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Princples
Factors
Schema Theory
How Emotion Effects Memory
Factors that affect Emotion
100
What is the main principle of the cogntive level of analysis?
Human beings are information processors.
100
Give an example of 1 study that shows how biological factors may affect 1 cognitive process
Alzheimer’s disease
100
What is memory?
Memories are reconstructed images of a past event that may have been affected by other experiences.
100
What are flashbulb memories?
A special kind of emotional memory, which refers to vivid and detailed memories of highly emotional events recorded in the brain.
100
What are emotions?
An emotion involves physiological arousal, expressive behavior and conscious experience
200
What are the 4 steps of cognitive processing?
1. Information is acquired from the world 2. The information is stored 3. Stored information is represented in the mind 4. Internal representations direct behavior
200
What is the Hippocampus?
An area of the brain which focuses on formation and retrieval of memories.
200
What are schemas and what are they used for?
Schemas are cognitive structures that represent a person’s knowledge, that are derived from prior experience and knowledge.
200
Why and how are flashbulb memories created?
Flashbulb memories are triggered by unforgettable , important event including central event and the circumstances in which one learned of the event. It is created by special neural mechanism which triggers an emotional arousal because the event is unexpected and extremely important.
200
Describe the James-Lange's and Cannon-Bard's Theories of Emotion.
James-Lange: Physiology produces emotion and cognition Environment triggers physiology, then emotional/cognitive response to physiology Cannon-Bard: Emotion and physiology occur simultaneously Environment triggers emotion and physiology together
300
How can you study mental processing with scientific methods?
Experimental methods, and research methods like experiments, verbal protocols, and case studies.
300
How does the case study of HM somewhat prove the role of the hippocampus?
HM had a treatment to deal with epilepsy which involved removing several areas of the hippocampus. Soon after the treatment he had severe problems to do with memory.
300
Describe the method used in "War of the Ghost" study by Barlett in 1932
1.Subjects were asked to read the unfamiliar Native American Indian folk story. 2. Subjects were asked to recall and reproduce the story at different time intervals. 3. They thought the experiment was for memory recall. 4. Each participant was required to retell the story on a number of different occasions. 5. Reproductions took place hours, days and months after the original reading,
300
State a supporting experiment of the Flashbulb Memory theory.
The flashbulb event of the news of Margaret Thatcher’s resignation was used. In the experiment, participants had to complete initial assessments within 14 days after the resignation, and reports were collected one year later The results showed that high levels of consistency from the participants to recall the exact information one year after the event.
300
What is the Schachter theory? (Provide 1 example)
The Schachter theory states that physiology and cognitions create emotions. Emotions have two factors–physical arousal and cognitive label. For example, our mind first witness a coming car as the stimulus. Then your arousal will increase with the heart pumping faster, and the cognitive level of "I'm afraid" will be sent to the brain. With these two explanations, the emotion fear is finally released.
400
What types of technology do psychologists use to research how brain processes affect behaviour?
Neuro-imaging, MRI scans, PET scans
400
What are the causes of Alzhemier's disease?
1.Accumulation of amyloid plaques between nerve cells in the brain that form hard, insoluble plaques that will result in memory impairment. 2.Neurofibrillary tangles cause microtubules to collapse, cutting off nutrition to the brain.
400
What was the result of the "War of the Ghost" study?
Subjects recall was distorted by culture, they changed key details into more familiar examples that fit in with their schemas.
400
Describe how Neisser and Harsch's study contradicts with the Flashbulb Memory Theory
The tragic accident of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 was used as the Flashbulb event. Whereas the Neisser and Harsch questioned a group of participants on how they were informed about the news on the morning the space shuttle exploded. After two years, the participants were asked again to recall their place of presence during the event The results showed that a large proportion of the participants forgot major details such as informant, location or ongoing activity. This doesn’t support the Flashbulb Theory, as participants’ wasn’t able to recall much accurate details about the emotional event.
400
What is the Cognitive Appraisal Model by Lazarus ?
Cognitive appraisal of the situation determines the level of physiological arousal and the specific type of emotion to be experienced . We learn what to expect from stimuli from previous experience with it. A support for this theory comes from research conducted by Speisman et al (1964).
500
Give an example of how the cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors
The "War of The Ghosts" experiment.
500
How does the neurotransmitter acetylcholine affect memory formation?
Acetylcholine is in charge of the development of memory formation in hippocampus. If there is more acetylcholine the brain is said to have better memory.  
500
What was the conclusion for Barlett's experiment?
We reconstruct memories based on our schemas. We have schemas for every aspect of life. If the new data acquired does not fit in with an existing schema, it is harder to remember as we must create a new schema, or use an existing schema that is very similar.
500
With reference to a study, state the flaw of the Flashbulb Theory by Barlett
In Jennifer Talrico and David Rubin's study, they gave 52 volunteers a questionnaire with ratings by a 7-point scale, to question them about their memorization right after the tragedy of the Terrorist attack of the Twin Towers on September 11th 2001. The student volunteers were also required to fill in a questionnaire about their memory of an ordinary event from the proceeding few days.The total number of participants was then split into 3 group. They had to return for a follow-up questionnaire session asking the same questions about their memories about the ordinary event and the flashbulb memory after 3 different time slots elapsed- 7 days, 42 days and 224 days Results: Participants believed their memories of September 11th to be more accurate but te number of details remembered about September 11 compared to the ordinary event, was statistically indistinguishable. As a result, the flaw in flashbulb theory is that participants believed that flashbulb memories are more accurate than ordinary memories, but when accuracy of memories is checked, it turns out flashbulb memories may be no different than ordinary memories.
500
Describe the "Love on the Bridge" study in relation to the misattribution of arousal pardigm.
In this experiment, Dutton and Aron had an attractive female experimenter stand at the end of either a scary bridge, this increased participant's arousal (So they'll never end) After male participants walked across either bridge, the female experimenter asked them to fill out a survey and gave them her phone number to call if they had any further questions. The dependent variable was to see which group of men was more likely to call the woman. The men who walked across the scary (and arousing) bridge were more likely to call the woman, most likely because they misattributed their arousal from the bridge for arousal (and attraction) for the woman (Dutton & Aron, 1974). This study provides support for the two factor theory of arousal.