PSYC 1000 Final Review

Attention

Deciphers which information will be passed on to the STM

Encoding

the process of storing information in the LTM

Retrieval

bringing information from the LTM back into the STM

Sensory memory

a memory store that accurately holds perceptual information for a very brief amount of time.

Iconic memory

the visual form of sensory memory

Echoic memory

auditory memory that lasts roughly 5 seconds

Chunking

organizing smaller units of information into larger, more meaningful music.

Long-term memory

Holds information for extended periods of time, if not permanently.

Rehearsal

Repeating information in your head until you do not need it anymore

Working memory

A model of short term remembering that includes a combination of memory components that can temporarily store small amounts of information for a short period of time.

Phonological loop

A storage component of working memory that relies on rehearsal and that stores information as sounds, or auditory code.

Visuospatial sketchpad

A storage component of working memory that maintains visual images and spatial layouts

Episodic buffer

A storage component of working memory that combines the images, and sounds from the other two components into coherent, story like episodes.

The central executive

Is the control centre of working memory; it coordinates attention and the exchange of information among the three storage components.

Declarative memories (explicit memories)

Are memories that we are consciously aware of and that can be verbalized, including facts about the world and ones own personal experiences.

Non-declarative memories

Includes actions and behaviours that you can remember and perform without awareness.

Episodic memories

are declarative memories for personal experiences that we remember as episodes, told in an "from my point of view"

Semantic memories

Declarative memories that include facts about the world.

Procedural memories

Patterns of muscle movements

Long-term potentiation

Demonstrates that there is an enduring increase in connectivity and transmission of neural signals between nerve cells that fire together.

Consolidation

the process of converting short term memories into long term memories

Anterograde amnesia

the inability to form new memories for events occurring after a brain injury

amnesia

A profound loss of at least one form of memory

retrograde amnesia

A condition in which memory for the events preceding trauma or injury is lost.

Storage

Refers to the time and manner in which information is retained between encoding and retrieval

Encoding specificity principle

Retrieval is most effective when it occurs in the same context as encoding

Context-dependent forgetting

Walking into a room and forgetting what you went to go get

Context reinstatement effect

Walking back into a specific location and the memory comes back.

Mood dependent learning

People can remember better if their mood during retrieval was the same as it was when they encoded the information.

Flashbulb memories

An extremely vivid and detailed memory about an event and the conditions surrounding how one learned about the event.

Mnemonic

A technique used to improve memory for specific information

Method of loci

A mnemonic that connects words to be remembered to locations along a familiar path.

First letter technique

Uses the first letters of a set of items to spell out words that form a sentence.

SOH CAH TOA

Dual encoding

Occurs when information is stored in more than one form.

Testing effect

The finding that taking practice tests can improve exam performance, even without additional studying.

Schemas

Organized clusters of memories that constitutes ones knowledge about events, objects, and ideas.

Fasle memory

Remembering events that did not occur, or incorrectly recalling details of an event.

Misinformation effect

When information occurring after an event becomes part of the memory for that event.

Imagination inflation

The increased confidence in a false memory of an event following repeated imagination of the event.

Recovered memory

A memory of a traumatic event that is suddenly recovered after blocking the memory the memory of that event for a long period of time.

Developmental psychology

The study of human physical and cognitive, social, and behavioural characteristics across the lifespan.

Cross sectional design

Is used to measure and compare samples of people at different ages at a given point in time.

Longitudinal design

Follows the development of the same set of individuals through time.

Cohort effects

Differences between people that result from being born in different time periods.

Sensitive period

A period in time in which an individual must be exposed to a certain environmental stimulation in order for normal development of a specific ability.

Zygote

The initial cell formed when the nuclei of egg and sperm fuse.

Germinal stage

The first phase of prenatal development, which spans from conception to two weeks.

The embryonic stage

Week 2 - Week 8

Begins to develop major physical structures such as the heart and nervous system.Beginning to form arms, legs, hands, and feet.

The fetal stage

8 weeks - Birth

Skeletal, nervous system, and organs become more developed and specialized.

Teratogens

Substances, such as drugs or environmental toxins, that impair the development process.

Cognitive development

The study of changes in memory, thought, and resigning processes that occur throughout the lifespan.

Assimilation

Conservative process, whereby people fit new information into the belief systems that they already possess.

Accommodation

A creative process whereby people modify their belief structures based on experiences.

Sensorimotor stage

Birth - 2 years.

Infants thinking about and exploration of the world are based on immediate sensory (feeling and seeing) and motor experiences (grabbing and mouthing.

Object permanence

The ability to understand that objects exist even when they cannot directly be perceived.

Preoperational stage

2-7

Devoted to language development, using symbols, pretend play, and mastering the concept of conversation.

Conservation

The knowledge that the quantity or amount of an object is not the same as the physical arrangement and appearance of that object.

Concrete operational stage

7-11 Years old

When children develop skills in logical thinking and manipulating numbers.

Formal operational stage

11-Adulthood

Involves the development of advanced cognitive processes such as abstract reasoning and hypothetical thinking.

Scaffolding

A highly attentive approach to teaching in which the teacher matches guidance to the learners needs.

Attachment

The enduring emotional bond between individuals.

Strange situation

A way of measuring infant attachment by observing how infants behave in certain comforting and anxiety filled situations

Self awareness

The ability to recognize ones individuality

Egocentric

One that only considers their own perspective

Theory of mind

The ability to recognize the thoughts, beliefs, and expectations of others.

Introjection

The internalizing of the conditional regard of significant others.

Inductive discipline

Explaining the consequences of a child's behaviour on other people, activating empathy feelings for others.

Primary sex traits

Changes in the body that are a part of reproduction

I.E. developing sperm

Secondary sex traits

Changes in the body that are not part of reproduction

i.e. voice drops

What part of the dome is responsible for making wise decisions?

Prefrontal cortex

Menopause

The termination of the mental cycle and reproductive ability

Dementia

Refers to mild to severe disruption of mental functioning, memory loss, disorientation, poor judgement and decision making.

Alzheimers disease

A degenerative and terminal condition resulting in severe damage of the entire brain.

Generativity

Being engaged in meaningful and productive work, as well as making contributions to future generations.

Mimicry

Taking on for ourselves the behaviours, emotional displays, and facial expressions of others.

Chameleon effect

How people mimic others behaviours without even realizing it

Social loafing

When an individual puts less effort into working on a task with others.

Social facilitation

Occurs when ones performance is affected by the presence of others.

Groupthink

the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility. Not being able to share their true perspectives.

Normative influence

A social pressure to adopt to a groups perspective in order to be accepted, rather than rejected.

Informational influence

Occurs when people internalize the values and beliefs of the group, coming to believe the same things and feel the same ways themselves.

Bystander effect

The presence of others actually reduces the likelihood of helping behaviour.

Diffusion of responsibility

Occurs when the responsibility for taking action is spread across more than one person, thus making no individual feel personally responsible.

Pluralistic ignorance

Occurs when there is a disjunction between the private beliefs of individuals and the public behaviour they display to others.

- Not one person can agree with something in a group and yet it will be the norm.

Social roles

Specific sets of expectations for how someone is expected to behave in a certain position.

Milgram study

People will conform to authority before doing what is right.

Explicit processes

Correspond roughly to "conscious" thought, are deliberative, effortful, relatively slow, and generally under our intentional control.

- our mind as we know it

Implicit processes

Compromise our "unconscious" thought; they are intuitive, automatic, effortless, very fast, and operate largely outside of our intentional control.

Dual process models

Models of behaviour that use both implicit and explicit processes.

Person perception

The process by which people categorize and form judgements about other people.

Self fulfilling prophecies

Occur when a first impression (expectations) affects ones behaviour, leading one to confirm their initial expectation or impression.

False consensus effect

The qualities we see in ourselves and the attitudes and opinions that we hold, we tend to assume are similar for society at large

Naive realism

The tendency to assume the way we see things are the way they are.

Self-serving biases

Biased ways of processing self-relevant information to enhance our positive self-evaluation.

- take credit for successes and blame failures on others.

Internal attribution

Whereby the observer explains the behaviour of the actor in terms of some innate quality of that person

- cut me off because he's an aggressive jerk

External attributions

The observer explains the actor's behaviour as a result of the situation.

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to over-emphasize attributions, and under-emphasize external factors

- overemphasize dispositional factors

- underemphasize situational factors

In-groups

Groups we feel positive towards and belong to

i.e. family, home team, friends

Out-groups

Other groups that we do not identify with

In-group Bias

Seeing their group as superior to other groups.