October 2019 – Page 2 – Intro Psych Blog (F19)

Convergence vs. Linear Perspective

I choose to look at the concept of perceptual organization. Specifically, the idea of convergence perspective and linear perspective. Depth perception gives us the ability to judge distances and there are two types of cues involved. One type is binocular cues which uses both eyes to judge distances and perspectives. Convergence cues is categorized as a binocular cue since it involves the use of both eyes. Another cue used in depth perception is monocular cues which uses one eye. Linear perspective is categorized under monocular cues. These two types of cues have the potential to be easily confused as they both involve focusing on a point of convergence. However, these two cues are vastly different.

As mentioned above convergence is a binocular cue. When you use the convergence depth cue both of your eyes move together to focus on an object that is in close proximity. The further the distance of the object the farther apart your eyes are. According to the Psychology textbook by Professor Wede convergence cues are used on objects that are within 50 feet of us. An example of convergence that you can do is to try to look at the tip of your nose. You will be able to feel both of your eyes focusing on your nose. If you want to be able to experience the gradual process of your eyes converging place one finger at an arms width and focus your eyes on it as you slowly bring it closer to your nose and you should be able to notice your eyes slowly converging.

This is an example of a convergence cue. Photo by Bermann, J.

Linear perspective is the process in which parallel lines will converge at a certain distance. Much like convergence linear perspective also relies on a point where objects merge or meet. However, linear perspective is monocular rather than binocular. There are three main parts to this type of cue and those are the vanishing point, which is where the lines converge, creating depth (Blumberg). The horizon line where the vanish point lies and orthogonal’s also known as parallel lines (Blumberg). Linear perspective is often used in artwork as it allows for depth to be created on flat surfaces. The closer the parallel lines are to each other, or the more they converge the more distance the audience will perceive.

This is an example of a linear perspective cue. Photo by Amey, K.

I took a lot of art courses when I was in high school. There was always at least on assignment every year where I would have to draw a city scape or have some point on the horizon converge in order to create depth. At that point it was not explained why this helped to create depth. My teachers would merely explain how to do it and then leave us to do it by ourselves. I had never stopped to consider, how this trick worked to convince my mind that there was distance, or if one or both my eyes were engaged. Now however, I know from Psych 100 that linear perspective only uses one eye even though both eyes are looking at the picture or point. If you were to close one eye you would still perceive depth while with convergence the object would no longer be centered.

References

Amey, K. (2015). 17 miles, 93 bends and breathtaking views of the Douro Valley: The world’s best road is in Portugal’s wine region. The Daily Mail. Retrieved from www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3052472/The-world-s-best-road-voted-Portugal-s-wine-region.html

Bermann, J. (1960). Surprise Landing [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/NYJAdc/ItemDetails.cfm?id=601%23navtop

Blumberg, N. (2016) Linear Perspective. In Encyclopaedia Britannica online. Retrieved from www.britannica.com/art/linear-perspective

Flashbulb Memory

A type of autobiographical memory, flashbulb memories record atypical and uncommon events with strong emotional associations. Therefore, the events that comprise these memories are often stressful, shocking or surprising. Like a camera’s flash, flashbulb memories are registered in the brain and reflect an exceptionally clear snapshot in time. The amygdala is believed to store these vivid and detailed memories as its neurological function is to encode, retrieve, and store episodic memories associated with emotional responses. The hippocampus is also believed to help foster flashbulb memories in the brain since its neurological role is to store long-term memories and regulate emotion. Both the amygdala and hippocampus are a part of the brain’s limbic system, which modulates emotion and memory.

My Experience

I experienced a flashbulb memory when I visited my family’s damaged beach house in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, following the destruction of Hurricane Sandy. A few days after the superstorm hit the Jersey Shore, my parents broke the news to my sister and I that our beach house most likely sustained damage. In order to inspect this potential damage, my immediate family (including my mom, dad, sister and grandparents) and I decided to drive down to our beach house. Upon entering the island, I remember witnessing all the destruction the storm caused. Sand and debris were piled up on the streets (making it difficult to drive) and restaurants, storefronts and homes were flooded, damaged and even destroyed.

I noticed our street sustained some significant damage as the house next to ours was leveled and others were slightly wrecked. In particular, I vividly remember the damage our beach house suffered. Upon pulling up to the house, I recall witnessing the exterior with damaged siding and a few broken windows. I also very clearly remember opening the front door and seeing sand and bits of seaweed piled up on the floor, slight cracking on the walls, and water-damage on the living room furniture. After witnessing this, I remember my dad and grandpa immediately springing to clean up outside while my grandma cried and my mom consoled her. My sister and I took in all aspects of the dysfunctional scene before starting to clean up in the kitchen. During this experience, we all felt devastated by what we saw, but we also felt grateful that our house did not sustain more damage, as others unfortunately did.

Connection to Flashbulb Memories

This memory is specifically a flashbulb memory because it autobiographically recollects a vivid snapshot of a personal experience (with my beach house) as it connects to Hurricane Sandy. This important event, like the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was shocking, stressful, and had widespread implications, such as mass destruction. Furthermore, this event fits that of a flashbulb memory since it was highly emotional. All my family members feel a strong connection and love for our beach house so it made the event that much more devastating. This emotional distress was especially demonstrated by my grandma, who cried after viewing the destruction our house endured. Not to mention, my memory contains all the fundamental elements of a flashbulb memory, such as who informed me of the event, where the event took place, how different people reacted to the event (including my personal involvement), how myself and others felt, as well as the aftermath of the event. Overall, even though it is inevitable that some details of strong flashbulb memories become less accurate over time, I will always remember the general sight of my damaged beach house and how I felt during the event (sad yet relieved).

Image citation:

Patel, Shivam. “Cognitive Psychology.” Cognitive Psychology.

Proactive and Retroactive Interference Blog Post 2

Before I begin to talk about pro and retro active interference, everyone should know what interference is. The psychological definition of interference is, ” a phenomenon of human memory involving the learning of how material where the learning of new information or behavior interacts with old learning, or memories, thoughts and behaviors that come from past learning, and interferes with the acquisition or comprehension of new information”. With this being said, there are two types of interference, proactive and retroactive. Proactive interference is when things that someone has learned in the past gets in the way of, or disrupts what you are currently trying to learn. On the other hand, retroactive interference is forgetting something learned in the past due to something that is being learned or recently learned. Both proactive, and retroactive interference typically happens due to similar events, tasks, or memories. All of this sums up what proactive and retroactive interference is.

Now knowing what these two types of interference are, I want to share some personal examples of how interference occurs in real life. The first instance occurred in math class a few weeks ago. The class was beginning to learn about solving two equations consisting of multiple variables. Having learned how to solve these in the past, I always used the substitution method for solving the equations. As I sat there in class and listened to my professor, I noticed that we were not learning how to solve the equations using the substitution method, but instead the elimination method. As I tried to learn this new way of solving the equations, my mind kept going back to the substitution method and how I solve them that way. I now know that this is a prime example of proactive interference. Another example of interference occurred to me two weeks ago. I was studying for my second biology exam of the semester and was reading over my notes from class. I began to skip and glance over material that I thought I already knew from earlier in my education. Then when me and my friends where testing each other I began to forget old material because I was so focused on the current material. This is an example of retroactive interference. These two examples show how these two interference present themselves in everyday life.

Memory Retrieval: Forming Associations

The basic memory process consists of three steps: encoding, storage, and retrieval. And while all three steps are necessary for memory storage, retrieval is arguably the most relevant of the three as it demonstrates that a certain memory has been successfully stored into our long-term memory.

So what exactly does retrieval entail? It’s defined as the act of getting information out of memory storage and back into our working memory and conscious thought. There are three forms of retrieval: recall, recognition, and relearning.

Recall, which is what we typically think of when we discuss retrieval. It is the ability to access information without cues and is a skill we often use during exams while answering short answer questions.

Recognition occurs when you identify information that has been previously learned. We use recognition when trying to choose the correct answer, like during a multiple-choice test. We choose the correct answer after comparing it with other choices and picking the solution that is familiar to us and fits in the context of the question.

Relearning is likely the most cumbersome of the three forms of memory retrieval as it involves learning information that has been previously learned. There are several concepts that we have been taught over and over again over our many years of schooling. Relearning can help measure the time saved while learning a familiar concept again. For example, a person who took piano lessons as a child but didn’t play again until adulthood will likely be surprised at how quickly they are able to pick up the skill again because of the concept of relearning.

Whatever the form of recall, retrieval cues can help us remember through the web of associations that hold our memories together in storage. State-dependent and Mood-dependent memory explain how our things such as our physical setting and emotional state of mind can trigger the process of retrieval.

Though the concepts of retrieval and understanding the importance of retrieval cues are useful to apply while studying for exams, it can also have some interesting consequences. For example, in middle school, I loved reading books in the car while my dad drove me to school. While reading, he would often play music to entertain himself. In fourth grade, I remember that my dad went through a phase of playing old Pakistani songs from the 70s and 80s while I was reading the Percy Jackson series. Amazingly, almost ten years later whenever I hear those old songs I immediately begin to think about the books I was reading. My brain automatically goes through the process of retrieval because of the cues presented by the music! It is a strange association of memories that I will likely recall for the rest of my life.

Encoding

Encoding is the basic process of getting information into our memory. Further processing of information can lead to this information to get into the long-term memory. Encoding occurs through either automatic or effortful processing. Automatic processing is information you remember unconsciously. For instance, an individual could easily recall what they wore the day before. Effortful processing is remembering the information through the requirement of work to remember this information. There are 3 different types of encoding: semantic, visual, and acoustic. Visual encoding is through pictures, acoustic is through the sound of words, and semantic is the meaning of the word itself. Semantic tends to be the highest level of retention for remembering things. It is proven that semantic encoding proves as the best way to remember something. It gives one a deeper understanding than both visual and acoustic encoding combined.

Encoding, specifically effortful processing, is important for remembering basic information such as for a test. In high school, I typically did the same type of studying. I would rewrite notes, then proceed to memorize what I rewrote. This typically worked for me, and while I wouldn’t do perfectly on the tests, I would get a pretty decent grade. Once I got to college, this completely changed around. Memorizing my notes did not mean I would do well. When I took my first biology test, I was memorizing and rewriting information for about a week. When I went in to take the test, I felt prepared, however, once I logged onto the test I realized that memorizing information would not help me. I needed to apply this information I memorized to events and situations, so just remembering facts could not help me. Coming into my next biology test, I studied completely differently. While I had an urge to keep rewriting my notes, I resisted and instead tried to understand the information. Furthermore, I used outside resources such as the textbook to help aid my understanding in the topic. Seeing diagrams and graphs helped me understand the information more.

By developing a better study method, I am now able to remember information in a more efficient way. More importantly, it takes me less time to study without memorizing my notes. By really understanding the information rather than memorize it word for word, I am able to remember the information with more ease, as it goes to long term memory rather than short term where I would forget it after the test.

Interference

The way our brains remember and organize information is a pretty complex process and there are several factors in how we remember, and even how we forget. One example of forgetting is interference. Interference can be proactive, meaning information learned in the past interferes with information learned in the future, or retroactive, meaning information learned in the future interferes with information learned in the past. The image below helps explain the difference between these processes.

From: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Proactive-and-Retroactive-Interference-adapted-from-Passer-Smith-2011-273_fig13_297577879

In proactive interference, the student has previously learned Spanish and is currently attempting to learn French. Their past of learning Spanish is making it harder for them to recall the French words that they’re trying to memorize and understand. But, in retroactive interference, since the student is currently learning French, it makes it harder for them to recall information in the past, which is their knowledge of Spanish.

I have noticed an example of interference in my life when I was in middle school and high school. Throughout middle school and high school, I danced and each spring we would have a recital. After this lesson on interference, I realized that throughout this time period, I was experiencing proactive interference. While learning new dances, I remember I would sometimes mess up the choreography by using moves that I previously learned in a dance a or two year prior. This was an ongoing cycle throughout my dance career. This shows how the past information (the old dance moves) were affecting my ability to remember the present information (the new dance moves).

While I was researching these topics online, I came across a clever, and pretty funny, example of retroactive inference. One article stated that when you call your new boyfriend or girlfriend by your ex boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s name, you are experiencing a retroactive interference. This shows how information that is currently being learned (new boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s name) is interrupted by information from the past (the old boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s name).

Sources:

“Proactive and Retroactive Interference: Psychology.” tutor2u,

https://www.tutor2u.net/psychology/reference/proactive-and-retroactive-interference.

My baby brother is obsessed with my dad

The day my baby brother was born he was attached to my dad at the hip. No matter what my mom did, offered, proposed, anything he would never want to go to her. This is called attachment. Babies form an intense bond with their caregiver shortly after they are born. But since my dad has a full time job and works 40+ hours of overtime a week, he is barely home. My brother will scream and throw a fit whenever my dad leaves for work. It has gotten to the point where there is nothing that can be said or done to get him to stop crying. My brother displays secure attachment whenever my father is not present. Secure attachment is classified by children who show some distress when their caregiver leaves but are able to compose themselves knowing that their caregiver will return. Children with secure attachment feel protected by their caregivers, and they know that they can depend on them to return. Secure attachment is when a baby will play comfortably when caregiver is present but will become distressed when a caregiver leaves. Usually the baby will then seek contact when the caregiver returns.

Sometimes, my brother also shows insecure attachment. In basic terms, insecure attachment is a relationship style where the bond is contaminated by fear. This is expressed mainly as reluctance in the relationship and other mixed emotions, such as dependence and rejection. Most psychologists believe that insecure attachment is formed in early childhood. Insecure attached children are avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized. They are less likely to explore their surroundings, cry loudly when the caregiver leaves, and continue to be distressed or indifferent when they return. My brother can sometimes be indifferent when my father leaves and he will not stop crying until he returns. Usually he stops crying when he returns, but recently he has continued to cry.

The 4 Styles of Attachment

sources:

http://www.bbbgeorgia.org/attachSecure.php

https://www.verywellmind.com/attachment-styles-2795344

Depth Perception

Depth Perception is the ability to judge distances. Our eyes have certain ways of focusing that allow us to decide when things are closer or farther away from us. Within the overarching concept of depth perception there are two types of cues: monocular and binocular cues. Monocular cues require one eye, and can determine a variety of things, such as relative size, Interposition, aerial perspective, linear perspective, texture gradient, and motion parallax. Relative size is where the object that casts a smaller retinal image is further away. Interposition is where one object blocks another, and the one blocking the other is closer. Aerial perspective shows that the hazier the part of the image is, the further it is away. Linear perspective is where parallel lines converge with distance. Texture gradient is where the further away an object is, the less detailed it is. Lastly, motion parallax is where closer objects appear to go faster than further objects. All of these cues only employ the use of one eye, as opposed to binocular cues, which use both eyes. Binocular cues include retinal disparity and convergence. Retinal disparity is how we combine the two images from separate eyes and make a 3D picture. This is why it seems that we view a cohesive plane rather than two different perspectives. Convergence is how our eyes move together to view close objects, and further apart to view distant objects. The experience I am going to tell has to do with convergence.

As I said above, convergence is our ability to focus on something close or far away from us. This has been a bit of a struggle for me, as my right eye is slightly lazy. When I focus on an object, such as a pen, close to me and move it closer, eventually my right eye gives up and goes back to a neutral forward position. Because of this, I was given an exercise of sorts from my doctor in order to work on my focusing. I was given a string, with 3 large colored beads. Each were a different color: red, yellow, and green. The point was to hold the string up in front of my eyes, so the colored beads were going away from me. Each was a different distance apart, and I would switch from color to color to practice focusing on each. This exercise showed the ability of convergence, as my eyes had to move closer together to focus on the closest bead, and further away to focus on the further bead. Both of my eyes had to work together to focus on each bead, and it helped to strengthen the abilities of my right eye so I keep this ability.

Source Amnesia (Blog Post 2)

Source Amnesia

Source Amnesia is attaching an event to the wrong source. It may be something that we experienced, heard, read or imagined, but we are not actually recalling from the event. This is related to the misinformation effect, which incorporates misleading information into one’s memory of an event. Because of this, you may think you are recalling from an event, but you are actually recalling from previous recalls. You never really know where the memory is coming from.

I relate to this because of the amount of home videos my family has. We watch them often because they are all so funny. I always think that I am recalling from an event, but I never actually know if it is from the video or if it is from the vent. I feel as though I have these vivid memories from when I was 5, but am not sure if they are from the event or video. One specific one is a video of my brother and I putting on a “talent show” in our kitchen. At one point, my brother tries to take center-stage, which does not fly with my 5 year old self, and I throw a temper tantrum. I feel as though I can remember the exact feelings from this moment- even though they are completely ridiculous now. In reality, it is most likely that I am just recalling these feelings from the video and what I think I felt. Another example is seeing a video from my brother’s 3rd birthday party when I was 5. I see the entire set up of the backyard and it feels as though I remember it. In reality, I think that these memories are from seeing the video so many times.

This relates to Source Amnesia because I am most likely attributing the event to the wrong source. I believe they are from the event when they are most likely from videos. In reality, I do not know where the event is truly coming from.

Encoding specificity

Encoding specificity is the theory that if you have similar conditions when retrieving information at encoding then you are more likely to have a better memory. This goes for when you are studying to when you are trying to remember a specific memory. If you are studying in the library at a certain desk, it is more than likely that if you go to the same desk the next night you will have a better chance at remembering the information you learned than if you go to study in a completely different environment, like your dorm room.

When I was in high school, I had a hard time studying. I took into consideration all the tips and tricks that teachers give you, but one of the things that I remember helped me most was consistency. When I studied, I made sure that I studied in the same place every time. It helped me not only remember what I was studying, but my brain immediately realized that I was in study mode and it was easier to adjust.if I used a blue pen to write notes, I would usually use a blue pen while I was taking the test so I could jot down notes on the side and easily recognize what I was writing. When I would go to extra help sessions before the test, I would notice that the things I learned in that room right before were the things that were ingrained in my mind the most during the test.

Another example of encoding specificity is when I am trying to remember certain events that have happened. I have noticed that whenever I go to a place that feels familiar, certain aspects of it will come together and all of the sudden help me to retrieve certain memories that I only had bits and pieces of because the environment had similar conditions to when I first had the memory, so it was easier to retrieve.