PSYC 358 EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: COGNITION MAY 30 – JUNE 30, 2017 VIA DISTANCE LEARNING (MYCOURSES/BLACKBOARD) ! INSTRUCTOR: SRI SIDDHI N. UPADHYAY EMAIL: [email protected] OFFICE HRS: BY EMAIL 1Chapter 1 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2¡ “What a piece of work is man. How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a god!” § Act 2, Scene 2, Shakespeare’s HamletINTRO TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 3INTRO TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY ¡ What is Cognitive Psychology? § Scientific study of human memory and mental processes, including: perceiving, remembering, using language, reasoning, and solving problems ¡ What is cognition? § The collection of mental processes and activities used in perceiving, remembering, thinking, and understanding, as well as the act of using those processes ¡ What is memory? § The mental processes of acquiring and retaining information for later retrieval and the mental storage system that enables these processes. 4WHAT DO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGISTS STUDY? 1. Write down 4 memories from 2012. 2. Estimate the calendar date of each of those events. 5THE CALENDAR EFFECT ¡ For students: recalled events appear to be more frequent near the beginning and the end of school terms than from other times of the year. § Kurbat, M. A., Shevell, S. K., Rips, L. J. (1998). A year’s memories: the calendar effect in autobiographical recall. Memory & Cognition, 26(3), 532-552 6POTENTIAL EXPLANATIONS OF THE CALENDAR EFFECT ¡ People’s recall of their own lives is not only selective but also patterned by the large-scale structure of their life roles: ¡ Important events, which are easier to remember happen at the beginning and end of school terms. ¡ We are biased in our dating of events. ¡ Term boundaries are used as retrieval cues. 7TESTING POTENTIAL EXPLANATIONS OF THE CALENDAR EFFECT ¡ Importance of events? Recalled events from term boundaries not rated as more important ¡ Biased dating? No. Subjects were biased in favor of middle of school term ¡ Endpoints act as retrieval cue: § Calendars with school term endpoints increased the calendar effect § Calendars with holidays marked decreased the effect 8MORNING, CAFFEINE, AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE ¡ Most (75%) adults over the age of 65 describe themselves as morning people. ¡ <10% of adults under the age of 65 describe themselves as morning people. ¡ Shift seems to occur at about age 50. ¡ Occurs cross-culturally. § Ryan, Hatfield, & Hofstetter, (2002). Psychological Science. 9SYNCHRONY ¡ Subjective time of day preference (morning, afternoon, evening) correlates with test performance on a variety of cognitive tasks § Target detection § Memory § Analytical thought and judgments § Ability to ignore irrelevant information ¡ Implication: § Differences in performance between younger and older adults will be inflated if they are tested in the afternoon 10IMPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH In addition to obvious implications: ¡ Results are important for researchers who study age-related changes in cognition. ¡ Because testing older and younger participants in the afternoon will inflate age differences in cognitive abilities. 11RYAN ET AL. (2002) ¡ Purpose: § Determine whether caffeine could alleviate the time of day effect in older adults ¡ Rationale: § General decrease in physiological arousal? § A general stimulant may increase arousal and eliminate decline in cognitive function 12METHODS ¡ 40 older adults (Mean age 71.3) ¡ Recruited via telephone. § Morningness/Eveningness Scale given § Are they definitely morning, moderately morning, definitely afternoon, moderately afternoon, or neutral. ¡ Selected participants were definitely or moderately morning types who were also in good health. ¡ All reported consuming some amount of caffeine daily. 13DESIGN ¡ Dependent variable: Memory performance § Recall & Recognition immediately and after a delay. ¡ Independent variables: § Time of day § 8 a.m. or 4 p.m. § Caffeine § One cup of decaf or regular coffee § (Starbucks house blend). 14¡ Without caffeine older subjects’ performed more poorly in the afternoon. ¡ However, the decline was eliminated by a cup of coffee. ¡ Extrapolate to younger adults? EFFECT OF TIME AND CAFFEINE ON MEMORY IN OLDER ADULTS 15COMPLEXITY IN COGNITION ¡ Read the question and come up with the answer. ¡ While doing so, try to be as aware as possible of the thoughts that pass through your head as you consider the question. How many hands did Aristotle have? 16COMPLEXITY IN COGNITION ¡ Read the question and come up with the answer. ¡ While doing so, try to be as aware as possible of the thoughts that pass through your head as you consider the question. What is 723 divided by 6? 17COMPLEXITY IN COGNITION ¡ Read the question and come up with the answer. ¡ While doing so, try to be as aware as possible of the thoughts that pass through your head as you consider the question. Does a robin have wings? 18¡ Even the simplest thoughts and behaviors involve a large number of complex cognitive processes § e.g., identification, pattern recognition, comprehension, matching with info. in memory, checking against previously stored info., reasoned, made a decision, step-wise computations, etc. ¡ Many of these processes operate outside of conscious awareness. COMPLEXITY IN COGNITION 19Simple questions = over simple-minded results ¡ Ecological validity: § Generalizability to the real-world situations in which people thing and act (Neisser, 1976). ¡ Reductionism: § Attempting to understand complex events by breaking them down into their components. THE STUDY OF COGNITION: CONCERNS 20History, Assumptions, & Major themes of Cognitive Psychology COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 21¡ Aristotle (385-322, B.C.): Empirical approach ¡ Descartes: (1596 - 1650) “I think therefore I am” ¡ Scientific Revolution: 1550 – 1700 § Shift from Rationalism to Empiricism ¡ Founding of Psychology , 1879 ¡ Behaviorism: 1913 - 1950+ ¡ Cognitive Psychology: circa 1960 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: HISTORY 22¡ Founded the first psychological journal (Philosophical Studies) and the first laboratory. ¡ Believed that the proper topic for psychology to