AP Psychology Unit 2 Cognition

Vocab from unit 2 of AP Psychology, Cognition. Taken mostly directly from Mr. Stevens notes.

Perception

Process of selecting, organizing, interpreting sensory information, to give meaning to what we are sensing.

Inattentional Blindness

The inability to see an object or a person in our midst.

Change Blindness

A form of inattentional blindness; two-thirds of individuals don’t a change right in front of them. It occurs when attention is diverted away from the area where the change is happening

Perceptual Set

Is what we “expect” to see, which influences what we DO see. It is top-down processing.

Perceptual Context Effects

Experiences, beliefs, motivation, and context affect what we see.

Visual Capture

When vision competes with our other senses, vision usually wins.

Gestalt Psychology

This posits that the human mind perceives the world as a unified whole rather than individual, isolated parts, emphasizing patterns and configurations.

Ground-Figure Form Perception

Organization of the visual field into patterns of objects that stand out

Retinal Disparity

Images from the two eyes differ.

Convergence

Eyes can follow objects traveling toward and away from them.

Influences on Perception

This can bias our interpretation of neutral stimuli.

Motivation: Ex. a mountain seems steeper when carrying a heavy backpack and tired.

Emotion: Ex. hearing cheerful music makes an experience seem more fun.

Texture Gradient

Indistinct (fine) texture signals an increasing distance.

Algorithms

This is one method of problem solving. They are time consuming and exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution.

Heuristics

This is a method of problem solving that includes simple thinking strategies, gut instincts. They can be less time consuming, but more error prone than algorithms.

There are two types:

• Representative: stereotypes

• Availability: most recent memory

Insight

A sudden realization of a solution to a problem.

Confirmation BIas

We search for information that confirms our personal bias.

Fixation

An inability to see a problem from a fresh persepctive.

Mental Set

We approach a problem in a particular way, especially if that way was successful in the past.

Functional Fixedness

We think only of the familiar functions of an object. Ex. coat hanger to unlock car door.

Representative Heuristics

(stereotype) This is judging the likelihood of objects in terms of how well they seem to represent a prototype.

Prototype: a mental image or the best, most typical example of a category, used to categorize new information and make quick decisions.

Availability Heuristic

What comes to mind quickly is deemed significant - sometimes incorrectly.

Childrens Visual Schemas

These are patterns of repeated actions that children use to explore the world and learn about concepts through play, often involving movement and objects.

Schemas: concepts that organize and interpret unfamiliar information. “brain files”

Perceptual Shape Constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as angle of retinal images change.

Perceptual Interpretation

John Locke (1632-1704) argued that we learn to perceive the world through our experiences. Then we assign meaning to the selected information.

Perceptual Color Constancy

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color even when illumination changes.

Perceptual Adaptation

The brain’s relatively quick ability to adjust to changes in sensory input over time.

Phi Phenomenon

When lights flash at a certain speed they tend to present illusions of motion.

Stroboscopic Movement

illusion of continuous movement; like a movie or flip book.

Autokinetic Effect

Illusion of movement of a spot of light in a dark room.

Anterograde Amnesia

This is when you remember the past but can’t make new memories.

Retrograde Amnesia

This is when you can’t remember events or information from before an injury, but you can still form new memories.

Encoding Failure

This is when information isn't properly stored in memory in the first place

Retrieval Failure

 This is when stored information is not recalled due to a lack of retrieval cues or other factors

Proactive Interference

This occurs when prior learning disrupts your recall of new information. If you buy a new combination lock, your well-rehearsed old combination may interfere with your retrieval of the new one.

Retroactive Interference

This occurs when new learning disrupts your recall of old information. If someone sings new lyrics to an old song’s tune, you may have trouble remembering the original words.

Reconsolidation

When we “replay” a memory, we often replace the original with a slightly modified version, rather like what happens in the telephone game.

Misinformation Effect

After exposure to subtly misleading information, we may confidently misremember what we’ve seen or heard.

Suggestibility

In memory this refers to the tendency to incorporate misleading information or suggestions into one's recollection of an event, leading to distorted or inaccurate memories

Source Amnesia

Forgetting where you learned something, can lead to false memories because the context and source of a memory are lost, making it difficult to distinguish between real and imagined event.

Ex. when you dream about something and then are later unsure if it actually happened or not .

Recall

Retrieving info that is not currently in your awareness. ex. fill in the blank quiz.

Recognition

Identifying items already learned. ex. multiple choice

Relearning

Learning things more quickly when you learn it a second time.

“The more we rehearse info, the quicker we relearn it” - Hermann Ebbinghaus

Memory Stages

1st step - Encoding: get the info into our brain.

2nd step - Storage: retain the info

3rd step - Retrieval: get the info back out.

Sensory Memory

• The information is called “iconic” it it’s visual. It only lasts about ½ a second.

• The information is called “echoic” it it’s auditory (lasts 3-4 seconds)

• What remains is passed to the short-term memory.

Short-term / Working Memory

• This can hold info for 2 seconds to 2 minutes

• The “Magic Seven” - on average, humans can only remember 7 things at the same time (+ or - 2)

• “Maintenance rehearsal” - is repeating the info over and over.

• “Elaborative rehearsal” - give meaning to the info.

Both “elaborative” and “maintenance’ rehearsal are called “effortful processing”

A component called the Central Executive coordinates:

• Phonological loop: - briefly holds auditory info (hearing new song lyrics)

• Visuo Sketchpad: - briefly holds visual info (remember where you parked in the lot)

Phonological Loop

- briefly holds auditory info (hearing new song lyrics)

Visuo Sketchpad

• briefly holds visual info (remember where you parked in the lot)

Long-Term Memory

• As far as we know, it is limitless

• Long-term potentiation (LTP) - increases memory

• Somatically: remember the meaning of the word

• Episodic: we remember events in our life

• Procedural: memories of skills

• Declarative (explicit) Memory: remember specific facts

• Nondeclarative (implicit) Memory: unintentional memories that we might not even realize we have (procedural memories)

This type of memory also includes the following, which have individual flashcards:

• Context-dependent memory

• State-dependent memory

• Flashbulb memory

• Source Confusion

Context-Dependent Memory

info is more likely to be remembered if recall is the same context

as when it was learned.

State-Dependent Memory

Info is best recalled if your physical/mental state is the same as when you learned the info.

Flashbulb Memory

a deep, vivid memory. Like a photograph of the event.

Source Confusion

We attribute the memory to a different source than it really was.

Cocktail Party Effect

This refers to the ability to focus on one specific auditory stimulus while filtering out other sounds in a noisy environment

Yes, I thought it was a trick question.

Automatic Memory Processing

the effortless and unconscious encoding of information, like remembering the sequence of events in a day,

Effortful Memory Processing

the conscious and deliberate encoding of information, requiring attention and effort, as opposed to automatic processing

Mnemonics

This is a memory aid or technique that uses specific strategies to enhance learning and recall, often by associating new information with something already known or easily remembered, like acronyms, rhymes, or visual imagery

Method of Loci

This is a specific mnemonic that uses imagined physical locations to remember information in sequence.

Link Method

Making a story out of vocab to create chain associations between items on a list, aiding recall.

Priming

Making connections to related characteristics.

Example: “firetruck.” It’s red, sirens, ladder, hoses, etc.

Chunking

Organize info into meaningful, smaller units.

The Spacing Effect

Study/practice smaller chunks of info every day, rather than cramming.

Testing Effect

IT has been proven that retrieving, rather than rereading, enhances memory.

Dual Processing

Information is often processed in two separate unconscious tracks: System 1 (sloppy, quick decisions, Heuristics), and System 2: (conscious, intentional and calculated, algorithms).

Shallow Processing

Encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words.

Deep Processing

Encoding “semantically” based on the meaning of the words.

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

This three-stage memory model proposes that memory is processed through three distinct stages: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).

Long-Term Potentiation

This is the strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons, believed to be a cellular basis for learning and memory. Kandel and Schwartz found that when learning occurs, more of the neurotransmitter serotonin is released into synapses.

Blocking

refers to the temporary inability to retrieve a stored memory, even though it's known to be present. This is often described as a "tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon, where a memory is readily available but feels just out of reach. Blocking is one of the "sins of memory" identified by Daniel Schacter, which also include transience, absent-mindedness, misattribution, suggestion, bias, and persistence. 

Forgetting Curve

Designed by Hermann Ebbinghaus, this describes the natural decline in memory retention over time, described by a rapid initial decline in retention becoming stable thereafter.

General Intelligence

This was proposed by Charles Spearman. He used factor analysis (statistical data) to identify clusters of related items.

Reification

Erroneously treating something immaterial (like happiness, evil, or evolution), as a material thing.

Gardner vs Sternberg

Howard Gardner proposed 8 different intelligences. He said “Savant Syndrome” is proof.

Robert Sternberg reduced the number from 8 to 3: analytical, creative, and practical.

Emotional Intelligence

Your ability to:

• perceive emotion

• understand emotion

• manage emotion

• use emotion

Alfred Binet

He developed questions that would predict children’s future progress in the Paris school system.

Lewis Terman

From Stanford University, he believed intelligence is inherited. He “Americanized” Binet’s test. He developed an “Intelligence Quotient” (IQ)

IQ = Mental age (test score) / chronological age x 100

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

David Wechsler created a new test for adults and children. It is now the most widely used intelligence test. It is more hands on and taken one-on-one with a proctor.

Aptitude Tests

These predict your ability to learn (SAT)

Achievement Tests

These reflect what you have already learned.

Normal Curve

Standardized tests establish a normal distribution of scores in a bell-shaped pattern.

Standardization

A randomly selected group takes the test as a baseline first.

Reliability

Consistent scores.

Validity

Tests what its supposed to.

Aging vs Intelligence

Intelligence scores become stable after about 7 years of age.

Fluid intelligence decreases with age, our ability to process info and reason quickly gets worse.

Crystallized Intelligence increases with age. This is our accumulated knowledge of facts.

Stereotype Threat

A belief that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.