SUMMARY CHAPTER 7

1 Memory and information processing Case studies of neurologically impaired patients and experimental studies of normal participants have demonstrated that memory is composed of several systems. For information to return to mind after it is no longer present, it has to be put into a mental code, or representation. The major forms of representations studied by psychologists are sensory representations and verbal representations. People also store memory for actions as motoric representations. The standard model of memory views the mind as a computer, which stores, transforms and retrieves information processing. It includes three sequential memory stores or stages of memory. The first is the sensory register, the splitsecond mental representation of a perceived stimulus that remains very briefly after that stimulus disappears. Iconic storage describes visual sensory registration; echoic storage describes auditory sensory registration. Short-term memory (STM) stores information for roughly 20 to 30 seconds, unless the information is maintained through rehearsal (repeating the information again and again). This form of rehearsal, which merely maintains information in STM, is called maintenance rehearsal. Elaborative rehearsal thinking about and elaborating on the information's meaning tends to be superior for storing information in long-term memory. Important information is passed along to long-term memory (LTM), where representations may last as long as a lifetime. Recovering information from LTM, or retrieval, brings it back into STM, or consciousness. In recent years, this model has been changing substantially. Instead of viewing memory exclusively in terms of serial processing (which assumes that information passes through a series of stages, one at a time and in order), researchers now view memory as involving a set of modules that operate simultaneously (in parallel) rather than sequentially (one at a time). Researchers now recognise that not all remembering is expressed by retrieving information into consciousness, or STM, and they rely less on the metaphor of mind as computer than mind as brain. 2 Working memory Psychologists now refer to STM as working memory, the temporary storage and processing of information that can be used to solve problems, respond to environmental demands or achieve goals. According to one prominent model, control processes such as rehearsal, reasoning and making decisions about how to balance two tasks simultaneously are the work of a limited capacity central executive system; whereas storage involves at least two limited-capacity systems, a visual store (also called the visuospatial sketchpad) and a verbal store. The existence of neurological patients who show deficits in either working memory or LTM but not both suggests that these memory systems are neurologically distinct, although in everyday life they work together, as frontal working memory networks provide a special form of activation to networks in the posterior parts of the cortex that represent current perceptions and information stored in LTM. One way to expand the capacity of working memory in particular domains is chunking; that is, grouping information into larger units than single words or digits. The roughly seven pieces of information stored in visual or auditory working memory can represent larger, more meaningful pieces of information.

3 Types of long-term memory Types of long-term memory can be distinguished by the kind of knowledge stored and the way this knowledge is retrieved and expressed. People store two kinds of information, declarative and procedural. Declarative memory refers to memory for facts and events and is subdivided into semantic or generic memory (general world knowledge or facts) and episodic memory (memories of particular events). Procedural memory refers to how to knowledge of procedures or skills. Information can be retrieved either explicitly or implicitly. Explicit memory refers to conscious recollection, expressed through recall (the spontaneous retrieval of material from LTM) or recognition (memory for whether something currently perceived has been previously encountered or learned). Implicit memory is expressed in behaviour rather than consciously retrieved. Neurological data suggest that different kinds of memory form discrete memory systems. The hippocampus and adjacent regions of the cortex are central to the consolidation of explicit memories but do not appear to play an important role in either implicit memory or working memory. Everyday memory memory as it occurs in daily life tends to be functional (focused on remembering information that is meaningful) and emotionally significant. Prospective memory is memory for things that need to be done in the future. 4 Encoding and organisation of long-term memory For information to be retrievable from memory, it must be encoded, or cast into a representational form, or code, that can be readily accessed from memory. Among the factors that influence later accessibility of memory are the degree to which information is elaborated, reflected upon and processed in a meaningful way during encoding (level of processing); the presence of retrieval cues (stimuli or thoughts that can be used to facilitate recollection); the spacing of study sessions (with longer intervals between rehearsal sessions tending to be more effective); and the use of multiple and redundant representational modes to encode the information, which provides more cues for its retrieval. Mnemonic devices, or systematic strategies for remembering information, can also be useful for remembering, as can external memory aids such as notes. Information stored in memory forms networks of association clusters of interconnected units of information called nodes. According to spreading activation theory, activating one node in a network triggers activation in closely related nodes. Some information is organised hierarchically, with broad categories composed of narrower subcategories, which in turn consist of even more specific categories. Schemas are organised knowledge about a particular domain. According to schema theory, memory is an active, reconstructive process that involves reactivation of both the initial representations of an event and general knowledge that helps fill in the gaps. Schemas facilitate memory by organising information at both encoding and retrieval. Many schemas are shaped by culture, from beliefs about foods that are appropriate to eat to beliefs about the meaning of life. Across cultures, people tend to remember what matters to them. 5 Remembering, misremembering and forgetting

 Ebbinghaus discovered a forgetting curve that applies to many kinds of declarative memory, in which considerable information is initially lost but forgetting then tapers off. Memory is a reconstructive process that mingles representations of actual experiences with general knowledge. Although memory is functional and tends to work well most of the time, misremembering is common, even in flashbulb memories (vivid memories of exciting or highly consequential events) and eyewitness testimony, which can be biased by even seemingly minor changes in the way questions are asked. Three theories attempt to account for forgetting: decay theory (which explains forgetting as a result of a fading memory trace); interference of new and old information with retrieval of the other; and motivated forgetting (forgetting for a reason, which leads to inhibition of retrieval). Specific kinds of distortion can also occur within the memories of people whose brains have been affected by illness or injury. Anterograde amnesia involves the inability to retain new memories. By contrast, retrograde amnesia involves losing memories from a period before the time that a person's brain was damaged.

SUMMARY CHAPTER 8
1 Units of thought Thinking means representing mental representations for a purpose. Much of the time people think using words, mental images (visual representations) and mental models (representations that describe, explain or predict the way things work). A concept is a mental representation of a category; that is, an internal portrait of a class of objects, ideas or events that share common properties. The process of identifying an object as an instance of a category recognising its similarity to some objects and dissimilarity to others is called categorisation. Concepts that have properties that clearly set them apart from other concepts are relatively well defined; many concepts, however, are not easily defined by a precise set of features. People typically classify objects rapidly by judging their similarity to concepts stored in memory. They often do this by comparing the observed object they are trying to classify with a prototype, an abstraction across many instances of a category, or a good example, called an exemplar. When people rapidly categorise, they probably rely heavily on prototype matching. Complex, deliberate classification tasks often require more explicit evaluation of the data, such as consulting lists of defining features. In categorising objects, people naturally tend to use the basic level, the broadest, most inclusive level at which objects share common attributes that are distinctive of the concept. The way people categorise is partially dependent on culture, expertise and their goals. 2 Reasoning, problem solving, and decision making

 Reasoning refers to the process by which people generate and evaluate arguments and beliefs. Inductive reasoning means reasoning from specific observations to more general propositions that seem likely to be true. Deductive reasoning is logical reasoning that draws conclusions from premises and leads to certainty if the premises are correct. Analogical reasoning is the process by which people understand a novel situation in terms of a familiar one. Problem solving is the process of transforming one situation into another to meet a goal, by identifying discrepancies between the initial state and the goal state and using various operators to try to eliminate the discrepancies. Problemsolving strategies are techniques that serve as guides for solving a problem. One of the most important problem-solving strategies is mental simulation imagining the steps involved in solving a problem mentally before actually undertaking them. Decision making is the process by which people weigh the pros and cons of different alternatives in order to make a choice. According to one informationprocessing model, a rational decision involves a combined assessment of the value and probability of different options, which provides an estimate of its expected utility. 3 Implicit and everyday thinking Psychologists have recently begun to question whether the kind of rationality seen in explicit cognition (cognition that involves conscious manipulation of representations) models is always optimal. In everyday life, people make use of cognitive shortcuts, or heuristics, that allow them to make rapid judgements. Because people rarely have complete information and limitless time, they often practise bounded rationality, or rationality within limits imposed by the environment, their goals and so forth. Much of human behaviour reflects implicit cognition, or cognition outside of awareness, including implicit learning and implicit problem solving. Researchers are increasingly recognising the role of motivation and emotion in everyday judgements, inferences and decisions. Connectionist, or parallel distributed processing (PDP), models propose that many cognitive processes occur simultaneously (in parallel) and are spread (distributed) throughout a network of interacting neural processing units. Connectionist models differ from traditional information-processing models by limiting the importance of serial processing and shifting from the metaphor of mind as computer to mind as brain. These models suggest that perception, memory and thought occur through processes of constraint satisfaction, in which the brain settles on a solution that satisfies as many constraints as possible in order to achieve the best fit to the data. The frontal lobes play a particularly important role in thinking. Two regions of the frontal lobes involved in thinking are the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is involved in associating complex ideas, allocating attention, making plans, and forming and executing intentions; and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is involved in emotional control over decision making, inhibiting actions that lead to negative consequences and many aspects of social functioning. 4 Language Language is the system of symbols, sounds, meanings and rules for their combination that constitutes the primary mode of communication among humans. Thought and language shape one another, but thought and language are to some extent separable.

 The smallest units of sound that constitute speech are phonemes. Phonemes are combined into morphemes, the smallest units of meaning. Morphemes are combined into phrases, groups of words that act as a unit and convey a meaning. Words and phrases are combined into sentences, organised sequences of words that express a thought or intention. The rules of syntax govern the placement of words and phrases within a language. Psychologists interested in the pragmatics of language are interested in the way language is used and understood in everyday life. Discourse the way people ordinarily speak, hear, read and write in interconnected sentences occurs at multiple levels, such as the exact wording of sentences and the gist of the sentence. Nonverbal communication relies on tone of voice, body language, gestures, physical distance, facial expressions and so forth. Some researchers have taught chimpanzees to use language skills such as sign language. The question of whether or not non-human primates have the capacity to acquire the rules of human language remains the subject of much debate. 5 Language development Language development reflects an interaction of nature and nurture, although Chomsky appears to be right that the brain is constructed to make language learning easy. According to grammar. Chomsky explains the speed with which children develop language by arguing that the human brain includes a language acquisition device (LAD), an innate set of neural structures for acquiring language. For years researchers have debated the existence of a critical period for language learning. The first three years of life seem to be the optimal time to attain native fluency. After age 12, even near-native fluency is difficult to achieve. Cross-culturally, children go through similar stages of language development. They begin by babbling in the first year and produce one-word utterances toward the beginning of the Chomsky, all language derives from an innate universal second year. Young children's speech is telegraphic speech, omitting all but the essential words. By age four, children's sentences largely conform to the grammar of their language. The stages of language development are virtually universal; however, the precise timing and course of individual language development depend on both nature and nurture.

SUMMARY CHAPTER 15
1 Define psychopathology Psychopathology refers to patterns of thought, feeling or behaviour that disrupt a person's sense of wellbeing or social or occupational functioning. 2 The cultural context of psychopathology The concept of mental illness varies historically and cross-culturally. Cultures differ in the ways they describe and pattern psychopathology, but mentally ill is not simply an arbitrary label applied to deviants.

3 Mental health, mental health problems and mental disorders Mental health is the capacity of individuals to behave in ways that promote their emotional and social wellbeing. Mental health problems include the wide range of emotional and behavioural abnormalities that affect people throughout their lives. A mental disorder implies the existence of a clinically recognisable set of symptoms and behaviours that cause distress to the individual and impair their ability to function as usual. 4 Contemporary approaches to psychopathology Psychodynamic theorists make a general distinction among neuroses, personality disorders and psychoses, which form a continuum of disturbance. A psychodynamic formulation involves assessing the person's wishes and fears, cognitive and emotional resources, and experience of the self and others. The cognitivebehavioural perspective integrates principles of classical and operant conditioning with a cognitive perspective. Psychopathology results from environmental contingencies and dysfunctional cognitions. Understanding psychopathology often requires shifting to a biological level of analysis. The biological approach proposes that psychopathology stems from faulty wiring in the brain, particularly in the abundance, overreactivity or underreactivity of specific neurotransmitters. Diathesisstress models of psychopathology propose that people with an underlying vulnerability may become symptomatic under stressful circumstances. A systems approach attempts to explain an individual's behaviour in the context of a social group, such as a couple, family or larger social system. A family systems model suggests that the symptoms of any individual are really symptoms of dysfunction in a family. From an evolutionary perspective, psychopathology can reflect random variation, broader population pressures that can produce stable rates of psychopathology if they confer an offsetting advantage, and normally adaptive mechanisms gone awry. 5 Descriptive diagnosis: DSM-IV The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV, or DSM-IV, is the official manual of mental illnesses published by the American Psychiatric Association. It is the basis for descriptive diagnosis. Mental disorders are classified using the multiaxial system of the DSM-IV. The DSM-IV places symptoms in their biological and social context by evaluating patients along five axes: clinical syndromes, personality disorders (and mental retardation), medical conditions, environmental stressors and global level of functioning. One disorder usually first diagnosed in childhood or adolescence is attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder, characterised by inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity. Another is conduct disorder, a disturbance in which a child persistently violates the rights of others as well as societal norms. Substance-related disorders refer to continued use of substances that negatively affect psychological and social functioning. Worldwide, alcoholism is the most common substance use disorder. As with most psychological disorders, the roots of alcoholism lie in genetics, environment and their interaction.

 Schizophrenia is a disorder or set of disorders in which people lose touch with reality, experiencing both positive symptoms (such as hallucinations, delusions and loosening of associations) and negative symptoms (such as flat affect and poor social skills). Schizophrenia is a highly heritable disease of the brain, although environmental circumstances such as a critical family environment can trigger or worsen it. The DSM-IV subtypes of schizophrenia include: paranoid, disorganised, catatonic, undifferentiated , and residual schizophrenia. Mood disorders are characterised by disturbances in emotion and mood. In manic states, people feel excessively happy and believe they can do anything. The most severe form of depression is major depressive disorder. Dysthymic disorder refers to a long-standing, less acute depression of more than two years duration. Bipolar disorder is a mood disturbance marked by mania, often alternating with major depressive episodes. Genetics contribute to the etiology of many mood disorders and play a particularly powerful role in bipolar disorders. Environmental and cognitive processes also contribute to the development of depression. Anxiety disorders are characterised by intense, frequent or continuous anxiety. Panic disorders are distinguished by attacks of intense fear and feelings of doom or terror not justified by the situation. Agoraphobia refers to a fear of being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult. Obsessivecompulsive disorder is marked by recurrent obsessions (persistent thoughts or ideas) and compulsions (intentional behaviours performed in response to an obsession and in a stereotyped fashion). Post-traumatic stress disorder is marked by flashbacks and recurrent thoughts of a psychologically distressing event outside the range of usual human experience. Anxiety disorders, like depression, show substantial heritability but do not require a genetic predisposition. Cognitivebehavioural theories link them to conditioned emotional responses and dysfunctional cognitions. The most prevalent eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is characterised by a distorted body image and efforts to lose weight that lead to dangerously low body weight. Bulimia is characterised by a binge-purge syndrome. Somatoform disorders occur when people complain of pain, suffering or illness but no physical problems can be identified to explain their ailments. The two most common forms of this condition are conversion disorder (a loss or significant change in a physical function without any physical problem to explain the condition) and hypochondriasis (people believe they are suffering from an illness or ailment, even when there is no medical evidence to support the belief). Dissociative disorders are characterised by disruptions in consciousness, memory, sense of identity or perception of the environment. The primary feature is dissociation, whereby significant aspects of experience are kept separate and distinct in consciousness. The most severe type is dissociative identity disorder, popularly known as multiple personality disorder. Personality disorders are characterised by maladaptive personality patterns that lead to chronic disturbances in interpersonal and occupational functioning. Borderline personality disorder is marked by extremely unstable interpersonal relationships, dramatic mood swings, an unstable sense of identity, intense fears of separation and abandonment, manipulativeness, impulsive behaviour and selfmutilating behaviour. Antisocial personality disorder is marked by a pattern of irresponsible and socially disruptive behaviour in a variety of areas. Genetics plays a role in some personality disorders, as do childhood experiences such as abuse and neglect.

SUMMARY CHAPTER 16
1 Mental health services Clinical psychologists often practise in a hospital or in other mental health facility settings. The inpatients of a psychiatric hospital tend to be those experiencing severe mental disorders, predominantly schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, rather than those with personality disorders. In psychiatric wards, people with a wide range of mental health issues can receive short-term treatment. The scientistpractitioner model adopted by Australian universities has become responsible for not only teaching the science of psychology, but also for training applied psychologists. Multidisciplinary teams are commonly used in community health facilities and draw together professionals from a range of specialities to carry out the required tasks. The most significant recent development in mental health services in Australia has been the shift away from institutionalised care towards community-based care. 2 Psychodynamic therapies Psychodynamic therapy is predicated on the notion that insight understanding one's own psychological processes is important for therapeutic change, as are aspects of therapeutic alliance. Free association is a technique designed to explore associational networks and unconscious processes. Another central element of psychodynamic therapy is the interpretation of conflicts, defences, compromise formations and transference reactions. Transference in psychotherapy refers to the experience of thoughts, feelings, fears, wishes and conflicts from past relationships, particularly childhood, in the patient's relationship with the therapist. The main contemporary forms of psychodynamic treatment are psychoanalysis (which is very intensive and long term) and psychodynamic psychotherapy (which relies on the same principles but is more conversational). 3 Cognitivebehavioural therapies Cognitivebehavioural therapies are relatively short term and directive, and focus on specific symptoms. They rely on operant and classical conditioning as well as cognitivesocial and more strictly cognitive interventions.

 In systematic desensitisation, the patient gradually approaches feared stimuli mentally while in a relaxed state. Exposure techniques, like desensitisation, rely on classical conditioning, but they present the patient with the actual phobic stimulus in real life rather than having the patient merely imagine it. Therapies based on operant conditioning apply rewards and punishments to modify unwanted behaviour. In participatory modelling, the therapist not only models the desired behaviour but also gradually encourages the patient to participate in it. Skills training teaches the procedures necessary to accomplish relevant goals; social skills training helps people with specific deficits in interpersonal functioning. Cognitive therapy attempts to replace dysfunctional cognitions with more useful and accurate ones. Ellis, who developed rationalemotive behaviour therapy, proposed an ABC theory of psychopathology; A refers to activating conditions, B to belief systems and C to emotional consequences. Beck's cognitive therapy similarly proposes that correcting cognitive distortions is crucial to therapeutic change. 4 Humanistic, group and family therapies Humanistic therapies focus on the phenomenal (experiential) world of the patient. Gestalt therapy emphasises an awareness of feelings. Rogers' clientcentred therapy aims at helping individuals experience themselves as they really are, through therapeutic empathy and unconditional positive regard. Group, family and marital therapies treat multiple individuals simultaneously. Group therapy focuses on both individual dynamics and group process. A variation on group therapy is the self-help group, which is not guided by a professional. Family therapy presumes that the roots of symptoms lie in the structure of the family system, so that therapy should target family interaction patterns. A variant of family therapy, marital or couples therapy, treats the couple as a unit and may employ systems, psychodynamic, behavioural or cognitivebehavioural techniques. 5 Biological treatments The aim of biological treatments is to alter the functioning of the brain. Pharmacotherapy, the use of medications to treat psychological disorders, is the major type of biological treatment. Psychotropic medications affect mental processes by acting at neurotransmitter sites or at the intracellular level. Antipsychotic medications are useful in treating psychotic symptoms, particularly the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Tricyclic antidepressants, MAO inhibitors and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can be useful in treating depression, while lithium is the treatment of choice for bipolar disorder. Both benzodiazepines (antianxiety medications) and certain kinds of antidepressants can be useful in treating anxiety. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), or shock therapy, is currently used as a last resort in the treatment of severe depression. Although psychosurgery was once widely practised and abused, today researchers are experimenting with limited forms of psychosurgery as a last resort for obsessivecompulsive disorder. 6 Evaluating psychological treatments

 Pharmacotherapy is well established as an effective treatment for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and many other forms of psychopathology. The two major problems with pharmacotherapy are relapse rates and side effects. Researchers have found that all psychotherapies are relatively effective, although some treatments are better for some disorders than others. Cognitivebehavioural treatments have received the most empirical attention and support in efficacy studies (carefully controlled experimental studies with relatively homogeneous samples and highly standardised therapeutic procedures). The long-term effectiveness (usefulness in clinical settings with a more heterogeneous population) of short-term treatments is more controversial than that for long-term treatments. Psychotherapy integration is the use of theory or technique from multiple therapeutic perspectives. In eclectic psychotherapy, clinicians combine techniques from different approaches, often to fit the particular case. Integrative psychotherapy involves developing an approach to treating patients based on theories that cut across theoretical lines.