1
Q
What does cognitive psychology study?
A
Mental processes such as perception, memory, language, problem-solving, and decision-making.
2
Q
Why can’t cognitive processes be observed directly?
A
They are internal; researchers must use indirect methods like experiments, models, and technology.
3
Q
What was behaviourism’s main focus?
A
Observable behaviour, specifically stimulus–response (S-R) relationships.
4
Q
Who defined psychology as an objective science rejecting introspection?
A
John B. Watson (1914).
5
Q
What was Watson’s view on consciousness in psychology?
A
He argued animal behaviour could be explained without reference to consciousness.
6
Q
What was a major criticism of behaviourism?
A
It was too reductionist and ignored mental processes.
7
Q
Who introduced the idea of cognitive maps?
A
Edward Tolman (1948).
8
Q
What experiment supported Tolman’s cognitive map theory?
A
His latent learning maze study with rats, showing sudden improvement once rewards were introduced.
9
Q
What did Tolman conclude about rats in his maze experiments?
A
They formed cognitive maps, not just S-R associations.
10
Q
What metaphor did Tolman use for the brain?
A
A control room integrating information, rather than a simple switchboard.
11
Q
Who attempted to explain language using behaviourism?
A
B.F. Skinner (1957, Verbal Behavior).
12
Q
How did Skinner explain labeling a painting as “Dutch”?
A
As a learned response under stimulus control.
13
Q
Why was Skinner’s explanation of language criticised?
A
It failed to explain creativity and varied language use beyond stimulus control.
14
Q
Who critiqued Skinner’s behaviourist theory of language?
A
Noam Chomsky (1957/1967).
15
Q
What concept did Chomsky introduce in his critique of behaviourism?
A
Innate language structures, or universal grammar.
16
Q
What major shift in psychology was sparked by Chomsky’s critique?
A
The cognitive revolution.
17
Q
What metaphor for the mind came from technological advances?
A
The computer metaphor: input → processing → output.
18
Q
What tool did early cognitive psychologists use to study attentional overload?
A
Computer-based reaction time and task-switching studies.
19
Q
What is mental chronometry?
A
The measurement of cognitive processing time using reaction time tasks.
20
Q
Who developed the subtraction method for measuring cognitive processes?
A
Donders (1868).
21
Q
What is the difference between simple and choice reaction time?
A
Choice RT involves additional time for stimulus evaluation and decision-making.
22
Q
Why is introspection not a reliable method for studying cognition?
A
It is subjective, unreliable, and biased.
23
Q
What methods do psychologists use instead of introspection?
A
Experiments, error analysis, reaction times, biases, and formal models.
24
Q
What do systematic cognitive biases reveal?
A
They expose how mental processes work by showing predictable errors.
25
What do cognitive models often look like?
Boxes and arrows diagrams showing the flow of information.
26
What was behaviourism’s main limitation compared to cognitive psychology?
It ignored hidden mental processes and internal representations.
27
What is focused attention?
Prioritising one stimulus while ignoring others (e.g., listening to one conversation at a noisy party).
28
What is divided attention?
Attempting to attend to multiple stimuli simultaneously; multitasking shows reduced cognitive control (Ophir et al., 2009).
29
Why is attention limited?
Human processing capacity is finite; we must filter input, leaving many stimuli only partially or not processed.
30
What is inattentional blindness?
Failure to notice unexpected stimuli when attention is focused elsewhere (e.g., Simons & Chabris, 1999 Gorilla experiment).
31
What does inattentional blindness show?
That attention is necessary for conscious awareness of stimuli.
32
What is change blindness?
Failure to detect changes in a scene when attention is disrupted (Rensink et al., 1997).
33
What does change blindness imply?
We have an illusory sense of completeness; only limited details are encoded; attention is required for change detection.
34
What is early selection theory of attention?
Filtering occurs before semantic processing; supported by Broadbent’s Filter Model & dichotic listening studies.
35
What evidence supports early selection?
Unattended messages remembered only by physical features (e.g., voice pitch).
36
What is late selection theory of attention?
All stimuli are processed semantically; only relevant information reaches awareness.
37
What evidence supports late selection?
Cocktail party phenomenon – hearing your name in an unattended conversation.
38
What is Lavie’s flexible selection theory?
The locus of selection depends on cognitive load: high load → early selection; low load → late selection.
39
What is the cocktail party effect?
Ability to attend to one conversation but still notice salient cues like your name.
40
What does the cocktail party effect show?
Both filtering and monitoring occur in attention.
41
What are the two stages of Treisman’s Feature Integration Theory?
1. Preattentive stage (parallel feature processing), 2. Focused attention stage (serial feature binding).
42
What is a feature search?
Target differs on one dimension; detected quickly, in parallel.
43
What is a conjunction search?
Target differs on multiple dimensions; requires serial search, slower.
44
What is exogenous attention?
Stimulus-driven, involuntary attention captured by external events (e.g., flashing lights).
45
What is endogenous attention?
Voluntary, goal-driven attention (e.g., looking for a friend in a crowd).
46
What do inattentional and change blindness both demonstrate?
That attention is required to consciously process and detect events in the environment.
47
What is the main conclusion about attention from early, late, and flexible models?
Attention is limited and filtering can occur early or late depending on cognitive load.
48
What does Treisman’s FIT explain about attention?
How attention binds separate features (colour, shape, orientation) into unified objects.
49
What are the two perspectives on memory?
1. Stored knowledge (retained info), 2. Active processes (encoding, storage, retrieval, updating).
50
Why is memory not just a passive record?
It is a dynamic system that supports learning, reasoning, and decision-making.
51
What is iconic memory and its duration?
Visual sensory memory; lasts about 250 ms.
52
What is echoic memory and its duration?
Auditory sensory memory; lasts about 2–4 seconds.
53
What did Sperling’s (1960) partial report experiment show?
Sensory memory has a large capacity but very short duration.
54
What is the capacity of STM according to Miller (1956)?
7 ± 2 items.
55
What strategy can extend STM capacity?
Chunking.
56
What is the primacy effect?
Early list items are rehearsed and transferred to LTM.
57
What is the recency effect?
Last items remain active in STM buffer.
58
How is STM typically coded?
Acoustically/phonologically.
59
How is LTM typically coded?
Semantically.
60
What did case H.M. demonstrate about memory?
He had intact STM but impaired LTM (anterograde amnesia), showing they are separate systems.
61
What did Clive Wearing’s case show?
Profound LTM impairment but intact STM for a few seconds; supports separate systems.
62
Who proposed the Working Memory Model and when?
Baddeley & Hitch (1974); updated by Baddeley (2000).
63
What is the role of the central executive in working memory?
Controls attention, allocates resources, integrates info; possibly linked to consciousness.
64
What is the phonological loop?
Temporary store for verbal/auditory info.
65
What evidence supports the phonological loop?
Word-length effect, digit span differences across languages, dual-task interference.
66
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Temporary storage of visual and spatial info.
67
Give an example of using the visuo-spatial sketchpad.
Holding an image in mind or navigating a map.
68
What is the episodic buffer?
Integrates info across domains; creates multidimensional event representations.
69
What evidence supports the phonological loop?
Counting + recall interference; faster speech = greater span.
70
What evidence supports the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Mental rotation tasks.
71
Why is the central executive hard to study?
It’s difficult to isolate; studied via divided attention and switching tasks.
72
What question remains about the central executive?
Is it the site of consciousness?
73
What are the key time limits of sensory memory?
Iconic ~250 ms; Echoic ~2–4 s.
74
What is the capacity of STM?
~7 ± 2 items; extended by chunking.
75
What shows that STM and LTM are separate systems?
Different coding (acoustic vs semantic) and clinical cases (H.M., Clive Wearing).
76
What are the four components of the working memory model?
Central Executive, Phonological Loop, Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad, Episodic Buffer.
77
What is episodic memory?
Memory for personal events and experiences, tied to time and place; involves 'mental time travel.'
78
Give an example of episodic memory.
Remembering your last birthday or the first lecture of a course.
79
What is semantic memory?
General knowledge about the world, concepts, and facts, independent of personal experience.
80
What is the key distinction between episodic and semantic memory?
Episodic = remembering (mental time travel); Semantic = knowing (facts, concepts).
81
What did Collins & Quillian (1969) propose?
A hierarchical network model where knowledge is stored in logical hierarchies of nodes with spreading activation.
82
What is cognitive economy in semantic memory models?
Properties stored only once at the highest necessary level.
83
What did Collins & Loftus (1972) change in semantic models?
Made links flexible; included semantic distance, activation strength, and recency.
84
What is the typicality effect?
Some category members (e.g., robin) are verified faster than others (e.g., penguin).
85
What is the category size effect?
Broader categories (e.g., 'animal') may be verified faster than intermediate ones (e.g., 'mammal').
86
What are PDP models inspired by?
Neural networks; knowledge represented as patterns of activation across nodes.
87
How do PDP models learn?
By adjusting connection weights; categories emerge from overlapping features.
88
Give an example of PDP generalisation.
A sparrow inherits bird properties by shared features like wings and feathers.
89
What is a challenge for PDP models?
Learning atypical cases like penguins or bats takes longer.
90
What is a schema?
Generalised mental frameworks representing knowledge about objects, people, or events.
91
What did Bartlett’s (1932) War of the Ghosts study show?
Schemas shape recall by normalising, filling gaps, and distorting unfamiliar info.
92
Give an example of schema distortion from Bartlett’s study.
'Canoe' recalled as 'boat,' 'hunting seals' as 'fishing.'
93
What are the functions of schemas?
Efficient encoding/retrieval, provide expectations, but can distort memory when info doesn’t fit.
94
What is a script?
An event-based schema for sequences of actions in familiar situations.
95
Give an example of a script.
Dining out: order → eat → pay.
96
What is script transference?
Applying an inappropriate script in a new context (e.g., using high school script at university).
97
How do schemas influence memory?
They shape perception, encoding, retrieval, expectations, and coping strategies.
98
What is the main takeaway about episodic vs semantic memory?
Episodic = events/experiences; Semantic = knowledge/facts.
99
What is a limitation of hierarchical models?
They don’t account for typicality and category size effects.
100
What is the strength of PDP models?
They explain distributed, flexible learning; align with neuroscience and AI.
101
What is the main role of schemas and scripts in memory?
Provide structure but can bias and distort recall.
102
Why is memory considered constructive?
Because it is shaped by stored traces and cognitive frameworks like schemas.
103
What is explicit (declarative) memory?
Conscious, intentional recollection of information.
104
What are the subtypes of explicit memory?
Episodic (personal events) and Semantic (facts, knowledge).
105
What is implicit (non-declarative) memory?
Unconscious, automatic influences on behaviour.
106
What are the subtypes of implicit memory?
Classical conditioning, priming, procedural memory.
107
Give an example of classical conditioning in memory.
Dentist’s drill → pain → anxiety.
108
Give an example of priming.
'Money, withdraw, robbery' primes the concept 'bank.'
109
What is procedural memory?
Memory for how to perform tasks (skills, habits), hard to verbalise, gradual learning.
110
Why is procedural memory hard to describe?
It is non-conscious, automatic, and learned incrementally.
111
What is evidence for dissociation between implicit and explicit memory?
Explicit memory improves with deep processing; implicit less affected; explicit disrupted by format change; implicit stable.
112
How does retention interval affect implicit vs explicit memory?
Explicit memory decays faster; implicit memory often more stable.
113
What do amnesic patients show about memory?
Impaired explicit memory but preserved implicit memory.
114
What was Squire’s (1987) view on memory systems?
Declarative vs Procedural memory systems are distinct.
115
What is a false memory?
Remembering events or details that never happened.
116
What is the misinformation paradigm (Loftus, 1974)?
Leading questions can alter recall of events.
117
How can social pressure create false memories?
Suggesting scenarios (e.g., 'lost in the mall') can implant false memories.
118
How do schemas and scripts contribute to false memories?
They fill gaps and normalise memory, leading to distortions.
119
What is source confusion?
Mixing up the origin of information.
120
What is the DRM paradigm?
Presenting related word lists leads to false recall of a critical lure (e.g., 'sleep').
121
What does the DRM paradigm show?
Memory is reconstructive and prone to semantic activation errors.
122
Who was Kim Peek?
A savant with extraordinary rote memory but poor conceptual/associative memory.
123
What does Kim Peek’s case suggest about memory?
Literal memory without typical semantic activation; aligns with DRM evidence.
124
What are flashbulb memories?
Vivid, detailed memories for shocking/emotional events (e.g., 9/11).
125
What was Brown & Kulik’s (1977) hypothesis about flashbulb memories?
They are produced by a special neural mechanism.
126
What is the counterargument to the flashbulb hypothesis?
They may result from frequent rehearsal, not a special mechanism.
127
What did Talarico & Rubin (2003) find about flashbulb memories?
Accuracy declined at the same rate as everyday memories, but confidence remained high.
128
What did Conway et al. (2009) find about 9/11 memories?
High confidence and consistency early, but memory faded over time.
129
What is infantile amnesia?
Inability to recall memories from the first ~3 years of life.
130
What are possible causes of infantile amnesia?
Brain immaturity, language underdevelopment, lack of autobiographical self.
131
What is the reminiscence bump?
Increased recall for events between ages 10–30.
132
Why does the reminiscence bump occur?
Novelty, identity formation, peak cognition, and cultural life scripts.
133
How do attitudes and self-schema affect study?
Beliefs like 'I’m bad at stats' reduce effort and motivation; self-schema shapes effort.
134
What is the key principle of effective study?
Learn and transform information, don’t just collect notes/recordings.
135
What neural changes affect memory with aging?
Neuron decline and reduced efficiency of neural connections.
136
What did Rahal, Hasher & Colcombe (2001) find?
Older adults performed worse when tasks were labelled 'memory test' due to stereotype threat.
137
What is recall?
Generating information without cues (e.g., essays, short-answer).
138
What is recognition?
Identifying studied items among distractors (e.g., multiple-choice).
139
Which is generally better, recall or recognition?
Recognition is generally better, but recall strengthens recognition too.
140
Why are MCQs not always easier?
They require elaborated encoding to discriminate correct from distractors.
141
What is the encoding–retrieval match principle?
Memory is best when learning and retrieval conditions match.
142
What did Godden & Baddeley (1975) show?
Divers recalled best when study and test contexts matched (land/underwater).
143
Is recognition affected by context as much as recall?
No, recognition is less affected; relies more on familiarity.
144
What is retroactive interference?
New learning disrupts old memories.
145
What is proactive interference?
Old learning disrupts new memories.
146
When is interference strongest?
When material is similar.
147
What disrupts encoding?
Background noise and music (even liked music).
148
What study found music disrupts memory?
Perham & Vizard (2011).
149
What study found time-of-day affects memory?
May, Hasher & Stoltzfus (1993).
150
What is deep encoding?
Semantic structuring, elaboration, self-referent encoding, multiple perspectives.
151
What did Bransford & Johnson (1972) find?
Context before reading aids recall; repetition without structure had little effect.
152
What problem comes from digital saving of notes?
Reliance on external storage reduces active encoding and memory (Storm & Stone, 2015).
153
What is the transformation principle in studying?
Slides → notes → exam is better; best is slides → notes → self-testing → exam.
154
What is the Method of Loci?
A memory palace technique pairing items with spatial journeys.
155
What are desirable difficulties?
Struggles in retrieval improve consolidation and memory strength.
156
What study techniques are low utility (Dunlosky et al., 2013)?
Summarisation, highlighting, rereading.
157
What study techniques are high utility (Dunlosky et al., 2013)?
Practice testing, distributed practice.
158
What are lag effects?
Longer spacing between study sessions improves consolidation.
159
What did Roediger & Karpicke (2006) show?
Testing improves long-term recall more than restudying (SSSS vs SSST vs STTT).
160
What is the implication of test-enhanced learning?
Frequent testing boosts learning better than extra study time.
161
What are the 5 key takeaways from studying and memory?
1. Effort & attitude matter. 2. Recall > recognition for learning. 3. Context & deep processing matter. 4. Testing & spacing best. 5. Over-reliance on digital storage weakens memory.
psych 1002
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