Flashcards

Cognition

Cognitive neuroscience

Mind–body problem

Dualism

Dual-aspect theory

Reductionism

Phrenology

Functional specialization

Cognitive neuropsychology

Information processing

Interactivity

Top-down processing

Bottom-up processing

Parallel processing

Modularity

Domain specificity

Neural network models

Nodes

Temporal resolution

Spatial resolution

Connectome

Graph theory

Deep neural network

replication crisis

Multiverse analysis

HARKing

Pre-registration

Registered report

P-hacking

File-drawer problem

Power analysis

Meta-analysis

Reproducibility

These are situations in which you have a goal, but you do not immediately know what you need to do to achieve it.

A mental process that involves the exploration of possible states of the world and possible actions. This mental process may often be supported by interactions with external materials, objects and representations.

A person’s sudden sense of understanding of how to go about solving a problem for which they have been struggling to find a solution. Such insight is sometimes referred to as an “Aha!” experience.

These are problems in which the initial state (the starting conditions), the goal state and the actions that are available to tackle the problem are all completely specified.

These are problems in which there is a lack of specificity about one or more of the initial state (the starting conditions), the goal state and the actions that are available to tackle the problem.

These are problems that require specialist, prior domain knowledge for people to be able to solve them.

These are problems such as puzzles that do not require specialist, prior domain knowledge for people to be able to solve them. All of the knowledge needed to solve these problems is presented as part of the problem statement.

These are problems in which the problem solver has to compete with a rational opponent, as in board games where the aim is for one player to win.

This usually involves a person changing their mental representation of a given problem. This representational change that restructures a problem can reveal a new understanding of the problem that can engender a sudden feeling of insight that a solution can readily be found.

The experience of feeling stuck or blocked when trying to solve a problem and not knowing how to proceed to find a solution.

A difficulty in thinking of a novel way to use an object that is different to its usual function.

A period during which a problem is set aside. This may arise immediately after the person sees the problem or subsequent to the person spending some time trying to solve the problem but without success.

A form of long-term memory that consists of one’s interconnected general knowledge about the world, including concepts and words that make up language.

A technique for providing information about the location and time-course of brain processes based on imaging blood oxygenation levels using an MRI machine.

A technique for recording the brain’s electrical potentials using an array of scalp electrodes.

Thinking that involves the systematic re-use of past experience and existing knowledge.

A process involving a comparison between two entities, objects, systems or problems that serves to identify similarities.

Rules of thumb that are undemanding of cognitive resources and that often succeed in producing answers that are correct or approximately correct.

An abstract mental representation of a problem and possible solution states.

The process of imagining an action sequence in advance of any physical, goal-directed activity.

Problem-solving methods that are guaranteed to succeed but may do so only at a very high cost in terms of the time and information-processing effort required.

Computer programs that can produce intelligent outcomes to attain specified goals.

A heuristic for solving problems that involves generating a sub-goal to reduce the difference between the current state and the goal state.

A heuristic that functions like means-ends analysis to ensure that any move or decision enables as much progress to be made as possible toward the current goal state.

A heuristic whereby during problem solving people continually track their degree of progress toward the goal state and will switch their approach if insufficient progress toward the goal is being made.

A measure of how much information a person can store and process at any point in time.

Rapid eye movements that are separated by eye fixations that arise when the eye is relatively still at a point-of-regard. Conscious awareness is suppressed during saccades.

Problems that have the same underlying structure to one another but different surface characteristics.

Generalised, abstracted representations of problems and associated solution methods that are stored in long-term memory, which can be applied to solve a class of problems that have similar underpinning structures.

Thinking that is directed toward finding a single correct or effective solution to a problem.

Thinking that is directed toward generating a range of potential ideas that meet a specified requirement or set of requirements

A task that requires participants to come up with as many uses as they can that are different from the normal use for a familiar object, such as a brick, within a limited time.

A form of long-term memory that consists of one’s interconnected general knowledge about the world, including concepts and words that make up language.

A brain-imaging technique that is based on the detection of positrons (or antielectrons). As a technique it has good spatial resolution to detect active brain regions but poor temporal resolution to detect changes in brain activity over time.

A network of brain regions that is active when the brain is in a resting state (albeit not sleeping) and when a person is engaged in mind wandering and imaginative thinking (e.g., remembering the past or thinking about the future).

A network of brain regions that is typically recruited by tasks that require executive control, inhibition and working memory.

Processes that function to organise, coordinate and control the workings of the cognitive system to achieve current goals.

Processes that inhibit dominant responses so that other, less dominant responses can be attended to.

A limited-capacity system used for the processing and short-term storage of information.

A network of brain regions that underpins the decision to switch between the involvement of the default mode network and the central executive network at any point in time.

A task in which participants are required to combine presented shapes to make a novel and interesting combination that depicts a recognisable object or assemblage.

A stage during problem solving when the target problem is set aside for a while so as to work on other things. It is claimed that incubation can facilitate solution discovery for the target problem when work on it resumes.

A form of quantitative analysis in which the statistical data from numerous previous studies on a particular topic are combined so that the overall evidence for particular effects can be determined.

Loose, associative thinking that is not overtly goal-directed or task-related.

A method to stimulate the production of unusual ideas by emphasising the quantity rather than the quality of idea generation and the deferment of any evaluation of ideas until a defined period of idea generation has occurred.

Problems that require specialist, prior domain knowledge for people to be able to solve them.

In relation to chess, this is an abstract, schema-based knowledge structure that consists of a mixture of fixed and variable information about chess pieces and their relative configurations.

A form of practice that is designed to improve performance by ensuring that learners are given tasks of moderate difficulty and are provided with informative feedback so that they have the chance to correct their errors.

An individual’s pre-existing and presumably innate capacities, abilities and propensities that are relevant to acquiring skills in a domain of activity.

A mechanism that is used by experts whereby domain-relevant information is rapidly stored in long-term memory such that it can be dynamically accessed using retrieval cues in working memory.

Reasoning from given information that is assumed to be true to derive conclusions that necessarily follow from the information.

Reasoning from knowledge of specific instances and examples to derive generalisations that are probable but not certain.

A type of everyday reasoning that is based on a person’s relevant knowledge and experience rather than on the formal rules of logic.

A type of deductive reasoning that is based on statements or propositions that take the form “If p…then q”.

A system of formal rules devised by logicians that enable valid arguments to be developed from simple statements (propositions) that are linked by logical relations such as if…then, and, or and not.

Statements or propositions that are given and are assumed to be true, from which conclusions can be drawn that may be valid or invalid.

Logical rules that can be applied to premises to determine whether an inference is valid or invalid. For example, modus ponens (from the Latin meaning “mode of affirming”) is a rule which states that given “If p then q” and given that “p” is true, we can infer that “q” is also true by way of a valid conclusion.

Mental representations of possible states of the world that capture the meaning of information in given premises. According to mental models theories of reasoning, people draw inferences based on these models of possibilities.

The idea that the mental models that people construct for given information only capture true possibilities and not false possibilities.

These are a type of reasoning problem that are composed of two premises and a conclusion. The premises and conclusion include the categorical expressions “all”, “no”, “some” and “some…not”, which are referred to as quantifiers.

A rule of thumb that is undemanding of cognitive resources and that often succeeds in producing answers that are correct or approximately correct.

The tendency on abstract versions of the Wason selection task for people to choose to turn over cards matching the items that are mentioned in the given conditional rule irrespective of the presence or absence of negations.

These are terms such as “must”, “should” and “may”, which when used in conditional rules specify obligations and permissions.

In syllogistic reasoning this is the tendency to accept invalid but believable conclusions and to reject valid but unbelievable conclusions.

In syllogistic reasoning this is the tendency for people to endorse conclusions based on the quantifiers used in the premises rather than on the logic of the argument.

In syllogistic reasoning this is the tendency for people to endorse conclusions based on the order of terms in premises rather than on the logic of the argument.

The monitoring and control processes that determine the processes and strategies that are deployed in reasoning as well as the amount of time and effort that is devoted to deriving a solution to a given problem or task.

The idea that people’s rationality is limited by cognitive constraints and environmental constraints such that they are as rational as they can be when reasoning under these limitations.

Finding a solution to a problem that is good enough to achieve a goal but is sub-optimal because humans have bounded rationality.

The idea that human reasoning should be judged as “correct” or “incorrect” according to how closely its outputs match established norm and standards such as those of logic or probability theory.

In informal reasoning this is the tendency to interpret information in a way that aligns with one’s own beliefs or to generate justifications or arguments that support those beliefs.

Collections of items that we group together as being equivalent in some way.

The mental representation of a category which includes information about the properties of the category such as ‘wings’, ‘beak, ‘feathers’.

Thinking that relies on comparing two or more things and highlighting their similarities (ie an analogy) to assist with information processing.

The tendency for the processes involved in cognition to minimise the resources and effort used. For example, rather than storing the concept ‘wings’ for every type of bird a person knows (e.g., robin, sparrow, emu), ‘wings’ might instead be stored once with the concept ‘bird’.

This is where members of a category share clusters of features which are not shared by members of other categories. This leads to high similarity of items within a category and low similarity of items from different categories.

When a concept is activated such as cat, activation spreads through a semantic network of related concepts ‘fur, whiskers, paws, cat food’ so that these related concepts are readily available for use

Reasoning based on observations about the world.

Higher level of category – the domain of living things, includes the categories of mammals, birds and plants.

The idea that certain categories (e.g., women, spiders etc.) have an underlying reality, true nature, or essence, that cannot be directly observed, but which informs our reasoning about members of that category.

Literally ‘without modality’ – in other words, a model or representation that is not based in modality such as vision or hearing.

The areas of the brain where our senses (touch, taste, smell etc) and movements are controlled.

The internal capacity for thoughts, opinions and evaluations of events and people.

The behaviour of choosing between alternative options.

The idea that human thinking reflects a normative system against which it should be measured and judged.

An approach concerned with how we in fact reason and think rather than how we should do so.

A decision making situation where the decision involves the possibility of an adverse consequence or outcome.

A cognitive bias where people decide on options based on whether the options are presented in a positive or negative way.

Simple rules that can be used instead of more complex decision making processes.

A mental shortcut where people make judgements about the likelihood of an event based on how easily previous instances come to mind.

A tendency to judge the probability of the whole as being less than the probability of its constituent parts.

A mental shortcut that describes judgements that tend to be based on how similar an event is to a prototypical example of that category.

A faulty line of reasoning that infers that the combination of two or more attributes is more probable than either attribute on its own.

An approach to applying probability to statistical problems that involves updating beliefs about events in light of new data or existing evidence about those events.

The underlying general prevalence or relative probability of a type of event occurring.

The tendency to underweight or ignore base-rate information in favour of other types of information when making judgements.

A mental shortcut that describes judgements that are heavily influenced by the initially presented set of information.

A process by which experiences about events is acquired naturally and forms the basis of probability judgements.

A type of heuristic that is simple to execute because they limit information search and do not involve much computation.

A mental shortcut that describes that when making a judgement about two items, the individual will judge the most easily recognised item as having the higher value.

Used to describe an intuitive reflex system which triggers an automated mode of thinking.

A form of analytical, deliberate and rational thinking process, characterised by logical thought and a mental search for additional information.

A rapid eye movement lasting 20-60ms during reading which moves the focus of the eye from one word or point in the sentence to another.

A period during reading when the eyes are still and focused on a word or point in the sentence. It lasts 200-250ms and this is when we acquire information from the text.

The area that readers can retrieve visual information from in a fixation.

A backward saccade or eye movement which takes place during reading. These are more common when the material being read is challenging.

A model that uses computer software to simulate a complex system such as processes involved in reading. Different parameters within the model can be adjusted to reflect how the processes might operate. The model can then be tested using data from experiments with humans.

The meaning of words and phrases.

Relating to the visual representation or spelling of words (orthography). Words are made up of orthographic units called graphemes.

The smallest sound unit that combines with other sound units to make words. ‘Ship’ has 3 phonemes: /ʃ/, /ɪ/, /p/. The symbols used are from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and are used by phoneticians (experts in phonetics) to accurately transcribe the sounds used in different languages.

A grapheme is a written unit which consists of one or more letters which map onto a single phoneme. ‘Ship’ has 3 graphemes: ‘sh’, ‘i’, ‘p’.

Which speech sounds are used and how they are organised in specific languages.

Rules for combination of words into meaningful phrases and sentences.

A sentence in which the structure appears to unfold in one way (sending you down one path) but then a word or clause makes the first interpretation meaningless and so you have to reparse the sentence.

The use of electrodes placed on the scalp to record electrical activity in the brain. EEGS are non-invasive and relatively inexpensive as imaging techniques go. It is good at picking up activity as it happens (it has good temporal resolution) but is not able to be precise about the spatial location of the activity (it lacks spatial resolution).

The sensation we experience of ‘hearing’ words in our head. When we read silently it is the words in the text we hear and when we replay recent conversations and imagine what we might have said differently, it is the voice we hear speaking.

A technique used where participants are required to repeat a word or sound during an experiment to prevent them using their articulatory loop (see Chapter 10) to rehearse stimuli they are presented with sub-vocally (using inner speech).

Mental store of information about word representations. Many models of word recognition refer to lexica for specific types of knowledge. For example, an orthographic lexicon contains information about the spelling of words.

An integrated mental representation of the meaning of a piece of text or other description of a situation (for example, playing, a telephone call and so on etc).

This is where you allow your eyes to pass quickly over a piece of text whilst trying to get the gist of what you are reading.

A technique in which the stimuli (words in this chapter) are presented very quickly, one after another. In reading research, this prevents participants from being able to look back at preceding words.

Individual phonemes or basic speech sounds are pronounced differently according to the phonemes immediately preceding or following them speech perception.

The smallest sound unit that combines with other sound units to make words. ‘Ship’ has 3 phonemes: /ʃ/, /ɪ/, /p/. The symbols used are from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and are used by phoneticians (experts in phonetics) to accurately transcribe the sounds used in different languages.

Related to sound or hearing.

The ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds such as background noise

A hypothesis (plural, hypotheses) is a prediction about the outcome of an experiment, based on theory and/or previous research. The results from an experiment can then either provide support for or against the hypothesis.

An auditory illusion which occurs when a person’s lip movements and the sounds they produce do not match up. For example, if the lips are making the shape that corresponds to ‘ga’ but the sound being made is ‘ba’, the listener will typically hear ‘da’.

Problems with language or speech, usually caused by damage to the left side of the brain following a head injury, stroke or other damage.

Error in language output causes by aphasia.

A modality neutral representation of the syntactic and semantic properties of a word.

The study of meaning that goes beyond the literal level and focuses on what is inferred from the context in which an utterance is made.

Lexica is the plural of lexicon, meaning store of words.

Words that share the same origins (or etymology) and meaning such as classification in English and clasificación in Spanish. When learning a language, these are useful but beware of false friends which look the same but mean different things, une journée in French, which means day and not journey.

A word that is spelt the same as another word (e.g., bank meaning building where you deposit money and bank meaning side of the river). Often these are also homophones – they sound the same, like bank, but some can be pronounced differently, like lead (the metal) and lead (the opposite of to follow).

Memory stores for holding information from the senses for brief periods of time

A store for holding a small amount of information in mind for a short period of time

Memory stores for retaining a large amount of information for a long period of time

the sensory memory store for retaining visual information

the sensory memory store for auditory information

the sensory memory store for information acquired by touch

the finding that the last few items in a list are remembered better than those from the beginning or middle of a list

the finding that the first few items in a list are remembered better than items in the middle of the list

an influential theory of memory suggesting that material is remembered as a function of the extent of elaborative processing

the tendency for individuals to have better memory for information that relates to oneself

information is more likely to be recalled if the type of processing used during retrieval matches the type that was used during encoding

memories are more likely to be recalled if contextual information presented during encoding is also present during retrieval

the component of working memory responsible for storing verbal information

the component of working memory responsible for storing visual ad spatial information

the supervisory system that controls information within working memory

the component of working memory capable of binding information from subsidiary working memory components and long-term memory

a long-term memory system allowing us to identify words and objects

a long-term memory system for actions or movements

the long-term memory system for retaining events or episodes

our long-term memory for general world knowledge

long-term unconscious memory, such as that for skills

long-term memories that can be consciously recalled, comprised of episodic and semantic memory

the interaction between old and new material which can result in forgetting

the fading of memories due to the mere passage of time

processes which make memory traces more stable and less like to be forgotten

a reduction in long-term memory as a result of instructions to forget some material that was presented for learning

an impaired ability to recall some items following earlier retrieval of related items

a memory task in which participants are told not to retrieve a memory even when a cue is present

a memory system for storing episodes from an individual’s life, based on personal experiences, people, objects, and events

the process by which memories are actively and intentionally constructed in response to a cue

the process by which memories come to mind spontaneously without any effort to retrieve them

the inability to recollect autobiographical memories before the age of 2-4 years, and the reduced likelihood of recollecting memories before the age of 7

the tendency to have an increased recollection of events that occurred between the ages of 15-30

detailed and vivid memories for events, usually associated with important historical or personal occasions

The phenomenon of remembering a remarkable level of detail of experienced events

the tendency to seek or interpret information that is consistent with our preconceptions

organized patterns of thoughts and behaviours which help us interpret incoming information

the directing of attention towards a weapon, which tends to decrease recall of other aspects of a crime scene

the misidentification of a bystander as a criminal due to familiarity with the bystander from another context

the negative effect of providing verbal descriptions on later recognition of an individual in a police line-up

a successful method of questioning eyewitnesses and victims about their memories of a crime scene, based on principles of cognitive psychology

memories of events that did not actually occur or occurred differently from how they are reported

a procedure used to study false memory, in which a list of related words are presented for later recognition or recall, and participants are highly likely to recall related but non-presented words

identifying the source of memories and mental experiences, for example whether they were experienced or talked about by someone else

memory for information and events encountered or experienced in the past

memory which involves remembering to perform an action at a future point in time

a theory of prospective memory proposing roles for attention and retrospective memory

The ability to attend to one source of information whilst ignoring others

the ability to attend to two or more tasks simultaneously

The finding that people can attend to just one source of auditory information amongst multiple streams

A technique involving the simultaneous presentation of two different spoken messages, one to each ear

The idea that the filter for attention occurs late in the stream of information processing

The idea that the filter for attention occurs early in information processing

attention controlled by our goals and intentions (sometimes called top-down attention)

attention captured by encountered stimuli (sometimes referred to as bottom-up attention)

A paradigm in which a cue is used to direct attention before relevant targets are presented

a theory of visual attention assuming that an individual can increase or decrease the area of focussed attention at will, in a similar manner to adjusting a zoom lens

a theory of visual attention which assumes we can split attentional focus, focussing on two or more regions of space that are not adjacent

a theory of visual attention suggesting that individual features of objects (such as size or colour) are processed preattentively, but that attention is required to integrate these features into complete objects

a demonstration of the effect of lip movements on auditory perception, involving someone trying to speak without moving their lips, resulting in the perception that speech is being produced by a nearby dummy

a theory of divided attention suggesting that we cannot complete two tasks simultaneously because they compete for a limited capacity attentional resource

a theory of divided attention assuming that different tasks can employ separate pools of resources, so two tasks can sometimes be completed simultaneously

Cognitive processes which require attention, and therefore for which there is a limited capacity

Cognitive processes which do not require attention and therefore for which there is no capacity limitation

The finding that participants often fail to report the second of two targets that appear within 200ms to 500ms of each other, therefore demonstrating temporal limitations with attention

The failure to detect an unexpected object or event in a visual display, occurring when there are several stimuli and an individual becomes selectively focussed on only one

An approach that assumes that we construct our perception of the world by using our existing knowledge.

The part of the visual system that is involved in processing object features, shape, and form

The part of the visual system that is most involved in visually guided action

The finding that if you focus on a given colour and then look at something white, you will see an afterimage of a different colour.

The tendency for objects to be perceived as having standard colours, sizes and sizes, regardless of our angle of perspective, distance of lighting

Simple 2D or 3D forms such as rectangles, circles and cylinders, which according to recognition-by-components theory allow us to recognising objects

Processing that involves integrating information rather than processing individual features

The finding that people are better at recognising faces of their own age than other ages

Thew finding that people are better at recognising own-race than other-race faces

Heading describes the perception of direction of self-motion

This describes travelling along curved paths

The visual systems ability to perceive the movement of a human or animal

Neurons that respond to actions performed by oneself as well as performed by others

The difference in the timing of sound waves that reach each ear

The difference in the intensity of sound waves that reach each ear

Subjective or qualitative properties of experiences that are accessible to introspection

The state of being awake and aware of the one’s own internal states such as feelings and memories

A theoretical explanation of how things work at an atomic and subatomic level

Focused on an individual’s lived experiences within the world.

Presentation of images to each eye which cause a perceptual alternation between the two images rather than a perceptual fusion of both images

Interconnected brain regions involved in functions such as information processing which are revealed by neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and PET.

A neurological condition whereby patients are able to respond to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them

A condition characterised by a failure to response to people or objects presented to the side opposite a brain lesion

A neurological condition characterised by the inability to recognise the identity of faces

A specific pattern of brain activity that correlates with conscious experience.

A failure to notice a fully visible object because attention is engaged elsewhere

A non-invasive method that involves externally applying weak electric currents leading to temporary changes in neuronal activity. The technique can be used to selectively activate or inhibit targeted brain structures.

A vegetative state is when a person is awake but is showing no signs of awareness; they may open their eyes, wake up and fall asleep at regular intervals and have basic reflexes; they’re also able to regulate their heartbeat and breathing without assistance

A state of controlled unconsciousness induced through medicines to ensure that you are unaware and unable to feel pain during surgery.

An awareness of one’s own body and internal mental states such as feelings and desires

An evolutionary mechanism whereby organisms that can successfully adapt to their environment are more likely to survive and pass on their genes.

Improved processing (eg faster, easier) of a stimulus when it is repeated compared to when first encountered

An approach where errors are eliminated as much as possible while learning new information.

An approach where errors are not reduced during the learning of new information

A visual technique for assessing the perceptual and memory capabilities of nonverbal individuals such as human infants and animals

A task that is peripheral to the central or main task but that requires some attentional resources to complete

A concern, not just limited to psychology, that the results of some scientific studies are difficult to replicate or cannot be reproduced at all

The ability to focus on goals or plans to achieve a desired behaviour whilst inhibiting information that is not relevant

Stimuli that are exposed to an individual below a threshold for conscious perception of those stimuli

The ability to freely choose between different possible courses of action

The means by which a person interacts with a computer and exchanges information and instructions

This is a normal process of aging where some mental abilities are preserved but others gradually decline (eg reasoning and memory).

The level of mental resources required of a person at any given time.

A radical version of embodied cognition where cognition is distributed across the brain, body and environment with minimal need for internal mental representations.

Electrical signals that are recorded from motor pathways or muscles following stimulation of motor pathways in the brain.

An omega-3 fatty acid that is a key component of all cell membranes and is found in the brain and retina in large quantities.

The ability of the brain to change structure or function in response to experience or injury

An approach that identifies, appraises and synthesises all empirical evidence in an area, using methods to minimise bias and produce reliable findings to inform decision making.

Studies where researchers observe the effects of a variable without trying to influence who is and isn’t exposed to it.

An overall measure of cognition often reflecting the average of performance across individual cognitive tests.

Degeneration of myelin sheaths that cover nerve fibres in the brain that may be a predictor of risk of stroke, cognitive decline and related illnesses.

Where eligible participants are randomly assigned to groups either receiving an intervention or a control.

A collection of structures involved in emotion and memory which includes the amygdala and hippocampus.

A state where you use or lose more fluid that you take in, such that you body doesn’t have enough water and related fluids to carry out normal functions.

The simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a protein that is important for neuronal survival and growth.

Body mass index is a measure of your weight compared to your height used to determine if a person is overweight.

experimental methods that when repeated will generate the same results

obtaining consistent results from a data set when using the same analysis procedure

an experimental design whereby all participants take part in each condition of an experiment

an experimental design whereby each participant takes part in just one condition of an experiment so that different participants complete each condition

an experimental design which uses a mix of between and within subjects variables

Using the internet to recruit a large number of people to fund projects, contribute ideas, or in the case of experiments, take part in studies. There are specific websites set up to facilitate crowdsourced data collection.

individuals can access the code underpinning the software, change it, use it, distribute it and all for free. This makes research much more egalitarian, and it also facilitates collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

incorrectly rejecting the null hypothesis and concluding that there was a significant effect of the variable being measured when there wasn’t (a false-positive).