Exam #2 Study Guide

CAVEATS: Based on feedback from students and our own discussions, we have modified the way we put together the study guides this time. The outlines below are meant to provide a structured framework of the subtopics of material you should study. But they are not an exhaustive list of all the terms of importance; you can find the key terms in boldface in the textbook, and in the lecture slide handout from classes.

ALSO, the Language topic has now been added to this study guide (at the end). The Language lecture, and the associated textbook chapter, will be included on Exam 2.

Exam #2 Study Guide
Spring 2000
Sensation

Empiricism Vs Nativism
- Distal stimulus
- Proximal stimulus
- sensations
- association
- distance cues (is their interpretation learned or innate?)
Psychophysics
- difference threshold
- just noticeable difference (jnd)
- Mathematical models of psychophysics: Weber's Law and Fechner's Law
  - signal detection theory
- false alarms and misses
- response bias and payoff matrix
Cross Modal principles in Sensation
- sensory code
- psychological intensity
- sensory quality
- transduction
- doctrine of specific nerve energies
- specificity theory
- pattern theory
Close-up sensory modalities
- kinesthesia
- Tactile sensation (touch)
- Gustation (taste)
- olfaction (smell)
audition (hearing)
- sound waves
- Components of auditory system
  - auditory ossicles
  - oval window
  - cochlea: basilar membrane and hair cells
Vision
- Light Waves/photons
- The human eye
  - accommodation
  - retinal image
  - retina: rods; cones; fovea
- duplex theory of vision
- elements of color vision
  - Hue
  - subtractive mixture
  - additive mixture
- Theories of Color vision
  - Trichromatic theory
  - Young-Helmholtz theory
- Visual processing and illusions
  - Mach bands
  - negative afterimage
  - opponent-process theory
  - receptive field
  - feature detector


Perception

Perception of Depth
- binocular/monocular
- pictorial cues
- motion cues
Perception of Movement
- eye (functions)
- apparent movement
- illusions of motion (induced motion)
Form Perception
- gestalt psych
- elements of form
- segregation (figure/ground, grouping etc.)
Pattern Recognition
- bottom up/ top down
- priming
- contextual cues
problem Solving
- impossible figures
- nervous system
Binding Problem
- selection
- orientation
- priming
- listening
Constancy
- size and shape
- lightness
Perception in Art


Memory

Studying Memory
- Long-term memory vs. working memory
- Episodic vs. generic memory
- Explicit vs. implicit memory
- Acquisition: Encoding, storage, and retrieval
  - memory trace
  - recall vs. recognition
Encoding
- Stage theory of memory
  - memory span task and magic number
  - forgetting recent memories: decay and displacement
  - chunking and recoding
- Active memory and organization
  - maintenance rehearsal
  - depth-of-processing hypothesis
Retrieval
- Encoding specificity
- Elaborative rehearsal
- Memory search
- Repetition priming
Memory Failure
- Forgetting
  - Decay
  - Interference
- Conceptual Frameworks
  - Memory Distortions
  - Limits of Memory
- Disordered Memories
  - Anterograde Amnesia
  - Retrograde Amnesia
- Procedural & Declarative knowledge


Thought and Knowledge

Analogical representations
- mental representations
  - analogical
  - symbolic
- Mental Images
  - mental rotation
  - image scanning
- Images and pictures
- Spatial Thinking
  - mental maps that are picture like
  - mental maps that are symbolic and conceptual
Symbolic representations
- symbolic elements
  - concepts
  - propositions
- Knowledge and Memory
  - generic memory
    - semantic memory
- A hierarchical network
- A network model based on semantic distance
  - spreading activation model
  - semantic priming
  - catch trials
- Parallel distributed processing
  - distributed representations
  - neural networks
The Process of thinking: solving problems
- Organization in problem solving
  - means-end analysis
  - hierarchical organization
  - skills as the development of subroutines
  - experts
  - automaticity: The Stroop Effect (reading)
- Overcoming obstacles to solution
  - Recognizing mental set
  - Working backward
  - Finding an appropriate analogy
- Restructuring
  - Incubation
  - Humor
- Artificial Intelligence: Problem solving by computer
  - Algorithms and Heuristics
  - Possible limitations of artificial intelligence
  - Expert systems
The Process of Thinking: Reasoning and Decision Making
- Deductive reasoning
  - Premises
  - Syllogisms
- Inductive reasoning
  - Extrapolating from available observations
  - Confirmation bias
- Decision Making
  - Framing effect
  - Are people really irrational?
The Thinking Brain
- Localization of Thought
- Cognition and Consciousness
  - Mental processes that go on below the surface
    - Blindsight
    - Action without awareness
  - What is consciousness good for?

Language

5 major properties of language
Basic units of language
- Phonemes
- Morphemes and words
- Phrases and sentences
Semantic theories of meaning
Sentence Structure
- Elements of sentences
- Surface structure vs. underlying structure
- Attitude
Comprehension factors
- Embedded sentences
- Function words
- Semantics
- Extralinguistic factors
Growth of language in a child
- Motherese
- Stages of Growth
- Meaning
- Capacity needed for learning language
Language learning in changed environments
Language learning with changed endowments
- Critical period hypothesis
- Language in nonhumans
Language and thought
- Benjamin Wharf
- Other experimental studies