ap psych prep 7 - cognition

8/13/2019 AP Psych Prep 7 - Cognition

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AP Psych. Prep 7:

Cognition


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Outline:

Cognition involves a number of different

skills and abilities:

Memory

Language

Thinking

Creativity


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Memory

Memory is anything that suggests that

learning has remained over time.

Psychologists wonder about how and whywe remember and forget things, and how

accurate our memories are.


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Memory Application: Try toRemember These

Word: Spectacular.


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Two Models of Memory

There are two main ways of understanding

how our memory works. The first is:

Three-Box or Information Processing Model

Memories pass through three stages before

they are permanently stored


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Information ProcessingModel:


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Information ProcessingModel:

First, outside events can enter our sensory

memory. Some of this can move into ourshort-term memory. And finally some will

move into long-term memory.

Note: These are representationsof part of a

process, NOT real physical parts of our

brain.


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Sensory Memory

Visual Sensory Memory - (about a second) - Also

called iconic memory. very short term, but accurate

representation of visual images.

Only some information moves from sensory memory

to short-term memory. Selective Attention does this.

(remember cocktail party effect)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfA3ivLK_tE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfA3ivLK_tEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfA3ivLK_tE


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Sensory Memory

We also have echoic memory for sound

information. (3-4 seconds) - this is how

we can sometimes accurately hearsomething a couple seconds AFTER

someone says it, if we werent paying

attention at the exact time they said it;

we can check the echoic memory to catch

something we missed.


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Short-Term Memory

Also called Working Memory - the information we are

using / working with now is held here.

Also temporary; about 10-30 seconds if not being used.

George Millerexperiments - asked people to remember

items to find the limit of our short-term memory storage.

Found it to be about 7 items (+/- 2)


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Short-Term Memory

If we use chunking by grouping items together, we can improve

our ability to remember more information (but stillabout 7

chunks is the limit)

Mnemonic Devices (memory tricks) are often forms of chunking.E.g.

Dumb Kids Playing Catch On Freeway Get Squashed.

(Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus,

Species) [now you only need to remember 1 sentence; much

easier ^^]

Rehearsal (repeating) can also help keep info in short-term

memory.


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Long-Term Memory

Our permanent storage. Seemingly

unlimited storage capacity and time period.

Though things can be forgotten...

3 forms of Long-Term Memories: Episodic,

Semantic, and Procedural.


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Long-Term Memory

Episodic - episode or story memories. e.g.

remembering a conversation with a friend

yesterday.

Semantic - meaning memories, for facts, instead of

episodes. e.g. what does the word textbook mean?

Procedural - memory for how to perform some

skill; hard to explain to others. Can be complicated.

E.g. how to ride a bike.


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Long-Term Memory

There are also Explicit (Declarative) Memories and Implicit

(Non-Declarative) Memories.

Explicit memories - we consciously and intentionally remember

events and facts. Matches best with episodic and semantic

memories.

Implicit memories - we are unconsciously influenced by previous

experience when we remember or perform some task. E.g. being

around Father when he fixes a car a lot --> remember some

things about car repair if you have to do it on your own. Matches

best with semantic and procedural memories.


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Long-Term Memory

Psychologists are interested in the very rare peoplewho have special memory abilities.

Photographic (or Eidetic) Memory - ability to

remember huge amounts of information for a very

long time.

E.g.Alexandra Luriadid a case study of someonewho could repeat a list of 70 letters and numbers

forward, backward, and up to 15 years after seeing

it, purely from memory!


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Long-Term Memory

Eidetic memory has been described as being able to see the

material in persons mind now. They can bring an image of the

list into their mind and just read the symbols.

Sara Bonderoff, Dans friend from High School claimed to have

real photographic memory. She talked about turning the pages of

a book in her mind, and reading the information from it.

Photographic memory is commonly used to just mean really

good memory, but this use is different from how Psychologists

use the word.


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Levels of Processing Model of Memory

One model of memory is Information

Processing Model. The other is the Levels of

Processing Model.

This model is based on

how deeply we process

memories.

Deep vs. Shallow.


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Levels of Processing Model

Deep / Elaborative Processing - things we process more

deeply, using more time, energy, and understanding the

material more fully (reasons, connections to other info.,

etc); These things will be much easier to remember.

Its much easier to deeply process information that we aremore interested in. Its easier to devote the time and

energy required to deeply process things in these cases.


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Levels of Processing Model

Shallow / Maintenance Processing - Not deep processing,

just repeating a few times; using much less time and energy

on thinking about something.

Will remember for a shorter time, much harder to

remember later.

Both Information Processing Model and Levels of

Processing Model can be useful to help us explain how

people remember information.


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Retrieval - Memory Test:

What was the word on the

screen near the start?


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What was the word on the screen

near the start?

Stupendous Spectacular

Amazing Super


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Which image did we see earlier?


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Retrieval

Both models of memory require the retrieval of

information from storage in our minds. We need to get

info. from our memories in order to use it.

There are two kinds of retrieval: Recognition and Recall.

Recognition - Matching something you can see with

something in memory. E.g. many multiple choice

questions.

Recall - not matching, just producing information you

need


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Retrieval

Psychologists want to understand what can change how well we

retrieve information from memory.

Hermann Ebbinghaus- found that order could affect how easily

we can remember listed items:

Serial Position Effect / Curve - the fact that the first and last

items in a list are easier to remember.

First items - Primacy Effect (prime is first)

Last items - Recency Effect (more recent)

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Retrieval

Semantic Network Theory: memories are formed

by connecting them to related things in our

brains.

Sometimes we might search for memory by

moving through things that are closely connected

to it if we are having trouble retrieving it.

(e.g. tip-of-tongue phenomenon, where you can

almost remember something)

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Retrieval

Flashbulb Memories - memories that seem veryclear and accurate, even much later in time (but

they can actually be inaccurate sometimes).

Can be formed for

especially important orstressful / traumatic

events.

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Retrieval

Mood-Congruent Memory - mood matchingmemories are more easily remembered. E.g. If

youre happy, its easier to remember happy

events.

State Dependent Memory - where the mental

state (e.g. sleepy or not sleepy) or environment

of the person will increase retrieval ability.

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Retrieval

State Dependent Memory

E.g. Deep sea divers remember things learned under the

water better when they are under the water, and things

learned on land better when theyre on land.

Therefore training in

the actual environment

where youll use the

information is better.

(Also Door Effect)

bl i i l


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Problems in Retrieval

Constructive Memory

Memory is not perfect. We can create memories and

feel like they are what really happened.

One way to do this is to ask many questions to a person,

while suggesting some facts about what happened.

These constructed memories are very difficult for the

person to tell apart from real memories.

bl i i l


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Problems in Retrieval

We need to check these constructed memories against

other evidence(we cant trust them)

Can be a very serious problem for:

1. Criminal interrogations - (false confessions or false

criminal witness statements can happen)

2. Psychological therapy - (false memories of past abuse -

Recovered Memories are very dangerous)

F i


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Forgetting

We can forget due to decay, if we dont use information

for a long time. Some think the information isnt gone,

just we cant locate it.

But info. rarely disappears completely. Relearning effect

means learning it again will take less time and effort than

the first time.

As well, Interference can cause forgetting. Interference is

when other information in our brain makes it difficult to

remember something.

i f


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Forgetting: Interference

Two kinds of Interference:

1. Retroactive Interference: New information makes it hard to

remember old information.

Retroactive = past active Acts towards the past; Note also:

Retrograde amnesia

Old Info. New Info.

Interference

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Forgetting: Interference

2. Proactive Interference: Old information makes it hard to

remember new information.

Proactive = future active Acts towards future/new

E.g. Dan learns a new meaning for a Korean word, and old

meaning is easily remembered, but new meaning is very hard to

remember.

Old Info. New Info.

Interference

h i l S


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Physical Memory Storage

How memories are actually stored in the brain is not well

understood yet.

Hippocampus Damage - anterograde amnesia - cant encode new

memories (Remember H.M.)

But CAN recall old memories, and can learn new proceduralmemories, and perform them well.

Therefore, procedural memories dont need the hippocampus to

be formed.

Ph i l M S


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Physical Memory Storage

Procedural memories are likely stored in the cerebellum -

area that controls coordination of muscles, etc.

Many psych. think that memories are formed when

neurons create stronger physical connections with each

other.

E.g. axons and dendrites growing, increase in

neurotransmitter receptors, etc.

L


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Language

Language is strongly connected to our cognitive processing. We very

often think using language.

Parts of Languages:

Phonemes - the smallest units sound in a language. e.g. /b/, /f/,

,, etc. (phono = sound)

Morphemes - smallest unit of meaningful sound. sometimes words

or parts of words that have meaning. e.g. hat, pre-, -ing, etc.

Syntax - like grammar. The rules for how to put morphemes

together to form a message that makes sense to others.

L A i iti


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Language Acquisition

There are common stages of first language

acquisition that cross cultures

Stage 1: Babbling ~4 months

Just making sounds; trying them out / practicing

At this stage, can make sounds from all languages

Later our languages sounds stay strongly, but it

gets really hard to make foreign sounds properly

L A i iti


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Stage 2: Holophrastic Stage

The one word stage. Babies use single words only to

convey meaning

Stage 3: Telegraphic Speech Stage

Combing a few words to communicate meaning. Usuallygrammar rules are missing, but we can understand their

meaning

e.g. want cookie give water

L A i iti


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As children move forward in language learning,

they learn grammar and syntax rules.

Also often overgeneralize / over-regularize theserules; they use the rules in all cases, because they

dont know exceptions.

Common example of this is using -ed for ALL past

tense. e.g. eated runed

L A i iti


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Overgeneralization is evidence that we dont just copy

parents and others we hear in order to learn language.

Parents dont ever say eated so a child wont say that if

all they do is copy what their parents say.

A long time ago, behaviourists thought we learnedlanguage just by copying parents language and being

rewarded or punished.

L A i iti


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But now thought to more complicated process.

Children dont just copy, but seem to quickly and

easily pull in and start to use a lot of language andlanguage rules.

Noam Chomsky suggested we have a language

acquisition device in our minds that actively

works to learn language when we are young.

L A i iti


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This language acquisition device idea also

includes the critical period for our first language

learning. Later the acquisition device will turn off,

so if we dont learn a language during this critical

period, it will be extremely difficult or impossible

to learn a language at that later age.

Supported by case studies with people who have

grown up without people around. feral children.

L A i iti


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This way of thinking called Nativist Theory

of Language Acquisition.

Many researchers think that both Nativist

and Behaviourist ways of thinking can help

us explain how language is learned.

L d Thi ki


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Language and Thinking

Language is strongly connected to our thinking. We often think

usinglanguage.

So some think that which language we speak can affect howwe

think to some degree, or even limit our thinking in some ways.

Common example is Northern Canadian Natives many words

for snow. Scientists using these to expand their ability to discuss

and think.

Evidence for strong influences on thinking or limits to thinking

have not been found yet.

Thi ki d C ti it B i


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Thinking and Creativity: Basics

Concepts / Schemata- the category structures in our

minds; we use these to make sense of the world

E.g. Schema for dog might include:

has hair

four legs

tail

is cute



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Concepts / Schemata sometimes bring us to the

right answer:

We often easily assimilate new information into ourschemas - This is also a dog, it fits with my

schema and so our schemas get more complicated

and useful.



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Sometimes its not easy, and we we need to use

accommodation.

Change: Create New:

Maybe dogs arent Similar, but not dog

always cute... new schemata needed



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Prototype: the most typical example of a

concept; We compare things in our world

against the prototype and make judgmentsbased on how similar

or different it is.

I.e. The dog that is the

most dog-like.

Thinking and Creati it Basics


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We often think using language, but we can

also think with images

Images are sensory thoughts. This is a bit

misleading, because we can also have

image sensory thoughts that are notvisual. Most are visual, but they can be

others too...

Thinking and Creativity: Problem Solving


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Thinking and Creativity: Problem Solving

Algorithm - a step-by-step procedure that will

eventually bring the right answer (often used in

computer processing)

To follow some rule and work through

possible answers until you find the right one.

E.g. Friends lock combination. You can try all

the possible numbers until you find the right

one. Very slow, but can find answer eventually

Problem Solving: Algorithms vs Heuristics


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Problem Solving: Algorithms vs. Heuristics

Heuristics - a rule of thumb, a fast rule

that will often lead to the right answer.

We often use these as shortcuts to help us

quickly find an answer.

Fast, but can bring wrong answer, so wehave to be careful and not trust these too

strongly.

Examples of Heuristics


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Availability Heuristic - making judgment based on how

easily you can think of examples of something. If you can

easily think of examples, you assume something is

common or true.

E.g. A friend who was very surprised when they saw an

African-American man speaking Korean. Could probably

think of many examples of white men who learnedKorean, but few examples of African-Americans who

did... [True Story]

Heuristic Trial:


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Heuristic Trial:

Lets replicate a study done by Kahneman

and Tversky in 1973.

We will have two groups in our trial. Read

your paper and follow the instructions.

Then we will share our results.

Heuristic Trial:


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Heuristic Trial:

Kahneman and Tversky found that participants were

most likely to say Tom was an engineering student,

and least likely to say he was a social science student.

As well, these were different from peoples general

ideas about how many students are in each major.

Because he seemed to be similar to our idea of

engineering students, this happens. Called

Representativeness Heuristic.



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Representativeness Heuristic - Making judgments

based on how well something matches our prototype

of the thing.

Can be a problem because things can be similar to our

prototypes, but not actually members of that group.

E.g. Tom could have been any of those types ofstudents. There was no evidence he was engineering,

but people still thought that way...

Problem Solving


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Problem Solving

There are also other kinds of heuristics.

Heuristics can lead us to be overconfident,

thinking our judgments are more accurate

than they really are.

People are often more confident than they

should be based on the available evidence.

Problem Solving examples of overconfidence


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Problem Solving - examples of overconfidence

Belief Bias - when we evaluate evidence and

arguments in ways that support the conclusion that

we alreadybelieve in. Our decision is made before

see the evidence

Belief Perseverance - tendency to keep our incorrect

beliefs, even if our reasons for those beliefs have

been shown to be incorrect

Using the follo ing items attach the


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Using the following items, attach thecandle to the wall and light it.


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Other Dangers to Problem Solving


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Rigidity (or Mental Set) - The commonly used

strategy of using past solutions or experience

when facing a new problem.

Can stop people from seeing a possible new

solution

Functional Fixedness - a specific form of

rigidity where we only think of the old use for

an object.

Functional Fixedness:


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Confirmation Bias: when we look for

evidence and better remember things that

confirm the beliefs we already have, and

we ignore or discount information that

goes against our belief.



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Framing: the way we word a problem can affect how

people think about a problem, and how they will solve

it.

[See Framing Example Handout]

We also have to be careful about how we frame our

questions when we do experiments and surveys. If notcareful, how we say our question can influence how

people answer. Especially for embarrassing topics.

Creativity


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Creativity

Very hard to define,

aha experience -Wolfgang Kohlers insight

learning (chimpanzees and banana problem)This kind of new use for something or new

kind of solution might hint at creativity.

Sort of the opposite of rigidity....

Creativity: Divergent vs Convergent Thinking


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Creativity: Divergent vs. Convergent Thinking

Convergent Thinking - thinking that points

towards one usual solution, method, etc. (very

similar to rigidity, functional fixedness)

Divergent Thinking -

new creative ways of

thinking. Thinking

outside the box

ap psych prep 7 - cognition

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