Cognitive Psych Midterm 1

Analytic introspection

trained participants describe their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli

Artificial intelligence

Making a machine behave in a way that would be called intelligent if a human were to behave like so

Behaviorism

Watson's response to Structuralism
Puts an emphasis on observable behaviors, not consciousness through introspection

Classical conditioning

Associated with behaviorism
Pairing one stimulus with another (previously neutral stimulus) will change the response to the neutral stimulus
Ex) Little Albert Experiment and Pavlov's Dogs

Cognition

Mental processes, such as perception, attention, and memory

Cognitive map

A mental representation of our physical environment
ex) Rats in the maze

Cognitive Psychology

The study of mental processes, which includes determining the characteristics and properties of the mind and how it operates

Cognitive Revolution

In the 1950s, a shift in psychology from the behaviorist stimulus-response relationship to understanding the operation of the mind
Thomas Kuhn and Noam Chomsky

Electrophysiology

the study of the electrical activity of cells

Information-processing approach

The approach to psychology, developed beginning in the 1950s, in which the mind is described as processing information through a sequence of stages.

Neuropsychology

The study of the behavior of people with brain damage

Operant Conditioning (Skinner)

a type of behavior learning which emphasizes reward and punishment

Reaction time

How long it takes to respond to a presented stimulus
Simple Reaction time
ex) push a button when you see a light
Choice Reaction time
ex) push one button when you see one light and a different button when you see the other light

Savings

In the Ebbinhaus Memory Experiment, the measure which determines how much was forgotten after a particular delay
savings = (original time to learn the list) - (time to relearn after delay)
Savings curve: A plot of percent savings versus Time

Structuralism

Wundt's approach to psychology which dominated the late 1800s-early 1900s
Used Analytic introspection
Our overall experience is determined by combining basic elements of experience (sensation)

Action Potential

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

Axons (Nerve Fibers)

long processes that transmit signals to other neurons

Brain Imaging

Various techniques to image the structure or function of the nervous system

Broca's Aphasia

Slow, labored, ungrammatical speech typically caused by damage to Broca's Area

Broca's Area

In the frontal lobe
Responsible for speech formation

Cell Body

Metabolic center of the neuron

Cerebral Cortex

A 3mm thick layer of tissue which covers the brain and is responsible for many cognitive functions

Cognitive Neuroscience

the study of the physiological basis of cognition

Connectome

A structural description of the network of elements and connections forming the human brain

Cortical equipotentiality

An accepted principle from the early 1800s that said the brain operates as an indivisible whole rather than specialized areas

Dendrites

Branch out of the cell body to receive signals from other neurons

Distributive Representation

One stimulus may activate the brain in many different areas

Double Dissociation

The phenomenon in which one of two functions, such as hearing and sight, can be damaged without harm to the other, and vice versa.

Experience-Dependent Plasticity

The structure of the brain is based on and changed by experience

Extrastriate Body Area (EBA)

An area in the temporal cortex that is activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies, but not by faces or other objects.

Frontal Lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex that has specialized areas for movement, abstract thinking, planning, memory, and judgement

Functional Connectivity

Determined by the extent to which neural activity in two brain areas are correlated

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

A technique for brain imaging which uses a magnetic field to track the flow of oxygen to specific brain areas

Fusiform Face Area

An area in the fusiform gyrus (on the underside of the temporal lobe identified as being responsible for identifying faces

Hierarchical Processing

The progression of stimulus-response from lower to higher functioning areas of the brain

Localization of Function

Specific functions are served by only specific areas of the brain

Nerve impulse

When a neuron's receptor is stimulated, a nerve impulse is transmitted down the axon

Neural circuits

groups of interconnected neurons

Neural Networks

Interconnected areas of the brain that communicate with eachother

Neuron Doctrine

Counter to the Nerve Net Theory, this states that individual cells transmit signals in the nervous system

Occipital Lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information

Parahippocampal place area

An area in the temporal lobe that is selectively activated by pictures of indoor and outdoor scenes and spatial layout information.

Parietal Lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex whose functions include processing information about touch, pressure and pain -- where the somatosensory cortex is.

Principle of Neural Representation

States that everything we experience is based on representations in our nervous system

Prosopagnosia

An inability to recognize faces caused by damage to the temporal lobe in the lower right side

Receptors

Neurons specialized to pick up information from the environment

Resting-state fMRI

MRI response measured when the person is at rest

resting state functional connectivity

measures the extent to which spontaneous activity in different brain regions is correlated over time

Seed location (used to determine Resting-State FC)

The brain location, identified through task-related fMRI, responsible for carrying out a certain task

Sensory Code

how neurons represent various characteristics of the environment

Sparse Coding

A pattern of firing by only a small number of neurons, when the majority of neurons remain silent

Specificity coding

The idea that an object could be represented by the firing of a specialized neuron that only responds to that specific object

Structural connectivity

The brain's wiring diagram created by nerve axons that connect the different areas

Temporal Lobe

Found in Gross's lab to be responsible for responding to complex stimuli

Test location (used to determine Resting-State FC)

A control region for resting-state fMRI

Time-series response (used to determine Resting-State FC)

The difference between an fMRI response of the seed location during task-related and resting-state fMRI

visual cortex

The visual cortex makes up about 30% of the cortex and includes the visual areas which receive and process sensory impulses from the eye

Voxels

Small cube-shaped areas in the brain used in the analysis of data from brain scanning experiments.

Wernicke's aphasia

Patients can produce speech that is fluent and grammatically correct but does not make sense

Wernicke's area

An area of the temporal region responsible for speech comprehension

Action Pathway

The pathway from the visual cortex to the parietal lobe
Aka Where Pathway
Aka Dorsal Pathway

Apparent movement

the perception that a stationary object is moving

Bayesian inference

The idea that our estimate of the probability of an outcome is determined by the prior probability (our initial belief) and the likelihood (the extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome).

bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

Brain ablation

A surgical technique which removes part of the brain

Gestalt Psychologists

a group of psychologists who proposed principles governing perception, such as laws of organization, and a perceptual approach to problem solving involving restructuring

Law of Pragnanz

Principle of Good Figure
Principle of Simplicity
Every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible

landmark discrimination problem

One of the two types of discrimination tasks used in the Ungerlieder and Mishkin experiment.
Pick the food closer to the cylinder. Lesioning in the parietal lobe made this difficult

Light from above assumption

We typically assume light is coming from above because in our environment (sun and artificial light) it usually does
A physical regularity

Likelihood Principle

We perceive the object which is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we see

Mirror Neuron

Neurons that respond to a task equally when we do it ourselves and when we watch someone do it

Mirror Neuron System

The network throughout the brain in which mirror neurons are distributed

Perception

Experiences resulting from the stimulation of the senses

Perception Pathway

The Pathway from the visual cortex to the temporal lobe
Aka What Pathway
Aka Ventral Pathway

Physical regularities

regularly occurring physical properties of the environment

Principle of Good Continuation

-Points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together, and lines tend to be seen in ways that follow the smoothest path
-Objects that are overlapped by another object are seen as continuing behind the ov

Principle of similarity

Similar things appear to be grouped together

Principles of Perceptual Organization

Ways to explain how elements are grouped together to make a larger object

Prior

In Bayesian Inference, our initial belief about the probability of an outcome

Regularities in the environment

Frequently occurring characteristics
Physical and semantic

Top-down Processing

Perception that is driven by cognition

Placebo

something which has a positive mental effect, but no physical effect

placebo effect

experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent.

Unconscious inference

Helmholtz's idea that some of our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment.