Psych Exam II

cognitive control

the ability to orchestrate thought and action in accordance with internal goals; executive control

proactive control

the process of applying cognitive control in anticipation of a challenge (“I know there will be candy at the checkout counter, so I have to be strong”)

reactive control

the process of applying cognitive control only after a challenge is known (“Ack! Candy! Must. Resist”)

mental resource

the limitations in how much information the mind can process at any given time

internal attention

the limitations in how much information can be prioritized within the mind

cognitive load

the cognitive burden caused by holding information in working memory; related to the difficulty of a task

cognitive overlap

the degree to which the demands of simultaneous tasks compete for the same mental resources

cognitive interference

a condition that occurs when task load is high or when two tasks overlap significantly, and performance suffers as a result

automatic process

process that requires minimal cognitive effort

controlled process

performing a task that requires more cognitive involvement

perseveration errors

a persistent response that fails to adapt to changing rules or circumstances (typical of individuals with prefrontal damage)

inhibition

the ability to suppress information, thoughts, or actions that may interfere with ongoing behavior- to tap a brake on mental operations; reduces distraction and helps people choose how to act

stop-signal task

experiment in which participants need to abort a response when a stop signal appears; classic measure of inhibition

vigilance

ability to remained focus on a task

Stroop interference

people are slower to name the ink color of a color word when the two conflict

perceptual interference

a condition in which perception is affected by distractors that make a target harder to see

response interference

a slowing in response, caused by distractors that elicit a conflicting response

conflict monitoring

a core component of cognitive control, involving the detection of interference

conflict resolution

the ability to reduce interference, through either inhibition or other behavioral adjustments

anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

a brain area implicated in the detection of errors and cognitive interference

dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

one of several brain areas important for cognitive control

error detection

the detection of cognitive interference or response errors, an important component of cognitive control

prediction error

the failure to receive the reward or outcome that a person predicted

error-related negativity (ERN)

a electrical brain signal (even related potential) that occurs when a person makes an error

mental chronomentry

the study of perceptual and cognitive processing speed or timing, based on measurements of response time to different stimuli and tasks

psychological refractory period

a cognitive delay that reveals a fundamental limitation in information processing; the response to a second stimulus is significantly slowed because a first stimulus is still being processed

central bottleneck model

assumes that only one response can be selected at a time, so that a subsequent response is queued

resource sharing

a model suggesting that attention can be split across two or more stimuli at the same time (allowing for multi-tasking)

task-switch cost

the speed and accuracy penalty that comes with having to switch tasks

preparation effect

the effect seen when increasing the time between trials gives people more time to prepare and thus reduces the task-switch cost

residual switch cost

the speed and accuracy penalty that comes with long delays between tasks

working memory

a brain system for temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language, learning, and reasoning

storage

the capacity that helps sustain access to information after it is no longer available in perception (no longer visible, audible, or touchable)

central executive

the primary system for controlling attention and thinking, responsible for manipulating information held in working memory

phonological loop

component of WM that stores and rehearses speech-based information

visuospatial sketchpad

component of WM that stores and manipulates visual information

episodic buffer

component of WM that integrates information from multiple internal sources into an episodic representation

phonological store

the part of the phonological loop that holds sound or speech-based information

seven plus or minus two chunks

a unit of information in working memory, flexibly defined in terms of what is meaningful to the person

articulatory suppression

the disruption of rehearsal in working memory, induced by uttering irrelevant sounds

visual short-term memory

the temporary storage of visual information, especially when the perceptual image is no longer available or has changed

long-term memory

memory responsible for storing information for a relatively long time

emotion regulation

the ability to manage, modulate, and alter one’s emotions

rumination

incessant focus on one’s negative thoughts

Yerkes-Dodson curve

a model that describes how performance, especially on difficult tasks, suffers as a result of increased arousal, anxiety, or stress

ego depletion

an effect in which exhausting one’s self-regulatory energy leads to subsequently impaired self-regulation and cognitive control

attention restoration theory

the theory that being out in nature can restore cognitive fatigue

short-term memory

memory responsible for storing information only momentariy

method of loci

technique in which a person imagines walking through a familiar space, such as their house, and placing different pieces of information at each location

encode

to mentally process information in a way that enables you to later have conscious access to it

sensory memory

following presentation of a stimulus, the phenomenon whereby a detailed representation of the stimulus appears to persist in one’s mind for a fraction of a second

iconic memory

very short-term visual memory; highly detailed but largely fades within a fraction of a second

metamemory

understanding how the memory works

chunking

the memory-encoding strategy of organizing smaller bits of information into larger, meaningful combinations

elaboration

a memory-encoding strategy of making links between new material and existing knowledge held in long-term memory

depth of encoding

the degree to which a person encodes information

self-reference effect

a memory-encoding strategy whereby a person thinks of ways material might be relevant to them or their interests

hierarchical organization

arrangement into a meaningful network of associations in which items are linked to increasingly global categories; can be used strategically to aid memory

spacing effect

the phenomenon whereby people remember new material or tasks better when they take short breaks or space study sessions apart

testing effect

the phenomenon whereby practice retrieving information improves memory of that material

generation effect

the enhancement of memory for a list of items a person has generated versus one that the person was asked to memorize

state-dependent memory

the enhancement of memory when a person’s internal state at retrieval matches their internal state at encoding

autobiographical memory

memory of events from one’s own life

infantile amnesia

the inability to remember the earliest years of our lives

hyperthymestic syndrome

a condition in which an individual has a highly superior autobiographical memory

flashbulb memories

vivid memories associated with particularly emotional events

retrograde memory enhancement

the phenomenon whereby learning material just before emotions are triggered can make it easier to remember

Deese/Roediger-McDermott effect

the tendency to falsely remember an item that did not appear on a list of related items

savings measure

a measure of how much less one would need to study material in a second study session, compared to the first, in order to remember information

weapon focus

the failure to process other aspects in the environment when attention is focused on a threatening weapon or similarly stress-inducing stimulus

blocking

difficulty retrieving memories that are intact and encoded due to other memories getting in the way

retroactive interference

the phenomenon of forgetting something when new information is learned

proactive interference

the phenomenon whereby previously learned material can interfere with subsequent learning

fan effect

the phenomenon of having greater difficulty retrieving memories that have a greater number of associations or overlapping elements with other memories

retrieval-induced forgetting

the phenomenon whereby retrieval of target memories causes unselected memories to be lost

source monitoring

the ability to keep track of where a memory came from

reality monitoring

distinguishing real from imagined events

memory suggestibility

the altering of memory through leading questions and cues

schemas

knowledge or expectations about an event

cognitive interview

a psychologist-developed system for interviewing eyewitnesses, in which the interview is conducted at a slow rate and asks mostly open-ended questions that encourage a witness to recall events freely

medial temporal lobe

a region in the cortex that includes the hippocampus and plays a central role in memory processing

hippocampus

a structure in the medial temporal lobe of each brain hemisphere, important to emotion, memory, and the autonomic nervous system

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new conscious memories

retrograde amnesia

the inability to remember information from before brain damage occurred

memory systems

brain networks that encode different types of memories

explicit memory

the ability to consciously remember facts, events, and associations; also known as declarative or conscious memory

episodic memory

memory that enables recall of past events in specific places at specific times; what, where, and when something happened

semantic memory

memory for facts and common knowledge that can be stated or recounted and that accumulate over time across repeated occasions

implicit memory

memory for learned skills, associations, and habits, which can manifest without conscious recollection; also known as non-declarative or non-conscious memory

priming

an effect in which a perception, response, or thought is enhanced by prior exposure to an identical or related stimulus, action, or idea

statistical learning

a type of learning that encodes patterns or regularities in the sights and sounds one experiences

contextual cueing

learning where to attend and what to expect based on statistical regularities in past experience

primacy effect

the phenomenon of having improved memory for items at the beginning of a list

recency effect

the phenomenon of having improved memory for items at the end of a list

neocortex

the layers of the cortex that support higher-order brain functions such as the initial perception and processing of experiences

distributed code

a cortical record of information processing across multiple brain regions, which can be reactivated when remembering the initial experience

complementary memory system

a system in which the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe support rapid learning, and the neocortex suggests gradual learning

subsequent memory paradigm

a way to study what supports successful memory encoding by separately analyzing items that are subsequently remembered from items that are subsequently forgotten-why people successfully encode some things and not others

consolidation

the solidification of connections that enable memory storage

Hebb’s Rule

a rule describing a mechanism for strengthening neural connections, often paraphrased as “cells that fire together wire together”