Flashcards · 9218 · Topic 1

Paper 1 – Cognition and Behaviour flashcards

31 cards on Topic 1, subtopics 3.1.1 to 3.1.4. Pick a subtopic or study them all.

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3.1.1 Memory

What are the three processes of memory?: Encoding (putting information into memory), storage (holding it) and retrieval (getting it back).
Episodic vs semantic vs procedural memory: Episodic: memories of events. Semantic: facts and meanings. Procedural: skills, such as how to ride a bike.
What are the capacity and duration of STM in the multi-store model?: About 5–9 items for about 18–30 seconds without rehearsal. Attention moves information from the sensory register to STM; rehearsal moves it to LTM, which is potentially unlimited.
What did Murdock's serial position curve study show?: Words from the start (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list were recalled far better than words from the middle, supporting separate short-term and long-term stores.
What are the four components of the working memory model?: Central executive (limited-capacity attention controller), phonological loop (brief acoustic storage), visuo-spatial sketchpad (visual and spatial information) and episodic buffer (links the others with LTM).
What do dual processing tasks (Baddeley and Hitch) show?: Two tasks using different components (e.g. one verbal, one visual) can be done together well, but two using the same component interfere, so STM has separate components.
What is effort after meaning in Bartlett's reconstructive memory?: When recalling, people fill gaps and change unfamiliar details so the memory makes sense to them. In War of the Ghosts, unfamiliar details were left out and the story was shortened and changed to fit the participants' culture.
Interference vs retrieval failure: Interference: other memories disrupt recall (proactive: old disrupts new; retroactive: new disrupts old). Retrieval failure: the memory is stored but the cue needed to access it, such as the original context, is missing.

3.1.2 Perception

Sensation vs perception: Sensation is the raw data received by the senses. Perception is the brain's interpretation of that data.
Name the monocular and binocular depth cues: Monocular: height in plane, relative size, occlusion and linear perspective. Binocular: retinal disparity and convergence.
Gibson's direct theory vs Gregory's constructivist theory: Gibson: bottom-up; the real world gives enough information to perceive directly (e.g. motion parallax). Gregory: top-down; the brain infers from cues and past experience to construct a model of reality.
Which explanation fits each illusion: Ponzo, Müller-Lyer, Rubin's vase, Kanizsa triangle, Ames Room?: Ponzo and Müller-Lyer: misinterpreted depth cues. Rubin's vase (and the Necker cube): ambiguity. Kanizsa triangle: fiction. Ames Room: size constancy and misread depth.
What did Gilchrist and Nesberg find?: Hungrier participants rated pictures of food as brighter than well-fed participants did, showing that motivation affects perception.
What did Bruner and Minturn find?: The same ambiguous figure was read as "B" among letters and as "13" among numbers, showing that expectation from context affects perception.
What did Kunst-Wilson and Zajonc find?: Participants preferred irregular shapes they had been shown too briefly to recognise over new shapes, even though they could not say which they had seen: emotion (liking) can affect perception without awareness.
What did Nisbett and Miyamoto show about culture and perception?: People from different cultures differed in what they attended to in a scene: Western participants focused more on central objects and East Asian participants more on the context, showing culture affects perception.

3.1.3 Biopsychology

Somatic vs autonomic nervous system: Both are parts of the peripheral nervous system. The somatic system controls voluntary movement and carries sensory information. The autonomic system controls internal organs involuntarily, including the fight or flight response.
What does the endocrine system do?: Glands release hormones into the bloodstream to act on target organs. In fight or flight, the adrenal glands release adrenaline, raising heart rate and breathing.
What does the James-Lange theory of emotion say?: Bodily arousal comes first, and the emotion is our interpretation of it: we feel afraid because we notice our heart racing, not the other way round.
What happens in synaptic transmission?: Neurotransmitters are released from the presynaptic neuron, cross the gap and bind to receptors, causing excitation or inhibition of the next neuron. They are then taken back up (reuptake).
What is Hebb's theory of learning and neuronal growth?: Neurons that repeatedly fire together form stronger connections (cell assemblies), so learning changes the structure of the brain.
Broca's area vs Wernicke's area: Broca's area (frontal lobe) is linked to speech production. Wernicke's area (temporal lobe) is linked to language comprehension.
What did Penfield's study of the interpretive cortex find?: Electrically stimulating the temporal lobe of conscious patients during brain surgery led some to report vivid memories of past experiences.
CT vs PET vs fMRI: CT: X-rays show brain structure. PET: a radioactive tracer shows metabolic activity. fMRI: changes in blood oxygen show which areas are active. Tulving's gold memory study used a tracer to show episodic and semantic memory in different regions.

3.1.4 Research Methods

Independent, dependent and extraneous variables: IV: what the researcher changes. DV: what is measured. Extraneous variables: other variables that could affect the DV and must be controlled.
Random vs opportunity vs systematic vs stratified sampling: Random: equal chance for everyone. Opportunity: whoever is available (quick but unrepresentative). Systematic: every nth person. Stratified: subgroups in proportion to the target population.
What are the risks of a repeated measures design?: Order effects (practice may improve, or fatigue and boredom worsen, performance in the later condition) and demand characteristics, as doing every condition makes the aim easier to guess. Counterbalancing reduces order effects.
Laboratory vs field experiment: one strength and one weakness each: Laboratory: high control, so cause can be established; but artificial, with low ecological validity. Field: more realistic; but less control over extraneous variables.
What is inter-observer reliability?: The level of agreement between two or more observers using the same behaviour categories. Agreement is improved by clearly defined categories and training.
What does a scatter diagram show, and what is the main weakness of a correlation?: The association between two variables (positive, negative or none). A correlation cannot show cause and effect.
When is deception acceptable under the BPS guidelines?: Only where it is scientifically necessary and the harm is minimal, and participants are fully debriefed and offered the right to withdraw their data.