Download Chapter 7–Cognition

Chapter 7
Cognition
Let’s begin with an activity
I will hand out a memory test (Handout 7A4). Please read the directions carefully,
and listen closely.
Now we will have a quiz.
What do the results of this quiz tell you
about memory?
What is Memory?
Human memory is an
information processing
system that works
constructively to encode,
store, and retrieve
information
What is Memory?
Memory –
Any system that encodes, stores, and
retrieves information
Remember this number
-120741091101
Don’t write it down. I will see
if you can remember it in
a few slides.
-Metaphors for Memory
Cognitive psychologists see human
memory more as an interpretive system,
such as an artist, rather than a system
that takes an accurate recording, such as
a video recorder
Human memory is good at:
Information on which attention is focused
Information in which we are interested
Information that arouses us emotionally
Information that fits with our previous
experiences
Information that we rehearse
(12 days of Christmas—can ANYONE
tell me the 11th day?)
On your notes page…
Write down the names of the Seven
Dwarves.
Did you get them all?
Can you recognize all seven now?
Grouchy, Stinky, Fearful, Doc, Smiley,
Jumpy, Hopeful, Shy, Droopy, Sleepy,
Sniffy, Wishful, Puffy, Dumpy, Bashful,
Lazy, Pop, Sneezy, Cheerful, Teach,
Dopey, Shorty, Nifty, Grumpy, Wheezy,
Happy, Stubby
Did you get all of them the first time? If not,
why not? Why was the second task
easier?
Which ones did you have the hardest time
remembering? The two non-”y” names?
What do your WRONG answers tell us
about how we recall memories?
Memory’s Three Basic Tasks
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Memory’s Three Basic Functions
Encoding
Modifying
information to fit the
memory system
Storage
Retrieval
Elaboration/
elaborative rehearsal –
Deliberate encoding in
which you connect a
new concept with
existing information in
LTM
Encoding and Storage
in Working Memory
Elaborative rehearsal –
Process in which information is actively
reviewed and related to information
already in LTM
-Baker/baker paradox
Acoustic encoding –
Conversion of information to sound
patterns in working memory
Memory’s Three Basic Functions
Encoding
Storage
Retaining
encoded material
over time
Retrieval
Memory’s Three Basic Functions
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Locating and
recovering
information
from memory
How Do We
Form Memories?
Each of the three memory
stages encodes and stores
memories in a different way,
but they work together to
transform sensory experience
into a lasting record that has a
pattern of meaning
The Three Stages of Memory
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
The Three Stages of Memory
Sensory
Memory
Preserves brief
sensory
impressions of
stimuli
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
The First Stage: Sensory Memory
On the next slide, you will see a
series of letters for one second
Try to remember as many letters
as you can
DJB
XHG
C LY
The First Stage: Sensory Memory
How many can you recall?
DJB
XHG
C LY
The First Stage: Sensory Memory
The actual capacity of sensory memory is about
twelve items
Sensory memory only lasts a few seconds
There is a separate sensory register for each
sense
In this video, the assembly line is a metaphor for sensory memory,
coming at us with too much information. Lucy and Ethel, the
workers who are unable to process everything coming at them,
represent working memory. It is impossible to put everything from
sensory memory into working memory.
The Three Stages of Memory
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Preserves recently
perceived events or
experiences for less
than a minute without
rehearsal, also called
short-term memory or
STM (7 +/-2)
Long-term
Memory
The Second Stage: Working Memory
Working memory consists of
• A central executive
• Directs attention to material retrieved from
LTM or to input from sensory memory
• A phonological loop
• Temporarily stores sounds
• The sketchpad
• Stores and manipulates visual images
Let’s take a working memory quiz
(p.12 of Myers binder)
I will be reading a series of random digits.
When I complete the series, write down
as many digits as you can in order.
Encoding and Storage
in Working Memory
Chunking –
Organizing pieces of information into a
smaller number of meaningful units
-120741091101
-phone numbers
Maintenance rehearsal –
Process in which information is repeated
or reviewed to keep it from fading while in
working memory
Elaborative rehearsal/encoding
“The general idea with most memory
techniques is to change whatever boring
thing is being inputted into your memory
into something that is so colorful, so
exciting, and so different from anything
you’ve seen before that you can’t
possibly forget it.”
–Moonwalking with Einstein, page 91
Encoding and Storage
in Working Memory
Let’s do an experiment (#29)
Levels-of-processing theory –
information that is more thoroughly
connected to meaningful terms in LTM
will be better remembered
The Three Stages of Memory
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Long-term
Memory
(LTM)
Stores material
organized
according to
meaning
The Third Stage:
Long-Term Memory
Procedural memory –
Division of LTM that stores memories for
how things are done--cerebellum
Declarative memory –
Division of LTM that stores explicit
information (AKA fact memory)
-temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex
Divisions of Declarative Memory
Episodic memory –
Subdivision of declarative memory that
stores memories for personal events, or
“episodes”
Semantic memory –
Subdivision of declarative memory
that stores general knowledge,
including meanings of words and
concepts
Long-term memory
Declarative memory Procedural memory
Semantic memory
Episodic memory
Includes memory
for:
language, facts
general knowledge
Includes memory
for:
events, personal
experiences
Includes memory
for:
motor skills,
operant and
classical
conditioning
The Biological Basis
of Long-Term Memory
Consolidation –
The process by which short-term
memories are changed to long-term
memories – in the brain unit, we will call it
“long-term potentiation”
The Biological Basis
of Long-Term Memory
Anterograde amnesia –
Inability to form new memories
Retrograde amnesia –
Inability to remember information
previously stored in memory
Ribot’s Law: recent memories are more likely to be lost
How Do We
Retrieve Memories?
Whether memories are
implicit or explicit, successful
retrieval depends on how
they were encoded and how
they are cued
How Do We
Retrieve Memories?
Implicit memory –
Memory that was not deliberately learned or of
which you have no conscious awareness
(priming, mere exposure effect, who you visited
with this morning)
Explicit memory –
Memory that has been processed with
attention and can be consciously recalled
Question
What’s the name of a spinning toy?
What’s another name for soda?
What’s another name for a police officer?
Retrieval Cues
Retrieval cues –
Stimuli that are used to bring a memory to
consciousness or into behavior
Priming –
retrieving implicit memories with cues that
stimulate a memory/action without awareness
of the connection between the cue and the
retrieved memory/action
Recall and Recognition
Recall –
retrieving explicit memories in which one
must reproduce previously presented
information
Recognition –
retrieving explicit memories in which one
must identify present stimuli as having
been previously presented
Other Factors Affecting Retrieval
TOT (tip of the tongue) phenomenon –
The inability to recall a word, while knowing
that it is in memory
Mood congruent memory –
A memory process that selectively retrieves
memories that match one’s mood
Other Factors Affecting Retrieval
Encoding specificity principle –
The more closely the retrieval cues
match the way the information was
encoded, the better the information will
be remembered
Why Does Memory
Sometimes Fail Us?
Most of our memory
problems arise from
memory’s “seven sins” –
which are really by-products
of otherwise adaptive
features of human memory
Let’s take the Forgetting Frequency
Questionnaire to see where your
everyday memory stacks up.
Memory’s
“Seven Sins”
Transience
AbsentMindedness
Misattribution
Suggestibility
Bias
Persistence
Blocking
Transience
The impermanence of a LTM, because
LTMs gradually fade over time
Percent retained
Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
5
10
15
Days
20
25
30
Recall decreases rapidly, then reaches a plateau,
after which little more is forgotten
Absent-Mindedness
Forgetting caused by lapses in attention
Blocking
Forgetting that occurs when an item in
memory cannot be accessed or retrieved
• Proactive interference
• Retroactive interference
• Fork/crow; fork/plot
• Serial position effect
• Primacy: remember first items
• Recency: remember last items
Misattribution
Memories are retrieved, but they are
associated with the wrong time, place, or
person
Suggestibility
Memory distortion as a result of deliberate
or inadvertent suggestion (e.g. the shill
jurors in Brain Games)
a.k.a. misinformation effect
Factors Affecting the Accuracy of
Eyewitnesses:
Recollections are less influenced by
leading questions if possibility of memory
bias is forewarned
Passage of time leads to increase in
misremembering information
Confidence in memory is not a sign of
accuracy
Loftus’s Car Crash Study
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP8kJ5
A5xU8
Smashed
40.8 mph
Collided
39.2 mph
Bumped
38.1 mph
Hit
34.0 mph
Contacted
31.8 mph
Actual speed 36.2 mph
Links about eyewitness testimony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6fRH5
MLBIU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSBTRLoPuo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4V6aoY
uDcg
Bias
An attitude, belief, emotion, or experience that
distorts memories
Egocentric bias –
Recalling the past in a self-serving manner,
e.g., remembering one's exam grades as being
better than they were, or remembering a caught fish
as bigger than it really was
Self-consistency bias –
incorrectly remembering one's past attitudes and
behavior as resembling present ones
A list of cognitive biases (it’s LOOONG)
Persistence
Memories cannot be put out of mind
Look back
Let’s look back at the Forgetting Frequency
Questionnaire
What “sin” is #4?
What “sin” is #6?
What “sin” is #9?
What “sin” is #15?
Improving Memory with Mnemonics
Mnemonics –
consciously making connections between
new material and information already in
LTM in order to aid in recall
Mnemonic strategies include
Method of loci
Natural language mediators (stories,
acronyms [SOHCAHTOA, HOMES,
ROYGBIV)
Quick experiment
On your notes, write down the last two
digits of your student number.
Write “yes” if you plan to go to prom, and
“no” if you don’t
Then tell me how much you would be
willing to pay for a fancy dinner before
prom.
How Do Children
Acquire Language?
Infants and children face an
especially important
developmental task with the
acquisition of language
Chomsky’s theories of language acquisition
Innate theory of language –
Children learn language by following an
inborn program for acquiring vocabulary
and grammar (NOT behavioral)
Language acquisition device (LAD) –
Theorized structure in the brain
programmed with rules of language
How Children Acquire Language
Early stages of language acquisition
include the following:
• The babbling stage (~6 months)
• The one-word stage (~1 year)
• The two-word stage (~18 months)
• Telegraphic speech (short, simple sentences)
• The naming explosion (45 new words per day)
Learning language
Phonemes –
The smallest unit of sound in a language
(~40)
Morphemes –
Meaningful units of language that make up
words
Grammar –
The rules of a language
Overregularization –
Applying a grammatical rule too widely and
thereby creating incorrect forms
(e.g. using “hitted” and “foots”)
Brain Break
The maker doesn’t want it, the buyer
doesn’t use it, and the user doesn’t see
it. What is it? (If you’ve already heard this
one, please wait to share your answer)
What Are the
Components of Thought?
Thinking is a cognitive process
in which the brain uses
information from the senses,
emotions, and memory to
create and manipulate mental
representations, such as
concepts, images, schemas,
and scripts
Concepts
Concepts –
Mental categories of items or ideas,
based on experience
Natural concepts represent objects and events
Artificial concepts are defined by rules
We organize much of our declarative
memories into concept hierarchies
Schemas and Scripts Help you Know
What to Expect
Schema –
A general framework that provides
expectations about things (e.g. genres of
films; sitcoms; weddings)
Script –
Basically a schema that’s a checklist in
chronological order (meeting people;
classroom behavior, table manners,
dating)
Brain Break
Six glasses are in a row. The first three are
filled with water, and the last three are
empty. By moving only one glass, can
you arrange them so that the full and
empty glasses alternate? (Please wait to
share until I ask for your answer)
What Abilities Do Good
Thinkers Possess?
Good thinkers not only have
many effective algorithms
and heuristics, they know
how to avoid the common
obstacles to problem solving
and decision making
Problem Solving
Good problem solvers are skilled at
Identifying the problem
Selecting a strategy
How do we solve this?
Attach a lit candle on a wall (a cork board)
so the candle wax won't drip onto the
table below. To do so, one may only use
the following along with the candle:
a book of matches
a box of thumbtacks
Selecting a Strategy
Algorithms –
Problem-solving procedures or formulas that
guarantee a correct outcome if correctly
applied (opening a combo lock)
Heuristics –
Cognitive strategies used as shortcuts to solve
complex mental tasks; they do not guarantee a
correct solution (the early bird gets the worm
vs. slow and steady wins the race)
In your notes…
Write an example from your life of an
algorithm and a heuristic.
Is a cheat code in a video game an
algorithm or a heuristic?
Is the advice to stay put when you get lost
an algorithm or a heuristic?
Heuristics
Useful heuristics include:
• Working backward (what is the goal?)
• Searching for analogies (what situations are
similar to this one?)
• Breaking a big problem into smaller
problems (What are the steps required to
complete this task?)
Question
What type of person prefers algorithms?
What type of person prefers heuristics?
What is the difference between these
people?
What is this object’s use?
Can you think of anything else?
Take one minute with your aisle partner
and think of any possible use for a paper
clip. Count how many you come up with.
GO!
Obstacles to Problem Solving
Mental set – (definition of paper clip)
the tendency to approach situations one way
because that method worked in the past (a
child pushes a door open, then tries to push
every door open)
Functional fixedness –
Inability to perceive a new
use for an object associated
with a different purpose
(the opposite of MacGyver;
candle problem)
When a United States plane carrying
Canadian passengers crashes in
international waters, where should the
survivors be buried?
Problem solving
Convergent thinking: looking for one
answer
Divergent thinking: looking for multiple
possible answers
Are you a creative thinker? Rate yourself
on a scale of 1 (not creative) to 5 (very
creative) Then let’s take a survey
(handout 7B-2)
Results
Those with a higher need for cognition feel
more in control of their own fate, are
more open to experience, and are more
effective problem solvers
Is this trait fixed? Or can it grow?
Unscramble These Words
nelin
ensce
raspe
sdlen
klsta
lecam
nolem
slfal
dlsco
dlchi
hsfle
neque
naorg
egsta
Unscrambled Words
linen
scene
pears
lends
talks
camel
melon
falls
colds
child
shelf
queen
groan
gates
The algorithm you used to solve the 1st column probably
created a mental set, and kept you from seeing the
multiple solutions for the words in the 2nd column
Brain Break
How can you physically stand behind your father
while he is standing behind you?
Obstacles to good decisions
Confirmation Bias
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness
Bias
Availability Bias
Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness
Bias
Availability Bias
Ignoring or finding
fault with information
that does not fit our
opinions, and
seeking information
with which we agree
(Why is it always
your team that gets
the bad calls?)
Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness
Bias
Availability Bias
Justifying an increased
investment in a decision, based on the
prior investment
—e.g. Vietnam,
gambling
Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness
Bias
Availability Bias
Faulty heuristic
caused by basing
(anchoring) an
estimate on a
completely unrelated
quantity
(student number and
prom dinner cost)
Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness
Bias
Availability Bias
Faulty heuristic strategy
based on presumption
that, once a person or
event is categorized, it
shares all features of
other members in that
category (leads to
stereotype)
Representative heuristic
This person is slim, wears glasses and a
collar shirt, and likes to read poetry. Is it
more likely that this person is a fast food
worker or an Ivy League university
English professor?
How many fast food workers are there in
the US? -Over 4 million
How many university English professors?
-200,000, at most
Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness
Bias
Availability Bias
Faulty heuristic strategy
that estimates
probabilities based on
anecdotes from
personal experience
(My dad smoked 2
packs a day and he
lived to 100. Cigarettes
are not as dangerous as
people say.)
The “moral” of this chapter
Knowing our brain’s limits helps us improve
our memory, avoid mistakes, and make
better decisions.
End of Chapter 7