Cognitive Psychology Lecture Review

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards based on the lecture notes on cognitive psychology, covering key terms and their definitions.

Cognitive Psychology

The scientific study of the mind and its mental processes.

Cognition

Scientific study of mental processes including attention, memory, perception, language, learning, decision making, and reasoning.

Attention

The ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations in our environment.

Decision Making

The cognitive process of evaluating information and choosing between options.

Learning

The acquisition of new information.

Memory

The process of encoding, storing, and retrieving information.

Perception

The process through which we make sense of our surroundings.

Behaviorism

A psychological approach that focuses on observable behavior rather than internal mental states.

Cognitive Revolution

A shift from behaviorism to a focus on understanding the mind and its processes.

Franciscus Donders

A pioneer in experimental psychology known for his work on reaction times.

Wilhelm Wundt

The father of experimental psychology who developed analytic introspection.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Studied memory and forgetting using nonsense syllables; developed the forgetting curve.

William James

The father of American psychology, known for a broad range of topics in cognition.

Mary Calkins

Discovered the recency effect and was the first woman president of the American Psychological Association.

John Watson

Founder of behaviorism who rejected introspection.

B.F. Skinner

A behaviorist who focused on operant conditioning and the role of stimuli in triggering behavior.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The scientific study of the biological basis of cognition.

Neurons

Cells specialized to create, receive, and transmit information in the nervous system.

Action Potential

A nerve impulse; an electro-chemical signal that travels down an axon.

Localization of Function

The principle that specific cognitive processes are served by specific parts of the brain.

Inattentional Blindness

The failure to perceive stimuli that are not attended to.

Feature Integration Theory

The theory that features are first analyzed and then combined to create our perception of objects.

Top-Down Processing

Perception that is driven by cognition; higher-level mental processes influence perception.

Bottom-Up Processing

Perception that starts with sensory input and builds up to the final perception.