Cognitive Psychology (PSY 366)
Spring 2004—Dr. Hund
Exam 1 Review: Terms and Concepts
Note: This is a guide, not a comprehensive list. Concepts not on the list may appear on the exam.
Not all concepts on this list will appear on the exam. Exam 1 is worth 40 points. It will include
38 multiple-choice questions (1 point each) and 1 short-answer question (2 points).
Chapter 1: The Science of the Mind
Cognitive psychology
Introspection: definition, methods, problems
Behaviorism: definition, methods, problems
Cognitive revolution
4 factors influencing cognitive revolution
Information processing
Research methods in cognitive psychology
Controlled experiments: independent variable, dependent variable, causation, accuracy
and reaction time measures, mental chronometry
Neuropsychological methods
Verbal report, computer simulation
Controversies in cognitive psychology
Themes in cognitive psychology
Chapter 2: The Neural Basis for Cognition
Neuron: dendrite, cell body, axon, electrochemical transmission, synapse, neurotransmitters,
myelin
4 lobes: structure and functions
2 hemispheres
Research methods in cognitive neuroscience: types, logic, advantages, disadvantages
single cell recording, lesion studies, brain imaging, ERP
Subtraction technique: logic and examples
Cortex
Primary motor cortex
Primary sensory projection areas
Somatosensory cortex
Contralateral control
Corpus callosum
Prefrontal cortex
Visual cognition: photoreceptors (rods and cones), fovea, optic nerve, primary visual cortex
Receptive field
Hubel & Weisel (1959): feature detectors
Parallel and serial processing
Article A: Posner et al. (1988)
Cognitive neuroscience approach
Brain areas involved in posterior attention system
Subtraction method: logic, examples
PSY 366 Exam 1 Review
p. 2
Chapter 3: Recognizing Objects in the World
Perception
Binding problem
Gestalt Psychology: definition, assumptions, principles of perception
Figure-ground organization: definition, principles
Theories of object recognition: definitions, advantages, disadvantages
template matching
feature analysis
recognition by components
Geon
Visual search tasks and general findings
Word-superiority effect
Over-regularization errors
Proofreading difficulty
Prosopagnosia
Face recognition
Role of context on perception and object recognition
Top-down processing/concept-driven processing
Bottom-up processing/data-driven processing
Interactive processing
Efficiency v. accuracy of processing
Article B: Treisman (1986)
Two stages of visual processing
Illusory conjunction
Visual search: task, findings
Parallel and serial search
Role of attention in object perception
Chapter 4: Paying Attention
Selective attention
Dichotic listening
Shadowing
Attended channel
Cocktail party effect
Broadbent’s filter model
Treisman’s attenuated filter model
Inattentional blindness
Change blindness
Posner’s spotlight theory: cueing paradigm, results, conclusions
Treisman’s Feature Integration Theory
Neural basis of visual attention
Unilateral neglect syndrome
Channel segregation v. crosstalk
Divided attention
PSY 366 Exam 1 Review
p. 3
Dual task procedures
Task-specific v. task-general resources
Time-sharing
Psychological refractory period
Shiffrin & Schneider (1977) study: varied mapping condition, consistent mapping condition
Automaticity
Automatic v. controlled processes
Stroop effect
Practice
Article C: Cowan (1993)
Three aspects of memory system (Figure 1): definitions, examples
Whispered reading and listening dual-task paradigm: task, findings, conclusions
Decay and reactivation
Role of attention in working memory
Chapter 5: The Acquisition of Memories and the Working-Memory System
*Focus on pp. 128-148
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Atkinson & Shiffrin’s (1968) Modal Model
Sensory registers: characteristics, capacity, duration
Visual persistence
Iconic memory
Sperling (1960)
Short term memory: characteristics, capacity, duration, retrieval
Long term memory: characteristics, capacity, duration, retrieval
Working memory: characteristics, capacity, duration
Decay v. interference
Serial position curve: recency effect, primacy effect
Digit-span task
Active span
Central executive
Visuospatial sketchpad
Phonological loop
Maintenance rehearsal
Elaborative rehearsal
Article D: Baddeley (1992)
Three components of working memory model
Relation between working memory and other cognitive abilities
Dual-task paradigm: logic, task, findings, conclusions
Compare and contrast Baddeley’s model and Cowan’s model