Studied by 9 people
Achievement test
a test designed to assess what a person has learned
Algorithm
A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier--but also more error-prone--use of heuristics
Anterograde amnesia
an inability to form new memories
Aphasia
impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)
Aptitude test
a test designed to predict a person's future performance
Automatic processing
unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings
Availability heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common
Babbling stage
stage in child development and a state in language acquisition during which an infant appears to be experimenting with uttering articulate sounds but does not yet produce any recognizable words.
Basal ganglia
it receives messages from the motor cortex but does not send back information to the cortex for conscious awareness of procedural memory
Belief perseverance
clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
Cerebellum's role in memory
The cerebellum, a structure found in the back of the skull, is known to be important for the control of movement memories
Chunking
organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Cohort
a group of people from a given time period
Concepts
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Confirmation bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Content validity
the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest
Context dependent memory
the tendency to recover information more easily when the retrieval occurs in the same setting as the original learning of the information
Convergent thinking
narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.
Creativity
ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable
Critical period
an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development
Crystallized intelligence
our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age
Deep processing
encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention
Déjà vu
that eerie sense that 'I've experienced this before.' Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience
Divergent thinking
expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.
Down Syndrome
a condition of intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.
Echoic memory
a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
Effortful processing
encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Emotional intelligence
the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions
Encoding
the processing of information into the memory system--for example, by extracting meaning
Encoding specificity principle
the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it.
Episodic memory
A category of long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations and experiences.
Explicit memory
memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare." Also called declarative memory
Factor analysis
a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score.
Flashbulb memory
a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event
Fluid intelligence
our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood
Flynn effect
the worldwide phenomenon that shows intelligence test performance has been increasing over the years
Framing
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments
General intelligence (g)
a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
Grammar
in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. IN a given language, semantics is the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
Heritability
The proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes.
Heuristic
a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms
Hippocampus's role in memory
a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage
Iconic memory
a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second
Implicit memories
retention independent of conscious recollection. Also called nondeclarative memory
Insight
a sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions
Intellectual disability
a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound
Intelligence
the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 [thus, IQ = (ma/ca) x 100]. On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.
Intuition
an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
Language
Our spoken, written, or gestured word, it is the way we communicate meaning to ourselves and others.
Language acquisition device
(a neural system of the brain for understanding language) that is switched on by exposure to language in our environment
Linguistic determinism
hypothesis that language determines the way we think
Long term potentiation (LTP)
an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory
Long-term memory
the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences
memory
the persistence of learning over time through encoding, storage, and retrieval of information
Mental age
a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance
Mental set
a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past
Method of Loci
a mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations
Misinformation effect
incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event
Mnemonics
memory aids, especially those technique that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Mood congruent memory
the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood
Morphemes
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
Multiple intelligences
9 different forms of intelligence, each relatively independent of the others
Overconfidence
the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments
Peg-word system
a mnemonic in which the items in a list to be remembered are associated with the sequential items in a memorized jingle and then the list is retrieved by going through the jingle and retrieving the associated items.
Phonemes
in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
Predictive validity
The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior.
Priming
the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
Proactive interference
the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information
Prototypes
a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)
Recall
a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank
Recognition
measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test
Reconsolidation
a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again.
Relearning
a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again
Reliability
the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting
Representative heuristic
judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes
Repression
in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories
Retrieval
the process of getting information out of memory storage
Retroactive interference
the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
Retrograde amnesia
an inability to retrieve information from one's past
Savant syndrome
a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing
Selective attention
the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
Semantic encoding
the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words
Semantic memory
a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world
Sensory memory
the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system
Serial position effect
our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list
Shallow processing
encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words
Short-term memory
activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten
Source amnesia
attributing to the wrong source an event we have heard, heard about, read about, or imagined.
Spacing effect
the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice
Stanford-Binet test
the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test
State-dependent memory
The theory that information learned in a particular state of mind (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind.
Stereotype threat
a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype
Storage
the process of retaining encoded information over time
Syntax
The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.
Telegraphic speech
early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram----"go car" ----using mostly nouns and verbs
Triarchic Theory
3 types of intelligence (analytical, creative, and practical)
Validity
the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests
Working memory
a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory
Note 
Flashcard (50)