memory and cognition

Recall

Retrieving information learned earlier

Recognition

Identifying previously learned information

Relearning

Learning something more quickly when you learn it a second or later time

Encoding

Processing information into the memory system

Storage

Retaining encoded information over time

Retrieval

Getting information out of memory storage

Sensory memory

Immediate, initial recording of sensory information

Short-term memory

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly

Long-term memory

Relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

Working memory

Active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information

Explicit memory

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Automatic processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information

Implicit memory

Retention independent of conscious recollection

Echoic memory

Auditory sensory memory

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units

Mnemonics

Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

Spacing effect

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention

Testing effect

Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information

Shallow processing

Encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

Deep processing

Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words

Semantic memory

Memory of general knowledge and facts

Episodic memory

Memory of specific events and experiences

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage

Flashbulb memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Long-term potentiation

An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Encoding specificity principle

The idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

Mood-congruent memory

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

Serial position effect

Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

Anterograde amnesia

An inability to form new memories

Retrograde amnesia

An inability to retrieve information from one's past

Proactive interference

The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

Retroactive interference

The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

Repression

The basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness

Reconsolidation

A process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

Misinformation effect

Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

Source amnesia

Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined

Déjà vu

The eerie sense that 'I've experienced this before.' Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Concept

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Prototype

A mental image or best example that incorporates all the features we associate with a category

Convergent thinking

Narrowing down multiple possibilities to a single correct answer

Divergent thinking

Expanding the number of possible solutions to a problem

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem

Heuristic

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently

Insight

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem

Confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Mental set

A tendency to approach a problem with the mindset of what has worked previously

Intuition

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

Representativeness heuristic

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes

Availability heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct

Belief perseverance

Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

Framing

The way an issue is posed

Phoneme

In language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morpheme

In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning

Grammar

In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

Babbling stage

Beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds

Telegraphic speech

Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—'go car'—using mostly nouns and verbs

Aphasia

Impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage

Broca's Area

Controls language expression

Wernicke's Area

Controls language reception

Linguistic determinism

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think

Linguistic influence

Language affects thought, but does not determine it