Psych 2135B Exam #1 Notes

Chapter 1: The Science of the Mind

The Scope of Cognitive Psychology

-how is knowledge acquired? How is knowledge retained so that it is available when needed? How is
knowledge used to make decisions and solve problems?

The Broad Role of Memory

-many of our encounters with the world depend on our supplementing our experience with knowledge
that we bring to the situation (Betsy piggy bank story example – using info we know to understand
meaning), making memory crucial to many activities

Amnesia and Memory Loss

-without memory there is no self (don’t know if you’ve been good or bad) - our self concept is dependent
on our knowledge (episodic knowledge)
-cognitive psychology: the scientific study of the acquisition, retention, and use of knowledge
-activities that don't on the surface seem intellectual would nonetheless collapse without the support of
our cognitive functioning

The Cognitive Revolution

-revolution of cognitive psych is 50 years’ old
-the science of psychology went through changes in the 1950s and 1960s that are referred to as
psychology's “cognitive revolution”, brought a shift in research style

The Limits of Introspection

-cannot study the mental world directly
-Wundt and Titchener - new research enterprise that eventually led to the modern field of experimental
psych → only way to study thoughts is for each of us to introspect or “look within” to observe and record
the content of our own mental lives and the sequence of our own experiences, introspectors had to be
meticulously trained - given vocabulary to describe observations, taught to be as careful and complete as
possible, and to simply report on their experiences with minimal interpretation
-this style was disenchanting as psychologists realized that many thoughts are unconscious, limiting the
ability of introspection
-introspection is the study of conscious experience and can tell us nothing about unconscious events
-with introspection, testability of claims is often unattainable
-in testing hypothesis we need data that we can rely on, this means we need data that aren’t dependent on
a particular point of view or a particular descriptive style (cannot be done with introspection)

The Years of Behaviorism

-needed objective data
-data concerned with behavior are objective because they can be directly observed
-stimuli are in the same objective category; there are measureable, recordable, physical events
-learning history (day to day experience and behavior) can be objectively observed
-in contrast, beliefs, wishes, goals, and expectations cannot be directly observed - these can only be
observed through introspection and thus a scientific psychologist must avoid these invisible internal
entities
-this led to the behaviorist theory movement - dominated psych in America for the first half of the 20th
century, studied how behavior changed in response to various stimuli, this theory was limited because the
way people act and feel are guided by how they understand or interpret the situation, and not by the
objective situation itself
-using this theory we will regularly misunderstand why people are doing what they’re doing and make
wrong predictions about how they’ll behave in the future

The Roots of the Cognitive Revolution

-how people act is shaped by how they perceive the situation and understand the stimuli
-introspection is scientifically unworkable – problem! we need to study the mental world but we can’t
-solution – Immanuel Kant: transcendental model – begin with the observable facts and then work
backwards from these observations (what are the underlying causes that led to an event/effect?)
-sometimes called “inference to best explanation”
-study mental processes indirectly, relying on the fact that these processes are themselves invisible have
visible consequences

Research in Cognitive Psychology: The Diversity of Methods

-hypothesis are tested by collecting more data – seek to derive new predictions based on our hypothesis
-what unites the field is the logic that underlies research, no matter what method is used

Working Memory: Some Initial Observations

-working memory – memory we use for info that you are actively working on (beginning of long
sentence)
-info is easily accessible
-small capacity – only few items can be held in store at a time
-one way to measure working memory capacity is a span test – list of letters is read and subject must
repeat back, most people struggle at 7-8 letters meaning that peoples letter span is about 7 or 8 (confirms
that working memory is limited in size)

Working Memory: A Proposal

-working memory errors in the span test usually involve substituting one letter for another with a similar
sound (not similar appearance – likely to confuse S and F, not F and E)
-working memory has several different parts – working memory system
-at the heart of the system is the central executive – part that runs the show and does the real work,
however, is helped by assistants
-assistants cannot analyze or interpret info and only provide storage (can’t do anything with stored info) –
they enable you to focus your attention on other more complex tasks
-one of the most important assistants is the articulatory rehearsal loop – remembering the numbers
while continuing to read example (repeating the numbers in your head)
-subvocalization – the inner voice (silent speech), this inner voice produces a representation of these
numbers in the phonological buffer – the inner ear, in other words an auditory image is created in the
inner ear (why people mistake the sounds of letters and not the way they look)
-items are rehearsed by using subvocalization to load the buffer

Evidence for the Working Memory System

-imagine we ask people to take the span test while simultaneously saying “tah-tah-tah” over and over out
loud …
-this concurrent articulation task requires the mechanism for speech production therefore making these
mechanisms unavailable for other use (inner speech  inner ear – subvocalization)
-with concurrent articulation the loop isn’t available for use and so we are now measuring the capacity of
working memory without the rehearsal loop
-cuts memory span by roughly a third from 7 to 8 items to 4 to 5
-concurrent articulation also largely eliminates sound alike errors – saying tah-tah-tah blacks use of
articulatory loop where sound alike errors arise
-when using complex visual shapes that are not easily named, these shapes cannot be rehearsed via inner
voice/inner ear and therefore are not effected by concurrent articulation
-concurrent articulation does not affect a person’s ability to read brief sentences, and do simple logic
problems however it does have an effect on ability to read more complex sentences and do harder
problems which involve storage of interim steps

The Nature of the Working Memory Evidence

-cognitive neuroscience: the study of the biological basis for cognitive functioning
-if relevant muscles were paralyzed would people lose the ability to use the rehearsal loop – anarthia –
an inability to produce overt speech – results show that subvocalization is not affected by anarthia, results
are the same without these movements
-therefore inner speech relies on the brain areas responsible for planning and controlling the muscle
movements not the movements themselves
-neuropsychology: concerned with how various forms of brain dysfunction influence observed
performance
-when engaged in working memory rehearsal “inner voice” uses brain mechanisms that are ordinarily
used for overt speech and “inner ear” uses inner mechanisms usually used for actual hearing
-deaf people use “inner hand” and make similar hand shape errors in memory – disrupted when asked to
wiggle

Working Memory in a Broader Context

-by understanding what it means to pay attention we move toward an understanding of all the contexts in
which these abilities play a part

Chapter 2: The Neural Basis for Cognition

Explaining Capgras Syndrome

-someone with capgras is able to recognize a loved ones face, but with no feeling of familiarity

The Neural Basis for Capgras Syndrome

-damage to temporal lobe on the right side of the head disrupts the amygdala which serves as an
“emotional evaluator” helping an organism to detect stimuli associated with danger, safety, available
reward
-people with damaged amygdala will not experience the warm sense of feeling good (safe and secure)
when looking at a loved one’s familiar face –lack of emotional response is why these faces don’t feel
familiar to them
-also have brain abnormalities in the frontal lobe, specifically right prefrontal cortex
-prefrontal cortex is especially active when person is planning or carefully analyzing and less active when
someone is dreaming – this latter pattern (damage) reflects the absence of these which helps us
understand why dreams are bizarre
-with damage to the frontal lobe the patient is less able to tell what is real and sensible and weird beliefs
can emerge

What Do We Learn from Capgras Syndrome?

-recognition of all stimuli involves 2 separate mechanisms
1. Factual knowledge
2. Emotional knowledge
-tells us that the amygdala plays crucial role in: feeling familiarity, memory of emotional events, decision
making that rest on emotional evaluations
-recognizing fathers face example – requires use of multiple brain areas
The Study of the Brain
-brain: weighs between 3 to 4 pounds, size of small melon, contains a trillion nerve cells, each of which is
connected to 10,000 others making a total of 10 million billion connections
-brain also contains a huge number of glial cells (outnumber nerve cells by 10 to 1)

Hindbrain, Midbrain, Forebrain

-hindbrain: sits directly atop the spinal cord, included structures crucial for controlling key life functions
– for example, regulates rhythms or heart rate and breathing – also essential in maintaining body’s overall
form, posture, balance – also helps control brains level of alertness
-the largest area of the hindbrain = the cerebellum – plays role in coordination of bodily movements and
balance, damage to this organ causes problems in
special reasoning, discriminating sounds, and in
integrating input received from various sensory
systems
-midbrain: coordinating movements, movement of
eyes, circuits that relay auditory info from ears to
areas of midbrain where info is processed, regulate the
experience of pain

-forebrain: (largest region) surrounds midbrain and

hindbrain
-cerebral cortex – thin covering on the outer surface of
the forebrain, 3 mm thick
-the cortex constitutes 80% of the human brain – if
stretched out flat it would cover more than 2 square
feet
-however the cortex isn’t stretched flat, instead it is crumpled up in the skull
-this crumpling produces convulsions (wrinkles) that cover the brains outer surface
-valleys between these wrinkles are actually deep grooves that divide the brain into different sections –
the deepest groove is the longitudinal fissure which runs from front to the back and separates the
cerebral hemisphere from the right hemisphere
-other fissures divide the brain into 4 lobes named after the bones that cover them that make up the skull
-frontal lobes form the front of the brain behind the forehead
-the central fissure divides the frontal lobes on each side of the brain from the parietal lobes (topmost
part)
-bottom edge of the frontal lobes is marked by the lateral fissure and below it are the temporal lobes
-at the very back of the brain, connected to the parietal and temporal lobes are the occipital lobes

Subcortical Structures
-hidden from view under the cortex are the subcortical parts
-one of these parts is the thalamus: acts as a relay station for nearly all the sensory info going to the
cortex
-directly underneath the thalamus is the hypothalamus: structure that plays a crucial role in controlling
motivated behaviors such as eating, drinking, and sexual activity
-around the thalamus and hypothalamus is another set of interconnected structures that form the limbic
system
-included here is the amygdala and close by is the hippocampus, both located underneath the cortex in
the temporal lobe (essential for learning and memory)
-amygdala and presentation of frightful faces, more active amygdala = better memory advantage for
emotional events
Lateralization
-parts of the brain come in pairs – hippocampus and amygdala on left and right side
-same is true for cerebral cortex – temporal cortex in the left and right hemisphere
-even though same shape and pattern of connection there are differences in function between the left-side
and right-side structures
-the functioning of one side is closely integrated with that of the other side, this integration is made
possible by the commissures: thick bundles of fibers that carry info back and forth between the 2
hemispheres
-largest commissure is the corpus callosum
- “split brain patient” – severed corpus callosum (last resort to treating epilepsy) – research with these
patients has taught us about specialized functions in left and right hemisphere – left hemisphere =
language, right hemisphere = spatial judgment
-2 hemispheres are not cerebral competitors – instead, the hemispheres pool their specialized capacities to
produce a seamlessly integrated single mental self

Data from Neuropsychology

-neuropsychology: the study of the brains structures and how they relate to brain function
-clinical neuropsychology: seeks to understand the functioning of intact, undamaged brains by careful
scrutiny of cases involving brain damage
-a lesion (a specific area of damage) in the hippocampus produces memory problems but not language
disorders, a lesion to the occipital cortex produces problems in vision but spares other sensory modalities
-consequences also depend on which hemisphere is damaged – damage to left side of frontal lobe is likely
to disrupt language use while damage to the right side of the frontal lobe generally doesn’t have this effect

Data from Neuroimaging

-allows us to take precise 3 dimensional pictures of the brain
-computerized axial tomography (CT scans): study brain structure, rely on X-rays, tells us the shape,
size and position of structures within brain
-positron emission tomography (PET scans): study brain activity, introduce a tracer substance such as
glucose into the body, the molecules of the tracer have been tagged with low dose of radioactivity that can
be tracked allowing us to tell which tissues are using more or less of the glucose (body’s main fuel), tells
us what regions are particularly active at any point in time
-primary data in both scans is collected by a bank of detectors surrounding the head; computer then
compares the signals received by each of the detectors and uses this info to pinpoint the source of each
signal
-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): relies on magnetic properties of the atoms that make up the brain
tissue, yields detailed pictures of the brain
-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): measures the oxygen content in the blood flowing
through each region of the brain; accurate index of the level of neural activity in that region, precise
picture of the brains moment-by-moment activities
-results from CT or MRI are stable, only change when brain structure changes (injury or growth of tumor)
-results from PET or fMRI scans are highly variable as they depend on what task the person is performing

Data from Electrical Recording

-background info about brain function – brain contains a million nerve cells, “neurons” which do the
brains main work – they very in shape, size and functioning (can be a meter long) but they communicate
via chemical signals called “neurotransmitters” – once a neuron is activated it releases the transmitter and
this chemical can then activate (or de-activate) other immediately adjacent neurons – this is
communication between neurons – one neuron releases the chemical substance that activates another
-there is also communication within neurons as neurons have an input and output end – the input end is
most sensitive to neurotransmitters so this is where the signal from other neurons is received, while the
output end releases neurotransmitters sending signals on to other neurons
-within neuron communication involves an electrical pulse – pulse is minute however many trillions of
neurons are active at the same time and the current they generate all together can be detected by sensitive
electrodes placed on the surface of the scalp
-this is the basis for electroencephalography – a recording of voltage changes occurring at the scalp that
reflect activity in the brain underneath – result is an electroencephalogram or EEG recording of the brains
electrical activity
-EEGs are often used to study broad rhythms in brain activities – for example an alpha rhythm can be
detected when someone is awake but calm and relaxed and a delta rhythm when someone is deeply asleep
-sometimes we want to measure brain activity in response to a particular stimulus – in this case we
measure changes in EEG in the brief period just before, during, and after an event – these changes are
referred to as event-related potential

The Power of Combining Techniques

-CT + MRI – tell is about shape and size of brain structures, but nothing about the activity levels within
these structures
-PET + fMRI – tell us about brain activity and can locate the activity precisely, but less precise about
when the activity took place
-EEG – much more precise info about timing but weaker in telling where the activity took place
-limitation – many of these techniques provide only correlational data – brain area called the fusiform
face area (FFA) seems especially active whenever a face is being perceived – does this mean the FFA is
needed for face perception? A different possibility is that the FFA activation may be a by-product of face
perception and does not play a crucial role – FFA could just be correlated with face recognition like a
speedometer in a car
-neuroimaging data can tell us that a brains activity is correlated with a particular function but we need
other data to ask if the brain site plays a role is causing that function
-this other data comes from brain lesions – if damage to a brain site disrupts a function that site plays a
role in supporting it
-a helpful technique in doing this is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) – it creates a series of
strong magnetic pulses at a specific location on the scalp temporarily causing disruption in the brain
region underneath

The Cerebral Cortex

-largest portion of the human brain – the thin layer of tissue covering the cerebrum
-does a lot of information processing
-its regions are traditionally divided into 3 categories:

1. Motor Areas
-tissue crucial to organizing and controlling bodily movements
-primary motor projection areas (located at the rearmost edge of the frontal lobe) contain departure
points in primary motor projection areas for signals leaving the cortex and controlling muscle
movements and arrival points in primary sensory projection areas for info coming from the sense
organs (eyes, ears …)
-evidence for these areas comes from studies involving mild electrical currents – they produce movement
that show a pattern of contralateral control – with stimulation to the left hemisphere leading to
movements on the right side of the body and vice versa
-in human brain, the map that constitutes the motor projection area is
located on a strip of tissue toward the rear of the frontal lobe
-areas of the body that we can move with great precision (fingers and lips) have a
lot of cortical area devoted to them while areas which have less control (shoulders
and back) have less cortical coverage
2. Sensory Areas
-tissue essential for organizing and analyzing the info we receive from senses
-info arriving from the skin senses is projected to a region in the parietal lobe just
behind the motor projection area labeled the “somatosensory area”
-stimulation is parts of the brain responsible for certain senses will cause the
patient to experience these senses
-in the somatosensory area, each part of the body’s surface is represented by its
own region on the cortex – near areas of the body are typically similarly nearby
areas of the brain
-sensitive areas of the body have more cortical space
-also evidence of contralateral connections – somatosensory area in the left hemisphere receives its info
from the right side of the body (visual projection area – both brain hemispheres receive info from both
eyes but left hemisphere receives info corresponding to right side of visual field, 60% of nerve fibers
from each ear send info to opposite side of brain)
3. Association Areas
-association cortex - 75% or cerebral cortex
-lesions in the frontal lobe produce apraxias – disturbances in the initiation or organizing of voluntary
action
-lesions in the occipital cortex or in the rearmost part of the parietal lobe lead to agnosias – disruptions in
the ability to identify familiar objects – they usually affect 1 modality only so a person can recognize a
fork through touch but not sight
-other lesions (usually in parietal lobe) produce neglect syndrome – individual ignores half of the visual
world – patient will only shave half of their face, and eat half of plate, when reading will read half of
word
-aphasia – lesions in areas near the lateral fissure (deep groove that separates the frontal and temporal
lobes) can result in disruptions to language capacities
-damage to the front most part of the frontal lobe, the prefrontal area causes problems in planning and
implementing strategies, problems in inhibiting own behaviors, relying on habit in inappropriate
situations, and confusion about reality and imagination

Brain Cells

Neurons and Glia

-brain contains roughly a trillion neurons and many more glia
-glia – help to guide the development of the nervous system in fetus and young infants, support repairs if
the nervous system is damaged, control flow of nutrients to neurons
-specialized glial cells provide a layer of electrical insulation surrounding parts of some neurons which
increases speed that neurons can send their signals
-may also constitute their own signaling system within the brain, separate from the information flow
provided by neurons
-however main flow of info through the brain from the sense organs is made possible by neurons
-neurons have 3 major parts
1. cell body – portion of the cell that contains neuron nucleus and elements needed for normal
metabolic activities
2. dendrites – “input” side of the neuron, receiving signals from others, heavily branched like a
thick and tangled bush
3. axon – “output” side of the neuron, sends neural impulses, vary enormously in length
 -myelin sheath – white fatty casing on axon, electrical insulator, increases the speed of
neural signals down the axon

The Synapse
-when a neuron has been sufficiently stimulated it releases a minute quantity of neurotransmitter – the
molecules of this substance drift across the tiny gap between neurons and latch on to the dendrites of the
adjacent cell – if the dendrites receive enough of this substance, the next neuron will fire and the signal
will be sent along to other neurons
-the neurons don’t touch each other directly
-the end of the axon, plus the gap, plus the receiving membrane of the next neuron is called a synapse
-the space between the neurons is the synaptic gap, the bit of the neuron that releases the transmitter into
the gap is the presynaptic membrane, and the bit of the neuron on the other side of the gap affected by
the neurotransmitter is the postsynaptic membrane
-when the neurotransmitters arrive at the postsynaptic membrane, they cause changes in this membrane
that enable certain ions to flow into and out of the postsynaptic cell
-if the ionic flows are large enough they trigger a response in the postsynaptic cell – if the incoming
signal reaches the post synaptic cell’s threshold, then the cell fires; that is, it produces an action
potential – a signal that moves down its axon, which in turn causes the release of neurotransmitters at the
next synapse causing the next cell to fire
-neurons depend on 2 different forms on information flow – communication from one neuron to the next
mediated by a chemical signal and communication from one end of the neuron to the other by electrical
signal created by the flow of ions in and out of the cell
-postsynaptic neurons initial response can vary in size
-if input reaches the postsynaptic neurons firing threshold there is no variability in response, if a signal is
sent it is always the same magnitude – this is the all-or-none law
-brain relies on many different neurotransmitters – some stimulate subsequent neurons some inhibit, some
help with learning and memory others regulate arousal in the brain, some influence motivation and
emotion
-synaptic gap is 20-30 nanometers across (a lot smaller than human hair diameter)
-pattern of neurons feeding each other info makes it possible for them to compare signals and adjust
response according to signal arriving at different input – this communication is adjustable and strength of
the synaptic connection can be altered by experience which is crucial in learning and storage of
knowledge

Chapter 3: Visual Perception

The Visual System

The Photoreceptors
-reflected light is what launches the process of visual perception
-some of this light hits the front surface of the eyeball, passes through the cornea and the lens, and then
hits (produces a sharply focused image on) the retina, the light sensitive tissue that lines the back of the
eyeball
-adjustments of this process are made by muscle surrounding the lens – when muscle tightens lens bulges
creating proper shape for focusing images of nearby objects, when the muscle relaxes, the lens returns to
a flatter shape allowing proper focus for far away objects
-there are 2 types of photoreceptors (specialized neural cells that respond directly to incoming light) on
the retina:
1. rods – sensitive to very low levels of light and so help move around in semi darkness, but color
blind – they can distinguish different levels of light but they cannot discriminate one hue from
another
 2. cones – less sensitive and therefore need more incoming light to operate, sensitive to color
differences, more precisely, there are 3 different types of cones each having its own pattern of
sensitivities to different wavelengths, you perceive color by comparing the outcomes from these
three cone types, patterns of firing across the three cone types correspond to different perceived
hues
-ability to see detail is referred to as acuity and it is much higher is cones than rods
-we point our eyes toward a target when we wish to perceive it in detail to position our eyes so that the
target image falls onto our fovea – the very center of the retina, cones far outnumber rods and as a result
this is the area with the greatest acuity
-in portions of the retina more distant from the fovea rods are predominant and well out into our periphery
there are no cones at all – explains why we are better able to see very dim light out of the corner of our
eyes (looking at stars’ example – don’t look directly at very dim stars)

Lateral Inhibition
-rods and cones (photoreceptors) stimulate bipolar cells, which in turn excite ganglion cells
-the ganglion cells are uniformly spread across the retina but all of their axons converge to form the
bundle of nerve fibers that we call the optic nerve – the nerve tract that leaves the eye ball and carries
info to the brain
-this info is sent to the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) in the thalamus and from there info is
transmitted to the primary projection area for vision in the occipital lobe
-optic nerve is not just a cable that conducts signals from one site to another – the cells that link the retina
to the brain are already engaged in the task of analyzing the visual input
-lateral inhibition is an example of this – activity is cell b is decreased by the lateral inhibition in the
cells beside it leading to a moderate level of activity in cell b while a cell on the edge of the retina, cell c
that is only inhibited by one cell beside it will receive less inhibition, cell b and cell c initially receive the
same input but cell c is less inhibited so will fire more strongly than cell b
-lateral inhibition causes a process called edge enhancement – exaggerated contrast of the edge which
highlight an objects shape which is crucial for determining what the object is
-moreover analysis of an image begins immediately in the eyeball

Single Neurons and Single-Cell Recording

-single cell recording: procedure through which investigators can record moment by moment the pattern
of electrical changes within the neuron
-although all or none law, neurons can vary in firing rate and this is measured in “spikes per second”
(what makes it fire more and what makes it fire less)
-used with enormous success is the study of vision
-receptive field: the size and shape on the area in the visual world to which that cell responds (what kind
of detector it is)

Multiple Types of Receptive Fields

-center-surround cells – seem to function as “dot detectors”, fire at maximum rate when light is
presented in a small roughly circular area in a specific position within the field of view
- “edge detectors” – some fire at maximum rate when horizontal edge but will still fire for others just not
as strongly others fire strongest for for vertical edge …
-the further the edge is from preferred orientation the weaker the firing will be and cells completely
different will elicit virtually no response

Parallel Processing in the Visual System

-visual system relies on a “divide and conquer” technique
-this technique is evident in area VI – the site on the occipital lobe where axons from the LGN first reach
the cortex
-the full ensemble of cells in this area provides a detector for every possible stimulus making certain that
no matter what the input or where some cell will respond to it
-the visual system relies on parallel processing – a system in which many different steps or kinds of
analysis are going on at the same time (in contrast to serial processing)
-allows for better speed and mutual influence among multiple systems (shape and motion analysis)
-within the optic nerve itself there are 2 types of cells also functioning through parallel processing
1. P cells –provide the main input for the LGN’s parvocellular cells, specialized for spatial
analysis and form analysis
2. M cells – provide input for the LGN’s magnocellular cells, specialized for detection of motion
and perception of depth
-some of the activation from the occipital lope is passed on to the temporal lobe – this pathway, often
called the what system plays a major role in the identification of visual objects telling you what the
object is
-also passed along a second pathway to the parietal cortex in what is often called the where system –
guides your action based on where an object is located
-lesions in what system show visual agnosia – inability to recognize visually presented objects
-lesions in the where system – have difficulty in reaching for objects but no problem identifying it
-damage to the motion system = akinetopsia

Putting the Pieces Back Together

-division of labor problem – if multiple brain areas contribute to a particular task how is their functioning
coordinated
-this is referred to as the binding problem – the task of reuniting the various elements of a scene that are
initially addressed by different systems in different parts of the brain
-problem is solved as we perceive a coherent, integrated perceptual world

Visual Maps and Firing Synchrony

-spatial position – each keeps track of where the target is – thus you can overlay the maps for forms,
colors on top of each other to get the right colors with the right forms
-frame of reference to solve the binding problem
-brain also uses special rhythm to identify which sensory elements belong with which (are a single object)
– neural synchrony: if the neurons detecting a vertical line are firing in synchrony with those signaling
movement, then these attributes are registered as belonging to the same object
-attention plays a key role in this
-this is evident as when we overload someone’s attention they are likely to make conjunction errors –
correctly detecting the features present in a visual display, but making mistakes about how the features are
bound together (someone shown a blue H and a red T might report seeing a blue T and a red H) – this can
happen due to brain damage in parietal cortex

Form Perception
-gestalt psychology – the perceptual whole is often different from the sum of tis parts
-Jerome Bruner – “beyond the information given” - described the ways that our perception of a stimulus
differs or goes beyond the stimulus itself
-the Necker cube – example of a reversible figure – it can be perceived in different ways
-figure/ground organization – determining what is the depicted object and what is the ground (case or 2
faces example)

The Gestalt Principles

-changes in perception do not involve a change in stimulus they are guided by the perceiver
-fruit bowl example – perception is guided by principles of similarity and proximity – we tend to assume
that contours are smooth and not jagged, and avoid interpretations that involve coincidences
-each of us imposes our own interpretation on the perceptual input, but we all tend to impose the same
interpretation because we are governed by the same rules

Organization and “Features”

-wrong notion – perception can be divided into and “information gathering” step and an “interpretation
step”
-in many settings your interpretation of the input happens before you start cataloguing the inputs basic
features
-reality is that neither type of processing “goes first” (parallel processing takes place) – they work
together with the result that the perception that is achieved makes sense in both the large scaled and fine
grained levels

Constancy
-perceptual constancy – we perceive the constant properties of objects in this world (their size shape and
so on) even though the sensory info we receive about there attributes changes whenever our viewing
circumstances change
-size constancy – correctly perceiving the sizes of objects in the world despite the changes in retinal-
image size created by changes in viewing distance
-shape constancy – correctly perceive the shapes of objects despite changes in the retinal image created
by shifts in your viewing angle
-brightness constancy – correctly perceive brightness of an object whether they are illuminated by dim
light or strong sun

Unconscious Inference
-size constancy may be achieved by focusing on unchanging relationships (object in relation to
background – comparison objects) rather than the images themselves
-Helmholtz – there is a simple inverse relationship between distance and retinal image size – if an object
doubles in distance from the viewer, the size of its image is reduced to half – if tripled, image size is a
third of initial size – believed we were constantly calculating this through unconscious inference

Illusions
-table tops – adjust for apparent viewing angles which cause illusion
-monster illusion – misperceive the depth relationship and take this faulty info into account in interpreting
the shapes
-contrast effect (brightness illusion) – square surrounded by dark squares looked darker but it same shade
of grey as square surrounded by white squares (also shadow creates unconscious inference)

The Perception of Depth

-need to know where objects in the world are located

Binocular Cues
-perception of distance depends on distance cues – features of the stimulus that indicate an objects
position
-an important cue comes from binocular disparity – the difference between the 2 eyes’ views, this can
induce the perception of depth even when no other distance cues are present

Monocular Cues
-we can also perceive depth with one eye closed meaning that there are also depth cues that depend only
on what each eye sees by itself – these are monocular distance cues
-how much adjustment is needed (used as a cue) – more for near objects less for far
-pictorial cues – are used by artists to create an impression of depth on a flat surface
-interposition – the blocking of your view of one object by some other object (man and mail box
example)
-linear perspective – the name for the pattern in which parallel lines seem to converge as they get farther
and farther from the viewer
-changes in texture gradient provide important info about spatial arrangements

The Perception of Depth through Motion

-motion parallax – the projected images of nearby objects on the retina move more as you move your
head than the projections of distant objects
-size and pattern of stimulation also changes as you move toward and away from an object, the entire
visual field also changes as you move toward an object resulting in a pattern of change in the retinal
stimulation called optic flow

The Role of Redundancy

-with multiple cues to distance, multiple cues to illumination, multiple paths through which you can
detect motion and so on – the result is a system that sometimes seems inelegant and ineffective but its one
that guarantees flexibility and versatility (ability to judge any situation)

Chapter 4: Recognizing Objects

-apperceptive agnosia – patients seem to be able to see an objects shape and color and position, but they
cannot put these elements together to perceive the intact object (drawing examples)
-associative agnosia – they can see but cannot link what they see to their basic visual knowledge (glove
example)

Recognition: Some Early Considerations

-variations in the stimulus input indicate that object recognition involves complexity
-another indication comes from the fact that recognition of various object is influenced by the context in
which it is encountered
-processes that are directly shaped by the stimulus are sometimes called “data driven” but are more
commonly termed bottom-up processes
-processes that rely on your knowledge are sometimes called “concept driven” but are more commonly
termed top-down processes

The Importance of Features

-we recognize parts of an object by looking at their parts
-recognition may begin with the identification of visual features in the input pattern – the vertical lines,
curves, diagonals, and so on
-integrative agnosia – (damage to the parietal cortex) patients appear relatively normal in tasks requiring
them simply to detect the features in a display, however are markedly impaired in tasks that require them
to judge how the features are bound together to form complex objects

Word Recognition
-evidence shows that object recognition begins with detecting simple features and once this has occurred
separate mechanisms are needed to put the features together into complete objects

Factors Influencing Recognition

-tachistoscope – a device designed to present stimuli for precisely controlled amounts of time
-each stimulus is followed by a post stimulus mask – often just a random jumble of letters that serves to
interrupt any continued processing that participants might try to do for the stimulus just presented
-whether or not people recognize the briefly visible stimuli depends on many factors including familiarity
-another factor influencing recognition is recency of view – first exposure primes the participant for the
second exposure – this is a case of repetition priming

The Word Superiority Effect

-words are easier to perceive (recognize) than isolated letters – usually demonstrated with a “two-
alternative, forced choice” procedure

Degree of Well-Formedness
-it easier to recognize the letter E if it appears in context
-however, there is no context effect if presented with a string like “HZYE”
-words like “FIKE” or “LAFE” even though not English words are easy to read and do produce a context
effect
-can evaluate if a 2-3 letter string is well formed – how well it conforms to usual spelling patterns of
English

Making Errors
-you somehow are using your knowledge of spelling patterns when you look at and recognize the words
you encounter – have an easier time with letter strings the conform to these patterns
-errors that occur in this are quite systematic – there is a strong tendency to misread less common letter
sequences as if they were more common patterns – for example “TPUM” as “TRUM”

Feature Nets and Word Recognition

The Designing of a Feature Net

-feature nets – as we move
upward in the network, each
subsequent layer is concerned
with larger-scale objects and the
flow of info uses bottom-up
processes
-similar to neurons each detector
has a particular activation level
which reflects the status (energy)
of the detector at that moment – when detector receives input, its activation level increases and will
eventually reach the detectors response threshold and at that point the detector will fire and send its
signal to the other detectors to which it is connected
-involve complex assemblies of neural tissue
-detector activation level – detectors that have fired recently have a higher activation level (“warm up
effect”) therefore easier to reach response, also detectors that have been frequently used (repetition
priming)

The Feature Net and Well Formedness

-add another layer to the net in between letter detectors and word detectors for letter combinations to
explain why well-formedness has an effect
-this added layer is called bigram detectors – detectors of letter combos

Recovery from Confusion

-brief input causes not all features to be detected – all of the possible letter detectors (with the feature
detected – example, word CORN with faded O, - O, U, Q, S are possibilities) fire in a fashion that signals
uncertainty because they are each only receiving input from one of their features … maybe CO, maybe
CU …
-although confused at the letter level, at the bigram level only the CO detector will fire because it is well
primed and most common
-network recovers from its own confusion and avoids error in this case

Ambiguous Inputs
-context does not allow you to see more it allows you to make more use of what you see – the most
familiar bigram detector will be triggered

Recognition Errors
-downside of this is that we will perceive something like “CQRN” as “CORN” – confusion will sorted out
at the bigram level and the primed CO detector will respond wrongly
-network is biased to frequent letter combinations – but helps more than hurts

Distributed Knowledge
-the networks knowledge is not locally represented anywhere; it is not stored into a particular location or
built into a specific process
-we need to look at the relationship between the CO-detector and CF-detector levels of priming, and we
also need to look at how this relationship will lead to one detector being more influential than the other
-the knowledge about bigram frequencies is distributed knowledge – it is represented in a fashion that’s
distributed across the network and is detectable only if we consider how the entire network functions
-actual mechanisms of the feature net involve neither inferences nor knowledge (in the conventional
sense) and activity is locally determined – influenced by just the detectors feeding into it (just acts as if it
knows the rules)

Descendants of the Feature Net

The McClelland and Rumelhart Model

-detectors can inhibit one another – activation of one detector can decrease the activation in other
detectors
-this network like others is better able to identify well formed strings than irregular strings, and is also
more efficient in identifying characters in context as opposed to in isolation
-several attributes of this net make it possible to accomplish without bigram detectors
-excitatory connections – connections that allow one detector to activate its neighbors – detection of a T
serves to excite the TRIP detector
-detection of a G deactivates or inhibits the TRIP detector – inhibitory connections
-higher level detectors (word detectors) can influence lower level detectors and detectors at same level
can influence each other (in previous lower could only influence higher)
-signaling occurs in both an ascending (toward the brain) and a descending (away fro the brain) direction

Recognition by Components
-recognizing objects other than print (three dimensional)
-recognition by components (RBC) model – includes an intermediate level of detectors sensitive to
geons (geometric ions) which serve as basic building blocks of all the objects we recognize – the alphabet
from which all objects are constructed
-geons are simple shapes such a cylinders, cones and blocks
-we need (at most) 3 dozen different geons to describe every object in the world (just as 26 letters in
alphabet) – they can be combined in various ways – in a top-of relation, or a side-connected relation, and
so on
-RBC uses a hierarchy of detectors (lowest to highest) - feature detectors – respond to edges, curves,
vertices and so on  these in turn then activate the geon detectors  geon assemblies – which represent
the relations between geons (top-of or side-connected)  these assemblies activate the object model –
presentation of complete recognized object
-geons can be identified from any angle of view so recognition based on geons is viewpoint-independent
-as a result this model can recognize object even if much of the object is hidden from view

Recognition via Multiple Views

-people have stored in memory a number of different views of each object they can recognize (view head
on, view from side)
-however, the number of views stored in memory is limited – perhaps half a dozen or so – and so in many
cases your current view wont line up with any available images and in this situation you will need to
rotate your current view with one of the remembered views and this will cause a slight delay in
recognition
-speed of recognition will be viewpoint-dependent

Different Objects, Different Recognition System

-recognition of faces seems to demand a different approach

Faces are Special

-agnosia – damage to the visual system produces an inability to recognize particular stimuli
-propagnosia – generally have normal vision, but cannot recognize individual faces – so they cannot
recognize their own parents or children live or in photos – cannot even recognize themselves
-often a result from brain damage but can also be present from birth with no detectable brain damage
-implies special neural structures involved exclusively in the recognition and discrimination of faces
-recognition of faces has a strong dependence on orientation – viewpoint dependent
-reports of activity in the fusiform face area (FFA) – area responsible for recognizing faces also is
activated in tasks requiring subtle differences in cars or birds

Holistic Recognition
-face recognition does not depend on an inventory of face parts
-instead it seems to depend on holistic perception of the face
-the recognition depends on complex relationships created by the face’s overall configuration – the
spacing of the eyes relative to the length of the nose, the height of the forehead elative to the width of the
face and so on
-features can’t be considered one by one – features matter by virtue of the relationships and
configurations they create
-evidence for this come from the composite effect (combining top half of face with bottom of another)

Top-Down Influences on Object Recognition

-feature net must be supplemented with additional mechanisms

The Benefits of Larger Contexts

-top down effects are driven by your knowledge and expectations
-in order to understand priming (it is something you can eat – CELERY example) a person must
understand the words in the instruction, understand the syntax of the instruction, and know some facts
about the world

Chapter 5: Paying Attention

-attention deficit disorder – individuals who are often overwhelmed by the flood of information available
to them, they’re unable to focus on just their chosen target – they often also have problems with
hyperactivity and impulsivity so they suffer from ADHD as well
-far more extreme disruption in attention is unilateral neglect syndrome – results from damage to the
parietal cortex and people with the syndrome generally ignore all inputs coming from one side of the
body – they will eat food from one side of the plate, will wash half their face, and will fail to locate
objects on neglected side
-typically results from damage to right parietal lobe and so neglect if for left side of space

Selective Attention

Dichotic Listening
-participants wore headphones and heard one input in the left ear and a different input in the right ear
-participants were instructed to pay attention to one of these inputs – called the attended channel – and
told to simply ignore the message in the other ear – the unattended channel
-to make sure the participants were paying attention they were given a task called shadowing – required
to repeat what they heard in the attended channel
-if asked about the unattended channel after shadowing they have no idea what it said – not even sure if
coherent or jumble of words, or gibberish
-however not completely oblivious to unattended channel – noticed it it contained human speech, musical
instruments, or silence
-can report whether the speaker was male or female, had a high or low voice, or was speaking loudly or
softly – physical attributes are heard but oblivious to semantic content

Some Unattended Inputs Are Detected

-1/3rd of participants hear own name in unattended message
-not just names that can catch your attention – movie just saw, or mention of your favorite restaurant –
words with personal importance

Perceiving and the Limits of Cognitive Capacity

-you create a filter that shields you from potential distractors
-this filtering is rather specific and occurs in a distractor by distractor bases –can only detect previously,
already identified “crashers”
-inattentional blindness – experiment where participants were asked to determine length of horizontal
and vertical lines in + sign but couldn’t look directly at it – they had a fixation target – a mark in center
of the computer screen and the + shapes were shown off to the side
-when the fixation target was altered (changed from dot to different shape) 89% of participants didn’t
notice
-this failure to see was caused by the fact that the participants were not expecting any shapes to appear
and were not prepared for them – this pattern is dubbed as inattentional blindness
-perception requires work!
-change blindness –observer’s inability to detect change in scenes they are looking directly at (man
carrying door switch with interviewer example)
-early versus late selection – are these failures a limit on perception (literally don’t see) or limits on
memory (see but immediately forget)
-according to the early selection hypothesis the attended input is privileged from the start, so that the
unattended input receives little or no analysis
-according to the late selection hypothesis all inputs receive relatively complete analysis and the
selection occur after the analysis is finished
-both hypothesis are true, certain cases differ in which

Selective Priming
-you can literally prepare yourself for perceiving by priming the relevant detectors – aka you somehow
“reach into” the network and deliberately activate detectors you think will soon be needed
-once the detectors have been primed in this fashion they will be on high alert and ready to fire
-there is a limit to how much priming you can do
-two types of priming – response time in neutral, primed, and misled conditions
-priming is observed even in the absence of expectations
-priming the wrong detector has no effect
-explaining the costs and benefits – 2 types of primes – stimulus based and expectation based
-with high validity primes responses in the mislead condition were slower than responses in the neutral
condition (priming the wrong detector takes something away from other detectors)
-limited capacity system – priming one detector uses some of the limited supply of activation needed, if
there was an unlimited supply this effect would not occur (Posner & Snyder)
-not enough resources

Chronometric Studies and Spatial Attention

-spatial attention – the ability to focus on a particular position in space and thus to be better prepared for
any stimulus that appears in that position
-pays to be prepared – 12% slower on mislead trials – in order to devote more attention to the left position
you must devote less attention to the right making you less prepared if the stimulus is on the right
(limited-capacity system)

Attention as a Spotlight
-visual attention can be compared to a spotlight that can shine anywhere in the visual field – the beam
marks the region of space for which you are prepared and inputs within it can be processed more
efficiently (refers to movements of attention not movement of eyes)
-benefits of attention can occur before any eye movement
-control of attention depends on a network of brain sites in the frontal cortex and parietal cortex
-the orienting system is responsible for shifting attention, the alerting system is responsible for achieving
and maintaining an alert state in the brain, and the executive system control voluntary actions

Attending to Objects or Attending to Position

-do we pay attention to objects or their positions in space
-each view captures part of the truth
-unilateral neglect syndrome – red and blue circle example – symptoms of neglect syndrome plainly
reveal a spatially defined bias, patients neglect half of space, but, once attention is directed toward a
target, it’s the target itself that defines the focus of attention
-these tasks involve different brain circuits – with one set near the top of the head, primarily concerned
with spatial attention, and different set of circuits concerned with non spatial tasks

Feature Binding
-suggestion that unlimited capacity to prime all detectors would be better is wrong
-this would promote an information overload
-your limited capacity helps you by allowing you only a manageable flow of stimulation
-need attention to perceive a unified object – distracted participants correctly catalogue the features that
are in view but fail to bundle the features in the right way

Perceiving and the Limits on Cognitive Capacity: An Interim Summary

-two different mechanisms are involved in selective attention: one serves to inhibit or block out
processing of unwanted inputs which is important for distractors, and another mechanism that you more
commonly rely on, this is a mechanism that facilitates the processing of desired inputs

Divided Attention
-the effort to divide your focus between multiple tasks or multiple inputs
The Specificity of Resources
-two relatively similar tasks – reading a book and listening to a lecture – both involve the use of language
and so it seems plausible that both these tasks will have similar resource requirements which means when
trying to do them at the same time they are likely to compete for resources and make this sort of
multitasking difficult
-two very different tasks – knitting and listening to a lecture – are unlikely to interfere with each other as
they have distinct resource requirements

The Generality of Resources

-driver talking to passenger’s vs talking on the phone example

Identifying General Resources

-some resources are an energy supply drawn on by all tasks
- “mental tools” rather tan some sort of mental energy supply
-one of these tools is a mechanism needed for selecting and initiating responses both physical and mental
-the response selector plays a key role in coordinating the timing of your various activities thus serving
as a mental travel cop controlling which processes go forward at any moment

Executive Control
-the minds executive control – mechanism that sets goals and priorities, chooses strategies, and controls
the sequence of cognitive processes
-executive control is needed whenever you want to avoid interference from habits supplied by memory or
habits triggered by situational cues
-it works to maintain the desired goal in mind and inhibit automatic responses
-people who have diminished executive control (damage to the prefrontal cortex, frontal lobe damage)
show preservation error –a tendency to produce the same response over and over even when its plain
that the task requires a change in the response
-these patients also show a patters of goal neglect – failing to organize their behavior in a way that moves
them toward their goals

Practice
-situation is different for a novice driver than an experienced driver

Practice Diminishes Resource Demand

-as a task becomes more practiced it requires fewer resources, or less frequent use of these resources
-before experience executive control is needed all the time since you have no habits, but once you have
experience it is only sometimes needed

Automaticity
-once a task is well practiced, you can lose the option of controlling your own mental operations –
practice enables many mental processes to go forward untouched by control mechanisms with the result
that these processes are now uncontrollable
-tasks that have been frequently practiced can achieve a state of automaticity – distinguish between
controlled tasks – typically novel or continuously vary in their demand, and automatic tasks – are
typically highly familiar and do not require great flexibility
-downside to automatic tasks – are not governed by the minds control mechanisms and an act as if they
are “mental reflexes”
-an example involves an effect known as the stroop interference – participants shown words and asked
to name color of the ink out loud while the words themselves were color names – extremely difficult
because of strong tendency to read the printed words