History and Research Methods

What does william james strongly believe about the mind?

∙ Definitions of Cognitive Psychology:

o Mental activity, which describes the acquisition, storage,  transformation, use and communication of information  (decision making and problem solving).

o Practical applications;  

 Life; on a regular basis, paying attention,  

remembering information and solving problems

 Teaching/Learning; Memory

 Clinical/Counseling; Understanding how your patients learn and make decisions

 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy We also discuss several other topics like How does one compute for stockholders' equity?

∙ History

o Cognitive psychology is one of the first thing psychologists  studied

 Structuralism  

∙ Definition: Study the structure of the mind,  

Who was the first to conduct experimental research on memory?

the structure, introspection (analyzing their  

immediate experiences Rorschach inkblot);  

reaction time (helps tell us how quickly you can

process information and if the task is more  

complex or simple.  

∙ Wundt: very first considered true  

psychologist, proposed that psychology should  

study mental processes, using a technique  

called introspection.  

o Introspection; meant that carefully  

trained observers would systematically  

analyze their own sensations and report  

them as objectively as possible, under  

standardized conditions.  

When does word superiority effect occur?

 Functionalism

∙ Definition: Study of the function of the mind,  

why it works this way?

∙ William James: the mind has a particular  If you want to learn more check out What that state’s constitution means?

function to help solve problems in everyday  

life.  

o The purpose.  

o Emphasizes that the human mind is  

active and inquiring.  

 Associationism

∙ Methods to studying memory.  

∙ Ebbinghaus: first person to do experimental  

research on memory

o Used himself as a subject in his studies If you want to learn more check out What is the key that is going to unlock the knowledge of the whole universe?

o Randomize letters, memorize and test  

himself

 Looking at wait time or relearning  

(forgetting curve)

 Gestalt

∙ Sensation and perception. If you want to learn more check out What is the theory of social learning?

∙ Wetheimer

∙ The whole is greater than the sum of its parts ∙ Can’t break mind down into pieces, need to  look at the bigger picture as a whole.  

∙ Emphasizes that we humans have basic  

tendencies to actively organize what we see;  

furthermore, the whole is greater than the sum  of its parts.

∙ Also emphasized the importance of insight in  problem solving.  We also discuss several other topics like What is the size of "venus" of willendorf?

o Cognitive psychologists were at odds with behaviorism  Behaviorism

∙ Objective

∙ Studying behavior

∙ Not suppose to make inferences of things we  don’t know

∙ Psychology must focus on objective,  

observable reactions to stimuli in the  

environment, rather than introspection.  

∙ Black box:  

o Stimulus enters the black box (mind;  

thinking and feeling)  behavior If you want to learn more check out What is the definition of installment accounts receivable?

∙ Watson: Spokesperson, not as much research o Emphasized observable behavior and  

typically studied animals

o Argued that researchers could not  

objectively study mental representations,

such as image, idea, or thought.  

o Modern Cognitive psychology…  

 Looks at the mind (thinking and feeling)

 Branched out from behaviorists,  

 Engineered and human factors,  

∙ Ex. Planes technology colors and placements. ∙ Computers – Artificial Intelligence

o What do people like (colors)

o Where are buttons

o User friendly programs

∙ Intelligence and neuropsych testing

∙ Education- learning disability

∙ Cognitive neuroscience

∙ Research Methods

o Cognitive Neuroscience;  

 Combines the research techniques of cognitive  

psychology with various methods for assessing the  structure and function of the brain.  

o Non-experimental Research;  

 Not primary focus

 Self-reports and case studies

∙ Detailed and exploratory research for one  

person

o Especially brain injury  

o Exceptional memories. Example genis  

book of world records in amount of #s  

remember pi  

o Computer simulations; simulating cognitive abilities by  using computers

o Experiments; Primarily used to study cognitive psychology  Repeated Measures: (within groups) use same people in all groups of the study. Run in all group conditions  of the study.

∙ Good for short experiments

∙ Example

o Group 1; Joe, Sam, Sally

o Group 2: Joe, Sam, Sally

 Independent Group Design: (Between groups) Control group to compare to different people

∙ Good if conditions interfere with other  

conditions

∙ Example

o Group 1; Joe, Sam, Sally

o Group 2; Bob, Pam, Rachel

 Dependent Variable; this is the variable that you  measure.  

 Independent Variable; this is the variable that you  manipulate

∙ Control group/condition

o Doesn’t receive treatment or placebo

o Not all experiments need control group

∙ Experimental group/condition

o Receive treatment  

 Confounding/extraneous variable

∙ Variables that affect the results  

∙ Often covaries with independent variable  

∙ Interfere with dependent variables.

Perception

∙ Sensation;

o Refers to the receptors in our body and how they pick up  information (more biology)

∙ Perception;  

o Study of the 5 senses

 Usually visual and auditory

 How we attribute meaning to this information  

 (More psychology)

∙ Top-down Processing: overall background information o Emphasizing how a person’s concepts, expectations, and  memory can influence object recognition

o Strong when stimuli are incomplete or ambiguous

∙ Bottom-up Processing: Starting from features

o Emphasize that the stimulus characteristics are important  when you recognize an object.  

o Forces you to register the component features, such as the  curve of the cup’s handle  

∙ Word Superiority Effect: when reading difficult things that we  need to decipher

o Because you can recognize letters better when in a word  vs. Non-words

o We can identify a single letter more accurately and more  rapidly when it appears in a meaningful word than when it  appears alone by itself or else in a meaningless string of  unrelated letters.  

∙ Theory of Object Recognition

o Gestalt Theories: oldest, (whole is greater than the sum  of its parts)

 Focused on the bigger picture

 Laws of perceptual organization

 Laws of perception separation; how do we separate  foreground from background

 Problem; better for understanding organization of  

information, not as much for recognition of objects

o Template theory: first true object recognition theory,  when trying to recognize an object you have a template to  match it to.

 Problem: where do we get the template? This would  require us to have a template from every single size.  o Feature Theory: Recognize objects based on features  (horizontal lines/vertical lines, curved)

 Problem: how are the features put together into  

something that is meaningful? Nothing that says how takes these features and nothing within connections  to the brain.

o Recognition by Components: (RBC), Biederman (1987) {36 Geons}

 Geons: series of 3-D shapes, cubes, cylinders, and  macaroni.

∙ With these Geons you should be able to make  

any object (first to find experimental evidence)

∙ Problem: lots of objects would look similar if  

drawn out by Geons, Details are missing and  

how we recognize objects

o View Based Theories: how we recognize object we take  snapshot of object with different perspectives

 Try and match with other snapshots inside our heads  (templates come about through this)

 Problem: How do we store all of these snapshots? ∙ FACE PERCEPTION; involves the fusiform gyrus o Global Processing: Holistically, we recognize face as a  whole

 Given faces to remember with a name.  

 Tested for recognition;  

∙ Holistically or local features

∙ Given pictures of a house

∙ When looking at faces (77% correct with  

holistic approach)

∙ When looking at object-recognize individual  

features

o Local Processing: Recognizing only features of a face o Thatcher Illusion/Effect: Margret Thatcher (prime  minister late 80s) look at pic upside-down, (Photoshop)  faces must be upright holistically

o Prosopagnosia: lack ability to recognize faces, it can be  acquired or born with brain deficiency of this part of the  brain,

 Cant recognize family members and people in front  of them

 Acquired: developed overtime

 Developmental: born with a deficiency of this part  of the brain

o Own Race Bias/ Cross Race Effect: depending on  environment

 Recognize people more from our own race compared  to another

 Past experiences with groups of people (exposure)

o Autism:  

 Prosopagnosia; decreased activity in the fusiform  

gyrus

o Schizophrenia:  

 Prosopagnosia; decreased activity in the fusiform  

gyrus

Attention

∙ Definition; processing by a limited amount of information that  enters consciousness

∙ Two Functions;

o Divided Attention;  

 Multi-tasking: trying to pay attention to two or more  things at the same time.  

∙ They strain the limits of the attention, as well  

as the limits of their working memory and their

long-term memory.  

 Task Switching; doing one thing at a time and then  switching back to another task

∙ Writinglisteningwriting

 Paying attention to 2 different things. Listening and  taking notes

o Selective Attention: when we try to pay attention to 1  thing and ignoring everything else around us.

 Focus attention on professor while selecting to ignore other classmates as well as noises from the hall.

 Brodbent’s model-older

 Attenuation Model: More realistics,

∙ Sensory system

∙ Attenuator (filter that has 2 filters)

∙ Memory; have more than important  

information placed into memory and only a  

small amount of information placed in memory.

o Dichotic Listening; studied by asking people to wear  earphones; one message is presented to the left ear, and a different message is presented to the right ear.  

o Shadowing; listening to the message and repeat it after  the speaker.  

o Cocktail Party Effect; even if you are paying close  attention to one conversation, you may notice if your name is mentioned in a nearby conversation.  

o Stroop Task; people take a long time to name the ink  color when that color when it appears as a solid patch of  color.

o Brodbent’s Model:

 Sensory system; when sensory information is coming at us (visual and auditory).

 Selective Filter only one filter and it only allows  

important information into memory

 Memory

o Change Blindness; we fail to detect a change in an object or scene

o Inattentional blindness; when we are paying attention  to some events in a scene, we may fail to notice when an  unexpected but completely visible object suddenly appears

∙ ADHD; Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder o Symptoms; hard to pay attention, fidgety, distracted  easily, memory issue, having trouble sitting still

o 3 types;  

 Issues with attention

 Hyperactivity

 Mixture of issues with attention and  

hyperactivity

o Having trouble…

 Planning projects, organizing, multitasking, inhibiting  behavior; Go-No-Go task (respond to one and not  

respond to another)

 Within Prefrontal Cortex… executive function.

SHORT TERM MEMORY

∙ Atkinson-Shiffrin Model (MODLE MODEL)

o PerceptionSensory Memory

AttentionSTMEncodingLong term  

Memoryretrieval--> STM

 Limitations and Criticisms;  

∙ Capacity and duration of Short Term Memory  

can be stretched

∙ Short term Memory and Long term memory  

depend on each other, hard to separate  

∙ Model stresses structures instead of processing

o How we are processing (chunking)

∙ Capacity: How large is this type of memory?

∙ Duration: How long can we remember with this type of  memory?

o Sensory; short (1-2seconds)

o Short Term Memory; short (30seconds)

o Long Term Memory; Long

∙ Short Term Memory; is talked about with working memory ∙ Working Memory; is more similar to attention

∙ Sensory Memory;

o George Sperling; Did most of the research

o Memory for senses (visual, auditory…)

o Remembering information for 1-2 seconds

o If we pay attention to it the duration increases

o Duration; a second or 2

 Sparkler… new info is sparks.. tail is old info as it  disappears.  

o Capacity; how much information

 Full Report; Showed matrix of letters for 50  

milliseconds

∙ Then participants were asked to recall as many

letters as they could  

∙ 3-4 items recalled (capacity)

∙ As they write the letters down they were  

forgetting the letters (underestimation)

 Partial Report; Shows letters for 50 milliseconds ∙ Gives them a cue to tell them what line to  

recall.

∙ A high pitch, medium and low tone

∙ Estimated capacity is 9 items.

∙ Don’t have information falling out of the head.  

∙ Short Term Memory;

o Capacity;  

 George Miller; Magic #7

 Chunking; changes the amount recalled

 7 items could be more flexible  

 Chunk is also in long term memory (the guy  

remembering pi)

o Duration;

 Brown/Peterson Technique

∙ Series of 3 random letters and random # ex.  

VZN780

o Distractor; Count backward by 3s  

[777,774,771…]

o Stop counting at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 seconds

o Now recall the letters in order

 Classic Forgetting Curve

∙ As the distractor duration increases there is  

less correct recall.

∙ If distractor duration is close to immediate  

more often correct when recalling

 Serial Position Effect;

∙ More likely to remember things at the  

beginning and end of the list. (u-shaped curve)

∙ Primacy; Remember the beginning

rehearsing

o Critique; make them do something else  

would destroy the rest. Don’t tell them it  

is a memory test (deception)

o Some sort of delay (monkey)

 Present pictures then delay- given  

2 pictures asked which one they  

saw and were given a reward.  

∙ Recency; remembering the end of the list

most recent

o Critique; Play around with time before  

they are able to write it down and do a  

distractor task and then recall.

 Recency effect goes away

∙ Not good at remembering middle of the list

∙ Seen in STM and LTM

∙ Working Memory;

o Has a small capacity for ongoing tasks (active process  present)

∙ Short term Memory; is only storage with small capacity and  short period of time (passive Process)

o Storing information from the past

∙ Visuospatial Sketch Pad

o Visual, spatial, non-verbal

o Navigation (getting around)

o Location of items (memory)

o Function;

 Storage is a small amount of information for a long  time

∙ Different modalities for tasks we should be ok  

o Visual and auditory

o Memory for scenes; where were objects in the room? o Mental rotation

o Robbins et. Al (1996)-chess players

 Control group; repetitive tapping while doing task  Phono Loop; Articulatory suppression (‘seesaw’)

 Visuospatial; press key in clockwise fashion

 Central; random # generation

 The visuospatial and central executive were  

suppressed

∙ Phonological Loop

o Phono-sound, auditory, verbal

o Language; spoken and reading

o Function is to store a small amount of information for a  long period of time

o Different modalities for tasks we should be ok… visual and  auditory

o How do we isolate it?

o Word Length Effect; remember more short words than  longer words because its not taking up as much space o Phonological Similarity Effect; Words that all sound the  same and a list of unique words

 Actually people perform better on the unique list  because word is too similar.  

o Articulatory Suppression; using the same modality, do  better with the list without saying the.

∙ Central Executive

o Integrate and coordinate information between all of the  boxes

o Paying attention  

o Transforming information

o Coordinating behaviors

o Task switching

o Suppressing irrelevant information

o People with damage to prefrontal cortex often have  problems with central executive tasks

o Doesn’t Store information

∙ Episodic Buffer

o Integrate and coordinate information between all of the  boxes  

o Coordinates information from the visuospatial sketch pad  and phonological loop

o Based on episodic memory

 Type of long term memory

 Information you have acquired yourself (personally)