cognition

recall

retrieving info that is not currently in conscious awareness, but was learned earlier

recognition

identifying items previously learned

relearning

learning something more quickly when learned a second time

central executive

focuses attention and pulls information from long term, helps encode, switches between tasks

chunking

organizing information into meaningful units (letters, words, phrase)

mnemonics

memory aids, especially techniques that use imagery and organization

hierarchies

few broad concepts divided and subdivided into levels

spacing effect

tendency for distributed study to yield better long term retention

testing effect

taking a test on material improves long term retention of that material more efficiently than simply reviewing

hippocampus

temporal lobe neural center, save button for explicit memories, loading dock to temporarily hold until moved to long term

cerebellum

forming and storing implicit memories

basal ganglia

motor movement, procedural memories for skills

amygdala

emotion processing and encoding

memory consolidation

neural storage of long term memory (during sleep)

infantile amnesia

conscious memory of first 4 years is blank (hippocampus isn’t mature enough)

long term potentiation

increase in cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation, neural basis for learning and memory

imagination inflation

memory distortion that occurs when a person becomes more confident that an event happened after imagining

anterograde amnesia

inability to form new memories

retrograde amnesia

inability to retrieve info from past

repression

defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, memories (rarely occurs)

misinformation effect

occurs when misleading info has distorted one’s memory of an event (influence later attitude and behavior)

source amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where info was learned and imagined (can create false memories or deja vu)

cognition

mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

concept

mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

prototype

mental image or best example of category, developed and hypothetical stereotype

convergent thinking

narrowing available problem solutions to determine single best solution, analytical thinking to converge on best solution

divergent thinking

expanding number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions, novel alternatives

algorithm

methodical procedure that guarantees to solve a problem, takes a while

creativity

produce new, novel, and valuable ideas

heuristic

short cuts, solve problems efficiently, more prone to errors, exclude rare combinations and group most common

mental set

tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, usually a successful way in past

fixation

inability to see problem from new perspective; obstacle to problem solving, hindering solution

functional fixedness

thinking of things in terms of typical uses and functions

achievement test

test designed to assess what a person has learned (reflect)

aptitude test

test designed to predict a person’s future performance; capacity to learn (predict)

learning

the process of acquiring new information or behaviors through experience

memory

the persistence of learning over time through the encoding storage and retrieval of information

multistore model

sensory, short term, long term

sensory

collects and transforms material (iconic 1 second and echoic 3-4 seconds, large capacity)

short term memory

temporarily holds material (20-30 seconds, capacity 7)

long term memory

more permanently retains material and recalls it as needed (>30 seconds, capacity limitless)

iconic memory

visual

echoic memory

audio

maintenance rehearsal

repeating info to keep in short term

automatic processing

performing tasks rapidly with little effort

encoding

putting in new information

storage

organize information

retrieval

pull out information

selective attention

focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus from among all sensory input

inattentional blindness

failing to see objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the visual environment

cocktail party effect

focusing on a specific conversation or sound in a noisy environment, such as a party, while filtering out a multitude of other sounds

prosopagnosia

neurocognitive disorder involving the inability to recognize faces (perceptual problem, impacts fusiform gyrus in right temporal lobe)

sensation

process by which the sensory systems and nervous system receive information from the environment

bottom up processing

information processing that analyzes raw sensory data

perception

process of organizing and interpreting incoming sensory information

top down processing

information processing that draws on our experiences and expectations to interpret incoming sensations (prior knowledge)

shallow processing

encoding on based on superficial characteristics

structural encoding

when we encode based on the physical qualities or appearance of something (appearance of letters)

phonemic encoding

when we encode based on how something sounds (rhymes, pronunciation)

deep processing

encoding semantically, based on meaning of the words rather than perceptual characteristics; tends to yield stronger, longer-lasting memories

semantic encoding

when we encode based on the meaning of something (visualize)

elaborative rehearsal

process of interpreting new information by relating it to other knowledge

levels of processing model

assumes information that is more deeply processed info will be remembered efficiently and for a longer period of time

priming

unconsciously activating particular associations in memory

recency effect

good recall of the last items from list

primacy effect

best recall of the first items of list

mood congruent memory

during positive mood states tendency to retrieve pleasant memories, negative moods states tendency to retrieve negative memories

context dependent memory

contextual association facilitates retrieval; recall is better when the external/physical are the same as when the information was encoded

state dependent memory

biological or physiological association facilitates retrieval; recalls is better when the person’s biological and psychological sate is the same as when information was encoded

retrieval cues

stimulus for remembering

serial position effect

effect of an item’s position in a list

tip of the tongue phenomenon

temporary inability to retrieve a word or name despite strong feeling that information is known

explicit memory

conscious recall of facts or events

semantic memory

general knowledge and facts

episodic memory

memory of personal experiences and specific events

prospective memory

remembering to perform a task in the future

implicit memory

unconscious recall of skills and routines

procedural memory

memory of how to perform tasks, skills, and actions

working memory model

explains how short term memory works as an active system uses to temporarily store and manipulate information

phonological loop

stores and processes spoken and written information allowing us to repeat information on a loop

visuospatial sketchpad

stores and processes visual and spatial information, allowing us to picture things in our mind

episodic buffer

combines different types of information into a single memory

method of loci

visualization of familiar spaces to assist with memorization

constructive memory

how the brain creates memories based on past memories

encoding failure

much of what we sense we never pay attention to, and what we fail to encode we will not remember

storage decay

memory for new information fades quickly especially without rehearsal but levels out over time

retrieval failure

important information can defy our attempts to access it

proactive interference

when the old stuff you learned previously is getting in the way of new stuff you are trying to remember now

retroactive interference

when the new stuff you’ve learned makes it hard to remember the old stuff

forgetting curve

tests of recognition and of time spent relearning demonstrate that we remember more than we recall

availability heuristic

process of judging the likelihood or frequency of an event by the ease with which instances come to mind

representativeness heuristic

process of estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent or match particular prototypes which may lead us to ignore other relevant information

sunk cost fallacy

tendency to continue investing time, money, or effort into a decision or activity, even when its no longer beneficial simply because of the resources that have already been committed

gamblers fallacy

cognitive bias where people mistakenly believe that they likelihood of a random event is influences by previous outcomes

single intelligence/general ability

describes broad mental capacity, can be measured by an iq test

multiple abilities

divides human intelligence into independent modalities

intelligence

the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills

confirmation bias

seeking out information that agrees with you and dismissing anything that doesn’t

flynn effect

new generations test better to environmental factors