jueves, 2 de diciembre de 2010
Internal Assessment - The Stroop Effect
The Stroop Effect is an experiment that was carried out by John Ridley Stroop in 1935. He did this experiment to understand human being’s mental processes. The Stroop experiment is portrays a psychological test of our mental vitality and flexibility. The task consists in taking advantage of the participant’s ability to read words shaded in different colors. Stroop showed in his experiment that people consider reading the word of the color easier rather than saying the color used as a shade in the word. The cognitive mechanism, after all is called direct attention in which one has to manage his or her attention, and stop one’s response in order to say another thing. This experiment as a whole emphasizes the interference that automatic processing of words has on the mental effort taking task of naming the colors. The experiment is said to produce activity in a part of the brain called the anterior cingulated. This part of the brain is just in between the right and the left halves of the brain of the frontal portion of the brain. This part of the brain concentrates on thought processes and emotional responses. The Stroop effect’s sensitivity to changes in brain functions are said to have much to do with the anterior cingulated. The effect this experiment has had on others is the fact that it can be concluded by the results shown that it is much harder than it sounds to respond correctly to tricks done to our minds. The experiment involves the experimenter to hand the participant or participants a paper in which the names of various colors are written but the trick lies in the fact that the words are shaded in a different color as to the one it says. For example, if the word is orange, the word will definitely be shaded in blue or whichever color, except orange. An interesting fact on this experiment is the fact that results cannot be improved by training. The brain cannot be trained to allow certain of its areas to dominate others. Results show that verbal activity can reduce the depth of hypnotic trance and that the functional area of the brain that is most of the time dominant is responsible for language function and critical rejection of suggestion. In the end, one can conclude that the brain has limited attention resources that only one function area of our brain can spark our behavior at a time and this most certainly will inhibit the other areas.
domingo, 28 de noviembre de 2010
The Placebo Effect - Is it real or just imagined?
According to the articles given by our teacher, the placebo effect is “the measurable, observable, or felt improvement in health or behavior to a medication or treatment that has been administered”. The idea of the placebo effect developed from the famous H.K Beecher. Beecher developed 15 experiments in which he evaluated 15 clinical trials with numerous and unique diseases. Beecher found out that 35% of 1,082 patients were relieved or healed by a placebo pill. In all the experiments conducted by Beecher on this controversial topic, Beecher implemented medical personnel, this kind of setting gave the patients comfort in the pill they were given to “alleviate” their disorder or disease. Up to this day, there is no correct answer to rely on, even though psychologists have come up with a hypothesis. They say, that is all in the patient’s minds, they say that a person’s beliefs and hopes revolves around neurochemistry and neurochemistry is said to eventually affect one’s biochemical, immune or hormonal system, this, resulting in a person’s well-being or health. Besides there being a quite scientific explanation to it, psychologists mention that a person’s mind is powerful in the sense that when one is told that a pill will cure the ongoing disease they have, it will eventually heal the person since the person is relying and strongly believing that the pill will be the solution to their problem. Although, Beecher’s experiments seem to be quite logical, denunciations towards his experiments have been made. Among these lies the fact that, the patients were taken off a drug because of side effects, this resulting in improvement in the patient’s bodies since they were taken off something that provided harm in their bodies, this having nothing to do with the placebo effect. Another downfall in Beecher’s experiments is that he only reported to percentage of improvement from the placebo, showing absolutely no percentage in deteriorated conditions of the patients. It is said that one-third of the time, the patients showed improvement but not necessarily because of the placebo pills they were on and that about 40% of the time, conditions showed no improvement at all. Beecher’s major limitation in these experiments was that he did not report all of the gathered data. After all, I personally think that placebo pills should be used more often since they do show a lot of improvement in patients as shown by Beecher. Regarding this issue I strongly agree with the used of placebos and definitely think that they do more good than harm as to drugs. Placebos have no side effects whereas drugs do so. I do concord with psychologists when they say that it all lies in our minds. We have the power in ourselves to heal all by our own or with placebo pills which contain no source that says it will heal one even though it does.
Bibliography:
http://www.skepdic.com/placebo.html
Bibliography:
http://www.skepdic.com/placebo.html
miércoles, 3 de noviembre de 2010
Are ALL Memories Alike?
Gender Differences:
The article shows that a group of psychologists from Stockholm, Sweden have made experiments on trying to show if women or men exceed each other’s knowledge, in other words, which one is better. The experiment was carried out by pulling out three groups of participants with black and white pictures of men and women. They concluded that women tend to have a better episodic memory than men do, this because women are usually very meticulous with detail, especially in men. In fact, the article reads that women pay more attention to women faces than to male faces, making it easier for them to recall the face in future moments. The psychologists also discovered that men exceed women’s abilities on remembering symbolic, non-linguistic information, known as visuospatial processing. In the end, we may conclude that women perform much better in episodic memory whereas men perform better in remembering symbols and information that does not require linguistic explanation.
Cultural Differences:
The article about cultural differences explains through a series of descriptions and experiments that memories varies up to 2 years in difference among cultures around the world. For example, it’s said that a Korean may not remember anything before the age of 4 whereas a Maori New Zealander may remember things up to his 2 and a half years of age. A series of psychologists are still working on experiments to show that culture does have an effect in memory, that is, that people’s memory capacity differ from culture to culture. For example they have shown through experiments that a Caucasian has a better capacity of storing memories than do Chinese. After all, the article talks about the differences in memory capacity of people of different cultures among the world although it was not specific in the respect to why it is how it is.
The article shows that a group of psychologists from Stockholm, Sweden have made experiments on trying to show if women or men exceed each other’s knowledge, in other words, which one is better. The experiment was carried out by pulling out three groups of participants with black and white pictures of men and women. They concluded that women tend to have a better episodic memory than men do, this because women are usually very meticulous with detail, especially in men. In fact, the article reads that women pay more attention to women faces than to male faces, making it easier for them to recall the face in future moments. The psychologists also discovered that men exceed women’s abilities on remembering symbolic, non-linguistic information, known as visuospatial processing. In the end, we may conclude that women perform much better in episodic memory whereas men perform better in remembering symbols and information that does not require linguistic explanation.
Cultural Differences:
The article about cultural differences explains through a series of descriptions and experiments that memories varies up to 2 years in difference among cultures around the world. For example, it’s said that a Korean may not remember anything before the age of 4 whereas a Maori New Zealander may remember things up to his 2 and a half years of age. A series of psychologists are still working on experiments to show that culture does have an effect in memory, that is, that people’s memory capacity differ from culture to culture. For example they have shown through experiments that a Caucasian has a better capacity of storing memories than do Chinese. After all, the article talks about the differences in memory capacity of people of different cultures among the world although it was not specific in the respect to why it is how it is.
Alzheimer's Disease
In respect to what we have previously since about the Alzheimer's disease, I personally believe it is one of the most terrifying diseases ever. Not only affecting the person with the disease but the loved ones who surround the person are the ones who suffer the most. Although many studies have been conducted to eradicate this deadly disease scientists have failed to come up with its cure. According to previous research, it has been shown that Alzheimer’s disease has a 10% of hitting a person of 65 years old all the way through 80 and in the first place, giving people a slow degradation of thought, memories and language. The Alzheimer’s disease is said to worsen through time but it can be regulated and controlled for a specific time period. The disease, being composed of 3 stages, stage mild, stage moderate and finally stage severe a severe page. The Alzheimer’s disease varies from person to person being it severe in some patients and being moderate in other. Alzheimer’s is said to be a progressive disease which means that it may start being able to be treated and being able to be controlled but in a blink of an eye it kills people as well. In my opinion, it is difficult for people to keep up with such disease since it stops people from being able to accomplish tasks and interferes with people’s daily routines. I can definitely conclude that Alzheimer’s disease influences every aspect of a human being when it affects one. It can consummate one’s mind until the point where one needs permanent assistance for all daily activities consuming the brain’s ability to process information perfectly.
miércoles, 27 de octubre de 2010
3 of the Most Interesting Articles Ever
New Understanding of How We Remember Traumatic Events
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081028103111.htm
Who conducted the experiment: Neuroscientists at The University of Queensland.
Overview of Experiment: These neuroscientists have discovered a way to explain how we remember traumatic events easily, they did this by studying the almond shaped part of the brain called the amygdala in which they found out that the formation of emotional memories occur in the presence of a stress hormone that our bodies develop. They have been successful at showing that we human beings develop a stress hormone that lie in the formation of emotional memories. They say that memories that we store for a long time and vividly are usually associated with emotions such as fear, love and rage. According to Dr Faber, her team's discovery intended to help other scientists to elucidate new targets, leading to better treatments for conditions such as anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.
This research may be applied to real-life because we are to know and be conscious that traumatic events, whether they’d be emotional, psychological or just about anything, we should know that they will probably be kept longer and vivid in our memories since we have a specific part of the brain which focuses on emotional feelings and definitely impact us the most in respect to the development of these memories.
Some Short-Term Memories Die Suddenly, No Fading
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429091806.htm
Who conducted the experiment: Researchers at the University of California; Weiwei Zhang, a postdoctoral scholar, and Steve Luck, a professor of psychology, both at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain.
Overview of the experiment: Chang and Luck developed an experiment that consisted in 2 tests. The first test consisted in measuring the accuracy of a short-term memory and the second consisted in measuring the probability that memory still existed. Each test was given to 12 adults. In the first test, the adults were shown of box with 4 squares in it, each squared filled with a different color. They were shown a color wheel and later show a black box with 4 squares in it, only 1 highlighted. They were told to say the color that should be in the highlighted square of the big box. They found out that the subject either chose a similar color to the one it had before or they didn’t remember at all. The second test was similar to the first just that they used shapes instead of colors. The results of the experiment show that subjects either have the memories or they don’t and that memories do not gradually fade.
This could be important in real-life because it provides a mechanism to help us avoid the confusion that might arise if we tried to make decisions on the basis of weak, inaccurate memories.
The Memories You Want To Forget Are The Hardest Ones To Lose
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815105026.htm
Who conducted the experiment: Keith Payne, an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences and former psychology graduate student Elizabeth Corrigan.
Overview of the experiment: The experiment consisted in showing that the memories we want to forget are the hardest ones to do so because they revolve around emotional constraints, and it was shown that emotion places limits on the ability to control the contents of the mind. They developed the experiment by showing 218 subjects to react to photographs instead of text. The researchers found that the subjects could not intentionally forget emotional events as easily as ordinary ones. They also found that both pleasant and unpleasant emotional memories are resistant to intentional forgetting.
The experiment may be applied to real-life since we are to be well informed of how memories that we really want to forget are the hardest ones to do so since emotions limit us to control the contents of our mind even though if you have a great will power, you might be able to withdraw memories we don’t want in our brains. In the end we have to always keep in mind that intentional forgetting of memories is worse than unintentional forgetting of memories since we tend to concentrate on the things we don’t want in our lives or in our memory which can result in harsh conditions.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081028103111.htm
Who conducted the experiment: Neuroscientists at The University of Queensland.
Overview of Experiment: These neuroscientists have discovered a way to explain how we remember traumatic events easily, they did this by studying the almond shaped part of the brain called the amygdala in which they found out that the formation of emotional memories occur in the presence of a stress hormone that our bodies develop. They have been successful at showing that we human beings develop a stress hormone that lie in the formation of emotional memories. They say that memories that we store for a long time and vividly are usually associated with emotions such as fear, love and rage. According to Dr Faber, her team's discovery intended to help other scientists to elucidate new targets, leading to better treatments for conditions such as anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.
This research may be applied to real-life because we are to know and be conscious that traumatic events, whether they’d be emotional, psychological or just about anything, we should know that they will probably be kept longer and vivid in our memories since we have a specific part of the brain which focuses on emotional feelings and definitely impact us the most in respect to the development of these memories.
Some Short-Term Memories Die Suddenly, No Fading
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429091806.htm
Who conducted the experiment: Researchers at the University of California; Weiwei Zhang, a postdoctoral scholar, and Steve Luck, a professor of psychology, both at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain.
Overview of the experiment: Chang and Luck developed an experiment that consisted in 2 tests. The first test consisted in measuring the accuracy of a short-term memory and the second consisted in measuring the probability that memory still existed. Each test was given to 12 adults. In the first test, the adults were shown of box with 4 squares in it, each squared filled with a different color. They were shown a color wheel and later show a black box with 4 squares in it, only 1 highlighted. They were told to say the color that should be in the highlighted square of the big box. They found out that the subject either chose a similar color to the one it had before or they didn’t remember at all. The second test was similar to the first just that they used shapes instead of colors. The results of the experiment show that subjects either have the memories or they don’t and that memories do not gradually fade.
This could be important in real-life because it provides a mechanism to help us avoid the confusion that might arise if we tried to make decisions on the basis of weak, inaccurate memories.
The Memories You Want To Forget Are The Hardest Ones To Lose
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815105026.htm
Who conducted the experiment: Keith Payne, an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences and former psychology graduate student Elizabeth Corrigan.
Overview of the experiment: The experiment consisted in showing that the memories we want to forget are the hardest ones to do so because they revolve around emotional constraints, and it was shown that emotion places limits on the ability to control the contents of the mind. They developed the experiment by showing 218 subjects to react to photographs instead of text. The researchers found that the subjects could not intentionally forget emotional events as easily as ordinary ones. They also found that both pleasant and unpleasant emotional memories are resistant to intentional forgetting.
The experiment may be applied to real-life since we are to be well informed of how memories that we really want to forget are the hardest ones to do so since emotions limit us to control the contents of our mind even though if you have a great will power, you might be able to withdraw memories we don’t want in our brains. In the end we have to always keep in mind that intentional forgetting of memories is worse than unintentional forgetting of memories since we tend to concentrate on the things we don’t want in our lives or in our memory which can result in harsh conditions.
martes, 19 de octubre de 2010
What Is Memory - How Does It Work?
1. Explain the concept of sensory memory.
Sensory memory retains the brief impression of a sensory stimulus after the stimulus itself has ended. Which means that we human beings, retain vivid memories of what we have seen for a split second.
2. Give an example of sensory memory.
An example of sensory memory could be, when I am in class and Mr. Dougherty calls my name, I look at him and look back at my desk and still have a vivid memory of just a split second when Mr. Dougherty called my name.
3. What is the capacity of our sensory memory?
For visual stimuli, we have an extremely short 'photographic' memory (about 500 milliseconds), which gives us a persistent image. In hearing we have echoic memories, which are mental echoes of stimuli.
4. Describe the concept of short-term memory.
Short-term memory consists in storing and managing information required to carry out cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehending. Short-term memory involves the selection, initiation, and termination of information-processing. One test of short-term memory is memory span, the number of items, usually words or numbers that a person can hold onto and recall.
5. What is the "magic number" as it relates to short-term memory and who conducted the experiment which established this measurement?
The magic number 7 +/- 2 was shown by George A. Miller. He chose this number to be a magic one since he discovered that most human beings retain up to 7 items which can be held in short-term memory at any one time. Furthermore, Miller showed that for example, we human beings tend to remember phone numbers in chunks of 2, instead of remembering 7 digits. In the end, Miller in his experiment, shows that we remember items easily by chunking.
6. What is chunking?
Chunking refers to the process of taking individual units of information and grouping them into larger units.
7. What has been determined to be the ideal size of "chunks" for both letters and numbers?
About two or three.
8. Which mode of encoding does short-term memory mostly rely on, acoustic or visual?
Acoustic memory.
9. Explain the duration and capacity of long-term memory.
Long-term memory is the relatively permanent memory store in which you hold information even when you are no longer attending to it. Its capacity is said to be unlimited and its duration to be a lifetime one.
10. Explain in detail the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory.
The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory suggested that memory is organized into 3 divisions, sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. Sensory memory consists in us, human beings receiving information and being capable of restoring the majority of the information we received in future moments. Short-term memory consists in the low capacity of restoring information in our memories. Furthermore, long-term memory consists in us recalling vivid images and information of past information given to us. In the end, the model proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968 showed the structure of memory and in it it proposed that we human beings remember only small amounts of information we are given previously.
11. Identify three criticisms or limitations of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory.
• Much too linear.
• Its structure does not parallel well within the neurological explanations of where and how memory is stored.
• The model does not acknowledge the asynchronous nature of the neural activity which occurs between anatomical structures, such as the relationship between a neuron and a motor end-plate.
12. Explain the Levels of Processing Model of memory.
• Vision: Strongest recall value of all senses, and also allows the widest spectrum of levels-of-processing modifiers.
• Hearing: Within auditory stimuli, semantic analysis produces the highest levels of recall ability for stimuli.
• Touch: The less liable level of processing since a subject has no perspective on what he is shown, he/she is unable to determine the true obejct’s characteristics.
• Smell: Odor memory is weaker than visual memory, achieving a successful identification rate of only 70-80% of visual memory.
13. What is maintenance rehearsal - give an example.
the process of repeatedly verbalizing or thinking about a piece of information. For example, when I study for vocabulary tests, I repeat the words over and over again to keep them a little longer in short-term memory.
14. What is elaborative rehearsal - give an example.
Elaborative rehearsal is a memory technique that involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered, as opposed to simply repeating the word to yourself over and over. For example, when I am given a vocabulary word I relate the sound of it to another word that relates to its definition. This makes it easier for me to hold the information for a longer period of time.
15. Who developed the Levels of Processing Model and the concepts of maintenance and elaborative rehearsal?
Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart in 1972 developed the levels of processing model and the concepts of maintenance and elaborative rehearsal.
Sources:
www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/.../memory.html
www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7142
www.psywww.com/.../atkinson-shiffrin_model.html
http://users.ipfw.edu/abbott/120/AtkinsonShifrin.html
Sensory memory retains the brief impression of a sensory stimulus after the stimulus itself has ended. Which means that we human beings, retain vivid memories of what we have seen for a split second.
2. Give an example of sensory memory.
An example of sensory memory could be, when I am in class and Mr. Dougherty calls my name, I look at him and look back at my desk and still have a vivid memory of just a split second when Mr. Dougherty called my name.
3. What is the capacity of our sensory memory?
For visual stimuli, we have an extremely short 'photographic' memory (about 500 milliseconds), which gives us a persistent image. In hearing we have echoic memories, which are mental echoes of stimuli.
4. Describe the concept of short-term memory.
Short-term memory consists in storing and managing information required to carry out cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehending. Short-term memory involves the selection, initiation, and termination of information-processing. One test of short-term memory is memory span, the number of items, usually words or numbers that a person can hold onto and recall.
5. What is the "magic number" as it relates to short-term memory and who conducted the experiment which established this measurement?
The magic number 7 +/- 2 was shown by George A. Miller. He chose this number to be a magic one since he discovered that most human beings retain up to 7 items which can be held in short-term memory at any one time. Furthermore, Miller showed that for example, we human beings tend to remember phone numbers in chunks of 2, instead of remembering 7 digits. In the end, Miller in his experiment, shows that we remember items easily by chunking.
6. What is chunking?
Chunking refers to the process of taking individual units of information and grouping them into larger units.
7. What has been determined to be the ideal size of "chunks" for both letters and numbers?
About two or three.
8. Which mode of encoding does short-term memory mostly rely on, acoustic or visual?
Acoustic memory.
9. Explain the duration and capacity of long-term memory.
Long-term memory is the relatively permanent memory store in which you hold information even when you are no longer attending to it. Its capacity is said to be unlimited and its duration to be a lifetime one.
10. Explain in detail the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory.
The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory suggested that memory is organized into 3 divisions, sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. Sensory memory consists in us, human beings receiving information and being capable of restoring the majority of the information we received in future moments. Short-term memory consists in the low capacity of restoring information in our memories. Furthermore, long-term memory consists in us recalling vivid images and information of past information given to us. In the end, the model proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968 showed the structure of memory and in it it proposed that we human beings remember only small amounts of information we are given previously.
11. Identify three criticisms or limitations of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory.
• Much too linear.
• Its structure does not parallel well within the neurological explanations of where and how memory is stored.
• The model does not acknowledge the asynchronous nature of the neural activity which occurs between anatomical structures, such as the relationship between a neuron and a motor end-plate.
12. Explain the Levels of Processing Model of memory.
• Vision: Strongest recall value of all senses, and also allows the widest spectrum of levels-of-processing modifiers.
• Hearing: Within auditory stimuli, semantic analysis produces the highest levels of recall ability for stimuli.
• Touch: The less liable level of processing since a subject has no perspective on what he is shown, he/she is unable to determine the true obejct’s characteristics.
• Smell: Odor memory is weaker than visual memory, achieving a successful identification rate of only 70-80% of visual memory.
13. What is maintenance rehearsal - give an example.
the process of repeatedly verbalizing or thinking about a piece of information. For example, when I study for vocabulary tests, I repeat the words over and over again to keep them a little longer in short-term memory.
14. What is elaborative rehearsal - give an example.
Elaborative rehearsal is a memory technique that involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered, as opposed to simply repeating the word to yourself over and over. For example, when I am given a vocabulary word I relate the sound of it to another word that relates to its definition. This makes it easier for me to hold the information for a longer period of time.
15. Who developed the Levels of Processing Model and the concepts of maintenance and elaborative rehearsal?
Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart in 1972 developed the levels of processing model and the concepts of maintenance and elaborative rehearsal.
Sources:
www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/.../memory.html
www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7142
www.psywww.com/.../atkinson-shiffrin_model.html
http://users.ipfw.edu/abbott/120/AtkinsonShifrin.html
miércoles, 13 de octubre de 2010
How Does our Memory Work?
In respect to the videos shown in class, I have learned so much about memory and has caused in me a great intrigue in how memory shape us, our personality and just about everything we are surrounded with. The videos showed that memory is stored in small areas of the brain which have to be perfect in size and perfect in construction to function the way it should. It totally amazes me that we unconsciously store memories and recall them and it definitely takes a lot in our brains to accomplish such thing. Our brains are so perfect that although many theories have been made on how are memory functions, there are still things that cannot be proven by us human beings, they are left unknown till today since there is no reasonable explanation to what exactly happens. I´ve also learned that our memory fades as we grow older because of the white matter in our brains. We all have white matter and it has been shown that as we grow older the white matter undergoes severe changes, which is why the blood circulation in the brain is not as healthy as it was years ago and as a result thinking becomes impaired. I’m totally amazes me to see how our memories depend on the past and therefore affect the way we perceive our own future. It was also kind of traumatizing to see how are memory functions since there are many minute details that are really very important in the process of storing memories. How Alzheimer’s, a tragic memory disorder is acquired through age but some of us are lucky to not develop it as much as other unlucky ones. The videos were definitely eye-opening ones; they’ve given me a different perspective on memory storage in the brain.
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