EXP3604C Exam 1 Outline Intro to Cognitive Psych Evolution of Cognition Ch 1 8 28 9 4 Lectures Key Ideas for understanding Cognitive Psych perspectives Cognitive Psychology studies all of the discrete mental processes that enable any form of thought or behavior This can range from very basic processes Reaction Time The Sea Squirt To very complex processes Driving Reading Belief Systems Decision Making The thought process of chess experts Ultimate why vs Proximate how Causes Ultimate Causes are concerned with the Evolutionary reasons to why a cognitive process or phenomenon exists What adaptive value did it have How does it function to increase the fitness of an organism Proximate Causes focus less on the WHY and more on the HOW How are you able to read and understand this sentence Information Processing Perspective Proximate explanations in cognitive psychology largely take an Information Processing perspective Cognitive processes happen in a series of sequential stages At each stage something new is added to our understanding of that info An eventual response is the outcome of this series of stages and operations The reading example above involves at least Perceiving the pixels as letters Recognizing words Remembering the meaning of words Knowing how all the words fit together into a meaningful sentence Knowing what to do with this information remember it forget it reflect on it The role of Models Metaphors in cognitive psych Cognitive Psychology is highly analytical and detail oriented Lab experiments may seem small and artificial but we re really trying to isolate the various component parts of the mind Models enable us to identify the key components and mechanisms that make some kind of mental activity possible Not all Cognitive Processes are Conscious The 10 myth Everything that s Psychological is simultaneously physiological We can understand processes components by studying deficits disorders We learn lots about how things work by studying broken processes Damage to specific regions of the Parietal Lobe causes deficits in Size Constancy People walking away from you appear to be shrinking toward you growing Damage to the amygdala causes deficits in valence tagging Inappropriate appetite fear and sexuality Kluver Bucy Syndrome Damage to the fusiform gyrus causes prosopagnosia EXP3604C Inability to recognize faces Internal vs external Reality monitoring deficits contribute to hallucinations in schizophrenia Cognitive Psychology influences all other fields can be very practical Perception Attention Driving laws Memory Eyewitness testimony Distributed practice as the best study method Decision Making Opt out vs Opt in Retirement Savings plans Status Quo bias Increased choice diminishes optimal decision making Online dating Reasoning Appraisal Attribution Albert Ellis ABC Theory of Depression Mind as a Kluge Kluge Gary Markus A system especially a computer system that is constituted of poorly matched elements or of elements originally intended for other applications A clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem Adaptations vs exaptations Cognitive functions are a mix of adaptations to specific needs and exapations new uses built onto these adaptations Hippocampus Memory Existing functions can be used in novel ways but these exaptations may look glitchy because of their original use Ex Stereotyping Categorization processes Ex Getting ready for School on a Saturday proceduralization Localization of function modularity The Mind is largely modular Soft Modularity Specific adaptively relevant tasks are handled by specific brain regions networks Also called Localization of Function Evolution is stingy Evolution is stingy Neural tissue is very expensive Human brains comprise 2 of our body weight but demand 20 of our caloric energy New neurons brain regions are expensive Therefore evolutionary pressures cause cognitive functions to be just good enough rather than optimal Newer parts are the first to be de prioritized Hierarchical Organization of information processing Within brain regions different areas process and contribute different pieces of information which are organized hierarchically into a larger whole We can learn to process and recognize all kinds of things because of association area activity Rough overview of building a brain evolutionarily Hindbrain basic functions Oversimplified Functions Medulla Vital functions Reticular Formation Wakefulness Arousal as well as habituation attention Cerebellum Basal Ganglia Coordinated Movement Pons serves as a relay station a coordinator w higher areas Subcortical limbic system basic functions This is our old Mammalian brain responsible for motivation emotion and basic forms of learning and memory EXP3604C The foundation of our ability to predict Important for Pavlovian conditioning learning Learning to predict reward and punishment Highly contingent upon dopamine activity Hypothalamus Links the brain and endocrine system regulates hunger thirst sleep and sexual behavior Thalamus Processes and integrates sensory information relays sensory information to the cerebral cortex Amygdala Involved in memory and emotion especially fear and anger Hippocampus Involved in forming new memories Neo Cortex basic functions We can very roughly metaphorically think about the cortex in terms of two halves Posterior What is the world like sensory perception Anterior What does that mean what should we do about it memory motor planning Frontal lobe closely connected motor cortex movement planning Deliberative reasoning inhibition in general may be exaptations built on motor planning Anterior vs Posterior metaphor as backed up by functions of 4 lobes 1 Frontal Lobe Anterior Executive Functions reasoning judgment planning ahead making predictions impulse control Inhibiting automatic responses requires a lot of energy Theory of Mind Perceiving emotions Understanding intent Detecting deception 2 Temporal Lobe Anterior Executive Functions Auditory Perception Language comprehension Wernicke s Area Object Face Recognition 3 Occipital Lobe Posterior Executive Functions Visual Processing Damage causes hallucinations 4 Parietal Lobe Posterior Processes bodily info Spatial Awareness of objects Association areas integrate Sensation and Perception Ch 2 Supplemental Reading hallucinations 9 9 9 11 9 16 Lectures Sensation vs Perception Two ways for information to enter the mind Through recall retrieval memory Through sensory systems vision hearing touch smell taste
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