PSYC 380: COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PREP GUIDE 3

NAME: DATE:

MATERIALS: Cognition 7E, Ch. 1

SECTIONS: 1.5: Measuring Information Processes through the end of 1.7 Themes of Cognition

PAGES: 12 – 23

Define reaction/response time (RT). Why is RT a fundamental measurement tool in cognitive research?

Define accuracy as a measuring tool in cognitive psychology. Who pioneered this method?

What kind of information do accuracy measures give us?

How does the definition of accuracy differ between learning one-word lists and learning whole paragraphs?

Now that you’ve read about reaction/response time (RT) and accuracy consider the examples below, and apply what you’ve learned to demonstrate your own original thoughts:

You are conducting a sleep study to investigate participants’ memory performance for simple multiplication problems after being deprived of sleep for 15 hours compared to 24 hours. Before the sleep deprivation manipulation, all participants first take a math pre-test. Which measure do you think will give you the most meaningful results for your research question, reaction time or accuracy? Why?

You are investigating individuals’ perceptions of color to examine if specific colors are more or less difficult to process. In timed presentation trials, participants are asked to press the spacebar on a keyboard every time they see a red light and not make a response when they see a green light. Which measure do you think will give you the most meaningful results for your research question, reaction time or accuracy? Why?

You are examining readers’ online, in-the-moment, cognitive processing for high and low frequency words in the English language. High-frequency words are common and frequently used/encountered, for example, the word “it.” Low-frequency words are less commonly used, for example, the word “cacophony.” In this experiment, participants are reading short stories on the computer silently, at their own pace, one line at a time. When a reader is done with a particular line they press the spacebar to move to the next one. You want to know if there are certain lines that require deeper mental comprehension than other lines that are simpler to comprehend. Which measure do you think will provide the most meaningful results for your research question, reaction time or accuracy? Why?

In your own words, explain how the more recent theoretical view of parallel processing challenged earlier models of the mind and cognitive processing – specifically, the computer analogy.

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