PSYCH 207 Final

ablation

Removal of cells or tissues, often through surgical means

affordance

A perceptual property of objects, places, and events that makes clear what actions or behaviours on the part of the perceiver are permitted in interaction with the object, place, or event

amnesia

Profound impairments in the long-term memory

amygdala

An area of brain tissue with extensive connections to the olfactory system and hypothalamus, thought to be involved in mood, feeling, instinct, and short-term memory

anchoring

A decision-making heuristic in which final estimates are heavily influenced by initial value estimates

anterograde amnesia

Lack of memory for events that occur after a brain injury

aphasia

A disorder of language, thought to have neurological causes, in which either language production, language reception, or both are disrupted

artifact

concept pertaining to manufactured or human-designed objects

artificial intelligence

A branch of computer science concerned with creating computers that mimic human performance on cognitive tasks

Association

A connection or link between two units or elements

Attention

Cognitive resources, mental effort, or concentration devoted to a cognitive process

attention hypothesis of automatization

The proposal that attention is needed during a learning phase of a new task

attenuation theory

A model of attention in which unattended perceptual events are transmitted in weakened form but not blocked completely before being processed for meaning

autobiographical memory

Memory for events and other information from ones own life

automatic processing

The carrying out of a cognitive task with minimal resources

availability heuristic

A strategy in which one estimates the frequency or probability of an event by the ease with which mental operations, such as retrieval of examples or construction of examples, can be carried out

basic level of categories

A hypothesized type of concept thought to be at a psychologically fundamental level of abstraction

behaviourism

A school of psychology that seeks to define psychological research in terms of observable measures, emphasizing the scientific study of behavior

believability effect

The tendency to draw or accept conclusions from premises when the content of the conclusion makes intuitive sense, regardless of the logical necessity

between-subjects design

A research paradigm in which different experimental subjects participate in different experimental conditions

bias

A tendency to think in a certain way or to follow certain procedures regardless of the facts of the matter

bilingual

Describes people who are regularly faced with the task of attending to one set of labels for objects or methods of expression while simultaneously ignoring labels from their other know language depending on the language in which they are trying to communicate

bottom-up process

Cognitive (usually perceptual) process guided by environmental input. Also called "data-driven" process

brain imaging

The construction of pictures of the anatomy and functioning of intact brains through such techniques as computerized axial tomography (CAT, or CT) positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Broca's aphasia

Also called expressive or motor aphasia; symptoms of this organic disorder include difficulty in speaking, using grammar, and finding appropriate words

calibration curve

A plot of accuracy against confidence judgments. The more the curve approaches a 45-degree line, the better the "calibration" or "fit" between the two

capacity

The sum total of cognitive resources available at any given time

categorization

The organization of information into coherent, meaningful groups

category

A grouping of items sharing one or more similarities

central executive

The proposed component of working memory responsible for directing the flow of information and selecting what information to work with

cerebellum

Part of the brain that controls balance and muscular coordination

cerebral cortex

The surface of the cerebrum, the largest structure of the brain, containing both sensory and motor nerve cell bodies

change blindness

The inability to detect changes to an object or scene, especially when given different views of that object or scene

chunking

The formation of individual units of information into larger units; often used as a means of overcoming short-term-memory limitations

classical view of concepts

The idea that all examples or instances of a concept share fundamental characteristics or features

clinical interview

A research paradigm in which an investigator begins by asking participants a series of open-ended questions but follows up on the responses with specific questions that have been prepared in advance

coding

The form in which information is mentally or internally represented

cognitive economy

A principle of hierarchical semantic networks such that properties and facts about a node are stored at the highest level possible. For example, the fact "is alive" would be stored with the node for "animal" rather than stored with each node under animal, such as "dog", "cat", and the like

cognitive illusions

The systematic biases and errors in human decision making

cognitive neuropsychology

A school of psychology that investigates the cognitive abilities and deficits of people with damaged or otherwise unusual brain structures

cognitive neuroscience of aging

A new domain of research on the relationship between the aging brain and behavioural measures of cognitive performance

cognitive overload

Breakdown of cognitive processing that occurs when the available information exceeds processing capacity

cognitive revolution

A movement in psychology that culminated after World War II, characterized by a belief in the empirical accessibility of mental states and events.

cognitive science

An interdisciplinary field drawing on research from cognitive psychology, computer science, philosophy, linguistics, neuroscience, and anthropology. The central issues addressed involve the nature of mind and cognition and how information is acquired, stored, and represented.

computer metaphor

The basis for the information-processing view of the brain. Different types of psychological processes are thought to be anologous to the working of a computer processor.

computerized axial tomography (CAT, or CT) scan

An imaging technique in which a highly focused beam of X-rays is passed through the body from many different angles. Differing density of the organs of the body result in different deflections of the X-rays, which allows visualization of the organ.

concept

A mental representation of a category

confirmation bias

A tendency to seek only information consistent with ones hypothesis

connectionism

An approach to cognition emphasizing parallel processing of information through immense networks of interconnected nodes. Models developed in the connectionist tradition are sometimes declared to share certain similarities with the way collections of neurons operate in the brain; hence, some connectionist models are referred to as neural networks.

constructivist approach to perception

An understanding of perception as a process requiring the active construction of subjective mental representations not only from perceptual information, but from long-term memory as well.

content effect

Performance variability on reasoning tasks that require identical kinds of formal reasoning but are dissimilar in superficial content

context effect

The effect on a cognitive process (for example, perception) of the information surrounding the target object or event. Sometimes called "expectation" effect because the context is thought to set up certain expectations in the mind of the cognitive processor.

contradiction

A statement that is false by definition of its form (for example "A and not-A are both true")

controlled observation

A research paradigm in which an observer standardizes the conditions of observation for all participants, often introducing specific manipulations and recording responses

controlled processing

The carrying out of a cognitive task with a deliberate allocation of cognitive resources. Typically, controlled processing occurs on difficult and/or unfamiliar tasks requiring attention and is under conscious control

corpus callosum

The large neural structure containing fibres that connect the right and left cerebral hemispheres

creativity

Cognitive processes that employ appropriate novelty; originality that suits some purpose.

decay

a hypothesized process of forgetting in which material is thought to erode, break apart, or otherwise disintegrate or fade

decision analysis

a technology that helps people gather and integrate information in an optimal way

decision making

the process(es) by which an individual selects one course of action from among alternatives

decision structuring

the process(es) by which an individual establishes the criteria and options for consideration

deductive reasoning

drawing conclusions from only the given premises

deductive validity

a property of some logical arguments such that it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion(s) to be false

demand characteristic

a property of certain tasks such that an experimental subjects behaviour or responses are "cued" by the task itself

descriptive models of thinking

Models that depict the processes people actually use in making decisions or solving problems

dichotic listening task

A task in which a person hears two or more different, specially recorded messages over earphones and is asked to attend to one of them

direct perception

A theory of perception, proposed by James J. Gibson, holding that information in the world is "picked up on" by the cognitive processor without much construction of internal representations or inferences. The emphasis is on direct acquisition of information.

distal stimulus

An object, event, or pattern as it exists in the world. Contrast with proximal stimulus.

divided attention

The ways in which a cognitive processor allocates cognitive resources to two or more tasks that are carried out simultaneously

dual-coding hypothesis

Paivios assertion that long-term memory can code information in two distinct ways, verbally and visually, and that items coded both ways are more easily recalled than items coded in only one way

dual-task performance

An experimental paradigm involving presentation of two tasks for a person to work on simultaneously

echo

A sensory memory for auditory stimuli

ecological approach

An approach to the study of cognition emphasizing the natural contexts or settings in which cognitive activities occur, and the influences such settings have in the ways in which cognitive activities are acquired, practised, and executed.

ecological validity

A property of research such that the focus of study is something that occurs naturally outside an experimental laboratory.

effect size (d)

A measure used in meta-analysis, defined as the difference in mean scores between two groups, divided by the average standard deviation for the two groups.

elaboration

A technique to enhance recall

electroencephalography (EEG)

A technique to measure brain activity, specifically, to detect different states of consciousness. Metal electrodes are positioned all over the scalp. The waveforms that are recorded change in predictable ways when the person being recorded is awake and alert, drowsy, asleep, or in a coma.

empiricism

A philosophical doctrine emphasizing the role of experience in the acquisition of knowledge.

encoding

The cognitive process(es) by which information is translated into a mental or internal representation and stored.

encoding specificity

A principle of retrieval asserted by Tulving. At the time material is first put into long-term memory, it is encoded in a particular way, depending on the context present at the time; at the time of recall, the person is at a great advantage if the same information available at encoding is once again available.

environmental support

External aids, hints, category headings to help seniors structure their search through memory for the correct response.

episodic memory

A memory system proposed by Tulving that is thought to hold memories of specific events with which the cognitive processor had direct experience.

event-related potential (ERP)

An electrical recording technique to measure the response of the brain to various stimulus events

executive functioning

Cognitive processes including planning, making decisions, implementing strategies, inhibiting inappropriate behaviours, and using working memory to process information

exemplar view of concepts

The idea that a concept consists of mental representations of actual instances or examples

exhaustive search

A search for information in which each item in a set is examined, even after the target is found.

expected utility theory

A normative model of decision making in which the decision maker weights the personal importance and the probabilities of different outcomes in choosing among alternatives in order to maximize overall satisfaction of personal goals.

experimenter expectancy effect

The influence on the performance of experimental participants generated by an experiments beliefs or hypotheses, which somehow get subtly transmitted to the participants

explicit memory

Consciously recalled or recollected memory

eyewitness memory

A narrative memory of a personally witnessed event

faculty psychology

The theory that different mental abilities, such as reading or computation, are independent and autonomous functions, carried out in different parts of the brain

fallacy

An erroneous argument

false memory

"Recollections" of "events" that never in fact occurred.

family resemblance

A structure of categories in which each member shares different features with different members. Few, if any, features are shared by every single member of the category.

fan effect

The phenomenon whereby retrieval time to retrieve a particular fact about a concept increases as more facts are known about that concept.

feature

A component, or part, of an object, event or representation.

feature comparison model of semantic memory

A model of semantic memory positing that words or concepts are mentally represented in terms of a set of elements called features.

feature integration theory

A proposal that perception of familiar stimuli occurs in two stages. The first, automatic, stage involves the perception of object features. The second, attentional, stage involves the integration and unification of those features.

filter theory

A theory of attention proposing that information that exceeds the capacity of a processor to process at any given time is blocked from further processing

flashbulb memory

A phenomenon in which people recall their personal circumstances (for example, where they were, whom they were with, what they were doing) at the time they heard of or witnessed an unexpected and very significant event