COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PRELIMS REVIEWER obtain evidence through experience and

observation
COGNITIVE PROCESSES
3) SYNTHESIS
- always active in everyone’s mind
- IMMANUEL KANT; synthesized that both
- thoughts, perceptions, desires, emotions,
rationalism and empiricism must work together
memories, language, decision making,
in the quest for truth
problem solving, actions
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS OF THE MIND
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGICAL ORIGINS:
- study of how people perceive, learn,
remember and think about the information 1. STRUCTURALISM
- study of mental processes, which includes - First school of psychology
determining the characteristics and properties - Seeks to understand the structure
of the mind and how it operates (configuration of elements) of the mind and its
perceptions by analyzing those perceptions
DIALECTIC
into their constituent components (affection,
- Developmental process whereby ideas evolve attention, memory, sensation)
overtime through a back-and-forth exchange
WILHELM WUNDT
of ideas; in a way, it is like a discussion spread
out over an extended period of time. - Father of Psychology
- Dialectic approach – lets you create a new - They believed that mind is comprised of
idea sensations and perceptions
- INTROSPECTION; method to understand the
basic elements of consciousness

2. FUNCTIONALISM
- Focus on the processes of thought rather than
on its contents
- Seeks to understand what people do and why
they do it
- PRAGMATISM; they believe that knowledge is
validated by its usefulness

WILLIAM JAMES

- Wrote the Principles of Psychology

3. SYNTHESIS: ASSOCIATIONISM
PHILOSOPHICAL ORIGINS - Examines how elements of the mind can
become associated with one another in the
1) RATIONALISTS (seeking the complete truth could mind to result in a form of learning
be achieved through contemplation) - Contrast, contiguity, similarity
- PLATO; believes that the route to knowledge is
through thinking and logical analysis HERMANN EBBINGHAUS
- RENÉ DESCARTES; believes that reflective
- studied how people learn and remember
method is superior to empirical methods for
material through rehearsing (constant
finding the truth
repetition)
- first experimenter to apply associationist
2) EMPIRICISTS
principles
- JOHN LOCKE; believed that humans are born
without knowledge and therefore must seek EDWARD LEE THORNDIKE
knowledge through empirical observations
- ARISTOTLE; believes that we acquire - held role of satisfaction is the key to forming
knowledge via empirical evidence – that is, we associations
 - termed this principle the “law of effect” - He thought that understanding behavior
required taking into account the purpose of,
EARLY PIONEERS IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY and the plan for, the behavior.
- All behavior is directed towards one goal
RESULTS &
PERSON PROCEDURE CONTRIBUTION (maze, rat and cheese experiment)
CONCLUSION
Choice
reaction time ALBERT BANDURA
Simple takes 100
reaction milliseconds - Social Learning Theory
First Cognitive
Donders time vs. longer; - Learning can also happen by watching what
Psychology
(1868) choice therefore it
Experiment happens to other people (reward/punishment)
reaction takes 100
time milliseconds - We learn by example
to make a
decision APPROACHES TO STUDYING THE MIND
Established the
Wundt Analytic No reliable first laboratory APPROACHES TO
(1879) introspection results of scientific WHAT IS
STUDYING THE METHODS USED
psychology STUDIED
MIND
Forgetting Content/Structure of
occurs STRUCTURALISM Introspection
Savings Quantitative the mind
rapidly in the Various: depends on Processes of how
Ebbinghaus method to measurement FUNCTIONALISM
first one to the questions asked the mind works
(1885) measure of mental
two days Research that can
forgetting processes
after original PRAGMATISM Various be applied to real
learning world
No Experiments,
First psychology Understand behavior
experiments; Descriptions SYNTHESIS: computer
textbook; some through the ways
James reported of a wide COGNITIVISM simulation, protocol
of his people think
(1890) observations range of analysis
observations
of his own experiences Experiments;
are still valid How learning takes
experience Ebbinghaus used
SYNTHESIS: place by associating
himself as a subject:
ASSOCIATIONISM things with each
Thorndike used cats,
other
4. BEHAVIORISM as well as humans
- IVAN PAVLOV; Classical Conditioning Use of animals in Relations between
BEHAVIORISM
research with observable behavior
- Relation between observable behavior and (EXTREME FORM OF
humans/Quantitative and environmental
environmental events or stimuli ASSOCIATIONISM)
Analysis events/stimuli
- Effective conditioning requires contingency Psychological
GESTALT Introspection,
phenomena studied
PSYCHOLOGY experiments
as organized wholes
5. RADICAL BEHAVIORISM

JOHN WATSON
EMERGENCE OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
- Father of Radical Behaviorism
Cognitivism – most human behavior explains how
- Psychologists should concentrate only on study
people think
of observable behavior (Doyle, 2000)
1. KARL SPENCER LASHLEY
B.F SKINNER
- challenged the behaviorist idea that the
- Operant Conditioning – strengthening or human brain is just a passive tool that reacts
weakening of behavior, contingent on the to the environment
presence or absence of the reinforcements - for him, brain is dynamic, active organizer of
(rewards) or punishments; could explain all behavior
forms of human behavior 2. DONALD HEBB
- He believed that human behavior, not just - learning happens in the brain through groups
learning, could be explained by reactions to of connected nerve cells called cell assemblies
the environment 3. NOAM CHOMSKY
- showed that we can easily make many new
6. COGNITIVISM sentences, which goes against the idea that
- EDWARD TOLMAN; forefather of modern we only learn language through rewards
cognitive psychology (behaviorism)
ENGINEERING, COMPUTATION AND APPLIED COMPUTER SIMULATIONS AND ARTIFICAL
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY INTELLIGENCE

1. Development of Turing Test and Artificial 1. Computer simulations – they program

Intelligence (AI) computers to imitate a given human function
2. Increased interested in Cognitive Psychology or process
through applied dreams (solve practical
problems) KEY THEMES IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
3. Advertising applies principles from Cognitive
1. Nature vs. Nurture
Psychology to attract customers to products
2. Rationalism vs. Empiricism
4. Development of Psychobiology (cognitive
3. Structure vs. Process
neuroscience)
4. Domain generality vs. Domain Specificity
RESEARCH METHODS IN COGNITIVE 5. Validity of Casual Inferences vs. Ecological
PSYCHOLOGY Validity
6. Applied vs. Basic Research
1. Data gathering 7. Biological vs. Behavioral Methods
2. Data analysis
3. Theory development
4. Hypothesis formulation PERCEPTION; VISUAL AND AUDITORY
5. Hypothesis testing
PERCEPTION
6. Application to real world
- Experiences resulting from stimulation of the
DISTINCTIVE RESEARCH METHODS
senses
1. Laboratory or other controlled experiments - RETINA: the one that recognizes the stimuli
2. Neuroscientific research - INVERSE PROJECTION PROBLEM; it is best
3. Self-report believed that the objects were originally
4. Case studies inverse
5. Naturalistic observation
VIEWPOINT INVARIANCE
6. Computer stimulations and AI
- Recognize an object seen from different
EXPERIMENTS ON HUMAN BEHAVIOR
viewpoints
1. Independent and Dependent variables
HUMAN PERCEPTION
2. Controlled and Cofounding variables
3. Random sapling 1. BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING
- Way of explaining how we understand things
CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH
by starting with what we see or hear
1. Description of a relationship (stimulus) and gradually building up a mental
2. Correlation coefficient describes the strength picture of the object
of the relationship - Data driven; focuses on incoming sensory
 Positive or negative correlation data; takes place in real time
 No correlation - Know the stimuli as it is/ no prior knowledge

NEUROSCIENTIFIC RESEARCH GIBSON’S THEORY OF DIRECT PERCEPTION – the

information in our sensory receptors, including the
1. Studying The Brain After Death sensory context, is all we need to perceive anything
2. Studying Brain Impact
3. Studying Brain Processes During Activities ECOLOGICAL PERCEPTION

SELF-REPORTS, CASE STUDY, AND - environment supplies us with all the

NATURALISTIC BEHAVIORS information we need for perception
- “sensory experiences are not reliable”
1. Verbal protocol
2. Diary study NEUROSCIENCE AND DIRECT PERCEPTION – we may
3. Case studies and naturalistic observation (high already be able to understand the expressions,
ecological validity) emotions, and movements of the person we observe
TEMPLATES SPEECH SEGMENTATION – process by which the brain
determines where one meaningful unit (e.g., word)
- highly detailed models for patterns we might ends and the next begins in continuous speech, and it
recognize is critical for auditory language processing
- recognize a pattern by comparing it with our
set of templates for fast recognition PERCEPTION POSITIONS:

TEMPLATE THEORIES 1. VIEWER-CENTERED REPRESENTATION –

individual stores the way the object looks to
- our minds store myriad sets of templates him or her
- suggests that expertise is attained by 2. OBJECT-CENTERED REPRESENTATION –
acquiring chunks of knowledge in long-term representation of the object, independent of
memory that can later be accessed for fast its appearance to the viewer
recognition
- goal: to find one perfect match and disregard HELMHOLTZ’S THEORY OF UNCONSCIOUS INFERENCE
imperfect matches – image on the retina is ambiguous/likelihood
principle/open to more than one interpretation
NEUROSCIENCE AND TEMPLATE THEORIES
3. LANDMARK-CENTERED REPRESENTATION –
- experiments suggests that there is indeed a characterized by its relation to a well-known or
difference between letters and digits prominent item
- an area on or near the left fusiform gyrus
(part of the occipital and temporal lobes) is THE GESTALT PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION
activated significantly more when a person is
presented with letters than with digits 1. PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION – explains the
way elements are grouped together to create
HUMAN PERCEPTION PT.2 larger objects
2. GOOD CONTINUATION – points that when
2. TOP-DOWN PROCESSING connected, results in a straight or smoothly
- When you understand new things based on curving lines that are seen as belonging
what you already know together
- Using your past experiences and knowledge to 3. LAW OF PRAGNANZ / PRINCIPLE OF
make sense of new information SIMPLICITY – perceptual field and objects
- Schema driven; relies on knowledge and within it will take on the simplest and most
experiences; need prior knowledge encompassing structure permitted by the
given conditions
CONSTRUCTIVE PERCEPTION
4. PRINCIPLE OF SIMILARITY – similar things
- the perceiver builds (constructs) a cognitive appear to be grouped together
understanding (perception) of a stimulus
RECOGNIZING PATTERNS AND FACES
- uses sensory information as the foundation for
the structure but also uses other sources of 1. FEATURE ANALYSIS SYSTEM – specializes in
information to build the perception (intelligent recognizing parts of the objects and in
perception) assembling those parts into distinctive wholes
2. CONFIGURATIONAL SYSTEM – recognizing
FOR TOP-DOWN:
larger configurations, not analyzing parts of
1. Contextual Understanding – being able objects or the construction of the objects
contextualize the conversation despite the
NEUROSCIENCE OF RECOGNIZING FACES AND
background noise
PATTERNS
2. Filling Gaps
3. Role of Prediction  Both configurational and feature analysis
may help in making difficult recognitions
CONTEXT EFFECTS – influences of the surrounding
and discriminations
environment on perception
FUSIFORM GYRUS – area in the temporal lobe thought
CONFIGURAL-SUPERIORITY EFFECT – objects are
to be important in facial recognition, color processing
presented in certain configurations that are easier to
and word recognition
recognize than the objects presented in isolation
 captured by our senses, stored memories and other
cognitive processes/how we actively processes specific
information present in our environment

HOW DOES ATTENTION WORK?

 People generally were better at

recognizing houses, whether they were
presented in parts or in wholes, compared
THE ROLE OF ATTENTION – allows you to “tune out”
to recognizing people
information, sensation and perceptions that are not
 Patients with autism have impaired
necessarily relevant at that moment, instead focus
emotional recognition; fusiform gyrus is
your energy on the information that is important
less active than people without autism
populations CONSCIOUSNESS – both the feeling of awareness and
the content of awareness, some of which may be
EXPERT-INDIVIDUATION HYPOTHESIS – the fusiform
under the focus of attention; individual awareness of
gyrus is activated when one examines item with which
your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations
one has visual expertise
and environments
PROSOPAGNOSIA – inability to recognize faces that it
ROLE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
implies damage to the configurational system;
common with people affected by schizophrenia - helps monitor our interactions with the
environment
PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCIES
- assists us in linking our past (memories) and
1. PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCY – occurs when our our present (sensations) to give us a sense of
perception of an object remains the same continuity of experience
even our proximal sensation of the distal - helps us control and plan for our future actions
object changes
4 MAIN FUNCTIONS OF ATTENTION
 SIZE CONSTANCY – perception that an
object maintains the same size despite 1. SIGNAL DETECTION – framework to explain
changes in the SIZE of the proximal how people pick out the important stimuli
stimulus embedded in a wealth of irrelevant, distracting
 SHAPE CONSTANCY – perception that an stimuli
object maintains the same shape despite - target; signal
the changes in the SHAPE of the proximal
stimulus 4 POSSIBLE OUTCOMES:
2. DEPTH – distance from a surface, usually
using your own body as a reference surface  TRUE POSITIVES (hits)
3. ANOMALIES IN COLOR PERCEPTION – color  FALSE POSITIVES (false alarms)
perception deficits are much more common in  FALSE NEGATIVES (misses)
men than in women  TRUE NEGATIVES (correct rejections)

VIGILANCE – person’s ability to attend to a field of

stimulation over a prolonged period, during which the
ATTENTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS person seeks to detect the appearance of a particular
target stimulus of interest
ATTENTION – we actively select and process a limited
amount of information from all of the information - Location; strongly affect response efficiency
 2. SEARCH – scan of the environment for the  SELECTIVE FILTER MODEL
particular features, actively looking for - Filter blocks out most information at the
something when you are not sure where it will sensory level
appear - Messages that are of high importance to a
 may respond by making false alarms person may break through the filter of
 DISTRACTERS; non-target stimuli that selective attention
divert our attention away from the target  ATTENUATION MODEL
stimulus - Physical characteristics are used to select one
message for full processing and other
2 KINDS OF SEARCHES: messages are given partial processing
 LATE-FILTER MODEL
We look for just one
feature (eg., color, shape, - Which the location of the filter is even later in
FEATURE SEARCH or size) that makes our the process
search object different - All message get through, but that only one
from all others response can be made (late selection)
We have to combine two
or more features to find 4. DIVIDED ATTENTION
CONJUCTION SEARCH
the stimulus we’re looking
- trying to attend to two stimuli at once and
for
making multiple responses rather than making
one response to multiple stimuli (interference)
FEATURE-INTEGRATION THEORY – Anne Treisman
- multitasking
(1986) suggested that the two stages are involved
- task becomes difficult when both activities
when we perceived objects
require that a good amount of your attention
- We perceive features of is focused on the activities (cooking while
objects, including color writing your research)
and size
1ST STAGE
- Automatic Process THEORIES OF DIVIDED ATTENTION
- No need for conscious
attention CAPACITY MODELS OF ATTENTION – people have
Involves our connecting fixed amount of attention that they can choose to
two or more features with allocate recording to what the task requires
2ND STAGE some sort of “mental glue
requires our conscious One model suggests that
attention” one single pool of
1ST MODEL
attentional resources can
SIMILARITY THEORY – the more similar target and be divided freely
distracters are, the more difficult it is to find the target Another suggested that
multiple sources of
3. SELECTIVE ATTENTION 2ND MODEL attention are available,
one for each modality
COCKTAIL PARTY PROBLEM – process of tracking one (e.g., verbal or visual)
conversation while distracted by other conversations
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE OUR ABILITY TO
WHAT HELPS TO FOCUS ON THE MESSAGE PAY ATTENTION

 Distinctive sensory characteristics of the 1. Anxiety

target’s speech (high vs. low pitch, pacing) 2. Arousal
 Sound intensity (loudness) 3. Task Difficulty
 Location of the sound source 4. Skills

THEORIES OF SELECTIVE ATTENTION: WHEN OUR ATTENTION FAILS US:

 EARLY FILTER MODEL Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

- We filter information right after we notice it at
the sensory level - Characterized by inattention, hyperactivity and
- All incoming information is being perceived impulsiveness.
and stored in sensory memory
3 MAIN TYPES OF ADHD; depending on which SLIPS – errors in carrying out an intended means for
symptoms are predominant: reaching an objective

1. hyperactive-impulsive, CONSCIOUSNESS OF MENTAL PROCESSES

2. inattentive, and
3. a combination of hyperactive-impulsive and ERICSON & SIMON’S PERSPECTIVE: PROTOCOL
inattentive behavior ANALYSIS

ADHD & ASD  one view is that people have good access to
their complex mental processes
 children with ADHD have the most trouble in  people have good conscious access to their
attentional orienting; complex information processes
 children with autism, on the contrary, show
deficits in conflict monitoring and response NISBETT & WILSON’S PERSPECTIVE
preparation
 people’s access to their complex mental
CHANGE BLINDNESS – an inability to detect changes processes is not very good
in objects or scenes that are being viewed  we typically are conscious of the products of
our thinking, but only vaguely conscious, if at
INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS – people are not able to all, of processes of thinking
see things that are actually there
PRECONSCIOUS PROCESSING
SPATIAL NEGLECT – attentional dysfunction in which
participants ignore half of their visual field that is - information that is available for cognitive
contralateral (on the opposite side of) the hemisphere processing but currently lies outside conscious
of the brain that has a lesion awareness exists at the preconscious level of
awareness
AUTOMATIC AND CONTROLLED PROCESS IN - PRECONSCIOUS INFORMATION includes
ATTENTION stored memories that we are not using at a
given time but can be summoned when
AUTOMATIC PROCESS needed
- performed without conscious awareness PRIMING – participants are presented with a 1st
- ex. Writing your name stimulus (the prime), followed by a break that can
range from milliseconds to weeks or months;
CONTROLLED PROCESS
participants are presented with 2nd stimulus and make
- accessible to conscious control and even a judgement to see whether the presentation of the 1 st
require it stimulus affected the perception of the 2nd.
- ex. Doing calculations
PROBLEMS WITH PULLING PRECONSCIOUS
HOW DOES AUTOMATIZATION OCCUR INFO

AUTOMATIZATION – many tasks that start off as TIP-OF-THE-TONGUE (universal)

controlled processes eventually become automatic
- You try to remember something that is stored
ones as a result of practice
in memory but that cannot be readily
INSTANCE THEORY – Logan (1988) suggested that retrieved.
automatization occurs because we gradually
BLINDSIGHT
accumulate knowledge about specific responses to
specific stimuli - Patients are blind in areas of the visual field
that correspond to the lesioned areas of the
STROOP EFFECT – demonstrates the interference of
cortex.
automatic processes with controlled processes (ex:
- People can lose their vision but still respond to
Red, Yellow, and Blue)
visual cues
MISTAKES – errors in choosing an objective or in
specifying a means of achieving it