Psych 1010 Final

absentmindedness

the inattentive or shallow encoding of events

amnesia

a deficit in long-term memory-resulting from disease, brain injury, or psychological trauma- in which the individual loses the ability to retrieve vast quantities of information

anterograde amnesia

a condition in which people lose the ability to form new memories

blocking

the temporary inability to remember something

chunking

organizing information into meaningful units to make it easier to remember

consolidation

the gradual process of memory storage in the brain

cryptomnesia

a type of misattribution that occurs when people think they have come up with a new idea yet have retrieved a stored idea and failed to attribute the idea to its proper source

encoding

the process by which the perception of a stimulus or event gets transformed into a memory

encoding specificity principle

the idea that any stimulus that is encoded along with an experience can later trigger a memory of the experience

episodic memory

memory for ones past experiences that are identifies by a time and place

explicit memory

memory that is consciously retrieved

flashbulb memories

vivid episodic memories for the circumstances in which people first learned of a surprising and consequential or emotionally arousing event

implicit memory

memory that is expressed through responses, actions, or reactions

long-term memory

the storage of information that lasts from minutes to forever

long-term potentiation (LTP)

strengthening of a synaptic connection, making the postsynaptic neurons more easily activated by presynaptic neurons

memory

the ability to store and retrieve information

memory bias

the changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes

mnemonics

learning aids or strategies that improve recall through the use of retrieval cues

persistence

the continual recurrence of unwanted memories

priming

a facilitation in the response to a stimulus due to recent experience with that stimulus or a related stimulus

proactive interference

interference that occurs when prior information inhibits the ability to remember new information

procedural memory

a type of implicit memory that involves skills and habits

prospective memory

remembering to do something at some future time

reconsolidation

the re-storage of memory after retrieval

retrieval cue

any stimulus that promotes memory recall

retrieval-induced forgetting

impairment of the ability to recall an item in the future after retrieving a related item from long-term memory

retroactive interference

interference that occurs when new information inhibits the ability to remember old information

retrograde amnesia

a condition in which people lose past memories, such as memories for events, facts, people, or even personal information

schemas

cognitive structures in long-term memory that help us perceive, organize, and understand information

semantic memory

memory for facts independent of personal experience

sensory memory

a memory system that very briefly stores sensory information in close to its original sensory form

serial position effect

the finding that the ability to recall items from a list depends on the order of presentation, such that items presented early or late in the list are remembered better than those in the middle

source amnesia

a type of misattribution that occurs when people have a memory for an event but cannot remember where they have encountered the information

source misattribution

memory distortion that occurs when people misremember the time, place, person, or circumstances involved with a memory

suggestibility

the development of biased memories from misleading information

working memory

a limited-capacity cognitive system that temporarily stores and manipulates information for current use

affective forecasting

the tendency for people to overestimate how events will make them feel in the future

analogical representations

mental representations that have some of what they represent

anchoring

the tendency, in making judgments, to rely on the first piece of information encountered or information that comes most quickly to mind

aphasia

a language disorder that results in deficits in language comprehension and production

availability heuristic

making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind

cognition

the mental activity that includes thinking and the understandings that result from thinking

concept

a category, or class, of related items consisting of mental representations of those items

crystallized intelligence

intelligence that reflects both the knowledge acquired through experience and the ability to use that knowledge

decision making

a cognitive process that results in the selection of a course of action or belief from several options

deep structure

in language, the implicit meanings of sentences

emotional intelligence

a form of social intelligence that emphasizes managing, recognizing, and understanding emotions and using them to guide appropriate though and action

exemplar model

a way of thinking about concepts: All members of a category are examples(exemplars); together they form the concept and determine category membership

fluid intelligence

intelligence that reflects the ability to process information, understand relationships, and think logically, particularly in novel or complex circumstances

framing

in decision making, an emphasis on the potential losses or potential gains from at least one alternative

functional fixedness

in problem solving, having fixed ideas about the typical functions of objects

general intelligence

the idea that one general factor underlies intelligence

heuristics

shortcuts used to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make decisions

insight

the sudden realization of a solution to a problem

intelligence

the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges

intelligence quotient (IQ)

an index of intelligence computed by dividing a child’s estimated mental age by the child’s chronological age, then multiplying the number by 100

language

a system of communication using sounds and symbols according to grammatical rules

linguistic relativity theory

the claim that language determines thought

mental age

an assessment of a child’s intellectual standing compared with that of same-age peers; determined by comparing the child’s test score with the average score for children of each chronological age

mental sets

problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past

morphemes

the smallest language units that have meaning, including suffixes and prefixes

phonemes

the basic sounds of speech, the building blocks of language

phonics

a method of teaching reading in English that focuses on the association between letters and their phonemes

problem solving

finding a way around an obstacle to reach a goal

prototype

a way of thinking about concepts: Within each category, there is a best example -a prototype- for that category

representativeness heuristic

placing a person or an object in a category if that person or object is similar to ones prototype for that category

restructuring

a new way of thinking about a problem that aids a solution

script

a schema that directs behavior over time within a situation

stereotypes

cognitive schema’s that allow for easy, fast processing of information about people based on their membership in certain groups

surface structure

in language, the sound and order of words

symbolic representations

abstract mental representations that do not correspond to the physical features of objects or ideas

telegraphic speech

the way toddlers speak, using rudimentary sentences that are missing words and grammatical markings but follow a logical syntax and convey a wealth of meaning

thinking

the mental manipulation of representations of knowledge about the world

Wernicke’s area

an area of the left hemisphere where the temporal and parietal lobes meet, involved in speech comprehension

equipotentiality

the principle that any conditioned stimulus paired with any unconditioned stimulus should result in learning

phobia

an acquired fear that is out of proportion to the real threat of an object or situation

fear conditioning

a type of classical conditioning that turns neutral stimuli into threatening stimuli

modeling

the imitation of observed behavior

vicarious learning

learning the consequences of an action by watching others being rewarded or punished for performing the action

instructed learning

learning associations and behaviors through verbal communication