Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Psychology The study of the mental processes (thinking) by which information from the environment is modified, stored, retrieved, used, and communicated to others 1

Effortful Processing Committing novel information to memory requires effort just like learning a concept from a textbook. Such processing leads to durable and accessible memories.

Types of Memory • Episodic memory: Memory of an event that happened while one is present • Semantic memory: Memory containing generalized knowledge about the world • Procedural memory: Memory containing information about how to do things (Muscle Memory)

Explicit and Implicit Memory • Explicit memory: The process in which people intentionally try to remember something • Implicit memory: The unintentional influence of prior experiences • Impact of priming

Models of Memory Information-processing model: Information is seen as passing through three stages of mental processing: Encoding Storage Retrieval

Basic Memory Processes

Types of Retrieval • Recall: Bringing information to mind when the information was NOT already present. (Free response questions, fill in the blank) • Recognition: Having the information presented to you and knowing that it is correct. (Multiple Choice)

Types of Memory Failure • Encoding Failure: You never encoded the information. It never went from sensory memory to short term memory (lack of attention) or it never went from short term to long term memory (lack of rehearsal) • Storage Failure: You had it but you “forgot” it because of time and decay

Types of Memory Failure • Retrieval Failure: You have it in there somewhere, but just can’t seem to get it out at that moment • Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Sensory Memory • Major function is to hold information long enough to be processed further • Sensory Registers • Selective Attention: Mental resources are focused on only part of the stimuli around us • Remaining sensory memories fade quickly

Short-Term and Working Memory • Short-term memory (STM): The part of the memory system that stores limited amounts of information for a limited time • Holds information up to about 18 seconds unless rehearsed • Also called: Working memory: Allows us to mentally work with, or manipulate, information being held in short-term memory • STM encoding is acoustically dominated

A Serial-Position CurveRecall is effected by what position it is in the series.

Capacity of Short-Term Memory • Miller’s “Magic Number”: 7 plus or minus 2 chunks of information • We lose Short Term memory quickly at it is gone in 18 to 30 seconds without rehearsal

The Power of Chunking • Chunking is the act of making many units of information into fewer units of the same information • Phone and Social Security Numbers 7 7 0 6 8 3 2 8 9 4 is harder to remember than 770-683-2894 • Chunking can also organize info by category

Rehearsal Effortful learning usually requires rehearsal or conscious repetition. Ebbinghaus studied rehearsal by using nonsense syllables: TUV YOF GEK XOZ Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

Rehearsal The more times the nonsense syllables were practiced on Day 1, the fewer repetitions were required to remember them on Day 2.

Ebbinghaus’s Curve of Forgetting

Long-Term Memory (LTM) • A relatively long-lasting stage of memory whose capacity to store new information is believed to be unlimited • Usually involves some degree of semanticencoding or extensive rehearsal • Capacity is extremely large, if not unlimited (never “full”) • We are WAY overconfident in accuracy of long term memories

Context and State Dependence • Context Effect Memories: Memories that are helped or hindered by similarities or differences between the contexts in which they are learned and recalled • Learn it in one place, remember it in same place

State Dependent Memories: Memories that are helped or hindered by similarities or differences in a person’s internal state during learning versus recall • Learn it drunk, remember it drunk • Mood congruency effects • Learn it happy, remember it happy

Flashbulb Memory A unique and highly emotional moment may give rise to a clear, strong, and persistent memory called flashbulb memory. However, this memory is not free from errors. President Bush being told of 9/11 attack.

Constructive Memory • Memories are affected by not only what we perceive, but also by generalized knowledge about the world • Existing knowledge is used to organize new information as we receive it • We fill in gaps in information that we encode and retrieve

When CONSTRUCTING memories, we fill in missing pieces of information to make our recall more coherent. Loftus’ research shows that if false memories (lost at the mall or got sick from strawberries) are implanted in individuals, they construct (fabricate) their memories. Misinformation Effect:Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

Constructed Memories Elizabeth Loftus’ research shows that if false memories (lost at the mall or drowned in a lake) are implanted in individuals, they construct (fabricate) their memories. Don Shrubshell

Misinformation and Imagination Effects Eyewitnesses reconstruct their memories when questioned about the event. Group A: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other? Group B: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other? Depiction of the actual accident.

Memory Construction A week later they were asked: Was there any broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported more broken glass than Group A (hit).

Source Amnesia Source Amnesia:Attributing an event to the wrong source that we experienced, heard, read, or imagined (misattribution).

Schemas: Mental representations of categories of objects, events, and people • We recall things in ways that fit our schemas • When asked to look at a professors office and then recall what they saw, people remembered seeing a diploma on the wall. There wasn’t one.

Why Do We Forget? • Decay: The gradual disappearance of the information from memory • Interference: Either the storage or retrieval of information is impaired by the presence of other information • Proactive Interference: Old information interferes with learning new information • Retroactive Interference: New information interferes with recall of old information

Interference is defined by what is forgotten or interfered with • Pro means forward (as in progress) so if the forward or new information is messed up it is proactive interference. • Retro means before or backward (as in Retro clothing) so if old information is blocked it is retroactive interference. • So to keep them straight ask yourself “What’s being forgotten old or new? Now what’s the prefix that means that? That is the type of interference.”

Impact of Brain Damage on Memory • Anterograde Amnesia: Loss of memory for any event occurring after the injury • Often the result of damage to the hippocampus, nearby parts of the cerebral cortex, and the thalamus • Retrograde Amnesia: Loss of memory for events prior to some brain injury

Anterograde Amnesia After losing his hippocampus in surgery, patient Henry M. (HM) remembered everything before the operation but cannot make new memories. We call this anterograde amnesia. Anterograde Amnesia (HM) No New Memories Memory Intact Surgery

A C B Implicit Memory HM is unable to make new memories that are declarative (explicit), but he can form new memories that are procedural (implicit). HM learned the Tower of Hanoi game after surgery. Each time he plays it, he is unable to remember the fact that he has already played the game (no explicit memory), but he get’s better at it (implicit memory).

Mnemonics • Strategies for putting information into an organized context in order to remember it more easily • Verbal organization is basis for many mnemonics • Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

Method of Loci • Method of Loci: A type of mnemonic where one imagines each item to be remembered occupying a place within a set of familiar locations List of Items Charcoal Pens Bed Sheets Hammer Imagined Locations Backyard Study Bedroom Garage

Spacing Effect • Distributed (spread out) Practice is much more effective than Massed (all together) Practice Better to study 30 minutes for 4 nights, than one night for two hours

Guidelines for More Effective Studying • Create an outline or other overall context for learning, rather than just passively reading and rereading the material • Maintenance rehearsal alone tends to be ineffective for retaining information over long periods • Elaborative rehearsal creates semantic encoding.

Algorithm: Systematic procedures that is guaranteed to produce a solution to a problem. Computers use algorithms. Example: cracking the code for a three number briefcase lock 000, 001, 002…010, 011, 012… 111, 112, 113.... 997, 998, 999

Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Heuristics are less time consuming, but more error-prone than algorithms. • Using a rule-of-thumb • Examples: I don’t want to try every brand of OJ, so I just buy Tropicana because it’s the most well known • There are thousands of colleges, so I check out the ones my teachers went to.

Potentially Problematic Heuristics • Availability Heuristic: The likelihood of an event is judged by how easy it is to think of examples of that event Things we see more often in the news seem more likely than they really are. Mile for mile, it’s much safer to fly in a plane than drive in a car, but we tend to think of flying as “riskier” because plane crashes lead the news.

Availability Heuristic Lung cancer is a far bigger threat than crime, but if your aunt was mugged, that’s what you will worry about more Most Americans are politically moderate, but the areas of disagreement get more coverage so we think of America as deeply split.

Anchoring Heuristic: We let earlier estimates overly influence future estimates rather than starting from scratch • Example: Does Henry County have more or less than 1 million people?

Anchoring Heuristic: Example: First impression If you are told a guy for a blind date is super hot, you will be disappointed if he is only kinda hot. If you are told he’s about average, you will be excited if he’s kinda hot. Example: Bargaining - ask for a lot to make a little seem OK.

Insight Insight involves a sudden novel realization of a solution to a problem (the “Aha!” experience) Humans and animals have insight. Kohler demonstrated that monkeys studied a problem and had a sudden breakthrough to a solution. They didn’t just use trial and error. using boxes to obtain food

Obstacles to Problem Solving Mental Sets: The tendency to stick with a problem-solving strategy that worked in the past even when it’s not the best option.

Obstacles to Problem Solving • Confirmation Bias: The tendency to see evidence to confirm rather than refute the our chosen hypothesis • If I think Auburn fans are jerks, I’ll notice the obnoxious ones, but not the ones who do something nice

Loss Aversion: We tend to feel worse about losing a certain amount than feeling good about gaining the same amount • Find a dollar on the ground we’re kinda happy, but not that big a deal • Vending machine eats our dollar we’re ticked for the rest of the day • “Gambler’s Fallacy:” We don’t understand what random truly means • If 8 coin flips land on heads, you think, tails is “due” or more likely now • But each coin flip is 50/50 every time no matter what happened last time

Creativity and Creative Thinking • Creativity is the ability to create novel (new) and valuable ideas or things. • Creativity often is connected to intelligence, but not completely (moderate positive correlation) • Creativity requires divergent thinking instead of convergent thinking • Creativity can be taught and improved. You can become “more creative” with teaching and practice.

Basic Elements of Language • Symbols, such as words • We have knowledge of approximately 50,000 to 100,000 words • Grammar (Syntax): a set of rules for combining those symbols

Basic Elements of Language • Phoneme: The smallest unit of soundfrom which language is built • t, d, p, w, s etc. • k/c, f/ph, • also, sh, ch, th etc. • Phonemes themselves are not meaningful

Cognitive Psychology