how reward and punishment affect behavior. |
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| Rat in maze experiment, showed existence of latent learning and cognitive maps. |
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Definition
| Disproved Skinner's theory that language is learned through operant conditioning. Combined with Tolman's experiments, this made a strong argument against behaviorism, which fell. |
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Definition
| believes shifted from behaviorism to other beliefs, such as the information processing approach. |
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| Information Processing approach |
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Definition
| emerged as computers were invented. This approach traces the sequence of mental operations involved in cognition. |
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Definition
| Input --> Filter --> Detector --> Memory |
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| Experiments were dichotic listening experiments-- participants only attended to information played in one specific ear. This proved Broadbent's model in that participants could tune out one ear. However, it disproved his model in that people could hear their name, even if they weren't attending to it. |
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Definition
| Organized Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, coined the term "Artificial Intelligence" to mean, making a machine behave in ways that would be called intelligent if a human were so behaving. |
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Definition
| Created a program called the LOGIC THEORIST which could create proofs and use "human-like" reasoning to solve problems. |
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Definition
| Wrote paper "Magical Number 7, plus or minus 2" and presented it at the MIT Symposium on Information Theory |
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Definition
| Published the first Cog Psych textbook, called "Cognitive Psychology" |
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Definition
| The building blocks and transmission lines of the nervous system. The brain has 180 billion of these. |
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Definition
| Early anatomists stained brain tissue and found a network they called a "nerve net." This network was believed to be continuous and uninterrupted. |
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Definition
| Came up with a new method os staining such that individual cells could be seen. |
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| Used Golgi stain with tissue from brains of newborn animals because they have a smaller cell density. Figured out NEURON DOCTRINE: the idea that individual cells transmit signals in the nervous system, and that these cells are not continuous with other cells. |
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Definition
| Individual cells transmit signals in the nervous system, and these cells are not continuous with other cells. |
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Definition
| Specialized neurons that pick up information from the environment. |
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Definition
| Recorded electrical signals from single sensory neurons. Used microelectrodes. Compared recording electrode (near neuron) to reference electrode (outside tissue). Recorded action potentials. |
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Definition
| Chemicals that are released from the end of the axon, making it possible for the signal to be transmitted across the synaptic gap. |
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Definition
| Electrical signals transmitted through neuron-- signal strength does not decrease. Intensity of stimulus is represented by rate of firing, not height of action potential. |
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Definition
| Neurons service different cognitive functions and transmit signals to different areas of the brain. |
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Definition
| Inability to recognize faces. Often caused by damage to Fusiform Face Area in lower right temporal lobe. |
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| Parahippocampal Place Area |
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Definition
| Activated by pictures representing indoor and outdoor scenes. Spatial layout is important for this area. |
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Definition
| Activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies. But not faces. |
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Term
| Positron Emission Topography (PET) |
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Definition
Scans measure blood flow by giving patients a small dose of radioactive tracer (usually O15 in H2O or glucose) and measuring the tracer. Can be used to measure blood flow and metabolism.
Spatial resolution: 1cm
Temporal resolution: .5 minute |
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Definition
| In brain scans, comparing results to a control state. |
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Term
| Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) |
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Definition
Measures blood flow by looking at the magnetic field that is created by the ferrous molecules in hemoglobin/blood. Deoxygenated blood has more magnetic hemoglobin, and is found in areas of high brain activity.
Measures metabolic processing correlated with neural firing.
Spatial Resolution: 3mm
Temporal resolution: 2seconds |
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Definition
Damage to Broca's area in frontal lobe. Difficulty expressing oneself but no difficulty understanding others, except with connecting words like "was" or "by." Issues with form.
Relatively preserved comprehension, grammatically impoverished productions. Can't assemble words. |
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Definition
Damage to Wernicke's area in temporal lobe. Speech is fluent and grammatically correct, but incoherent. Unable to understand speech and writing. Issues with meaning.
Word salad, poor comprehension, fluent speech. Categorized by lack of knowledge of condition. |
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Term
| Event Related Potentials (ERPs) / Electroencephalography |
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Definition
| ERPs are recorded thru Electroencephalography: electrodes placed on a person's scalp. Electrons pick up signals from groups of neurons. Fast, as compared to fMRI, but difficult to pinpoint where responses originate in brain. Useful for distinguishing between form and meaning-- waves that occur at different delays that can be linked to function in language. |
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Definition
Specific functions are processed by many different areas in the brain.
Lots of independent entities that work together for a common goal. e.g. leaf cutting ants. |
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Definition
Respond to features that make up object. Hubbel and Wiesel did research on these. Respond best to simple shapes with specific orientations
e..g. with kittens raised in horizontal/vertical environments. |
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Definition
| The way our patterns of neural firing represent stimuli in environment. |
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Definition
| The representation of a specific stimulus, such as a person's face, by the firing of very specifically tuned neurons that are specialized to respond to just that face. Proposed by Konorski and Lettvin. |
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Definition
| Neuron that responds only to a specific stimulus, like one's grandmother. |
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Definition
| Neuron coding of a specific, e.g. face, is represented by groups of neurons firing in patterns. |
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Definition
| Experiences resulting from stimulation of senses. Change based to information and involve process similar to reasoning or problem solving. How we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. |
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Definition
| Begins with stimulation of receptors. Uses feature detectors |
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Definition
| Proposed recognition by components |
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Term
| Recognition by components |
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Definition
| We perceive objects by perceiving elementary features called geons. Geons are building blocks to create objects. We can perceive and object if we can only see a few geons. |
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Term
| Principle of Componential Recovery |
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Definition
| If we can recover/see an object's geons, we can recognize that object. |
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Term
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Definition
| Processing that begins with a person's prior knowledge or expectations. |
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Term
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Definition
| Signals associated with a person's knowledge and expectations that travel down from higher cneters to influence incoming signals. |
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Term
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Definition
| We tend to perceive objects as remaining the same size even when they move to different distances. |
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Term
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Definition
| The ability to tell where one word ends and the next one begins. Each listener's experience with language (or lack of it) influences their perception. |
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Term
| Helmholtz's Theory of Unconscious Inference |
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Definition
| Some of our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment. |
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Term
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Definition
| States that we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we have received. |
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Definition
Concerned with perceptual organization, the way elements are grouped together to create larger objects. Proposed laws of perceptual organization, to indicate how elements int eh environment are organized or grouped together.
A configuration of structure which, as an object of perception, forms a specific whole or unity incapable of expression simply in terms of its parts |
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Term
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Definition
| Gestalt Psychologists are concerned with this. The way elements are grouped together to create larger objects. |
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Term
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Definition
| Points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as beloning together, and lines tend to be seen in such way as to follow the smoothest path. e.g. with a rope. Objects that are overlapped by other objects are perceived as continuing behind the overlapping object. |
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Term
| Pragnanz (or Law of Good Figure) |
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Definition
| Ever stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible. |
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Term
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Definition
| Similar things appear to be grouped together. We group things by color, shape, and size. |
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Term
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Definition
| Things that form patterns that are familiar or meaningful are likely to be grouped together. We can recognize the picture of a car, (or in the Dalmatian image) |
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Term
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Definition
| Rules of thumb that provide the best-guess solution for a problem. Fast, but occasionally inaccurate |
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Term
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Definition
| Procedures guaranteed to solve a problem. Take longer but are more accurate. |
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Definition
| Regularly occurring physical properties of the environment. e.g. there are more vertical and horizontal orientations int eh environment so people can more easily perceive horizontals and verticals than other orientations. This is called the OBLIQUE effect. Also, light from above heuristic-- most light in our environment comes from above so that's where we assume it's coming from. |
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Term
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Definition
| The characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes. Similar to schema. Gym and kitchen/bread experiments. |
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Term
| Theory of Natural Selection |
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Definition
| Genetically based characteristics that enhance and animal's ability to survive, and therefore reproduce, will be passed on to future generations. |
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Term
| Experience Dependent Plasticity |
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Definition
| The mechanism by which the brain is changed by experience to process the environment more efficiently. (e.g. cat experiment with verticals/horizontals) |
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Term
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Definition
| Removing part of the brain |
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Term
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Definition
| Striate Cortex (in visual cortex) to Temporal Lobe. Object discrimination task. Perception pathway. |
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Definition
| Striate cortex (visual cortex) to Parietal lobe. Landmark discrimination task. Action pathway. |
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Term
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Definition
| One function is absent while another function is present. |
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Definition
| Can be studied in one person. Shows that two functions involve different mechanisms, though we're not sure if they're independent. |
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Definition
Two people. Two functions are served by different mechanisms and these mechanisms operate independently of each other.
Logic of Double Dissociation: Hypothesize two computational processes, A and B. Identify two behaviors, X and Y that should depend on A and B selectively. There should exist some kinds of lesions that affect X but not Y, and others that affect Y but not X. |
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Definition
| Studied DF, who damaged temporal lobe from CO2 poisoning. Couldn't match orientation of card in slot but could place it in there. Intact where/action pathway, damaged what/perception pathway. This was a single dissociate. |
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Definition
Neurons that respond to both, e.g. when a monkey observes someone else grabbing an object and when the monkey himself grabs the object.
Proposed reasons for mirror neurons: helping us understand other people's actions and react appropriately, imitation, deficits in autism, determining intentions. |
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Term
| Audiovisual mirror neurons |
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Definition
| respond when a monkey performs a hand action and when he hears the associated sound. |
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Term
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Definition
| The ability to recreate the sensory world int eh absence of physical stimuli. Occurs in all senses. |
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Term
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Definition
| Some thought that thinking was impossible without an image and others disagreed. |
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Term
| Paired Associate Learning |
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Definition
| Pavio showed this. Subjects presented with pairs of words. Then, shown first word of each pair and asked to recall second word. This is easier for concrete nouns. |
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Term
| Conceptual Peg Hypothesis |
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Definition
| Concerete nouns create images which the mind can "hang on to" |
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Term
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Definition
| Inferred cognitive mental processes using mental chronometry, determining amount of time necessary to carry out cognitive tasks. Specifically, mental rotation, in which degree of rotation was related to time. |
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Definition
| Determining amount of time necessary to carry out cognitive tasks. |
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Definition
Done by Kosslyn. Subjects create mental images and then scan them in their minds. Nice relationship between mental distance travelled and time.
Critique of this: tacit knowledge explnation. |
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Definition
| Started visual imagery debate-- is imagery based on spatial mechanisms or propositional mechanisms? |
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Term
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Definition
| Is imagery based on spatial mechanisms or propositional mechanisms? |
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Term
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Definition
| Mechanisms related to language. Relationships can be represented by abstract symbols, such as an equation or a statement. |
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Term
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Definition
| Kosslyn believed in this-- representation in which different parts of an image can be described as corresponding to specific locations in space. |
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Term
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Definition
| Pylyshyn thought spatial representation of mental images was something that accompanied the real mechanism but is not part of the mechanism. |
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Term
| Depictive Representations |
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Definition
| Representations are like realistic pictures that resemble and object, with parts of the representation corresponding to parts of the object. |
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Term
| Tacit Knowledge Explanation |
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Definition
| Pylyshyn's defense against Kosslyn's ideas. Participants unconsciously use knowledge about the world in making judgements. |
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Term
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Definition
| Subjects asked to imagine that they're walking toward their mental image of an animal. Report when it was filling their mental field. It took longer for smaller animals and mental walk speed is related to real walk speed. |
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Term
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Definition
| Participants projected visual images of common objects onto a screen and described them. Sometimes, an image would be lightly projected on screen already. This image influenced participants' mental images. |
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Term
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Definition
| Respond to both perceiving an object and to imagining it. |
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Term
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Definition
| patients ignore objects in one half of visual field. In one case study, a subject with unilateral neglect ignored both objects in perception and in mental images. |
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Term
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Definition
| Subjects can't recognize objects. Can recognize parts of objects but can't integrate them into a meaningful whole. Can draw objects from memory but couldn't recognize them later. |
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Term
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Definition
| The mind is really good at remembering scenes/mental pictures so you should place things to be remembered at different locations in a mental image of a spatial layout. |
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Definition
| Associating items with concrete words. Identify numbers with nouns that rhyme with them and then another image that goes with what you need to remember, creating a complex mental image. |
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Term
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Definition
| a way to solve mechanical problems in which you mentally represent the operation of a mechanical system. Analogous to spatial representation. |
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Term
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Definition
| apply rules about the way things work to solve mechanical problems. Analogous to propositional representation. |
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Term
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Definition
| A pattern-- the stuff conserved over different instantiations |
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Definition
| Process things one at a time. |
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Term
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Definition
| Take patterns, hold them and do things with them. |
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Definition
One entity with lots of parts, higher level organization. Lots of things can be done at once.
e.g. neurons, modern super computers. |
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Term
| How do information processors represent information? |
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Definition
| Language, Network, Picture/Map |
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Term
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Definition
| Arbitrary connection between representation and what we're representing. e.g. sentences about prof's kids |
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Term
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Definition
| Map of relationships with nodes. |
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Term
| Picture/Map representation |
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Definition
| Isomorphic to things they represent. Dimensions need not be the same. |
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Term
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Definition
3 Conditions involving word judgement:
-SURVIVAL: rate words on relevance to survival
-MOVING: rate words on relevance to moving houses
-PLEASANTNESS: rate words on pleasantness
Memory was best for survival condition because that's evolutionarily important. |
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Term
| Niche-general evolutionary constraint |
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Definition
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Term
| Niche-specific evolutionary constraint |
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Definition
| Mind adapted to fitness-relevant computations |
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Term
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Definition
Brain is constantly adjusting itself to reflect how neurons fire and how we behave.
How experience and learning shape cognition. Implications:
-Experience matters in determining cognitive performance.
-Individual differences emerge from interplay of genes and experience. (epigenesis)
Occurs through several mechanisms, including interaction between neurons, modulatory neurotransmitters, synaptic changes, neurogenesis and pruning. |
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Term
| Information Processing Levels: Computational |
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Definition
| What is the problem to be solved? |
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Term
| Information Processing Levels: Algorithmic |
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Definition
| What is the set of steps to solve it? |
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Term
| Information Processing Levels: Implementational |
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Definition
| How does the brain do it? |
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Term
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Definition
| Explain how bottom (e.g. neurons) causes top (e.g. behavior). This is too simple of an explanation. |
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Term
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Definition
| attend to causal interactions from bottom to top and top to bottom. Better than reductionism. |
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Term
| Types of Neurotransmitters |
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Definition
Inhibitory and Excitatory,
Amines, Amino Acids, Peptides, Neurotransmitter Gases |
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Term
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Definition
| There are five, usually. Layer one is input, layer five is output. |
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Term
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Definition
| Small group of cells with similar response properties. |
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Term
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Definition
| Larger than a column, about 1cm across. Cells in area share common function and architecture. All of these cells get input from same place. Often have topographic representations/maps. |
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Term
| Visual Field Organization |
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Definition
| Further away from the retina an area is in the visual field, the more complicated the proccesing and the larger the receptive field. |
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Term
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Definition
| Stimulate spots on hand, record from primary somatosensory cortex, and find receptive fields. Topographic maps arise partially from experience, as shown with lactating rat and by taping fingers together. Genes interact with developmental experience to create map, which has ever-changing boundaries to reflect experience. |
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Term
| Limitations of Clinical Lesion Studies |
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Definition
Whims of Nature: lesions are often due to violence, meaning that some parts of brain are rarely damaged.
Correlational: we can't give people lesions! |
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Term
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Definition
Surgical Lesions- take out tissue (permanent)
Temporary Lesions- inactivate tissue either chemically or thermally. |
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Term
| Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) |
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Definition
| Rapidly changing magnetic field used to induce current in brain, de/hyperpolarizing cells. |
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Term
| Electrical Stimulation with Electrodes |
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Definition
| Electrodes are used to record small groups/single cells. Sometimes we do this to patients pre-surgery to record where, e.g. seizures are coming from while avoiding important stuff. |
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Term
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Definition
| Genetically engineer animal that expresses a protein which allows you to turn on and off parts of the brain using light. Take molecules that respond to light from vertebrae or fungi and make it so that brain cells express these obsin molecules, either via injected virus or genetically. Then you can turn on cells via light. |
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Term
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Definition
| Raise risk factor for diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, self reported memory problems, and relative reported memory problems. |
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Term
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Definition
| The visual field is mapped in the visual cortex like this. Early in the visual field you have simple things like edges. Later in the visual field you have more complex things, like movement. |
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Term
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Definition
| Items close together are part of the same thing. |
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Term
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Definition
| We perceive things grouped into closed figures. We also perceive closed occluded things. |
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Term
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Definition
| Features: Repetitiveness, granularity, orientedness |
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Term
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Definition
| Rate at which orientation of line is changing. If you segment it at these points, you get parts-- segments at maxima of local curvature. |
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Term
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Definition
Faces are processed differently than other things. Two theories
1. Evolved face module
2. Expertise in classifying (because of face specific experience)
lots of evidence for 2. |
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Term
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Definition
| Space represents space in sensory cortex. Mapping is plastic. |
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Term
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Definition
| In auditory system. Space is used to represent pitch. Cochlea in inner ear is wound up like a spiral. End is high frequency, top is low. Auditory area in brain also has map of pitch, which is tonotopic. |
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Term
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Definition
| Alternating low and high notes segregate out |
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Term
| Grouping by good continuation |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| We take discrete shades/range/combinations and group them into categories. We do this with phonemes, e.g. with "pa" and "ba"-- our auditory system assigns ba and pa categorically, even though it's a continuum. |
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Term
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Definition
| Vision modulates hearing for location |
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Term
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Definition
| vision modulates hearing for speech sounds. |
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Term
| Evidence for spatial representation as the "language of thought" |
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Definition
| Mental chronometry, lesions, neuroimaging, tasks: scanning, mental rotation, size judgement |
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Term
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Definition
| Reaching time increases with target distance, and decreases with target size. |
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Term
| Apparent Motion- Marquee Effect/Illusion |
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Definition
| You can see circle rotate both ways. If you imagine knob turning clockwise/counter clockwise, you will change the way you see the illusion. |
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Term
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Definition
| Responses are faster when target and response have corresponding locations. |
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Term
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Definition
| Magnetic compass, visual landmarks |
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Term
| How do Honing Pigeons navigate? |
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Definition
| Sun compass and visual landmarks |
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Term
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Definition
| orient to sensed landmak and move relative to it. |
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Term
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Definition
| Track angle and velocity, as well as counting steps (using steps as an odometer) |
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Term
| Dead Reconing/path integration |
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Definition
| integreate velocity to calculate location. |
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Term
| How do we do tasks like giving directions/drawing maps? We use two types of information: |
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Definition
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Term
| Two kinds of information in mental maps |
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Definition
Metric (continuous)
Categorical |
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