Human Information Processing
An Introduction to Psychology
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Human Information Processing: An Introduction to Psychology aims to convey the excitement of modern experimental psychology to the beginning student. The book discusses the organization of auditory perceptions; neural information processing; and the theories of pattern recognition. The text also describes the visual system; the dimensions of vision; the auditory system; and the dimensions of sound. The neural basis of memory; transient memories; the structure of memory; and memory processes are also considered. The book further tackles language acquisition; the process of learning and cognitive development; problem solving; and decision making. The text also looks into motivation and the biochemical responses to stress. Psychologists and students taking psychology and related courses will find the book useful."
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Notes to the Reader
1. Human Perception
Interpreting Sensory Messages
Matching templates
Pattern Recognition
Organizing degraded images
Competing organizations
OrganizinG Auditory Perceptions
Organization without meaning
Making the sensory data fit the interpretation
The Importance of Rules
Perception of space
The importance of context
Feature Analysis
Stopping the image
Aftereffects
What to Look at for Motion Aftereffects
The explanation of aftereffects
Orientation-specific color adaptation
Perception without Features
Seeing with the skin
Suggested Readings
Perception
Art
2. Neural Information Processing
The Eye of a Frog
The Anatomy of Detectors
Physiological Procedures
The neuron
Recording neural responses
Designing Neural Circuits
Basic Circuits
The building blocks
Extracting Contours
Sensitivity versus specificity
Lateral inhibition
Circuits for extracting contours
Center-surround fields
On-off circuits
Responses with Time
Circuits for producing transient responses
Responding to Movement
Circuits for detecting movement
Signal Processing in the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
Extracting Features
Simple cells
Dipoles
Complex cells
Hypercomplex cells
Conclusion
Suggested Readings
Models of the nervous system
3. Theories of Pattern Recognition
Pandemonium
Features for recognizing letters
How to build pandemoniums
Features for recognizing speech
Feature detectors for speech
Summary of feature analysis
Analysis by Synthesis
A matter of context
Wet socks
The importance of redundancy
Synthesizing a sensory message
The Sequence of Operations
Features versus Expectations
Suggested Readings
4. The Visual System
Light
Decibels
The Optical Path
The pupil
The lens
The retina
Chemical Responses to Light
The photochemical reaction
The Neuroanatomy of Vision
The retinal network
The Pathway to the Brain
Sampling Visual Information
Eye movements
The localizing channel
Vision without a visual cortex
Vision without a superior colliculus
Suggested Readings
5. The Dimensions of Vision
The Perception of Brightness
Mach bands
Brightness contrast
Brightness and Depth
Adaptation
Equibrightness contours
Temporal Characteristics of Vision
Integration time
When flashing lights become continuous
Critical flicker
Color
Mixing Colors
The color wheel
Paints and Lights
Afterimages
Color Sensitivity of Cones
Opponent-process color theory
Induced contrast
Suggested Readings
Color vision
6. The Auditory System
The Physics of Sound
The frequency of sound
The intensity of sound
Decibels
The Mechanics of the Ear
The inner ear
Movements of the basilar membrane
The hair cells
Electrical Responses to Sound
Tuning curves
Temporal coding in neural responses
Coding of intensity information
Acoustic information processing
Suggested Readings
7. The Dimensions of Sound
Loudness
Equiloudness contours
Listening to music
Masking
The measurement of loudness
Pitch
The musical scale
The mel scale
Place theory: position on the basilar membrane
Periodicity pitch
Masking the missing fundamental
Pitch Discrimination Without a Basilar Membrane
Evidence against the periodicity pitch theory
The duplicity theory of pitch perception
The Critical Band
Auditory Space Perception
Localization
Binaural interactions
Importance of binaural listening
Recordings
The precedence effect
Suggested Readings
8. Neural Basis of Memory
The Memory Systems
Sensory information storage system
Short-term memory
Long-term memory
Storing Information
Neural circuits of memory
The Chemistry of Memory
RNA changes and learning
Learning after alterations in the available RNA
Memory transfer
Disorders of Memory
Electroconvulsive shock
Amnesias
The cases of H.M. and N.A.
Mechanisms of memory
The Search for Long-Term Memory
One Brain or Two
Split brains in animals
Split brains in humans
Two brains: fixed or flexible
Conclusions
Suggested Readings
9. Transient Memories
Sensory Information Stora
The Tachistoscope
The capacity of SIS
Short-Term Memory
Errors in recall from short-term memory
Rehearsal
Forgetting
Attributes of memory
From Short- to Long-Term Memory
The Phenomena of Attention
Selecting messages
Processing the rejected message
Memory without attention
Theories of Attention
The attenuator model
The active synthesizing-process model
Suggested Readings
10. The Structure of Memory
Answering Questions
When to retrieve information
Retrieving an image
Retrieval as problem solving
Retrieval and comprehension
The Importance of Understanding
A Model of Memory
Remembering concepts
Primary and secondary concepts
Remembering events
Suggested Readings
11. Memory Processes
Mechanisms for Input and Output
Processing an input
Making responses
Deducing a Person's Memory Structure
Searching Memory
Multistage search processes
Reorganizing Thoughts
Correcting errors
Evaluating an input
Viewing the Data Base
Understanding versus Remembering
Memory as Information Processing
Suggested Readings
12. Language
Meaning through actions
The importance of labels
The Structure of Language
Meaning structure and surface structure
English Grammar
On communicating the structure
On communicating the meaning
Learning a Language
Learning rules
Imitation
Language as communication
The first steps in communication
Understanding
Suggested Readings
13. Learning and Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Schemata
A sensorimotor schema
The Phenomena of Learning
Contingencies between actions and outcomes
Detecting corrections
Contingencies between the environment and outcomes
Summary
Classical Conditioning
Cognitive Learning
Reinforcement as a signal
Learning and awareness
Learning by experimentation
The importance of expectations
Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor learning
The Development of Images
Preoperational thought
Concrete operations
Formal operations
Thinking
Suggested Readings
Principles of learning
14. Problem Solving
The Anatomy of a Problem
Protocols
The protocol from DONALD + GERALD
The problem behavior graph
Strategies of Problem Solving
Searching for solutions
Selecting operators
Limitations of the protocol analysis
Internal States Versus Protocol States
The Machinery of Thought
Rules versus facts
Subroutines
Short-term memory
Suggested Readings
15. Decision Making
Determining Values
The psychological value of money
The value of complex alternatives
Cognitive strain
What is being optimized
The Logic of Choice
Risky Decision Making
Utility in risky choices
Probability
Expected value
Subjective probability
Representativeness and availability
Subjective expected utility
Gambling
Gathering Evidence
Odds
A test for cancer
The Cuban Missle Crisis
The Aftereffects of Decision Making
Rationalization
Of grasshoppers and things
Postdecisional rationalization
Conclusions
Suggested Readings
16. Decisions in a Social Context
Social Influence on Decision Making
Bystander Behavior
Bystander apathy
Compliance with authority
Interactive Decisions
Bargaining
The bargaining procedure
The process of negotiation
Strategic negotiations
The tactics of conflict
Games and Decisions
Suggested Readings
17. Motivation
Brain Mechanisms of Motivation
Electrical control of hunger and thirst
Disrupting the motivational control systems
Motivational Control Systems
A numerical test
Terminating eating
Nonbiological factors
Responding to Uncertainty
Responses to stress
Biochemical Responses to Stress
Responses to conflict
Responding to nothing
Neural mechanisms of arousal
Sleep
Interpreting Emotional Arousal
Emotions: one or many
To be mad or euphoric
Motivation and Cognition
Suggested Readings
Appendix A. Measuring Psychological Variables
Sensory Experiences
Scaling
Scale types
Scaling techniques
Magnitude estimation
The power law
"How much" versus "what kind"
Interpretation of the power function
Range of applicability
Cross-modality matching
How to scale
Suggested Readings
Appendix B. Operating Characteristics
The Decision Problem
The Dice Game
The criterion rule
Confidence ratings
The normal distribution
Problems
The fire-sprinkler problem
Memory
The dice problem revisited
Suggested Readings
Bibliography
Using Basic Reference Material
Annual reviews
Psychological abstracts
The science citation index
The journals
General Readings
Collected readings
References
Author Index
Subject Index
Product details
- No. of pages: 766
- Language: English
- Copyright: © Academic Press 1972
- Published: January 1, 1972
- Imprint: Academic Press
- eBook ISBN: 9781483218571