Cognitive Psychology Notes Revised 1 PDF

01/02/2023, 21:06 Cognitive Psychology Notes Revised-1
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY NOTES
A RATIONALIST
• Route to knowledge is through thinking and logical analysis
• Does not need any experiments to develop new knowledge
• Appeal to reason as a source of knowledge
• Famous expression “cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am) – René
Descartes.
EMPERICIST
• Acquire knowledge via empirical evidence (explore how human mind works)
• Obtain evidence through experience and observation – John Locke
• Design experiments and conduct studies to observe behaviour
• Leads directly to empirical investigations of psychology
• Term for empirical observation view as “tabula rasa “ = black slate
STRUCTURALISM
• Seeks to understand the structure (configuration of elements) of the mind and
its perceptions by analysing those perceptions into their constituent
components (affection, attention, memory and sensation)
• Deconstruct the mind into its elementary components and how they work
together
• Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) viewed as the founder of structuralism
• One of his methods was introspection
INSTROSPECTION
• Conscious observation of one’s own thinking processes

• Aim is to look at elementary components of an object or process
• Important change in field – main emphasis in study of the mind shifted from a
rationalist to empiricist approach of observing behaviour to draw conclusions.
• Analyse our own perceptions.
FUNCTIONALISM
• Seeks to understand what people do and why they do it.
• Focus on the process of thought rather than on its contents.
• Key to understanding the human mind and behaviour was to study the
process of how and why the mind works as it does.
• Unified by the questions they asked but not the answers they found or the
methods they used for finding those answers
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PRAGMATISTS
• Believe that knowledge is validated by its usefulness: What can you do with
it?
• Concerned with knowing what people do; also want to know what we can do
with our knowledge of what people do.
• Believe in the importance of the psychology of learning and memory.
ASSOCIATIONISM
• Examines how elements of the mind, such as events or ideas, can become
associated with one another in the mind, to result in a form of learning
• Contiguity ( associating things that tend to occur together at the same time)
• Similarity (associating things with similar features or properties); or
• Contrast (things that show polarities, such as hot/cold. Light/dark, day/night)
• Ebbinghaus found that frequent repetition can fix mental association more
firmly in memory
• Thorndike believed that an organism learns to respond in a given way (the
effect) in a given situation if it is rewarded repeatedly for doing so (the
satisfaction which serves as stimulus for future action
BEHAVIORISM
• Focuses only on the relation between observable behaviour and

environmental events or stimuli
• The idea was to make physical whatever others might have called “mental”
• May be considered an extreme version of associationism. It focuses entirely
on the association between the environment and an observable behaviour.
PROPONENTS OF BEHAVIORISM
➢ The “father “ of radical behaviourism is John Watson. Believed that

psychologist should concentrate only on the study of observable
behaviour.
➢ Shifting the emphasis of experimental research from human to animal
participants.
➢ B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) a radical behaviourist, believed that virtually all
forms of human behaviour, not just learning, could be explained by
reactions to the environment.
➢ He applied his experimental analysis of behaviour to many psychological
phenomena, such as learning, language acquisition, and problem solving.
➢ Dominated the discipline of psychology for several decades.
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➢ BEHAVIORISTS DARING TO PEEK INTO THE BLACK BOX
➢ Regarded the mind as the black box that is best understood in terms of its input
and output, but whose internal processes cannot be accurately described
because they are not observable.
➢ Edward Tolman (1886-1959) thought that understanding behaviour required

taking into account the purpose of, and the plan of, the behaviour.
➢ He believed all behaviour is directed to a goal – sometimes viewed as the

forefather of modern cognitive psychology
➢ Psychiatrist Walter Freeman developed a particular kind of lobotomy in 1946 –

the transorbital or “ice pick lobotomy – inserted an ice pick like instrument
through orbit of the eye into the frontal lobes where it moves back and forth,
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
• States that we best understand psychological phenomena when we view
them as organised, structured wholes
• Cannot fully understand behaviour when we break phenomena into smaller
parts.
• Studied insight, to understand the unobservable mental event, whereby
someone goes from having no idea to solving a problem and to understanding
it fully in a mere moment.
• The maxim “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” aptly sums up the
Gestalt perspective
EMERGENCE OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY:
• Karl Spencer Lashley (1890-1958) brashly challenged the behaviourist view that
human brain is a passive organ merely responding to environmental contingencies
outside of individual
• Donald Hebb (1948) proposed the concept of cell assemblies as bais for learning in
the brain.
• Skinner (1957) wrote entire book describing language acquisition and usage in terms
of environmental contingencies.
• Noam Chomsky (1959) wrote a scathing review of Skinners ideas.
• Jerry Fodor (1973) popularized the concept of the popularity of mind – implies
processes used in one domain such as linguistic or perceptual domain(Marr,1982)
operate independently.
1. Heuristics – are mental shortcuts we use to process information

2. Dialectic – is a developmental process whereby ideas evolve over time
through a back and forth exchange of ideas
3. A thesis – a statement of belief
4. An antithesis – a statement that counters a thesis
5. A synthesis integrates the viewpoints – debate between the thesis and
antithesis leads to a synthesis, integrates the most credible of each two views.
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COGNITION IN THE BRAIN: THE ANATOMY AND MECHANISMS OF

THE BRAIN.
• Cognitive neuroscience studies how the brain and other aspects of the
nervous system are linked to cognitive processing and ultimately to behaviour.
• The brain is the organ in our bodies that most directly controls our thoughts,
emotions and motivations.
• Major focus of brain research is localization of function – refers to the
specific areas of the brain that controls specific skills or behaviours
• The nervous system is the basis for our ability to perceive, adapt to and
interact with the world around us. The brain is the supreme organ of the
nervous system.
• Cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that controls many of our thoughts
processes
GROSS ANATOMY OF THE BRAIN:
THE FOREBRAIN
• Located toward the top and front of the brain.
• It includes the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, the limbic system, the thalamus
and the hypothalamus.
• The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres
• Plays vital role in thinking and mental processes
• The basal ganglia are collection of neurons crucial to motor function
• Dysfunction includes tremors, involuntary movements, changes in posture
and muscle tone and slowness of movement.
• Deficits are observed in Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease
• The limbic system is important to emotion, motivation, memory and learning
• Helps us adapt our behaviours flexibly in response to our changing
environment.
• The limbic system comprises of 3 central interconnected cerebral
structures;
➢ The Septum - is involved with anger and fear
➢ The amygdala – plays important role in emotion as well, especially anger
and aggression – stimulation commonly results in fear
➢ The hippocampus – essential in memory formation – it monitors what is
where.
➢ Korsakoff”s syndrome – a disease that cause loss of memory function.
Other symptoms are apathy, paralysis of muscles controlling the eye and
tremor.
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➢ The thalamus relays incoming sensory information through groups of

neurons that project to the appropriate region in the cortex. – Also controls
sleep and waking. Balance
➢ When the thalamus is damaged results in pain, tremor, amnesia,
impairment of language and disruptions in waking and sleeping.
➢ The hypothalamus regulates behaviour related to species survival;
fighting, feeding, fleeing, and mating. Also regulates emotions and react to
stress. Interacts with the limbic system. Important in controlling many
bodily functions. Also functioning of the endocrine system – stimulates the
pituitary glands which a range of hormones are produced and released.
➢ Dysfunction and neural loss – person falls asleep often and at
unpredictable times.
THE MIDBRAIN
• The midbrain helps to control eye movement and coordination.

• Reticular activating system (RAS) also known as the reticular formation.
• The RAS is a network of neurons essential to regulating consciousness,
including sleep, wakefulness, arousal; attention to some extent; and vital
functions, such as heartbeat and breathing.
• Also extends to the hindbrain. Both the RAS and thalamus are essential to our
conscious awareness of or control over our existence.
• Brainstem – the thalamus, midbrain and hypothalamus, make up brainstem,
which connects the forebrain to the spinal cord.
• Determine brain death from the brainstem.
THE HINDBRAIN
• Comprises the medulla oblongata, the pons, and the cerebellum

• The medulla oblongata controls heart activity and largely controls breathing,
swallowing and digestion.
• The medulla is also the place where the nerves from the right side of the body
cross over to left side of brain and vice versa.
• Is an elongated interior structure located at the point at which the spinal cord
enters the skull and joins with the brain – contains part of RAS helps keep us
alive
• Pons contains neural fibers that pass signals from one part of the brain to
another – serves a bridging function part of RAS nerves serving part of head
and face
• The cerebellum controls bodily coordination, balance and muscle tone, some
aspects of memory involving procedure-related movement of human brain.
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CEREBRAL CORTEX AND LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION
• The cerebral cortex plays an extremely important role in human cognition. It

enables us to think. We can plan. Coordinate thoughts and actions, perceive
visual and sound patterns and use language.
• The cerebral cortex forms a 1 – 3 mm layer that wraps the surface of the
brain
• It includes 3 elements:
1. Sulci – small grooves

2. Fissures are large grooves
3. Gyri – bulges between adjacent sulci or fissures.
➢ These folds greatly increase the surface area of the cortex.
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• The cortex makes up 80% of the human brain

• forms the outer layer of two halves of the brain – the left and the right
cerebral hemispheres
• The left hemisphere directs the motor responses to the right hemisphere and
vice versa.
• Contralateral – from one side to another
• Ipsilateral – transmission on the same side
• The corpus callosum – a dense aggregate of neural fibers connecting the
two cerebral hemispheres – language depends largely on integration of the
two hemispheres of the brain
HEMISPHERIC SPECIALIZATION
➢ French scientist Paul Broca – claimed that an autopsy revealed that an

aphasic stroke patient had a lesion in the left cerebral hemisphere of brain
➢ He was convinced that the left hemisphere is critical for speech
➢ German Neurologist Carl Wernicke – studied language deficient
patients who could speak but made no sense.
➢ He traced language ability to the left hemisphere
➢ Karl Spencer Lashley – father of neuropsychology started studying
localization in 1915
➢ He found that implantation of crudely built electrodes in apparently
identical locations in brain yielded different results
➢ Different locations sometimes paradoxically yielded the same results.
➢ Roger Sperry (1964) argued that each hemisphere behaves in many
respect like a separate brain
➢ Split brain patients – patients who have undergone an operation
severing the corpus callosum – epilepsy
➢ Left hemisphere is for language and right hemisphere is for spatial
visualization ability.
LOBES OF THE CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES
The four lobes are named after the bones of the skull lying directly over them.
• The frontal lobe
Towards the front of the brain, is associated with motor processing and higher
thoughts processes, such as abstract reasoning, problem solving, planning,
and judgment. Critical in producing speech
Prefrontal cortex – involved in complex motor control and task that require
integration of information over time
Primary motor cortex – specializes in planning, control, and execution of
movement, particularly of movement involving any kind of delayed response.
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• The parietal lobe

The upper back portion of the brain, associated with somato-sensory
processing.
The primary somatosensory cortex receives information from the senses
about pressure, texture, temperature and pain. Located behind the frontal
lobe’s primary motor cortex.
The parietal lobe also helps you perceive space and your relationship to it.
Also involved in consciousness and paying attention
• The temporal lobe
Located below the parietal lobe, directly under your temples. Associated with
auditory processing and comprehending language.
Both sides of the auditory area have some representation from each ear.
Involved in retaining visual memories, matches new things to what already
retained in visual memory
• the occipital lobe

Associated with visual processing. Analyse specific aspects of a scene,
including colour, motion, location and form.
Projection areas are areas in the lobes which sensory processing occurs.
Nerves contain sensory information going to the thalamus.
Projection areas communicate motor information downward through the spinal
cord to the appropriate muscles via peripheral nervous system (PNS)
The visual cortex is primarily in the occipital lobe. The nerves from the right
side of each eye’s visual field send information to the left side of the visual
cortex.
Part of the brain with respect to other body parts
➢ Rostral – front part of brain (nasal region)
➢ Ventral – bottom surface of body/brain (side of stomach)
➢ Caudal – means tail refers to back part of body/brain
➢ Dorsal – upside of brain – means back (animal back is on upside of body)
Brain makes up only 1 40th of weight of adult human body

Uses 1/ 5th of the circulating blood
Uses 1/ 5th available glucose
Uses 1/ 5th available oxygen
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NEURONAL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
• Neurons – individual neural cells that transmit electrical signals from one
location to another in the nervous system
• Neocortex of the brain – greatest concentration of neurons- associated with
complex cognition
• Tissue can contain as many as 100, 000 neurons per cubic mm
• Four basic parts:
➢ Soma – contains the nucleus of the cell ( center portion that performs
metabolic and reproductive functions for the cell)
Responsible for life of neuron and connects the dendrites to the axon.
➢ The dendrites – branch like structures that receive information from other
neurons, the soma integrates the information.
➢ The Axon – long thin tube that extends and sometimes splits from the
soma and responds to information, when appropriate by transmitting an
electrochemical signal, which travels to the terminus where signal can be
transmitted to other neurons
Axon are 2 basic roughly equal occurring kinds distinguished by presence
or absence of myelin.
➢ Myelin a white fatty substance that surrounds some of the axon of the
nervous system which accounts for white matter of the brain
The more an axon is myelinated the faster signals can be transmitted –
100m per second – distributed in segments broken up by nodes of Ranvier
➢ Nodes of Ranvier – small gaps in the myelin coating along the axon.
Increases conduction speed more by helping to create electrical signals,
called action potentials, then conducted down to axon.
➢ The terminal buttons – are small knobs found at end of branches of axon
that do not directly touch the dendrites of the next button.
➢ The synapse – serves as a juncture between the terminal buttons of one
or more neurons and the dendrites (sometimes the soma)
Important in cognition. Alzheimer disease is associated with reduced
efficiency of synapse transmission of nerve impulses.
➢ Neurotransmitters – chemical messengers that transmit information
across the synaptic gap to the receiving dendrites of the next neuron.
➢ Three types of chemical substances appear to be involved in

neurotransmission:
a) Monoamine neurotransmitters
b) Amino-acid neurotransmitters
c) Neuropeptides
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➢ Acetylcholine – associated with memory functions. Alzheimer’s disease

linked to memory functioning impairment. Plays important role in sleep
and arousal.
➢ When awaken increase activity of cholinergic neurons in basal forebrain
and brainstem.
➢ Dopamine – associated with attention, learning and movement
coordination. Also motivational processes such as reward and
reinforcement.
➢ Serotonin – important role in eating behaviour and body-weight
regulation. Also involved in aggression and regulation of impulsivity.
ELECTRICAL RECORDINGS
➢ EEG’s electroencephalograms – recordings of the electrical frequencies

and intensities of the living brain, typically recorded over relatively long
periods
o Through EEG it is possible to study brainwave activities to indicate
mental states such as deep sleep or dreaming.
o Electrodes are placed at various points along the surface of the scalp.
o Used to diagnose epilepsy
➢ ERP event-related potential – record of small change in brain’s electrical

activity to a stimulating event.
o Provide good information about the time course of task related brain
activity
o Cancel’s out effects of noise by averaging out activity that is not task
related.
o Also used to examine language processing
o Used to examine developmental changes in cognitive abilities
➢ ERP’s and positron emission tomography (PET) were used to pinpoint

areas involved in word association.
STATIC IMAGING TECHNIQUES
➢ CAT or CT scans – contains several X-rays images of the brain take from
different vantage points, when combined results in three dimensional
image.
➢ ANGIOGRAPHY – used to examine the blood flow. When the brain is
active, it needs energy which is transported to the brain in form of oxygen
and glucose by means of the blood.
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o A dye is injected into an artery that leads to the brain, then an X-ray
image is taken.
o The image shows the circulatory system and it is possible to detect *
o strokes – disruption of blood flow caused by blockage of arteries
through a foreign substance
o aneurysms – abnormal ballooning of an artery
o arteriosclerosis – hardening of arteries that makes them inflexible and
narrow
➢ MRI Magnetic resonance imaging – reveals high resolution images of

the structure of the living brain by computing and analysing magnetic
changes in the energy of the orbits of nuclear particles in the molecules of
the body.
➢ 2 types of MRI’s
o Structural MRI’s – provides images of brain’s size and shape

o Functional MRI’s – visualize the parts of the brain that are activated
when a person is engaged in a particular task.
o Clearer picture of brain than CT scan, a strong magnetic field is passed
through the brain of patient, detailed information on brain structure.
o A scanner detects various patterns of electromagnetic changes in the
atoms of the brain.
o Also facilitates the detection of lesions, such as lesions associated with
particular disorders of language use.
METABOLIC IMAGING
➢ The basic idea is that active areas in the brain consume more glucose and
oxygen than do inactive areas during some tasks.
➢ Scientists attempts to pinpoint specialized areas for a task by using the
subtraction method, involves subtracting activity during the control task
from activity during the task of interest.
➢ The resulting difference in activity is analysed statistically.
➢ It cannot show whether the area’s effect is positive or negative, the
method assumes that activation is purely additive.
➢ PET scans – measures increases in oxygen consumption in active brain

areas during particular kinds of information processing
o Track the use of oxygen participants given mild radioactive form of

oxygen that emits positrons as it is metabolized (positrons are particles
that roughly the same size and mass as electrons but they are more
positively charged.
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o A computer analysis the data to produce images of physiological

functioning of brain in action.
o PET scan can assist in the diagnosis of disorders of cognitive decline
such as Alzheimer’s by searching for abnormalities in the brain
o PET scan used to show that blood flow increases to the occipital lobe
of the brain during visual processing
o PET scan also used to compare studying the brain of people who score
high versus low on intelligence test.
o PET scan have been used to illustrate the integration of information
from various parts of the cortex
o PET scan are not highly precise – require a minimum of half a minute
to produce data regarding glucose consumption.
➢ Functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI – is a neuroimaging

technique that uses magnetic fields to construct a detailed representation
in 3 dimensions of levels of activity in various part of the brain at a given
moment in time
o Does not require the use of radioactive particles.
o Creates a magnetic field that induces changes in the particles of
oxygen atoms
o Can identify many regions in the brain active in many areas, such as
vision
o Has shown that the lateral prefrontal cortex is essential for working
memory
o A related procedure is pharmacological MRI (phMRI) combines fMRI
methods with the study of psychopharmacological agents, studies
examine the influence and role of particular psychopharmacological
agents on the brain.
➢ Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) examines the restricted dispersion of
water in tissue and of special interest in axons and their myelin sheaths.
o Measures how far protons have moved in a particular direction within a
specific time interval
o Useful for mapping of the white matter of the brain and in examining
neural circuits
o Includes examination of traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, brain
maturation and multiple sclerosis.
➢ Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) – temporarily disrupts the
normal activity of the brain in a limited area
o it can imitate lesions in the brain or stimulate brain regions
o requires placing a coil on a person’s head and then allowing an
electrical current to pass through it, the current generates a magnetic
field
o This field disrupts the small area (no more than a cubic m) beneath it.
o Method is restricted brain regions that lie close to the surface of the
head
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o Advantage is TMS possible to examine causal relationships with this

method because brain activity in particular area is disrupted and its
influence on task performance is observed.
o Used to produce “virtual lesions “investigate which area of brain
involved when person grasp an object.
➢ Magnetoencephalography (MEG) measures brain activity from outside

the head by picking up magnetic fields emitted by changes in brain
activity.
o This technique allows localization of brain signals so that it is possible
to know what different parts of the brain are doing at different times.
o One of the most precise methods
o Helps surgeons locate pathological structures in the brain
o Used to examine the changes in brain activity before, during, and after
electrical stimulation
o Phantom limb pain is pain in body part that has been removed, eg a
missing foot.
➢ Functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) uses ultrasound

technology to track the velocity of blood flow in the brain.
o Is superior to technique such as PET because the blood flow can be

monitored on a continuous basis.
o It is non-invasive and easy to use
➢ Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) – another technique that can monitor

blood flow in the prefrontal cortex
o It can monitor amount of oxygen in the blood

o A sensor is attached to a person’s forehead and measurements are
taken, usually before, during and after performing a task.
o Relatively easy to use particularly well with children and subject can
still move around within limits. Instrument is portable
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BRAIN DISORDERS
STROKES
➢ Vascular disorder – brain disorder caused by a stroke – strokes occur

when the flow of blood to the brain undergoes a sudden disruption.
o Nature of the loss depends on area of brain affected by stroke, person

may experience paralysis, pain, numbness, loss of speech, a loss of
language comprehension, impairments in thoughts processes, a loss of
movement in part of body
o Two kinds of stroke may occur;
1. Ischemic stroke – occurs when a build-up of fatty tissue

occurs in blood vessels over a period of years and a piece of
this tissue breaks off and gets lodged in arteries of the brain.
2. Haemorrhagic stroke – when blood vessels on the brain
suddenly break – blood spills into surrounding tissue and
brain cells in affected area begin to die. This death is either
from lack of oxygen and nutrients or from rupture of vessel
and sudden spilling of blood.
o Typical symptoms:
o Numbness or weakness in face, arms and legs (one side of body)

o Confusion and difficulty speaking or understanding speech
o Vision disturbances in one or both eyes
o Dizziness, trouble walking, or loss of balance or coordination
o Severe headache with o known cause
BRAIN TUMORS
➢ Also called neoplasms, can affect cognitive functioning in serious ways.

➢ Two types of brain tumors can occur;
o Primary brain tumors – starts in the brain. Most childhood brain

tumors are of this type
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o Secondary brain tumors – starts somewhere else in body, such as

lungs. The benign tumors can be removed and will not grow back, the
malignant tumors grow quickly, tend to invade surrounding healthy
brain tissue. Life threatening.
o Common symptoms:
Headaches (worse in morning)
Nausea or vomiting
Changes in speech, vision or hearing
Problems balancing or walking
Changes in mood, personality or ability to concentrate
Problems with memory
Muscle jerking or twitching (seizures or convulsions)
Numbness or tingling in arms or legs
o Diagnoses made through CT scan or MRI – common form of treatment

is surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
HEAD INJURIES
➢ Head injuries results from a car accident, contact with hard objects or
bullet wound. There are two types of head injuries;
o Closed-head injuries – skull remains intact, but damage to the brain,

from mechanical force of a blow to the head. Etc. slamming one’s
head against windshield in car accident.
o Open head injuries – skull penetrated by hard object axe or bullet.
➢ Loss of consciousness is a sign some degree of damage. Damage

resulting from head injury include spastic movements, difficulty
swallowing, slurring of speech, etc.
- Abnormal breathing
- Disturbance of speech or vision
- Pupils of unequal size
- Weakness or paralysis
- Dizziness
- Neck pain or stiffness
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VISUAL PERCEPTION 3
PERCEPTION
Perception is the set of processes by which we recognise organize and make

sense of the sensations we receive from environmental stimuli.
o When looking at an image, the sensory receptors in the retina are

being stimulated and your sensation is transmitted to the brain through
nerve impulses
o Brain interprets and organizes these sensations and turns them into a
perception of a coherent image.
o Perception encompasses many psychological phenomena
➢ Basic concepts of perception:
o Distal (far) object – object in the external world (e.g. the falling tree) a
tree falling creates a pattern on an informational medium – could be
sound waves, as the sound of falling tree, or reflected light, chemical
molecules, or tactile information coming from environment.
o Proximal (near) stimulation – when information from light waves
comes into contact with the appropriate sensory receptors of the eyes.
o Perceptual objects (what you see) – is created in you that reflects
the properties of the external world. E.g. an image of a falling tree
created on your retina reflects falling tree in front of you.
o Cognition – occurs when this information is used to determine further
goals. Is that apple edible? Should I get out of the forest?
➢ Perceptual Continuum
o Vision – sight
o Audition – sound
o Olfaction – smell
o Gustation – taste
o Touch –
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➢ Sensory adaptation;
o Receptor cells adapt to constant stimulation by not firing until there is a

change in stimulation
o May stop detecting the presence of a stimulus
o Constant stimulation of the cells of the retina gives the impression that
the image disappears. E.g. when your eyes are exposed to a uniform
field of stimulation (red surface without any shades or a clear blue sky)
you will stop perceiving that stimulus after a few minutes and see just
gray field instead, because your eyes have adapted to the stimulus.
o Such a visual field is called Ganzfeld - German for “complete field”
o Ensures that the sensory information is changing constantly.
o Mental percept – a mental representation of a stimulus that is
perceived. E.g. without a percept of the cow, you could not
meaningfully grasp what you previously had sensed.
o Our minds – must take the available sensory information and
manipulate that information to create metal representations of objects,
properties and spatial relationships within our environments.
HOW DOES OUR VISUAL SYSTEM WORK
➢ The precondition for vision is the existence of light. Light is

electromagnetic radiation that can be described in terms of wavelength.
➢ Humans perceive only small range of wavelengths that exist, visible
wavelengths are from 380 to 750 nanometres
o Vision begins when light passes through protective covering of the eye
called the cornea ( a clear dome that protects eye)
o The light then passes through the pupil, the opening in centre of the
iris.
o Continues through the crystalline lens and vitreous humor
o The vitreous humor is a gel like substance makes up majority of eye
o Eventually light focuses on the retina – where electromagnetic light
energy is transduced (converted) into neural electrochemical
impulses
o Vision most acute in fovea – small thin region of the retina, size of
head of pin.
o The retina contains the photoreceptors, which convert light energy
into electrochemical energy that transmitted by neurons to the brain
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o Two kinds of photoreceptors : rods and cones ( 120 million rods and 8
million cones)
o Within rods and cones are photo pigments, chemical substances that
react to light and transform physical electromagnetic energy into an
electrochemical neural impulse that can be understood by brain
o Rods are long and thin photoreceptors and more highly concentrated
in periphery of retina than foveal region
o Rods are responsible for night vision – sensitive to light and dark
stimuli
o Cones are short and thick photoreceptors allow perception of colour,
more highly concentrated in foveal region than in periphery of retina
o Rods and cones are connected to the brain
o The neurochemical messages processed by rods and cones of retina
travel via the bipolar cells to the ganglion cells
o The axons of the ganglion cells collectively form the optic nerve of the
eye.
o Optic nerves of two eyes join base of cells from inward, or nasal, part
of retina
o Part closer to nose cross through optic chiasma and extend opposite
hemisphere of brain
o Lens of each eye naturally inverts image of world as it projects image
onto retina – message send to brain literally upside-down
o After being routed via optic chiasma 90% of ganglion cells go to lateral
geniculate nucleus of the thalamus.
o From thalamus, neurons carry info to primary visual cortex in occipital
lobe of brain
o The visual cortex contains several processing areas – each handles
different kinds of visual info, relating to intensity and quality, including
colour, location, depths, pattern and form.
Pathways to perceive what and the where
o the what pathway can be found in the ventral stream and is

responsible for the identification of objects
o the how pathway is located in the dorsal stream and controls
movements in relation to the objects that have been identified through
the what pathway
o ventral and dorsal streams both arise from same early visual areas
o The what-how hypothesis supported by evidence of processing
deficits.
o There are deficits that impair people’s ability to recognize what they
see and there are distinct deficits that impair people’s ability to reach
for what they see (how)
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APPROACHES TO PERCEPTION: HOW DO WE MAKE SENSE OF

WHAT WE SEE?
➢ There are different views on how we perceive the world. These views can
be summarized as bottom-up theories and top-up theories.
o Bottom-up theories – describe approaches in which perception starts

with the stimuli whose appearance you take through your eye.
o Look onto the cityscape, perception happens when the light information
is transported to your brain.- they are data-driven (i.e. stimulus driven
theories)
o Top-up theories – perception is driven by high level cognitive
processes, exiting knowledge, and prior expectation that influence
perception.
o These theories then work their way down to considering the sensory
data, such as perceptual stimulus.
BOTTOM-UP THEORIES
➢ Gibson’s theory of direct perception:
o The information in our sensory receptors, including the sensory

context, is all we need to perceive anything.
o Ecological perception – environment supplies us with all the
information we need for perception
o We use texture gradients as cues for depth and distance.
o We do not need the aid of complex thought processes, such contextual
information might not be readily controlled in a laboratory experiment.
o Gibson’s model sometimes referred to as an ecological model –
concern with perception as it occurs in everyday world rather than in
laboratory situations.
o Direct perception can also play a role in interpersonal situations when
we try to make sense of other’s emotions and intentions
Neuroscience and direct perception
• About 30 to 100 milliseconds after a visual stimulus, mirror neurons start

firing.
• Mirror neurons are active both when a person acts and when he or she
observes that same act perform by another
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• So before we have time to form a hypotheses about what we are perceiving,

we may be able to understand the expressions, emotions, and movements of
the person we observe.
TEMPLATE THEORIES
o Suggest that our minds store myriad sets of templates

o Templates are highly detailed models of patterns we might recognize –
recognizing a pattern by comparing it with our sets of templates.
o We then choose the exact template that perfectly matches what we
observe.
o Template matching theories belong to a group of chunk-based
theories; these theories suggest that expertise is attained by acquiring
chunks of knowledge in long-term memory that can later be accessed
for fast recognition
o Machines rapidly process imprinted numerals on checks by comparing
templates. Products of all kinds are identified with universal product
codes (UPS or Bar codes)
• Neuroscience and templates theories;
o Experiments suggest indeed a difference between letters and digits

o Area on or near left fusiform gyrus (part of occipital and temporal lobes)
is activated significantly more when a person presented with letters
than with digits
o The notion of visual cortex specializing in different stimuli is not new,
other areas have been found that specialize in faces.
• Why computers have trouble reading handwriting
o The numbers at the bottom of a check are written in a strange-looking

font are so distinct that machines cannot mistake them
o Some computers work with algorithms that consider the context in
which the word is presented, the angular positions of the written letters.
o CAPTCHAs (completely automated public Turing test to tell computers
and humans apart) used so that spamming machines cannot post
spam on websites or sign up for e-mail accounts and send spam
through those accounts
o Capitalize on fact that most approaches to machine vision use template
matching.
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FEATURE-MATCHING THEORIES
o Attempt to match features of a pattern to features stored in memory,

rather than to match a whole pattern to a template or prototype.
• The Pandemonium Model
o Refers to a noisy, chaotic place and hell

o Metaphorical “demons” with specific duties receive and analyse the
features of a stimulus.
o There are four kind of demons; image, feature, cognitive and decision
demons
• Pattern perception
➢ Local precedence effect Figure 3.14 – all the local letters are widely
spread.
➢ Global precedence effect: - when the local letters were small and
positioned close together participants could identify stimuli at the global
level (the “big “letter) more quickly than at the local level.
➢ When participants were required to identify stimuli at the global level,

whether the local features (small letters) matched the global one (big
letter) did not matter. . Figure 3.13 – all the local letters are tightly spaced
➢ If identify local (small) S’s combining to form a global (big) H instead of

identifying local (small) H’s combining to form a global (big) H – this
pattern is called the global precedence effect
➢ Selfridge’s feature matching model – we recognize patterns by matching

observed features to features already stored in memory. We recognize the
patterns for which we have found the greatest number of matches. Fig
3.12
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• Neuroscience and feature-Matching theories:
o According to Hubel & Wiesel, 1979) most of the cells in the cortex do
not respond simply to spots of light. Rather they respond to
“specifically oriented line segments.
o The outputs of cells are combined to create higher-order detectors that
can identify increasingly more complex features
o Neurons that recognize a complex object are called gnostic units or
grandmother cells – they imply that there is a neuron that is capable of
recognizing your grandmother.
o There was once believed to be just two kinds of visual cortex neurons
simple and complex cells which were believed to differ in the
complexity of the information about stimuli they processed.
o According to Dakin and Hess 1999 – cells can serve multiple functions.
Spatial information about locations of contours of the object. Complex
judgments about what is perceived are made fairly early information
processing and in parallel.
• Recognition by components theory
o Irving Biederman (1987) suggested that we recognize 3 – D objects by

manipulating simple geometric shapes called geons (geometrical ions)
o These shapes include objects like bricks, cylinders, wedges, cones and
their curved axis counterparts.
o We quickly recognize objects by observing the edges of them and then
decomposing the objects into geons.
o The geons are simple and function regardless of viewpoint – they are
viewpoint invariant.
TOP-DOWN THEORIES
• Constructive perception – the perceiver builds (constructs) a cognitive

understanding (perception) of the stimulus.
• The perceiver uses sensory information as foundation for structure but also
uses other sources of information to build the perception
• This viewpoint also is known as intelligent perception
• an interesting feature of this theory is that it links human intelligence even to
fairly basic processes of perception.
• On reason for favouring the constructive approach is that bottom-up (data
driven) theories of perception do not fully explain the context effects
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• The context effect are the influences of the surrounding environment on

perception.
• Even more striking is a context effect known as the configural-superiority
effect – which objects presented in certain configurations are easier to
recognize than objects presented in isolation.
• There is an object-superiority effect, in which a target line that forms a part
of a drawing of a 3-D object is identified more accurately than a target that
forms a part of a disconnected 2-D pattern
• The word-superiority effect indicates that when people are presented with
strings of letters, it is easier to identify a single letter if the string makes sense
and forms a word instead of being just a nonsense sequel of letters. Exp the
word 0 in the word house easier than the word huseo.
VIEWER-CENTERED VERSUS OBJECT CENTERED PERCEPTION
➢ Viewer-centered representation – the individual stores the way the

object looks to him/her. What matters is the appearance of the object to
the viewer (computer to a writer) not the actual structure of the object.
➢ Object-centered representation – the individual stores a representation

of object, independent of its appearance to the viewer. The shape of the
object will stay stable across different orientations
➢ Landmark-centered – information is characterized by its relation to a

well-known or prominent item.
THE PERCEPTION OF GROUPS – GESTALT LAWS
o The Gestalt approach to form perception n was developed in

Germany in early 20th century – useful for understanding how we
perceive groups of objects or even parts of objects to form integral
wholes.
o The overarching law of the Gestalt approach is the law of Pragnanz.
o The Gestalt principles include figure-ground perception, proximity,
continuity, closure and symmetry.
o Each of these principles supports the overarching law of Pragnanz
o People tend to use the Gestalt principles even when they are
confronted with novel stimuli (Palmer1977)
o The Gestalt principles provide valuable descriptive insights into
form and pattern perception.
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RECOGNIZING PATTERNS AND FACES
Two different pattern recognition systems
o According to Martha Farah (1992-5) humans have 2 systems for

recognizing patterns
o The feature analysis system – recognizing parts of objects and in

assembling those parts into distinctive wholes – can also be used to
recognize faces
o Configurational system – specializes in recognizing larger

configurations not analysing parts of objects. Face recognition is
presumably especially dependent on the configurational system.
o Both configuration and feature analysis systems may help in making

difficult recognitions and discriminations.
o Prosopagnosia – the inability to recognize faces – implies damage to

the configurational system
o The ability to recognize faces is especially influenced by lesions of the

right fusiform gyrus, either unilateral or bilateral.
PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCIES
Perceptual constancies occurs when perception of an object remains the same even
when our proximal sensation of the distal object changes.
o Size constancy is the perception that an object maintains the same

size despite changes in the size of the proximal stimulus
o Shape constancy is the perception that an object maintains the same
shape despite changes in the shape of the proximal stimulus. An
object’s perceived shape remains the same despite changes in its
orientation and hence in the shape of its retinal image.
o The size of an image on the retina depends directly on the distance of

that object from the eye.
o An example of size constancy is the Muller-lyer illusion. Two line
segments that are of the same length appear to be of different lengths.
o Equivalent image sizes at different depths usually indicate different-
size object
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o Right posterior parietal cortex (involved in the manipulation of mental

images) and the right temporo-occipital cortex are activated when
people are asked to judge the length of the lines
o The strength of the illusion can be changed by adjusting the angles
of the arrows that delimit the horizontal line – the sharper the angles,
the more pronounced the illusion.
DEPTH PERCEPTION
Depth is the distance from a surface, usually using your own body as a reference
surface when speaking in terms of depth perception.
o Depth cues are either monocular (mon-, one; ocular, related to the eye)
o Or binocular (bin-, both, two)
o Monocular depth cues can be represented in just two dimensions

and observed with just one eye, they include texture gradients, relative
size, interposition, linear perspective, aerial perspective, location in the
picture plane and motion parallax
o Binocular depth cues based on the receipt of sensory information in

3-D from both eyes.- use the relative positioning of your eyes.
DEFICITS IN PERCEPTION
• DIFFICULTIES PERCEIVING THE “WHAT”
➢ People who suffer from an agnosia have trouble perceiving sensory

information – they cannot recognize what the objects are, have trouble
with the “what” pathway.
➢ Agnosia often are caused by damage to the border of the temporal and
occipital lobes or restricted oxygen flow to areas of the brain, sometimes
as a result of traumatic brain injury.
➢ Disturbance in the temporal region of the cortex can lead to

simultagnosia - an individual is unable to pay attention to more than one
object at a time.
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• DIFFICULTIES PERCEIVING THE “HOW”
➢ Optic ataxia – an impaired ability to use the visual system to guide

movement – have trouble reaching for things.
➢ Ataxia results from a processed failure in the posterior pariental cortex,
where sensorimotor information is processed.
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ATTENTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS 4
ATTENTION
Attention: is the means by which we actively select and process a limited amount of
information from all of the information captured by our senses, our stored memories,
and our other cognitive processes.
o Includes both conscious and unconscious processes.

o Allows us to use our limited mental resources judiciously.
o We can focus more on the stimuli that interest us by focusing less on
outside stimuli
o We are likely to remember information to which we paid attention than
information we ignored.
CONSCIOUSNESS
Includes both the feeling of awareness and the content of awareness, some of which
may be under the focus of attention
o Plays a causal role in cognition, and serves three purposes.
1. It helps monitor our interactions with the environment – we maintain

our awareness of how well we are adapting to a situation.
2. It assists us in linking our past memories and our present sensation
to give us a sense of continuity of experience.
3. It helps us control and plan for our future actions based on the
information from monitoring and from the links between past
memories and present sensations.
THIS CHAPTER IS NOT USED IN EITHER ASSIGNMENTS OR PAST EXAMS.
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MEMORY: MODELS AND RESEARCH

METHODS 5
MEMORY
Memory is the means by which we retain and draw on information from our past
experiences to use in our present.
o Memory refers to the dynamic mechanisms associated with storing,

retaining, and retrieving information about past experience.
o There are 3 common operation of memory;
1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval
o In encoding, you transform sensory data into a form of mental

representation
o In storage you keep encoding information in memory
o In retrieval, you pull out or use information stored in memory.
RECALL VERSUS RECOGNITION TASKS
o In recall – you produce a fact, a word or other items from memory.
o Fill in the blanks and most essay tests require that you recall items
o 3 main types of recall tasks are used in experiments:
1. Serial recall – recall items in exact order in which they were

presented.
2. Free recall – recall items in any order you choose
3. Cued recall – you are first shown items in pairs, but during recall
you are cued with only one member of each pair and are asked
to recall each mate.
o In recognition – you select or identify an item as being one that you

have been exposed to previously.
o Multiple-choice and true-false tests involve some degree of recognition.
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o Recognition memory is usually much better than recall: we are better at

recognizing things than at producing what exactly we saw or heard.
o Relearning – number of trials it takes to learn once again items that

were learned in the past e.g. a language.
o Recognition-memory tasks as tapping receptive knowledge.
IMPLICIT VERSUS EXPLICIT MEMORY TASKS
o Implicit memory – use information from memory but are not

consciously aware that we are doing so.
o Implicit memory is sometimes examined by having people perform
word completion tasks and tasks involving procedural knowledge.
o Explicit memory – participants engage in conscious recollection of
words, facts, or pictures from a particular set of items.
o Process-dissociation model postulates that only task is needed to
measure both implicit and explicit memory
o Implicit memory sometimes examined by having people perform word
completion tasks based on the priming effect – word fragment – first
three letters of a word
o Priming is the facilitation of your ability to utilize missing information.
o Procedural memory – can be tested on implicit memory – include
procedures involving riding a bike, driving a car etc.
o Procedural memory sometimes examined with the rotary pursuit task
– requires participants to maintain contact between an L-shaped stylus
and a small rotating disk
o Procedural memory also examines mirror-tracing task, also used to
study impact on sleep
o Both implicit and explicit memory are important in our everyday lives.
TWO CONTRASTING MODELS OF MEMORY
• Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multistore Model
o Primary memory – holds temporary information currently in use
o Secondary memory – holds information for a very long time.
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o Richard Shiffrin (1968) proposed alternative model that

conceptualized the memory into 3 memory stores;
➢ Sensory store – storing limited information for brief periods
➢ Short-term store – store information for longer periods – limited capacity
➢ Long-term store – very large capacity of storing information for very long
periods – even indefinitely.
Atkinson and Shiffrin – suggested these three stores are hypothetical constructs
– concepts that are not themselves directly measurable or observable but serve as
mental models for understanding how a psychological phenomenon works
DEFICIENT MEMORY
AMNESIA
o Severe loss of explicit memory – one type is retrograde amnesia

o Retrograde amnesia – lose their purposeful memory for events before
whatever trauma induces memory loss
o Mild forms occur when someone sustains a concussion.
o Memories return from more distant past and return up to time of
trauma, events right before trauma are never recalled.
o Anterograde amnesia – inability to remember events that occur after

a traumatic event.
o Living suspended in an eternal present. Problems with comprehension
and generation of new sentences, memory & cognitive decline.
o Infantile amnesia – the inability to recall events that happened when

very young.
o Hypermnesia – a process of producing retrieval of memories that

would seem to have been forgotten – memories that are retrieved were
never unavailable bur rather inaccessible (hard to retrieve)
➢ Implicit memory – such as priming effects on word-completion tasks and

procedural memory for skill-based tasks, is not impaired.
➢ Explicit memory – is impaired in amnesia.
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o Amnesia victims - perform extremely poorly on most explicit memory

tasks, but show normal or almost normal performance on implicit
memory tasks such as cued-recall tasks.
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
o A disease of older adults that causes dementia as well as progressive

memory loss
o Dementia is a loss of intellectual function that is severe enough to
impair one’s everyday life.
o Alzheimer’s disease leads to atrophy (decrease in size) of the brain
o Especially in the hippocampus and frontal and temporal brain regions
o The progression of this disease is irreversible, but can be slowed
somewhat with medication
o Earliest signs are impairment of episodic memory, people trouble
remembering things learned in temporal or spatial context.
o As disease progresses , semantic memory also begins to go.
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CHAPTE 6 – MEMORY PROCESSES
The main processes of memory are according to three common operations:
• Encoding – refers to how you transform a physical, sensory input into a

representation that can be placed into memory.
• Storage – refers to how you store (keep) encoded information in memory
• Retrieval – refers to how you gain access to information stored in memory.
ENCODING AND TRANSFER OF INFORMATION
Forms of encoding
We encode our memories to store them. To remember events and facts over a long
period of time, we need to encode and transfer them from short-term to long-term
storage.
Short term storage
➢ An acoustic code is more important than a visual code.
➢ Semantic code – one based on word meaning
➢ We are more likely to forget visual information than acoustic information
➢ Initial encoding is primarily acoustic in nature
Long-term storage
➢ Most information stored in long term memory primarily is encoded
semantically – encoded by the meaning of words.
➢ Encoding of information in long-term memory not exclusively semantical
but evidence of visual encoding as well.
➢ The anterior medial prefrontal cortex and the right fusiform face area play
important role both in encoding and retrieval.
➢ Both encoding and retrieval of places activate the left parahippocampal
place area (PPA)
➢ The left PPA is associated with encoding rather than retrieval.
➢ Acoustic information – in addition to semantic and visual information can
be encoded in long term memory.
Transfer of information from Short-term memory to long-term memory
• When we transfer information from short to long-term memory we encounter

two key problems:
1. Interference – competing information interferes with our storing

information
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2. Decay – forget facts just because time passes
• Priming and habituation – nondeclarative memory are highly volatile and

decay quickly
• Consolidation – make connections by integrating new information into our
existing schemas of stored information.
• Stress – impairs the memory functioning, but can enhance the consolidation
of memory through the release of hormones.
• Disruption and distortion – during process of consolation our memory is
susceptible to disruption and distortion.,
• Metamemory strategies – involve reflecting on our own memory processes
to improve our memory.
• Metacognition - our ability to think about and control our own processes of
thought and ways of enhancing our thinking
Rehearsal
The effects of rehearsal are termed practice effects. Rehearsal may be overt, it is
usually aloud and obvious to anyone watching, or covert- silent and hidden.
Elaborative and maintenance rehearsal

The individual somehow elaborates on the items to be remembered. Either
meaningfully integrated or connected to another. Without elaboration the information
cannot be organised and transferred.
Maintenance rehearsal, the individual simply repeats the items to be remembered.
This temporary maintains information in short-term memory.
The spacing effect
• Distributed practice – learning in which various sessions are spaced over

time.
• Massed practice – learning in which sessions are crammed together in a
very short space of time.
• Spacing effect – to maximie the effect of long-term recall, the spacing should
be distributed over months, not weeks.
Sleep and memory consolidation
REM sleep is characterised by dreaming and increased brainwave activity
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Disruptions in REM sleep patterns night after learning reduced the amount of
improvement on a visual discrimination task that occurred relative to normal sleep.
Better learning with increases in proportion of REM stage sleep after exposure to
learning situations
REM sleep aids us in the formation of memory.
Memories are strengthened by REM sleep in synaptic consolidation previously
organised in slow-wave deep sleep.
Neuroscience and memory consolidation
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01/02/2023, 21:06 Cognitive Psychology Notes Revised-1

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY NOTES

• Conscious observation of one’s own thinking processes

• Focuses only on the relation between observable behaviour and

➢ The “father “ of radical behaviourism is John Watson. Believed that

➢ BEHAVIORISTS DARING TO PEEK INTO THE BLACK BOX

➢ Edward Tolman (1886-1959) thought that understanding behaviour required

➢ He believed all behaviour is directed to a goal – sometimes viewed as the

➢ Psychiatrist Walter Freeman developed a particular kind of lobotomy in 1946 –

1. Heuristics – are mental shortcuts we use to process information

COGNITION IN THE BRAIN: THE ANATOMY AND MECHANISMS OF

GROSS ANATOMY OF THE BRAIN:

➢ The thalamus relays incoming sensory information through groups of

• The midbrain helps to control eye movement and coordination.

• Comprises the medulla oblongata, the pons, and the cerebellum

CEREBRAL CORTEX AND LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION

• The cerebral cortex plays an extremely important role in human cognition. It

1. Sulci – small grooves

• The cortex makes up 80% of the human brain

➢ French scientist Paul Broca – claimed that an autopsy revealed that an

LOBES OF THE CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES

• The frontal lobe

• The parietal lobe

• the occipital lobe

Brain makes up only 1 40th of weight of adult human body

NEURONAL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

➢ Three types of chemical substances appear to be involved in

➢ Acetylcholine – associated with memory functions. Alzheimer’s disease

➢ EEG’s electroencephalograms – recordings of the electrical frequencies

➢ ERP event-related potential – record of small change in brain’s electrical

➢ ERP’s and positron emission tomography (PET) were used to pinpoint

STATIC IMAGING TECHNIQUES

➢ MRI Magnetic resonance imaging – reveals high resolution images of

o Structural MRI’s – provides images of brain’s size and shape

➢ PET scans – measures increases in oxygen consumption in active brain

o Track the use of oxygen participants given mild radioactive form of

o A computer analysis the data to produce images of physiological

➢ Functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI – is a neuroimaging

o Advantage is TMS possible to examine causal relationships with this

➢ Magnetoencephalography (MEG) measures brain activity from outside

➢ Functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) uses ultrasound

o Is superior to technique such as PET because the blood flow can be

➢ Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) – another technique that can monitor

o It can monitor amount of oxygen in the blood

➢ Vascular disorder – brain disorder caused by a stroke – strokes occur

o Nature of the loss depends on area of brain affected by stroke, person

1. Ischemic stroke – occurs when a build-up of fatty tissue

o Numbness or weakness in face, arms and legs (one side of body)

➢ Also called neoplasms, can affect cognitive functioning in serious ways.

o Primary brain tumors – starts in the brain. Most childhood brain

o Secondary brain tumors – starts somewhere else in body, such as

o Diagnoses made through CT scan or MRI – common form of treatment

o Closed-head injuries – skull remains intact, but damage to the brain,

➢ Loss of consciousness is a sign some degree of damage. Damage

Perception is the set of processes by which we recognise organize and make

o When looking at an image, the sensory receptors in the retina are

➢ Basic concepts of perception:

o Receptor cells adapt to constant stimulation by not firing until there is a

HOW DOES OUR VISUAL SYSTEM WORK

➢ The precondition for vision is the existence of light. Light is

Pathways to perceive what and the where

o the what pathway can be found in the ventral stream and is