+Key word Definition
Cognitive psychology Scientific study of thought and experience
Information processing Humans are stimulus response machines and info is acquired through
approach senses process through series of mofules change info in a systematic way.
Output of these processing modules causes observable response.
Stimulus- attention- perception – thought process – decision. Serial
processing and bottom up processing
Criticism of info processing Doesn’t allow for parallel processing, ignores top-down processing and
approach oversimplificaftion
Bottom-up processing All processes are directly caused by a stimulus – enters through the brain
stem at the bottom – if you have thought about it, it exists in your
neurones.
o 1. Early visual processing (colour motion, edges)
o 2. Perceptual segregation – grouping of visual elements
(Gestalt priniples, figure-ground segmentation)
o 3. Matching grouped visual description onto a
representation of the object stored in the brain (called
structural description
o ns)
o 4. Attaching meaning to the object (based on prior
semantic knowledge)
Rate coding Greater rate of neurone’s response is used to code info
Temporal coding Greater synchrony of the response of several neurones is used to code info
Experimental cognitive Indirectly measuring what happens in the brain by observing behaviour,
psychology controlled in lab and use clever experimental manipulations, helps to
produce testable theories and helped psych to be more empirical science
Limitations of experimental Eco validity, face validity, do psychological concepts actually exist,
cog psychology
Cognitibe neuropsychology Studying cognition in patients with brain injury and goal is to find which
cog functions are impaired and which ones preserved when specific brain
regions damaged
Limitations of cog No baseline, generalisation, modularity
neuropsychology
Cog neuroscience Relates to brain structure and function to cognitive processes, typically
done b y recording brain activity whilst participants are completing tasks
Illusions Brain doesn’t see ar akk, receives electrical signals abour how light
interacts with eye
From eye to cortex 1. Reception – absorption of physical energy
2. Transduction- physical energy converted into an electrochemicall
pattern in neurones
3. Coding- correspondence between aspects of the physical stimulus
and aspects of the resultant nervous system activity
The eye and retina Light enters the eye and hits the back where the retina is. Retgina is
covered in lots of photoreceptors called rods and cones
Colour vision Eyes responding to specific part of electromagnetic spectrum where
visible light is the part of much wider spectrum – most sensitive to green
light
Trichromatic theory – Thomas All colours of spectrum can be produced by mixing 3 primary colours: red
young blue and green light. 3 types of colour receptors
, Opponent-process theory Complex in describing colours, sighted people never perceive blueish
yellow or reddish green, colour perception assumed to have 3 opponent
processes
Dual process theory Linke3d processes to combinations of inputs from the three cone types,
difference between blue and yellow and all cone inputs together we have a
measure of how bright the colour is
Colour constancy Tendency for surface to appear to have the same colour despite a change
in wavelengths contained in the illuminate, evolutionary helpful – know if
fruit is safe to eat.
Parvocellular (P) pathway Sensitive to coliur and fine detail, most input comes from cones
Magnocellular (M) pathway Most sensitive to motion, mosgt input comes from rods
Receptive fields The region of sensory space – retina within which light will cause the
neuron to fire and have a neurone in the brain that it fires when something
happens in a particular part of the visual field
retinotopy Things that are near to each other in space are processed in cells that are
physically near to one an other
Lateral inhibition Reduction o0f activitu (inhibitoion) in one neurone is caused by a
neighbouring neyrone
Lateral geniculate neucleus First stop after optic chiasm , respondes to differences in light across their
receptive fiekd, maintains a retinopic map, correlates signals from the
retina in space and time – is an object moving towards me – quick
processing
Primary visual cortec – V1 Extracts basic info from visual scene, sends info forward in hierarchical
way, maintains retinotopy map. Damage leads to cortical blindness
Cortical blindness Paitients can’t consciously report objects presented in this region of space.
Can still make some visual discriminations in blind area because there are
other routes from eye to the brain. Geniculostriate route specialised for
conscious vision but other routes act unconsciously
Fuctional specialisation theory Recorded individual neuroes parts of brain in monkeys which showed that
different parts of brain in monkeys which showed that different parts of
visual cortex are specialised for different functions.
o First stage – V1 and V2 – early stage of visual perception
(shape)
o 2nd stage – V3 V3a – responsive to form (especially of
moving objects)
o 3rd stage – V4- responsive to colour
o 4th stage- V5/MT -responsive to visual motion
Cortical achromatopsia Can’t see colour because of damage to V4 but often due to damage to V2
and V3 despite fully functioning retina, case studies indicate intact implicit
colour processing and V4 is not perfect
V5 Heavily involved in motion processing in brain imaging studies
Akinetopsia Brain damage in v5 leads to this – good at locating stationary objects, good
colour vision, motion perception was grossly deficient – difficulty pouring
coffee/tea into a cup cause fluid appeared frozen
Parietal/dorsal pathway Concerned with weher, and movement processing
Temporal/ventral processing What pathway – concerned with colour and form processing – voision for
perception
Perceptual segregation Sperating visual input into individual objects, occurs before object
recpgnition
Cognitive psychology Scientific study of thought and experience
Information processing Humans are stimulus response machines and info is acquired through
approach senses process through series of mofules change info in a systematic way.
Output of these processing modules causes observable response.
Stimulus- attention- perception – thought process – decision. Serial
processing and bottom up processing
Criticism of info processing Doesn’t allow for parallel processing, ignores top-down processing and
approach oversimplificaftion
Bottom-up processing All processes are directly caused by a stimulus – enters through the brain
stem at the bottom – if you have thought about it, it exists in your
neurones.
o 1. Early visual processing (colour motion, edges)
o 2. Perceptual segregation – grouping of visual elements
(Gestalt priniples, figure-ground segmentation)
o 3. Matching grouped visual description onto a
representation of the object stored in the brain (called
structural description
o ns)
o 4. Attaching meaning to the object (based on prior
semantic knowledge)
Rate coding Greater rate of neurone’s response is used to code info
Temporal coding Greater synchrony of the response of several neurones is used to code info
Experimental cognitive Indirectly measuring what happens in the brain by observing behaviour,
psychology controlled in lab and use clever experimental manipulations, helps to
produce testable theories and helped psych to be more empirical science
Limitations of experimental Eco validity, face validity, do psychological concepts actually exist,
cog psychology
Cognitibe neuropsychology Studying cognition in patients with brain injury and goal is to find which
cog functions are impaired and which ones preserved when specific brain
regions damaged
Limitations of cog No baseline, generalisation, modularity
neuropsychology
Cog neuroscience Relates to brain structure and function to cognitive processes, typically
done b y recording brain activity whilst participants are completing tasks
Illusions Brain doesn’t see ar akk, receives electrical signals abour how light
interacts with eye
From eye to cortex 1. Reception – absorption of physical energy
2. Transduction- physical energy converted into an electrochemicall
pattern in neurones
3. Coding- correspondence between aspects of the physical stimulus
and aspects of the resultant nervous system activity
The eye and retina Light enters the eye and hits the back where the retina is. Retgina is
covered in lots of photoreceptors called rods and cones
Colour vision Eyes responding to specific part of electromagnetic spectrum where
visible light is the part of much wider spectrum – most sensitive to green
light
Trichromatic theory – Thomas All colours of spectrum can be produced by mixing 3 primary colours: red
young blue and green light. 3 types of colour receptors
, Opponent-process theory Complex in describing colours, sighted people never perceive blueish
yellow or reddish green, colour perception assumed to have 3 opponent
processes
Dual process theory Linke3d processes to combinations of inputs from the three cone types,
difference between blue and yellow and all cone inputs together we have a
measure of how bright the colour is
Colour constancy Tendency for surface to appear to have the same colour despite a change
in wavelengths contained in the illuminate, evolutionary helpful – know if
fruit is safe to eat.
Parvocellular (P) pathway Sensitive to coliur and fine detail, most input comes from cones
Magnocellular (M) pathway Most sensitive to motion, mosgt input comes from rods
Receptive fields The region of sensory space – retina within which light will cause the
neuron to fire and have a neurone in the brain that it fires when something
happens in a particular part of the visual field
retinotopy Things that are near to each other in space are processed in cells that are
physically near to one an other
Lateral inhibition Reduction o0f activitu (inhibitoion) in one neurone is caused by a
neighbouring neyrone
Lateral geniculate neucleus First stop after optic chiasm , respondes to differences in light across their
receptive fiekd, maintains a retinopic map, correlates signals from the
retina in space and time – is an object moving towards me – quick
processing
Primary visual cortec – V1 Extracts basic info from visual scene, sends info forward in hierarchical
way, maintains retinotopy map. Damage leads to cortical blindness
Cortical blindness Paitients can’t consciously report objects presented in this region of space.
Can still make some visual discriminations in blind area because there are
other routes from eye to the brain. Geniculostriate route specialised for
conscious vision but other routes act unconsciously
Fuctional specialisation theory Recorded individual neuroes parts of brain in monkeys which showed that
different parts of brain in monkeys which showed that different parts of
visual cortex are specialised for different functions.
o First stage – V1 and V2 – early stage of visual perception
(shape)
o 2nd stage – V3 V3a – responsive to form (especially of
moving objects)
o 3rd stage – V4- responsive to colour
o 4th stage- V5/MT -responsive to visual motion
Cortical achromatopsia Can’t see colour because of damage to V4 but often due to damage to V2
and V3 despite fully functioning retina, case studies indicate intact implicit
colour processing and V4 is not perfect
V5 Heavily involved in motion processing in brain imaging studies
Akinetopsia Brain damage in v5 leads to this – good at locating stationary objects, good
colour vision, motion perception was grossly deficient – difficulty pouring
coffee/tea into a cup cause fluid appeared frozen
Parietal/dorsal pathway Concerned with weher, and movement processing
Temporal/ventral processing What pathway – concerned with colour and form processing – voision for
perception
Perceptual segregation Sperating visual input into individual objects, occurs before object
recpgnition
