PSYC1003 Study Guide - Final Guide: Encoding Specificity Principle, Preposition And Postposition, Noam Chomsky
What is Psychology
Defined as the scientific investigation of mental processes
Thinking, remembering, feeling
The interaction between mental processes and behaviour
Cognitive, developmental, social, personality, biopsychology, clinical, community,
industrial, organisational, educational, health, counselling, sport, forensic
What is Cognitive Psychology
Focuses on how people process, store and retrieve information:
oMetaphor- the mind is like a computer- an information processing model
oExperimental methods are used to infer the mental processes at work
Boundaries and Borders of Psychology
Biology and culture provide possibilities, and also constraints, in thinking,
remembering, feeling and action
Biopsychology or Behavioural Neuroscience
oThe biological boundary of psychology
oSeeks to understand the mind through understanding the biological activity
of the brain
Localisation of function is the notion that individual brain regions play a significant
role in individual aspects of mental functioning
Cortical Localisation- Localisation of Function
Phineas Gage
Frontal lobe damage and the effect on behaviour and personality is evident in the
famous case of Phineas Gage
Gage was a railroad supervisor in Vermont USA, who suffered frontal lobe damage in
1848 (age 25), when an explosion sent a tamping iron through his skull
Gage survived the accident and eventually recovered, but not without side effects
Before the accident, Gage was described as polite and conscientious
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After the accident Gage was described as rude, prone to outbursts, he couldn’t
control his impulses and he could not effectively plan
The Language Centre (1860)- Paul Broca- patient “tan”
Broca’s area was damaged
He could still understand speech, but could not form speech
We learnt that the Broca’s area was for speech production
History of Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt: proponent of structuralism
oEstablished the first psychological laboratory
oUsed the method of introspection to uncover the basic elements of
consciousness
William James: proponent of functionalism
oArgues that consciousness is functional and serves a purpose
Cognitive Psychology
Sensation and Perception
Attention
Memory
Long Term Memory (LTM) is organised in clusters of information that are related in
meaning
oThe network is composed of interconnected nodes- a network of words
which activates things that are associated
oA node may contain thoughts, images, smells, emotions or any other
information
oNodes in LTM may be organised such that broad categories contain narrower
categories
oHierarchical storage can lead to retrieval errors
When testing between verbal and visual memory, between the verbal test you
would only include visual distractions, and likewise
Learning
Language
Reading and speech perception, language production, language comprehension
E.g. McGurk Effect
oPerceptual phenomenon where we hear the same sound but the mouth
shape changes, so we think we hear something different
oWhen our senses conflict
oOne sense may override or combine with the other
oSometimes our sense of sight overrides what we hear
oWe can’t always trust what we see or hear
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Thinking
Deductive reasoning, hypothesis testing, dual-systems theories, problem solving and
expertise, judgment and decision making
E.g. Delusions
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oParalysed stroke victims- asked to move left arm, persistence they can and
are, feedback doesn’t go back to say the signal didn’t happen- reasoning,
thinking
oPeople believing someone close to them has been replaced by an imposter
Methods of Cognitive Psychology
Experimental Cognitive Psychology
oAims to understand human condition by observing the behaviour of people
performing various cognitive tasks
oIs concerned with the internal processes involved in making sense of the
environment and deciding what action might be appropriate
Cognitive Neuroscience
oArgues that we need to study the brain as well as behaviour while people
engage in cognitive tasks
oUses information about behaviour and the brain to understand human
condition
Cognitive Neuropsychology- Clinical Neuropsychology
oIs concerned with the patterns of cognitive performance (intact and
impaired) shown by brain-damaged patients who have suffered structural
damage to the brain caused by damage or disease
oClaim that the study of brain-damaged patients can tell us much about
normal human condition
Computational Cognitive Science
oIncludes both computational modelling and artificial intelligence
oComputational modelling involved programming computers to model or
mimic aspects of human cognitive functioning
oArtificial intelligence involves constructing computer systems that produce
intelligent outcomes but may do so in ways bearing little resemblance to
those used by humans
Converging Methods
Behaviour, brain imaging, neuropsychology and computer models
To see how our understanding of cognitive processes is derived by combining
multiple methodologies to provide complementary advice
Experimental Cognitive Psychology: experimental paradigms (e.g. location, pre-
cueing, visual search, mental rotation, repetition priming)
Cognitive Neuropsychology: double dissociation, and the study of single cases (Also
case-series study)
Two main aims of Cognitive Neuropsychology
To use cognitive theories drawn from studies of normal people to help understand
cognitive disorders
To use neuropsychological data from people with cognitive disorders in order to test
and further develop theories of normal function
Association:
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Document Summary
Defined as the scientific investigation of mental processes. Cognitive, developmental, social, personality, biopsychology, clinical, community, industrial, organisational, educational, health, counselling, sport, forensic. Focuses on how people process, store and retrieve information: metaphor- the mind is like a computer- an information processing model, experimental methods are used to infer the mental processes at work. Biology and culture provide possibilities, and also constraints, in thinking, remembering, feeling and action. Biopsychology or behavioural neuroscience: the biological boundary of psychology, seeks to understand the mind through understanding the biological activity of the brain. Localisation of function is the notion that individual brain regions play a significant role in individual aspects of mental functioning. Frontal lobe damage and the effect on behaviour and personality is evident in the famous case of phineas gage. Gage was a railroad supervisor in vermont usa, who suffered frontal lobe damage in. 1848 (age 25), when an explosion sent a tamping iron through his skull.
