Introduction to Cognitive Psychology 02 08 2013 Cognitive psychology branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind Mind o Creates and controls mental functions such as perception attention memory emotion language deciding thinking and reasoning Cognition mental processes such as perception attention memory and o System that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to so on achieve our goals How the mind operates and its functions creating representations and enables us to act and to achieve goals Donder s Experiment How long does it take to make a decision Measured reaction time how long it takes to respond to presentations of a stimulus o Simple reaction time task vs choice reaction time task Mental responses perceiving the light and deciding which button to push cannot be measured directly but must be inferred form behavior Ebinghaus s Memory Experiment what is the time course of forgetting How information that is learned is lost over time Presenting nonsense syllables so that his memory would not be influenced by the meaning of a particular word Savings method calculating the savings by subtracting the number of trials needed to learn the list after a delay from the number of trials it took to learn the list the first time o Savings score for each delay interval o Savings curve shows savings as a function of retention interval The curve indicates that memory drops rapidly for the first 2 days after the initial learning and then levels off Wundt s Psychology Laboratory Structuralism and Analytic Introspection Structuralism overall experience is determined by combining basic elements of experienced the structuralisms called sensations Analytic introspection a technique in which trained participants described their experiences and though processes in response to stimuli Watson founds behaviorism Problems with analytic introspection 1 it produced extremely variable results from one person to person 2 these results were difficult to verify because they were interpreted in terms of invisible inner mental processes Classical conditioning how pairing one stimulus with another previously neutral stimulus causes changes in the response to the neutral stimulus o Skinner s operant conditioning behavior is strengthened by the presentation of positive reinforcers such as food or social approval or withdrawal of negative reinforcers such as a shock or social rejections Reemergence of the mind in psychology Cognitive map conception of the maze s layout after a rat initially experienced the maze Chomsky saw language development as being determined by imitation or reinforcement but by an inborn biological program that holds across cultures Cognitive revolution 1950 s a shift in psychology from the behaviorist s stimulus response relationships to an approach whose main thrust was to understand the operations of the mind involved in cognition o Information processing approach traces the sequence of mental operations o Artificial intelligence making a machine behave in ways that would be called intelligent if a human were so behaving o Logic Theorist able to create proofs of mathematical theorems that involve principles of logic too complex to describe in the text book Memory consolidation information about the handoff run which was in a fragile state could become strengthened and transformed into a strong memory that is more resistant to interference by events such as taking a hit to the head Cognitive Neuroscience 02 08 2013 Cognitive Neuroscience the study of physiological basis of cognition Neurons building blocks and transmission lines of nervous system 180 billion neurons form the brain or traffic lights o Nerve net network in the brain believed to be continuous like a highway system in which one street connects directly to another but without stop signs o Neuron doctrine individual cells transmit signals in the nervous system and these cells are not continuous with other cells as proposed by nerve net theory Cell body contains mechanisms to keep the cell alive Dendrites branch out from the cell body to receive signals from other neurons Axon and nerve fiber transmits signal to other neurons Synapse small gap between the end of neuron s axon and dendrites or cell body of another neuron Neural circuits many neurons connected together o Receptors neurons that pick up information from the environment such as the neurons in the skin eye and ear Neuron Action Potential millisecond Nerve Impulse or Action Potential electrical signal transmitted down the axon Neuron becomes more positive and then charge returns to its original level all within 1 Neurotransmitter chemical released that makes it possible for the signal to be transmitted across the synaptic gap that separates the end of the axon from the dendrite or cell body of another neuron o Rate of nerve firing number of action potentials that travel down the axon per second increases as the intensity of the stimulus increases o Localization of function neurons serve different cognitive functions transmit signals to different areas of the brain Cerebral cortex most of the cognitive functions are served by the cerebral cortex which is the layer of tissue about 3mm thick that covers the brain Localization for Perception Primary receiving areas These are the first areas of the cerebral cortex to receive signals from each of the senses o Temporal lobe auditory smell underside o Occipital lobe vision o Parietal lobe area for the skin senses touch temperature pain o Frontal lobe receives signals from all of the senses and plays an important role in perceptions that involve the coordination of information received through two or more senses taste small area within Prosopagnosia an inability to recognize faces o Fusiform Face Area FFA area in the human brain that responds to faces it is in the fusiform gyrus on the underside of the temporal lobe corresponds to area usually damaged in patient with prosopagnosia Parahippocampal Place Area PPA within temporal cortex activated by pictures representing indoor and outdoor scenes Extrastriate Body Area EBA activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies but not by faces Module area specialized for a specific function Localization for Language Broca s Area area in the frontal lobe causes the condition called Broca s Aphasia Difficulty in expressing themselves but had no trouble understanding what other people were saying Wernicke s Area area in the temporal