Psych Final Study Guide PDF

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Professor Ron Whiteman. Study guide for the final including class notes and textbook notes. ...

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Chapter 1 – Introduction: Terms / Short Answers: Bottom-up processing vs. top-down processing - Bottom-Up Processing: processing that is determined by environmental stimuli rather than the individual’s knowledge and expectations - Top-Down Processing: stimulus processing that is determined by expectations, memory, and knowledge rather than directly by the stimulus Serial processing vs. parallel processing - Serial Processing: processing that involves the occurrence of only one process at any given moment - and the process is completed before another one starts - Parallel Processing: two or more processes occurring simultaneously Issues / Essays: Characteristics and limitations of the early information-processing model (e.g., Atkinson & Shiffrin: Memory)

- The arrows pointing to the right reveal the importance of bottom-up processing Bottom-Up Processing: - Once a stimulus reaches sensory stores, one must pay attention to it or it decays because not important - Stored in short-term for 30sec. max and if not rehearsed it is displaced - If rehearsed, then proceeds to be stored in Long Term Store that has unlimited capacity Top-Down Processing: (does not account for/is deemphasized) - Top-down processes (goals and expectations) influence what we attend to - See the word yacht, start rehearsing it in short term store - Pronunciation is different and must have been obtained from long-term store before rehearsing it

Chapter 2 – Perception: Terms / Short Answers:

The 4 laws of Gestalt organization (proximity, similarity, good continuation, closure) ● A Gestalt: a pattern of elements that become unified as a whole (into an object), such that it cannot be described as the sum of its parts ● Gestalt Laws of Organization [Law of Pragnanz]: ○ Law of Proximity: visual elements tend to be grouped together if they are close to each other ○ Law of Similarity: elements will be grouped together perceptually if they are similar ○ Law of Good Continuation: we group together those elements requiring the fewest changes or interruptions in straight or smoothly curving lines ○ Law of Closure: missing parts of a figure are filled in to complete the figure Inattentional Blindness & Change Blindness ● Inattention Blindness: failure to notice an unexpected object appearing in a visual display ● Change Blindness: failure to detect an object has moved, changed, or disappeared ○ Token Change: similar category ○ Type Change: different category Issues / Essays: How does object recognition differ from face recognition? (Consider evidence from both sides of the issue. Objects: Recognition-By-Components Theory and geons (Biederman, 1987), the Viggiano et al. (2008) study. Faces: the Farah (1994) study on face vs. object recognition, part-whole effect, prosopagnosia and the FFA.) Object Recognition: - Recognition-by-Components Theory: argue that objects consist of basic components [Geons] - Geon - Geometric Ions: cylinders, blocks, spheres (36 total) - Geon based info is stored in long term memory - To recognize an object one must identify geons - Strongly emphasizes bottom-up processing Viggiano et al. (2008) - Top-down processes depending on factors such as expectation and knowledge are often important, especially when object recognition is difficult - Found that observers relied more on top-down processes when animal photographs were blurred than when they weren’t blurred - This happened because there was less information for bottom-up processes to make use of with the blurred photographs Face Recognition: - Part-Whole Effect: recognition of faces is better when the whole face was presented

rather than a single feature - Face processing involves more holistic processing - Specific features are unreliable b/c multiple people can share features (eye color) and some can change (hair) Farah (1994) - Recognition performance was much better when the whole face was presented rather than only a single feature - In contrast, recognition performance for house features was very similar in whole- and single- feature conditions -

Prosopagnosia: face blindness; severe impairment to face recognition with little/no impairment to object recognition - Fusiform Face Area: an area within the inferotemporal cortex that is associated with face processing - Responds at least twice as strongly to faces as to other objects in brainimaging studies

Pattern recognition: Describe the main points of Feature Theory (vs. Template Theory) for how we recognize patterns. Offer one piece of evidence suggesting that we recognize patterns at the feature level and not at an overall, global level. Then describe one shred of evidence suggesting, however, that we can process and make sense of patterns at the global level over the local level. (Talk about the Navon (1977) study, or the Word Superiority Effect here in your answer to the latter part of this question.) Template Theory: - We have templates (forms or patterns stored in long-term memory) corresponding to each of the visual patterns we know - It is simple but is not realistic in view of the enormous variations in visual stimuli allegedly matching the same template - Overall ill-equipped to account for the flexibility shown by people when recognizing alphabetical and numerical symbols Feature Theories: - a pattern consist of specific features or attributes - Pattern recognition involves processing these features and then integrating them into a whole - Stimuli can vary in size, orientation, and minor details and still be recognizable - Successful not only b/c of our reliance on our memory, but also b/c of the flexibility of the human perceptual system - Ex. ‘A’ - two straight but diagonal lines and a connecting crossbar - Neglected that:

- Global processing can precede more specific processing - The word presented can facilitate the identification of its letters Ex. word superiority effect: information about the word presented can facilitate identification of its letters Ex. Navon - In general forest before trees (global precedence)

Chapter 3 – Attention (& Consciousness): Terms / Short Answers: Hemi-Spatial Neglect (and Extinction) vs. Blindsight Blindsight:(with damage to V1) can detect there is something there or movement but with the absence of conscious awareness for what the stimulus is Hemi-Spatial Neglect: a disorder of visual attention in which stimuli presented to the side opposite the brain damage are not detected and not responded to - Most lose perception in their left visual field, and report no conscious awareness for objects presented here (strokes occur more on the right side of the brain) - Unlike blindsight, damage to temporal-parietal brain regions is not involved (NOT V1), and therefore the kind of information preserved is different Extinction (often found in patients with neglect): involves the inability to detect a visual stimulus on the side opposite to the brain damage when a second visual stimulus is presented on the same side as the brain damage ○ Reducing Neglect: ■ Prism glasses redirect gaze : shifts gaze a bit to force them to see the neglected field of view

Split-brain patients and evidence that consciousness is unitary - Split Brain Patients: patients in whom the direct link between two hemispheres (the corpus callosum) has been severed Common View- the left side of the brain plays the dominant role in consciousness most likely because language abilities are centered there and serves as the interpreter or self-supervisory system providing coherent interpretations of events Define hypnosis and offer one shred of empirical evidence in support of its legitimacy Issues / Essays: Compare and contrast Broadbent’s Early Filter Theory of selective auditory attention with Treisman’s Attenuation Theory. And give evidence from dichotic listening tasks in support

of each of these theories. Broadbent - Early Filter Theory

● Input is rejected unless attended to rapidly **Info passes through one ear based on its physical characteristics (spatial location)** Treisman - Attenuation Theory

● Irrelevant info is just weakened, rather than blocked out ● **filter is more flexible - starts with physical cues; but then attend to meaning as well, thus attenuating info that is not relevant (info from unattended ear can still get through)** Dichotic Listening: two stimulus inputs are presented- one to each ear - Broadbent: group of numbers presented in each ear, participant hears all numbers and recalls hearing them ear by ear (takes into account spatial location) - Treisman: the order of reporting the stimulus is not ear by ear but rather by meaning (Who 6 there & 4 goes 2) Selective visual attention has been hypothesized to behave as a spotlight, a zoom lens, and a donut. Describe the 3 pieces of work that supported these proposals. {Name the researchers and describe the tasks in their studies and their results.} Spotlight: illuminates a very small area, little can be seen outside its beam, although the spotlight of attention can be redirected flexibly to focus on any object - Posner: valid/invalid cue, neutral, and no cue - When cued (valid) the spotlight was already on the correct location so identifying where the stimuli was is faster Zoom Lens: we can increase or decrease the area of focal attention at will - in or out to alter the

visual area it covers - Muller et al. : observers cued to focus attention on one square, two squares, or all four squares - Told to determine whether a target object was presented when flashed an image of four objects in the area they were told to look at - The smaller the attended region, the faster the target detection Split Attention: allocation of attention to two or more nonadjacent regions of visual space (like a donut) -

Awh & Pashler: fixate in the middle and report digits seen in the cued location - According to zoom lens attention should be on the cued location and the middle digits as well - Detection in the middle numbers were poor; we can split our attention when directed to focus on corners or edges

Chapter 4 – Working (& Short-term) Memory: Terms / Short Answers: Short-term memory capacity (vs. duration) Short Term Memory: Refers to our ability to hold in mind some type of information for a period of 30 seconds - Capacity - Memory Span: the longest number of items (words, letters, digits) that an individual can recall immediately in the correct order at least 50% of the time - Capacity of STM is “7 ± 2” - Chunking: we can also store units of information by integrating many smaller items together - Duration: forget 50% by 6sec and most by 18sec Issues / Essays: What are the components (and their related functions) of Baddeley & Hitch’s Working Memory Model? And describe how these components might store and process information in a real-world, goal-directed everyday task (e.g., asking someone for directions in the city). Pay close attention to distinguishing how the central executive may differ from the other components. What’s so special about this component? Working Memory: refers to a system that combines both processing and short term memory functions in order to perform complex real-world tasks ○ Used in everyday tasks even though not memory related ○ Involves processing and storing ○ Ex. looking for keys, getting directions

Central Executi ve VisuoSpatial Sketchpa d

Episodic Buffer

Phonolog ical Loop

Visual Semantic --- Episodic LTM --- Language ● Phonological Loop: processing and storage of speech-based info ● Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad: processing and storage of visual and spatial info ○ Relies on “what” (occipital/temporal) and “where” (parietal) ● Episodic Buffer: a temporary storage and integration of info being processed by the Visuospatial sketchpad, the phonological loop, and long term memory ○ Helps provide the glue that forms a cohesive representation of what needs to be done in carrying out the current real-world task at hand ● Central Executive: acts as an attentional controller of quality and quantity of processing within the other components ○ Involves planning, coordination, and inhibition ○ Does not store any information

Chapter 5 – Long-Term Memory: Terms / Short Answers: Encoding, Storage, & Retrieval ● Encoding: taking information sensed from the outside world and turning it into electrical signals that the brain can store ○ Typing a word on a keyboard encodes information into MS word ● Storage: the creation of a trace of encoded information that can be maintained over a period of time ○ Saving in MS word stores information on your laptop ● Retrieval: locating or calling back stored info into awareness ○ Opening a document in MS word for use on your laptop Schemas: what kind of memory system do they rely on? When / why are they helpful / hurtful?

Much of the information stored in semantic memory is in the form of schemas: ● Organized knowledge of various kinds (e.g. about the world) stored in long term memory ○ Barlette (1932) argued that our memory for stores is affected not only by the presented story, but also by the participant’s store of relevant schematic knowledge ■ Rationalization: the tendency in story recall to produce errors conforming to the cultural expectations of the rememberer (is attributed to the influence of schemas) Amnesia (retrograde vs. anterograde) Amnesia: a condition caused by brain damage in which there are serious impairments of LTM, especially declarative memory ● Typically damage to the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe ● Retrograde Amnesia: impaired memory for events before injury onset ● Anterograde Amnesia: impaired memory for events after injury onset Consolidation (and its relationship with forgetting); Reconsolidation (and its relationship with misremembering) ● Consolidation: a physiological process involved in establishing LTM ○ According to “Consolidation Theory”, this process occurs in two phases: ■ First Phase: early forming of memory, over a period of hours, relies on the hippocampus ■ Second Phase: later forming of memory, over days to years, involves connections between the hippocampus and the cortex ● Our rate of forgetting is generally fastest shortly after learning, and this rate decreases progressively as time goes by ● An extension of Consolidation Theory: ○ Reactivating (remembering) a memory trace that has already been consolidated puts it back into a “fragile” state ○ this leads to Reconsolidation: ■ A new consolidation process that occurs when a previously formed memory trace is reactivated ● Very useful if we want to update our knowledge Issues / Essays: Levels of Processing Approach to Learning: Consider examples of what leads to deep vs. shallow processing. Levels of Processing Approach ○ The levels or depth of processing a stimulus has a large effect on it memorability ○ Deeper vs. shallow levels of analysis produce stronger and longer lasting memories

● Disagreed with the Atkinson & Shiffrin model that rehearsal always improves long-term memory ● Visuo-perceptual, acoustic-perceptual, semantic, and self-referential

What is non-declarative memory? We studied two sub-categories of this type of memory – what are they and how are they different from one another? And can you give some examples of how we can test for each? Non-Declarative Memory (Implicit Memory): does not involve conscious retrieval; refers to memories that cannot be declared; thus typically measured by observing changes in behavior ● Procedural Memory: memory for procedure involved in developing and perfecting skills; concerned with knowing “how” ○ Riding a bike, playing an instrument, driving a car ○ Mirror Tracing Task: trace a star quickly and accurately using a mirror to look at it ○ Amnesia patients have poor declarative, but can still drive cars ● Priming: a form of nondeclarative memory involving facilitated processing of (and response to) a target stimulus because the same or related stimulus was presented previously ○ Perceptual Priming: repeated presentation of a stimulus leading to faster or more accurate processing of its perceptual features ○ Conceptual Priming: repeated presentation of a stimulus leads to faster or more accurate processing of its meaning ■ Procedural memory is slow/gradual, priming happens rapidly ■ Procedural memory may generalize to other stimuli and tasks; priming involves memory that is tied to specific stimuli Chapter 6 – Everyday Memory: Terms / Short Answers: Hyperthymestic Syndrome vs. Flashbulb Memories (Talarico & Rubin, 2003) Autobiographical Memory: a form of declarative memory involving memory for personal

events across the lifespan ● Many people think they have really poor memory and are always forgetting, but most people also think they have excellent memory for dramatic world events (Flashbulb Memories) ○ Vividness remains the constant, but consistency of details decreases ● Hyperthymestic Syndrome: an exceptional ability to remember the events of one’s own life with great detail (like a movie) Issues / Essays: How did Loftus & Palmer (1974) show that eyewitness testimonies are susceptible to error? Describe the study’s task and results. -

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Eyewitnesses were shown a film of a multiple car accident and after they described what happened and answered a few questions - “About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” vs “smashed into” - Did you see any broken glass? (yes from those who were asked using smashed into) Thus our memory for events is so fragile it can be distorted by changing one word in a question Post-Event Misinformation Effect: the distorting effect on eyewitness memory of misleading information provided after the crime

General Knowledge – Chapter 7: Terms / Short Answers: Describe the typical levels of categorization. Provide examples. ● Category: a set of objects that belong together (e.g. pieces of furniture, animals) ○ Superordinate Category (ex. mammal) ○ Basic Level Category [best balance between informativeness and distinctiveness] (ex. dog) ○ Subordinate Category (ex. German shepherd) What are the basic principles that underlie Spreading Activation Theory? ● Spreading Activation Theory: Semantic memory is organized on the basis of semantic relatedness or semantic distance ○ Semantic Relatedness: can be determined by “asking to list 2 words that quickly come to mind when presented with the word ___” ○ Semantic Distance: Whenever you think of, see, or hear something (a concept) the appropriate node in semantic memory is activated this causes activation to spread strongly to closely related objects and weakly to distant related ■ Typicality Effect: the finding that the time taken to decide that a category member belongs to a category is less for more typical than for less typical items Semantic Dementia vs. Frontal-Temporal Dementia (Schemas vs. Scripts)

● Schemas: organized knowledge of various kinds stored in long term memory ○ Script: an event related schema organizing knowledge in temporal order ● Semantic Dementia: A condition caused by brain damage in which there is initially mainly extensive loss of knowledge about the meanings of words and concepts ○ Patients have difficulty categorizing and drawing objects ● Fronto-Temporal Dementia: patients have trouble with knowledge organization and sequencing of events Issues / Essays: Describe the three main theoretical approaches (i.e., Prototype, Exemplar, KnowledgeBased) we discussed for how we organize concepts in semantic memory. Provide the pros and cons for each. Using the same single example of an “object” across all three approaches, describe how these three theories would propose that this information is organized in semantic memory. 1. Prototype Approach: we make decision about whether an object is a category member based on its resemblance to a prototype a. Prototype: a conceptual core that incorporates the major features of a category, with some feature weighted more than others i. Pros: using a prototype reduces the amount of work needed to determine if an object is a member of a category: compare all objects to one prototype in LTM ii. Cons: doesn’t account for abstract concepts that don't have pr...