Electrical transmission of neurons

ͻ Electrical probes inside (negative) and outside (positive) an axon measures its activity.
ͻ Electrochemical changes in neuron creates an action potential.
ͻ During the action potential, positively charged atoms rush into the axon, briefly changing it from
negatively charged to positively charged. The outside of axon becomes negative.
ͻ The action potential advances as the charges reverse in a moving zone of electrical activity that
sweeps down the axon.
ͻ After the action potential passes, the atoms return to normal (negative in, positive out).

Synapse
ͻ Region where 2 neurons meet.
ͻ Terminal buttons of 1st neuron sits close to dendrites of second.
ͻ At the terminal button, action potential stimulates synaptic vesicles – binds with cell membrane
wall – releases neurotransmitter into synaptic cleft.
ͻ Gap in between terminals and dendrites = synaptic gap.
ͻ Vesicles in first neuron that contains neurotransmitters.
ͻ Receptors on second neuron receive these neurotransmitters (only receive ones designed for).
ͻ Once receptors have accepted the neurotransmitter, it inhibits an action potential in the second
neuron.
ͻ Excitatory (positive shift) neurotransmitters start an action potential in the following neuron
while inhibitory (negative shift) neurotransmitters stop the next action potential.
ͻ Binding of a neurotransmitter causes voltage change – postsynaptic potential.
Neurotransmitter Disease Characteristics
Acetylcholine Alzheimer’s Attention, arousal, memory.
(Nicotine stimulated)
Dopamine Parkinson’s Pleasurable emotions
Schizophrenia (Cocaine and amphetamines)
Addictive disorders Low levels= Parkinson’s
High levels= schizophrenia
Serotonin Depression Sleep and wakefulness regulation
OCD Abnormal levels = depression,
Eating disorders OCD
Prozac, antidepressants affect
Norepinephrine Depressive disorders Mood, arousal
Cocaine and amphetamines
GABA Anxiety disorders Inhibitory transmitter (calms you
down)
Antianxiety meds work here
Endorphins Similar structure to opiate drugs.
Pain relief, pleasurable emotions
Increase levels through exercise.
Glutamate Schizophrenia Learning, memory.
Sensation - Passive process, physical process where our senses respond to external stimuli.

Perception – active process, psychological process where you make sense of stimulation.

Bottom-up processing – take external information and process it. Takes in new information.

Top-down processing – use preconceived information and then process. Uses old information you
already know.

Thresholds - levels of energy required by a stimulus for it to be perceived. An absolute threshold is

the minimum amount of energy required.

o First Law of Physics states that noticing a change depends on the proportion by which the
stimulus has changed.
o Difference threshold is ‘the line one has to cross’ to tell that stimulus A is different from
stimulus B. The just noticeable difference (JND) is the level at which people will notice a
difference between two stimuli 50% of the time.
o Single detection theory proposes that the detection of stimuli involves decision processes
as well as sensory processes, both of which are influenced by a variety of factors besides
stimulus intensity.
o Weber’s law - bigger stimuli require larger differences to be noticed.

Subliminal perception is the registration of sensory input unconsciously. E.g. watching at the
movies, shows on the screen t eat popcorn so you subconsciously feel the need to eat popcorn.

Sensory adaptation is a gradual decline in sensitivity to prolonged stimulation. Reduces sensitivity

towards stimulation e.g. a distinct smell, constant exposure reduces sensitivity and eventually you do not
notice it anymore.

The Eye
Retina - neural tissue lining the inside back surface of the eye; it absorbs light, processes images, and
sends visual information to the brain.

o Cones (bright light + colour) – mainly fovea – daylight vision (provides sharpness and detail in
light)
o Rods (low light) – all over retina – night vision (sensitive to dim light)
 o Light strikes rods and cones – this fires neural signals – signals move from bipolar cells to
ganglion cells – sends impulses along optic nerve. These axons carry visual info and depart eye
through optic disk.

Colour theories
Trichromatic theory 3 primary colours form basis of all colours. (red,
green, blue)
Photoreceptors are specialised for these colours.
3 types of cones.
Cones respond preferentially for primary colours.
Impossible to have receptors for every single
colour.
Our receptors are adjusted to different degrees in
order to see different colours.
Opponent process theory We have neurons in our retina that can process
pairs of colours: red-green, yellow-blue and black,
white.
Stimulated = react more to one side of each pair
than the other.
Colour perception depends on receptors (explains
after images colours + partial colour blindness in
white males.)
Our cones send information to retinal ganglion
cells that respond to pairs of colors (red-green,
blue-yellow, black-white). These specialized cells
take information from the cones and compute the
difference between the two colours—a process
that explains why we cannot see reddish-green or
bluish-yellow, as well as why we see afterimages.
Colour blindness can result from issues with the
cones or retinal ganglion cells involved in colour
vision.

Bottom-up processing visuals

Electrochemical messages sent – occipital lobe. Optic nerves inside half of each eye crisscross at optic
chasm – signals from both eyes go to both hemispheres.

Feature-detection theory:
 The neurons in retina send information to the primary visual cortex via the thalamus.
 Specific neurons in the retina contact specific regions of the primary visual cortex.
 Some of the neurons in the visual cortex respond only to certain visual stimuli (e.g., horizontal
lines, vertical lines, colour, shape and motion).
  These neurons are called feature detectors.
 When we see something, many feature detectors fire together and that information is
integrated to form an image.

Perceptual constancy - that we use cues in the environment to keep our world predictable and
stable e.g., colour, shape and size.
Depth perception is the ability to perceive the three-dimensional quality of our world. Monocular depth
cues depend on one eye only e.g., linear perspective. Binocular depth cues depend on both eyes e.g.
convergence.

Visual signals
 Primary – lower-level tasks; damage causes cortical blindness.
 Secondary – allows us to see objects, colour and movement.
 Tertiary – allows us to write , do math.

Perceptual deficits
 Apperceptive visual agnosia – can’t recognize shapes, copy drawings, involves prosopagnosia
(can’t recognize faces).
 Associative visual agnosia – can’t assign meaning to objects or drawings, difficulty transferring
visuals to words.

Perceptual constancy
 Top-down process
 We use cues in the environment to keep our world predictable and stable.
 Objects are perceived to have same size no matter how far it is.
 Understand that things do not change based on one’s experience.
 E.g. a door that is far away from you looks smaller than it is, but this does not mean that it is
actually gotten smaller.
 E.g. a book turned on its side does not mean that it is no longer a book or that it has changed.
 E.g. someone is wearing a red top, if you switch off the lights and can no longer see the red top,
it does not mean that the person changed the colour of their top.

Perceptual expectancy
 E.g. when you proofread your essay, nothing is wrong but when you hand it in, the marker sends
through corrections.
 See what you expect to see.

Depth perception
The interpretation of visual cues that determine how near or far something is. Ability to perceive the 3-
dimensional quality of our world.

Top-down and bottom-up processing.

Monocular cues – top-down processing (explain top down). Cues about distance based in either eye
alone. Depends on one eye.

Binocular cues – bottom-up processing. Retinal disparity and convergence. Uses both eyes.

Pictorial cues – flat picture.

Gestalt psychologists identified and explained a set of principles that we use in order to perceive our
world visually. These principles state that we take the elements that make up an object and form a

meaningful whole from them. The Gestalt principle maintains that the whole can be greater than the
sum of its parts.

 Proximity – those objects closest together are perceived as belonging together.

 Similarity – things that look the same are grouped together.
 Closure – people ‘close’ or ignore the gaps in objects to form a meaningful whole.
 Continuity: People organise information to produce smooth contours.
 Common region: Items within a boundary common area.
 Contiguity: when occurrences share both time and space a causal relationship may be
assumed
Selective attention - ability to focus on some things while ignoring others. Determines what information
moves from sensory to short-term memory.

Process of concentrating on specific features of the environment:

 Selective – excludes other features of the environment.
 Limited – in capacity and timing
 Overt and covert – consciously attending to some information but something else grabs our
attention.

Inattentional blindness
Focusing too closely to something that you don’t notice things right Infront of you. It is your inability to
notice something right in front of you because you are attending to something else.

Change blindness
Blindness to change when we create distractor illusions (blind when distracted). Change is not noticed
during first change but noticed after several repetitions. Requires an absence of focused attention. Not
affected by expectations. Occur with marginal stimuli. Attention to changed object may not be enough to
notice change.

Early-selection models of attention

The filter theory of attention, The attenuation theory of attention, The feature-integration theory of
attention, The theory of selective visual attention.

Broadbent’s filter theory –

Attention consists of 2 stages.

1. Differences sources of channels are differentiated from each other by characteristics such as
tone or volume.
2. A selective filter allows one of the channels through in order to process its meaning, while
stopping other channels.

Uses dichotic listening and shadowing. Gray and Wedderburn disputed this theory stating that
people processed messages for meaning.
Triesman’s attenuation theory
Early filter- other stimuli are weakened except for the one being focused on. Unattended stimuli receive
little to no analysis. Only physical properties are processed before selection. Based on physical
properties.

Late filter- all stimuli from attentional field pass through filter.

Only stimuli in working memory are remembered, others are forgotten. This explains the cocktail part
effect.

Kahneman’s capacity model

 Available resources depend on cognitive arousal.
 The more difficult a task is, the more resources it will use.
 If more resources are needed, cognitive arousal needs to increase to increase resource capacity.
If this does not happen there will be a deterioration in one or more of the tasks.
 Allocation of resources depends on number of tasks and difficulty.
 Problems
o Tasks are easier to perform if they are different from each other.
o Least amount of interference when tasks use different modalities.
o Interference s predicted by structural elements; therefore 2 difficult tasks can be
performed at the same time.

Task specific resource theories

 Tasks don’t compete if they use different resources.
 Each task specific resource has limited capacity.
 If tasks compete for same resources, general mental resource models come into play.
 Evidence supports this from shadowing tasks.
 Problems
o There is evidence of interference when it is a complex situation.
o Evidence that 2 tasks may cause confusions with each other.
o evidence of cooperation between 2 tasks that are similar, provided they have similar
underlying structures.
2 approaches

Cognitive – abstract models of memory operations.

Clinical – double dissociation in the organically compromised brain.

Information processing approach

Memory has 3 aspects: input, storage, output.

Atkinson
3 memory storages: sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory.

Sensory memory – short lived sensory memory for each sense. Registers information that hits our
receptors. Stores exact copy of information for a few seconds. E.g., me typing this after reading it.

Short-term memory
ͻ Limited duration
ͻ Phonetically encoded.
ͻ Info only enters and stays if intended to.
ͻ Immediate retrieval
ͻ Retrieval depends on size and number of items.
ͻ Forgetting due to decay, interference and displacement.

Long-term memory
ͻ Unlimited capacity.
ͻ Holds memories for a long period of time.
ͻ Library of information and experiences of a person.
ͻ 2 types of long-term memory
 Explicit (episodic, semantic, gist memory)
 Implicit

How is knowledge represented and organised in memory?

ͻ Clusters (group similar information together).
ͻ Factual information into conceptual hierarchies (multi-level classification system based on
common properties among items).
ͻ Schemas (organized clusters of knowledge about an object/abstract experience).
ͻ Scripts (similar to schemas but with a conventional logical order to events).
 ͻ Semantic networks (nodes representing concepts that link to similar concepts).
ͻ Parallel distributed processing - cognitive processes depend on patterns of activation in highly
interconnected networks.
ͻ Cues – used as triggers to recall information.
ͻ Long-term potentiation – an increase in neural excitability at synapses along a specific neural
pathway. Involves changed in both sending and receiving neurons in neural pathways near
hippocampus.
ͻ Neurogenesis – formation of new neurons, new neuros are more excitable and can therefore
help form new memories faster.

Amnesia
ͻ Retrograde – loss of events prior to the trauma.
ͻ Anterograde – cannot form new memories.

context cues -putting yourself in the context in which a memory occurred.

Retrieval cues - stimuli that help gain access to memories.

Forgetting
ͻ Spontaneous decay – lost from being unused.
ͻ Interference – other input disrupts information. (Proactive and retroactive interference).
ͻ Source monitoring - the process of making inferences about the origins of memories.
(Inaccurate retrieval)
o Motivated forgetting
o Unconsciously repressing memories and consciously suppressed memories.

Decay
ͻ Rehearsal failure in STM (replacing information in limited capacity storage within 4-6 seconds.)
ͻ Disuse in LTM (accurate remembering depends on interval between initial learning and
subsequent retrieval.)

Interference
Amount of interference depends on the similarity between material.

Retroactive – new learning interferes with old memories.

Proactive – past memories interfere with new memories.

False memories
ͻ Misinformation effect – memories are altered by information received after the event.
ͻ Interference and source confusion.
ͻ Imagination inflation – adding something we believe was there.
ͻ Dependent of the plausibility of the event.
ͻ Confidence – not necessarily because of accuracy, depends on ease of recall, imagining in detail,
external support for memory.
Intelligence – define, different approaches. Uses of tests. Theorists. All 5-mark questions. Nature vs
nurture theories, how it is reflected in Vygotsky or other dude etc. no retardation really.

A hypothetical construct referring to some mental capacity, power or process linked to actual
performance.

Binet – IQ tests

Weschler – WAIS

 Based on normal distribution

 Less dependent on subject’s verbal ability. Included items that required non-verbal reasoning.

IQ tests helpful for academic testing but not for intelligence in the broader sense.

Uses:

ͻ Asses both intelligence and potential.

ͻ Valid indicators of academic intelligence.
ͻ Used to assess – school-readiness, need for remedial programmes for learners with learning
problems, choice for specialised educational programmes for children.
ͻ Exceptionally reliable.
ͻ Not a good measure of social or practical intelligence. Conflicting evidence if it helps to predict
occupational performance.

Spearman
o Intelligence consists of 2 factors, general and specific intelligence.
o Those who have a high degree of general intelligence are successful in a variety of activities.
o Specific intelligence requires both general intelligence as well as the specific aptitude for an
activity.
o Group factors contribute to a spectrum of specific abilities.

Cattell
General intelligence was divided into 2 parts

o Fluid intelligence – ability to perceive relationships independent of previous specific experiences.

Being able to think and solve problems abstractly. E.g. solving puzzles.
o Crystalized intelligence – knowledge that comes from prior learning and past experiences.
Based on facts and prior experiences. E.g., vocabulary exam.