Midterm Exam: Cognitive Psychology

Emily Moore
7 June 2015
Unit 1 Midterm Exam
Learning and Cognition
Dr. Colleen Lindecker

PSYC511 Unit 1 Exam: Cognitive Psychology
Student Name: Emily Moore 
Student ID: 4664933
Date of Completion: 6/8/15
Chapter 1
Chp. 1 #1: What is cognitive psychology?
Cognitive Psychology can be loosely defined as a branch of psychology that focuses on internal mental processes and the storage and organization of information in an attempt to understand, discover the cause, and explain the overall function of the mind and knowledge (Solso, Maclin, & Maclin, 2008 p. 2). Aside from any of the more precise definitions of this branch of psychology, cognitive psychology is well known as simply the study of the mind; and although this description

Although it is referring to “patterns”, the concept of pattern recognition plays an important role in everyday life which ultimately aids in survival through the ability to see, perceive, assess, retrieve information from memory and react to what one is seeing. The main features of pattern recognition are template matching, geon theory, feature analysis and prototype information. (Solso, Maclin, & Maclin, 2008 p. 118). Template Matching is a theory that attempts to explain the way the human mind senses, perceives and recognizes patterns. This theory is best explained as a “lock and key model”. The theory suggests that pattern recognition happens when there is an exact match made between the pattern or visual object that is seen, and the internal template in which it perfectly fits. The term “template” refers to an internal construct, or an empty slot that was formed when the person first saw the specific pattern and learned it. The “matching” refers to when one senses the stimuli that fits specifically in that slot or template. When they see the pattern, shapes or picture that they have seen before, they remember it because of the matching of the stimuli and the template. Theorists suggest that throughout one’s lifetime, they learn and form countless templates in their mind. When someone sees a pattern or shape, their mind searches through all of the templates it has formed

“Failure to encode” is a common and well known issue that occurs when one does not have a sufficient amount of attention directed at something which results in it being lost from the short term memory and not transferred to the long term memory. Failure to encode can easily be exemplified through a scenario in which someone meets another person and because they were distracted by something, they quickly forget their name. Another prime example of failure to encode is in an academic scenario in which a student if physically there, but if they are not paying enough attention, the information will never make it to long term memory, which could potentially result in failing a test or being stumped on a paper. It is clear that maintenance rehearsal followed by elaborative rehearsal of information is what moves information from short term memory to long term memory, but there are times when it is difficult to remember, even with this method. During these occasions, mnemonics are great ways to remember people, names, places, and academic related information. Early greek and romans used the method of loci to help them with remembering speeches (Solso, Maclin, & Maclin, 2008 pg 210). Method of loci is successful when someone associates an object with a specific location. An example of this would be if someone is going food shopping and they are able to remember what groceries they need by