PSYC 230 Midterm UPDATED ACTUAL
Questions and CORRECT Answers
What is Cognitive Psychology? - CORRECT ANSWER -Cognitive Psychology is the
branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind.
How do we study Cognition? - CORRECT ANSWER -We study Cognition through
experimental psychology, cognitive neuropsychology and neuroscience, and computer modeling.
Describe the early work done by behaviorists which set the stage for the Cognitive Revolution. -
CORRECT ANSWER -Tolman - proposed a cognitive map, which is a conception within
the rat's mind of the maze layout since rats always rewarded at one location did better than rats
always turning right
Skinner: argues children learn language through operant conditioning
Chomsky: argues that children do not only learn language through imitation and reinforcement,
but that language is an inborn biologival paradigm
Describe the early work in Cognitive Psychology. - CORRECT ANSWER -Donders -
measured how long it takes a person to make a decision using a reaction time test with lights
Ebbinghaus - created the savings curve to show savings as a function of retention interval by
reading a list of nonsense syllables aloud to determine the number of repititions necessary to
repeat the list without errors
What is the "Cognitive Revolution" and how was it impacted by the advent of the computer? -
CORRECT ANSWER -Beginning in the 1950s, the "Cognitive Revolution" was a shift
from behavorist's stimulus-response relationships to explain behavior in terms of the mind. It
was impacted by the advent of the computer because the computer allowed the information-
processing approach, which was a way to study the mind based on insights associated with the
digital computer and states that operation of the mind occurs in stages.
, What are the main parts of a neuron? - CORRECT ANSWER -Cell body (soma) - contains
mechanisms to keep the cell alive
Dendrites - multiple branches reaching from the cell body, which receive information from other
neurons
Axon - tube filled with fluid that transmits electrical signal to other neurons
How is information transferred in the nervous system? - CORRECT ANSWER -1)
Neurons receive a signal that is in either a chemical form or a physical form.
2) Sodium diffuses down through the dendrites and cell body.
3) The electrical signal is activated and travels quickly down the axon to the axon terminals
4) This causes the release of neurotransmitters at the synapse and the process starts all over in the
next neuron.
How is information represented in the nervous system? - CORRECT ANSWER -Feature
Detectors: neurons that respond best to a specific stimulus
Stimulus Coding:
- Specificity Coding: representation of a stimulus by the firing of specifically tuned neurons
specialized to respond only to a specific stimulus
- Population Coding: representation of a stimulus by the pattern of firing of a large number of
neurons
- Sparse Coding: representation of a stimulus by a pattern of firing of only a small group of
neurons, with the majority of neurons remaining silent
What are some of the ways we can study neural communication and what are the pros and cons
of each? - CORRECT ANSWER -Single cell recording - record action potentials from
individual neurons. Good at location and timing, but invasive and hard to guess what will make it
fire.
Questions and CORRECT Answers
What is Cognitive Psychology? - CORRECT ANSWER -Cognitive Psychology is the
branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind.
How do we study Cognition? - CORRECT ANSWER -We study Cognition through
experimental psychology, cognitive neuropsychology and neuroscience, and computer modeling.
Describe the early work done by behaviorists which set the stage for the Cognitive Revolution. -
CORRECT ANSWER -Tolman - proposed a cognitive map, which is a conception within
the rat's mind of the maze layout since rats always rewarded at one location did better than rats
always turning right
Skinner: argues children learn language through operant conditioning
Chomsky: argues that children do not only learn language through imitation and reinforcement,
but that language is an inborn biologival paradigm
Describe the early work in Cognitive Psychology. - CORRECT ANSWER -Donders -
measured how long it takes a person to make a decision using a reaction time test with lights
Ebbinghaus - created the savings curve to show savings as a function of retention interval by
reading a list of nonsense syllables aloud to determine the number of repititions necessary to
repeat the list without errors
What is the "Cognitive Revolution" and how was it impacted by the advent of the computer? -
CORRECT ANSWER -Beginning in the 1950s, the "Cognitive Revolution" was a shift
from behavorist's stimulus-response relationships to explain behavior in terms of the mind. It
was impacted by the advent of the computer because the computer allowed the information-
processing approach, which was a way to study the mind based on insights associated with the
digital computer and states that operation of the mind occurs in stages.
, What are the main parts of a neuron? - CORRECT ANSWER -Cell body (soma) - contains
mechanisms to keep the cell alive
Dendrites - multiple branches reaching from the cell body, which receive information from other
neurons
Axon - tube filled with fluid that transmits electrical signal to other neurons
How is information transferred in the nervous system? - CORRECT ANSWER -1)
Neurons receive a signal that is in either a chemical form or a physical form.
2) Sodium diffuses down through the dendrites and cell body.
3) The electrical signal is activated and travels quickly down the axon to the axon terminals
4) This causes the release of neurotransmitters at the synapse and the process starts all over in the
next neuron.
How is information represented in the nervous system? - CORRECT ANSWER -Feature
Detectors: neurons that respond best to a specific stimulus
Stimulus Coding:
- Specificity Coding: representation of a stimulus by the firing of specifically tuned neurons
specialized to respond only to a specific stimulus
- Population Coding: representation of a stimulus by the pattern of firing of a large number of
neurons
- Sparse Coding: representation of a stimulus by a pattern of firing of only a small group of
neurons, with the majority of neurons remaining silent
What are some of the ways we can study neural communication and what are the pros and cons
of each? - CORRECT ANSWER -Single cell recording - record action potentials from
individual neurons. Good at location and timing, but invasive and hard to guess what will make it
fire.
