Cognition
What would fit with the saying "If we really understand how something works, we should be able to build on it?
a) Neuroscience
b) Cognitive psych
c) Computer modelling/AI
d) Applied research
c) Computer modelling/AI
Basic or Applied research?
A study that examines which of two teaching methods improves memory for content in University students studying cognition.
Applied research
An experimenter wants to understand how perception is linked to memory, what approach should they use to reach this understanding?
a) Cognitive psych
b) Neuroscience
c) Computer modelling
d) All of the above
d) All of the above
Which of the following does not describe cognition?
a) Remembering learned information
b) Orienting attention to a stimulus
c) Reflexes
d) Understanding speech
c) Reflexes
Basic or Applied research?
Studying the brain and cognitions with the primary goal of developing theories without any regard to how this knowledge can be used to address a problem.
Basic research
The research approach that studies intelligence by oberseving behaviours is known as:
a) Cognitive psych
b) Behavioural neuroscience
c) Behavioural psych
d) Artificial intelligence
a) Cognitive psych
You were rec ently hired to use your knowledge of scientific findings in the field of psych to help design and develop a new phone app. Which of the following best described your field of work:
a) Machine learning
b) Basic research
c) Computational modelling
d) Human factors
d) Human factors
Which is the following is a method that can be used to study cognition?
a) Measuring neural activity as a participant is engaged in an experiment
b) Stimulating specific brain regions to observe effects on behaviours
c) Observing behaviours of individuals with brain damage
d) Using computers to simulate the brain as a participant is engaged in an experiment
e) All of the above can be used to study cogntion
e) All of the above can be used to study cognition
You are interested in the link between laptop usage and class participation. One day, you decide to count the number of times students participated in class and compare average participation rates between those who were using a laptop and those who were not. This is an example of:
Naturalistic observation
Among the multiple fields that study cognition, _______________ is the field of research that examines the brain and the physiological processes that underly mental processes.
Neuroscience
True or False?
To date, we do not fully understand how the brain produces cognition.
True
What is the most complex and sophisticated computer in the known universe?
The human brain
What is cognition?
The acquisition and processing of sensory information about the world in order to make behavioural decisions.
True or False?
Unlike some other areas of psychology that are concerned with when things go wrong in people's minds and brains, the field of cognition is primarily concerned with understanding the processes that allow things to go right.
True
Which of these would not be considered part of cognition?
a) Memory
b) Language
c) Digestion
d) Perception
c) Digestion
What is basic research?
Scientific research whose goal is to try to understand the world and its phenomena, without regard to a specific end-use of this knowledge.
What is applied research?
Research that's concerned with the end goal of developing an application or solution to a problem.
What are human factors?
A field of psych concerned with applying scientific findings to the design of systems that people interact with.
What is artificial intelligence?
A branch of computer science and engineering that's concerned with building machines that can perform tasks that human can do (however, not as well as we can sometimes).
True or False?
The kinds of applications where machines have historically done extraordinarily well are those that require dealing with novel, constantly changing conditions that the machine has encountered before.
False. They have historically failed when dealing with novel and constantly changing conditions that they have not previously seen before.
Historically, artificial intelligence has been least successful at tasks that require what kind of capability?
a) Fast performance
b) Many calculations
c) Large memory
d) Flexible thinking
d) Flexible thinking
True or False?
A revolution is taking place in artificial intelligence reseach. It's called computer vision or machine vision, which is concerned with developing computer programs that can interpret objects, symbols, medical scans, and even faces.
True
Fill in the blank.
There's a revolution taking place in AI in which the computers aren't programmed in the traditional sense (human writing with computer code). Instead the computers are programmed to _______, changing their behaviour in order to get better at some task. This programming approach is called ___________.
learn; machine learning
What is the primary driver of recent dramatic progress in artificial intelligence?
a) Much larger computer memory stores
b) Computer programs that can learn rather than being programmed
c) Better computer programmers
d) Much faster computers
b) Computer programs that can learn rather than being programmed
Advances in machine learning have already led to important and potentially highly disruptive technological breakthroughs. What is an example?
The self-driving car (Tesla, Google's self-driving car)
What are large language models (LLMs)? Provide an example.
Advanced machine learning algorithms that process and generate human-like text by understanding patterns in the datat they've been trained on.
Example: ChatGPT
What is artificial general intelligence (AGI)?
A type of artificial intelligence that possesses the capacity to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks.
Which is not an approach to studying cognition?
a) Cognitive psych
b) Developmental psych
c) Neuroscience
d) Computational modelling
b) Developmental psych
What is neuroscience?
The study of the brain and related physiological systems.
What is naturalistic observation?
A research technique in which researchers observe the behaviour of people/organisms in their natural habitat, without any experimental intervention.
Mental events such as thoughts, beliefs, and sensations are related to mechanisms taking place in the body, is known as what?
The mind-body problem
________ views the mind and body as consisting of fundamentally different kinds of substances.
Dualism
_______ is the view that there's only one kind of basic substance in the world.
Monism
There are three types of monism: neutral, physicalism and idealism. Which corresponds to the right definition?
(1) The position that the only kind of reality is physical reality
(2) The view that the only kind of reality is mental
(3) The view that there's only one kind of substance that's neither physical or mental, and that mind and body are both composed of that same element
(1) Physicalism
(2) Idealism
(3) Neutral
Let's say a scientist figured out all the physiological processes involved in seeing colour. Now what if we come to find out this scientist is actually blind. How would physicalists and dualists react to this information and why?
Physicalists: "Yes!", because there's nothing left to explain once all the physics, chemistry and physiology has been accounted for.
Dualists: "Well, no". Although the scientist may know all the physical facts of the brain, there isn't the mental component there which requires personal experience.
________ argued that the mind was based on an immortal soul that was more "real" than the physical world, while _________ proposed that the mind and body formed two different types of substances but that these could interact with one another.
Plato; René Descartes
Science that operates based on physical methods, measurements, and explanatory mechanisms and cannot test non-physical theories is known as ___________.
Pragmatic materialism
About how many neurons are there in the human brain?
a) 10 million
b) 7 thousand
c) 86 billion
d) 1 trillion
c) 86 billion
Which of these is not an offered reason as to why studying the physical brain alone might be insufficient to understand cognition?
a) The brain is enornously complex
b) Cognition depends on non-physical mechanisms
c) The brain is embedded in the larger context of the body and the world
d) The brain must be considered within the contexts in which it operates
b) Cognition depends on non-physical mechanisms
Which of these viewpoints is least compatible with the scientific study of cognition?
a) The mind and brain are both the same physical entity, which causes intelligent behaviour
b) The mind and brain are separate entities but the physical brain causes intelligent behaviour
c) The mind and brain are both the same physical entity, but this entity doesn't cause intelligent behaviour
d) The mind and brain are separate entities and the non-physical mind causes intelligent behaviour
d) The mind and brain are separate entities and the non-physical mind causes intelligent behaviour
_________, introduced by Wilhelm Wundt, relied on _________, on'es own conscious mental state in order to understand the mind.
Structuralism; introspection
________ is an important mechanism of self-correction in science in which different researchers perform the same experiements using the same methods getting the same, verfiable results.
Replication
A research method that involves having participants verbally describe their thought process as they are performing a specified task is known as ___________.
The think-aloud protocol
What technique did the structuralists use to study the mind?
Introspection
Scientist A is trying to produce the same results that Scientist B reported, using the same methods. This is called _________.
a) Duplication
b) Replication
c) Reproduction
d) Copying
b) Replication
Who is the founder of behaviourism?
John Watson
What is classical conditioning?
A learning protocol in which an involuntary behaviour is paired with a stimulus, eventually leading to that behaviour being elicited by the stimulus alone.
What is operant conditioning?
A method of conditioning that reinforces certain behaviours through a system of rewards and punishments.
In the context of the nature vs nurture, what did behaviourists believe produced cognition?
a) Nature
b) Nurture
c) A combination of nature and nurture
d) neither nature nor nurture
b) Nurture
___________ is the learning in the absence of any conditioning.
Latent learning
A method for producing the correct output from the input is called an ___________.
Algorithm
What word describes a mapping between a set of inputs and a set of outputs?
Function
A movement that proposed that the mind could be understood as a computational system.
Cognitive revolution
What happens between the input and output in the brain is known as __________.
Information processing
An approach in psychology that uses behaviour as a method for developing and testing theories of the underlying processing of the mind.
Cognitivism
An approach emerged from the research of the sensitivity of people using radar displays to monitor air traffic.
Signal detection theory (SDT)
Let's say a company is designing a new screen for use in a laptop. They hire a researcher to test different designs to determine which ones lead to better visibility. Which kind of research would they be conducting?
a) Indirect research
b) Phenomenon-based research
c) Hypothesis-driven research
d) Applied research
d) Applied research
What is the independent variable?
The variable manipulated by the experimenter.
What is the dependent variable?
The variable that is measures the behavioural response.
What is the speed-accuracy tradeoff?
In the reaction time data, participants will sacrifice accuracy in order to respond more quickly.
A researcher conducting an experiment on hearing presents words at different decibel levels and measures whether the participant can correctly identify them. What is the best description of the role that decibel level plays in this experiment?
a) Dependent variable
b) Independent variable
c) Response
d) Stimulus
b) Independent variable
Which of the following is not a behavioural response.
a) Galvanic skin response
b) Pupil dilation
c) Heart rate
d) Eye movements
e) Facial/body gestures
f) Trick question bud, they all are responses
f) Trick question bud, they all are responses
What are trials?
Repetitions of an experimental condition, used to compensate for variability in performance.
Variabilitions in performance across different individuals in cognitive tasks is known as
Individual differences
Which of the following is typically accounted for by performing multiple trials for a given condition in an experiment?
a) Variation in people's behavioral responses
b) Technical glitches in the experimental instruments
c) The fact that people have to learn how to perform the task
d) The possibility that some data will be lost
a) Variation in people's behavioural responses
A researcher is studying a theory of memory that requires participants to learn and recall a lot of information under different experimental conditions. The researcher is concerned that there will be a high degree of variability among participants' performance, due to differences in underlying aptitude for learning, rather than the experimental condition. Which of these techniques would typically be used to deal with this kind of variability?
a) Prescreening potential participants to make sure they have sufficient aptitude
b) Including a large sample of participants
c) Including a large number of trials
d) Making the material easy enough that anyone can learn it easily
b) Including a large sample of participants
More recently, a technique was introduced that allows researchers not just to measure but to experimentally manipulate the activity of neurons. This method, called _______, uses special proteins, called _______, that are activated by light.
Optogenetics; opsins
The puzzle of how the physical body is related to mental activity is called ______.
a) The dualism divide
b) The mind-body problem
c) The mystery of mind
d) The great debate
b) The mind-body problem
Descartes articulated the perspective of ______.
a) Monism
b) Physicalism
c) Dualism
d) Behaviourism
c) Dualism
The use of introspection was a hallmark method of which school of psychology?
a) Behaviourism
b) Cognitivism
c) Structuralism
d) All of the above
c) Structuralism
What field of science served as an inspiration to the structuralist school?
Chemistry
Consider the following scenario. An intergalactic team of psychologists discovers a planet with robot-like androids and is trying to understand them. Which school of psychology does a researcher probably belong to if they use the following research method?
Method 1: Determining the action responses of the robots in response to specific kinds of stimulation
a) Cognitive
b) Behaviourist
c) Dualist
d) Structuralist
b) Behaviourist
Consider the following scenario. An intergalactic team of psychologists discovers a planet with robot-like androids and is trying to understand them. Which school of psychology does a researcher probably belong to if they use the following research method?
Method 2: Asking the robots to verbally report on their internal processes
a) Cognitive
b) Behaviourist
c) Dualist
d) Structuralist
d) Structuralist
Consider the following scenario. An intergalactic team of psychologists discovers a planet with robot-like androids and is trying to understand them. Which school of psychology does a researcher probably belong to if they use the following research method?
Method 3: Using the response of the robot to specific kinds of stimulation in order to infer its internal mental processes
a) Cognitive
b) Behaviourist
c) Dualist
d) Structuralist
a) Cognitive
Teaching a dog to "shake hands" on command using a food reward is an example of ______.
a) Classical conditioning
b) Operant conditioning
c) A combination of classical and operant conditioning
d) None of the above
b) Operant conditioning
A finding in Tolman's maze experiments was that when rats were placed in a different starting point of the maze than the one they had been trained on, they went ______.
a) In the wrong direction to get the food
b) In the correct direction to get the food but only if it involved producing the exact same behavior as when they had first found the food
c) In the correct direction to get the food but only if they had previously explored the maze
d) In the correct direction to get the food, even when they had not previously explored the maze
c) In the correct direction to get the food but only if they had previously explored the maze
Which of these methods is NOT currently considered a scientifically valid form of data for the study of cognition?
a) Introspection
b) Measuring behaviour
c) Measuring brain responses
d) None of the above
a) Introspection
The "cognitive revolution" led to the idea of cognition as a form of ______.
a) Mental rotation
b) Introspection
c) Computation
d) Biology
c) Computation
In order to ensure the findings of a recent experiment are valid, Dr. Anzures performed the experiment using the same methods as the original experiment. He got the same results as the original experiment and now believes the results are valid. Which of the following terms describes what he did to verify the results?
a) Replication
b) Think-aloud protocol
c) Duplication
d) Copying
a) Replication
Which of these is not one of the basic goals of the nervous system?
a) Gather information from sensory systems
b) Send information to the brain
c) Secrete hormones into the bloodstream
d) Direct the movement of muscles
c) Secrete hormones into the bloodstream
True or False.
The CNS consists of all neurons, glial cells, and nerves. Has to do with involuntary action. The PNS consists of the brain and spinal cord. Has to do with voluntary action.
False. The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord and has to do with voluntary action, whereas the PNS consists of all neurons, glial cells and nerves, and has to do with involuntary actions.
The nervous system is generally divided up into which two subsystems?
a) Peripheral and central nervous systems
b) Brain and spinal cord
c) Peripheral and medial nervous system
d) Medial and central nervous system
a) Peripheral and central nervous systems
Within the PNS there's the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which connects to most organs of the body and it regulates certain unconscious bodily functions such as:
a) Heart rate
b) Digestion
c) Respiration
d) Sexual arousal
e) All of the above
e) All of the above
The ANS engages two subsystems, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.
Match each definition to the correct system.
(1) The system's job is to relax functions that are needed for immediate physical action while increasing those that are useful for long-term survival, such as eating and digestion.
(2) The system that's responsible for quickly preparing the body for action by reducing certain lower-priority bodily function such as digestion, and increasing others like heart rate. This is called the fight-or-flight response.
(1) Parasympathetic nervous system
(2) Sympathetic nervous system
The ANS is heavily regulated by which structures of the brain?
a) Hypothalamus and thalamus
b) Amygdala and pituitary gland
c) Brain stem and hypothalamus
d) Amydala and hypothalamus
c) Brain stem and hypothalamus
While most behaviours involve the brain, but there are some involutary actions that do not. What occurs when a stimulus generates an immediate behavioural action triggered by the spinal cord before the information reaches the brain?
A reflex action
Match the words to their definitions.
(1) Cerebral cortex
(2) White matter
(3) Cerebrum
(4) Gray matter
(5) Hippocampus
a) Controls and regulates voluntary behaviour
b) Made up of neuronal cell bodies
c) A complex structure which involves memory formation and is structurally an extension of the temporal lobe
d) Consists of nerve tracts that connect neurons to each other
e) Folded, layered structure, the most superficial portion of the human brain
(1) e
(2) d
(3) a
(4) b
(5) c
Most sensory information from one side of the body tends to cross over to the other side, this is called contralateral. Which sensory information process is not able to cross over.
a) Touch
b) Smell
c) Vision
d) Taste
c) Vision. The left and right eye don't project to tge opposite side. Instead, everything to the left (the left visual field) projects to the right hemisphere and vice versa.
Why does the brain have gyri and sulci?
a) It makes it easier for the neurons to know where to migrate
b) The gyri and sulci each have a specific function
c) It increases the surface area that can fit into the skull
d) it increases blood flow to the spinal cord
c) It increases the surface area tha can fit into the skull. If you were to flatten the entire cortex, you would have a large working space
Which of these is the best description of the different functional specializations of the two hemisphere?
a) Left: spatial reasoning -- Right: language
b) Left: language -- Right: spatial reasoning
c) Left: language -- Right: mathematical reasoning
d) Left: emotion -- Right: spatial reasoning
b) Left: language -- Right: spatial reasoning
What is functional localization?
Specific parts of the cortex have different specific jobs.
Should someone with brain damage that affects their behaviour, like Phineas Gage, be held legally and morally responsible for their actions?
If someone's behavior is clearly affected by their brain injury, this should certainly be taken into consideration in terms of determining their potential criminal liability. If they are not behaving as they would without the injury, it is obviously a factor outside their control.
Which of the following did the case of Phineas Gage give researchers evidence to support?
a) People can recover from traumatic brain damage
b) Different parts of the brain serve different functions
c) The brain works as one whole unit
d) The frontal lobe is not critical to function normally
b) Different parts of the brain serve different functions
Where must you present an object to a split-brain patient if you want them to name that object?
a) Left eye
b) Right eye
c) Left visual field
d) Right visual field
d) Right visual field
What measures the electrical activity of the active brain that travels through the scalp?
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Sam is participating in a sleep study. Researchers place electrodes to Sam's scalp which are connected to an EEG. What kind of information will be provided by the EEG?
a) Changes in blood flow
b) The functions in the areas necessary for sleep
c) Electrical activity of the brain during sleep
d) The kind of neurotransmitters released during sleep
c) Electrical activity of the brain during sleep
What is measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?
The flow of blood in the brain. The blood delivers oxygen more quickly to active neurons than to inactive neurons.
Measuring brain activity when participants perform the task they wish to study and compare to when the participants is enging in a different task or no task at all, is known as the
"subtraction method". The portions of the brain that are more active when the participant is doing the task of interest are assumed to be more heavily involved.
A computer can learn to determine what a participant is seeing/thinking by examining their pattern of brain activity.
Multi-variate pattern analysis (MVPA)
Which two statements are true about EEG relative to fMRI?
a) EEG takes less temporally frequent measurements
b) EEG takes more spatially precise measurements
c) EEG take more temporally frequent measurements
d) EEG takes less spatially precise measurements
c) EEG takes more temporally frequent measurements
d) EEG takes less spatially precise measurements