Lecture Notes: Cognitive Psychology

Introduction

• Focus on memory and thinking in psychology.
• Importance of understanding how we remember and forget.

Models of Memory

Three Box/Information Processing Model

• Information is sensed, encoded to short-term memory, then to long-term memory.
• Retrieval from long-term to short-term (working memory).

Levels of Processing Model

• Deeper processing leads to better recall.

Sensory Memory

• Definition: A brief holding tank for sensory information.
• Iconic Memory: Visual scenes.
• Echoic Memory: Sounds.

Short Term (Working) Memory

• Capacity: Limited to 7 items.
• Chunking: Mnemonic device for grouping information.
  • Example: Phone numbers.
• Rehearsal: Enhanced by spacing effect for better retention.
• Mnemonic Devices: Memory aids.

Long Term Memory

• Capacity: Limitless.
• Explicit Memory: Requires conscious recall (hippocampus).
  • Episodic Memory: Specific event sequences.
  • Semantic Memory: Facts, meanings, words.
• Implicit Memory: No conscious recall (cerebellum).
  • Procedural Memory: Skills and tasks.
  • Prospective Memory: Future tasks (e.g., taking medication).

Retrieval

• Recall vs. Recognition: Fill-in-the-blank vs. multiple-choice.
• Relearning: Easier with repeated exposure.
• Priming: Contextual cues aid memory.
• Effects: Primacy, Recency, Serial Position.
• Phenomenon: Tip of the Tongue, Flashbulb Memory.
• Contextual Influences: Context, Mood, State-dependent memory.
• Mnemonic Techniques: Method of loci, Peg word system.
• Sensory Influence: Smell strongly linked to memory.

Problems with Retrieval

• Constructive Memory: False details or memories.
• Misinformation Effect: Memory alteration through misinformation.
• Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve: Rapid initial forgetting, then levels off.
• Interference: Proactive (old blocks new) vs. Retroactive (new blocks old).
• Amnesia: Anterograde (can't form new) vs. Retrograde (can't recall past).
• Memory Influences: Implanted memories, Source Amnesia, Deja vu, Imagination Inflation.

Thinking

• Types: Convergent (one solution) vs. Divergent (multiple solutions).
• Cognition: Mental processes and concept formation through prototypes.

Problem Solving

• Methods:
  • Trial and Error.
  • Algorithms (step-by-step).
  • Heuristics (mental shortcuts).
  • Insight (sudden ideas).
• Obstacles:
  • Confirmation bias.
  • Fixation/Mental set.
  • Heuristics preference.
  • Intuition over analysis.
  • Belief Perseverance.
  • Framing effects.

Language

• Linguistic Determinism: Language influences perception.
• Animal Communication: No language, but communication exists.
• Components of Language:
  • Phonemes: Smallest sound units.
  • Morphemes: Smallest meaning units.
  • Grammar: Language rules.
  • Semantics: Meaning of words and idioms.
  • Syntax: Word order.

Stages of Language Learning

• 0-4 months: Receptive (e.g., laughing).
• 4 months: Babbling begins.
• 10 months: Babbling with some language features.
• 1 year: Holographic speech.
• 24 months: Two-word phrases.
• 2+ years: Full sentences.

Language Areas in the Brain

• Wernicke's Area: Understanding language.
• Broca's Area: Producing speech.

• Overall Theme: The integration of memory and cognition in understanding human psychology and behavior.