Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience Key Terms (Vocabulary Flashcards)

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, perception, attention, and memory.

Cognitive psychology

The study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts used to process information quickly.

Dialectic

Developmental process where ideas evolve through back-and-forth exchange; a prolonged discussion.

Thesis

A statement of belief or proposition to be discussed.

Antithesis

A view that directly counters a thesis.

Synthesis

The integration of thesis and antithesis, incorporating credible features of both.

Intelligence

Ongoing discussion about whether intelligence is primarily genetic or environmental.

Rationalist

Belief that knowledge comes through thinking and logical analysis.

Empiricist

Belief that knowledge comes from experience and observation.

Structuralism

Approach to understanding the mind by breaking perceptions into basic components.

Introspection

Conscious observation of one’s own thinking processes.

Pragmatists

Belief that knowledge is validated by usefulness in practice.

Associationism

Idea that mental elements become associated, forming learned connections.

Behaviorism

Theory linking observable behavior to environmental stimuli; downplays internal mental states.

Gestalt psychology

Approach emphasizing perception of organized wholes rather than individual parts.

Cognitivism

View that behavior is explained by internal mental processes; counters strict behaviorism.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

is defined as human attempts to construct systems that show intelligence.

Theory

An organized body of general explanatory principles about a phenomenon.

Hypotheses

Tentative proposals about expected empirical outcomes.

Statistical significance

likelihood that a given set of results would

be obtainedby chance if the null hypothesis were true.

Independent variable

Variable manipulated by the experimenter; others held constant.

Dependent variable

Variable measured to see how it is influenced by the independent variable.

Cognitive neuroscience

Field linking brain/nervous system activity to cognition and behavior.

Brain

Organ that controls thoughts, emotions, and motivations.

Localization of function

Idea that specific brain areas control specific skills/behaviors.

Nervous system

ability to perceive, adapt to, and interact

with the world around us.

Limbic system

Brain network important for emotion, motivation, memory, and learning.

Septum

Brain region involved in anger and fear processing.

Hippocampus

Key structure for memory formation, spatial memory, and flexible learning; named for its seahorse shape.

Korsakoff’s syndrome

loss of memory function. linked to hippocampal deterioration and thiamine deficiency.

Thalamus

Relays sensory information to the cortex; central hub for incoming data.

Hypothalamus

Regulates instinctual behaviors (fighting, feeding, fleeing, mating).

Reticular activating system (RAS)

Network regulating consciousness, sleep, wakefulness, and attention. connects the forebrain to the spinal cord.

Medulla oblongata

Regulates heart rate, breathing, swallowing, and digestion.

Pons

Bridge-like brain area that contains neural fibers and relays signals between brain regions.

Cerebellum

bodily coordination, balance, muscle tone, and procedural memory.

Contralateral

Occurring on opposite sides (left/right correspondence between hemispheres).

Ipsilateral

Occurring on the same side.

Corpus callosum

Dense bundle of neural fibers connecting the two hemispheres.

Split-brain patients

undergone an operation severing the

corpus callosum.

Frontal lobe

motor processing and higher thought processes, such as abstract reasoning, problem solving, planning, and judgment.

Parietal lobe

somatosensory processing.

Primary somatosensory cortex

receives information from the senses

about pressure, texture, temperature, and

pain.

Temporal lobe

associated with auditory processing.

Occipital lobe

visual processing.

Visual cortex

Visual processing area located in the occipital lobe.

Neurons

transmit electrical signals from one location to another in the nervous system. nerve impulses.

Soma

responsible for the life of the neuron

and connects the dendrites to the axon.

Dendrites

Branchlike structures that receive information from other neurons.

Axon

long, thin tube that extends from the soma and responds to the information.

Myelin

White Fatty substance around some axons that speeds signal transmission.

Nodes of Ranvier

small gaps in the myelin coating along the axon. increase conduction speed even more by helping to create electrical signals.

Terminal buttons

small knobs found at the ends of the branches of an axon that do not directly touch the dendrites of the next neuron.

Synapse

serves as a juncture between the terminal buttons of one or more neurons and the dendrites.

Neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that transmit information across the synaptic gap to the receiving dendrites.

EEGs

Recordings of brain electrical activity over time.

ERP (event-related potential)

record of a small change in the brain’s

electrical activity in response to a

stimulating event.

PET

Imaging technique locating brain areas. metabolic activity.

fMRI

Imaging method measuring brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow.

TMS

stimulate brain activity using magnetic pulses.

stroke

interruption of blood supply

Perception

we recognize, organize, and interpret sensory information.

Percept

sensory input

retina

Light sensitive layer, containing photoreceptors that convert light into neural signals.

Rods

Photoreceptors that enable night vision; more numerous in the peripheral retina.

Cones

short and thick photoreceptors enabling color vision; concentrated in the fovea.

Bottom-up theories

Perception starts with appearance you take in through your eye, sensory input and builds up to interpretation.

Top-down theories

Perception guided by prior knowledge and expectations.

Direct perception

perception is direct and does not require inference.

Templates

Highly detailed mental patterns used to recognize patterns.

Feature-matching theories

Perception by matching recognized features of a pattern to memory features. distinctive features.

Constructive perception

Perception built by the perceiver using cognitive processes.

Context effects

Surrounding context influencing perceptual interpretation.

Viewer-centered representation

Memory representation based on how an object looks to the observer.

Object-centered representation

Memory representation of an object independent of viewpoint.

Landmark-centered representation

Representation anchored to a prominent known landmark.

Gestalt approach

perceive groups of objects or even parts of objects to form integral wholes.

Law of Prägnanz

We perceive configurations in the simplest.

Figure-ground

Distinguishing a figure from its background.

Perceptual constancy

Perceiving objects as stable despite changes in sensory input.

Conjunction search

Finding by combining multiple features.

Monocular depth cues

Depth cues visible with one eye (e.g., relative size, texture, interposition).

Binocular depth cues

Depth cues using both eyes (e.g., disparity, convergence).

Agnosia

Impaired ability to perceive or interpret sensory information.

Optic ataxia

Difficulty using vision to guide movements.

Attention

Active process of selecting and processing limited information.

Consciousness

Awareness of oneself and the surrounding environment.

Signal Detection Theory (SDT)

Framework for measuring sensitivity to stimuli amidst noise.

Vigilance

Sustained attention over long periods.

Selective attention

Focusing on one input while suppressing others.

Divided attention

Splitting focus between multiple tasks.

Arousal

General state of alertness influencing attention.

Executive attention

High-order control of attention, conflicts, and goal-directed behavior.

Feature-integration theory

Attention binds features into unified objects.

Change blindness

Failure to notice major changes in a visual scene.

Inattentional blindness

Failure to notice unexpected objects when attention is engaged elsewhere.

Spatial neglect

Ignoring one half of visual space after brain damage.

Controlled processes

Mental processes that require conscious control and serial steps.

Automatization

Shift from conscious to automatic processing with practice.

Stroop effect

shows automatic reading.