UNIT 2 COGNITION VOCABULARY

2.1 PERCEPTION

2.1 PERCEPTION

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

2.1 BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

2.1 TOP-DOWN PROCESSING

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

2.1 SCHEMAS

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

2.1 PERCEPTUAL SET

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

2.1 ATTENTION

allows us to choose and concentrate on relevant stimuli

2.1 SELECTIVE ATTENTION

process that allows an individual to select and focus on particular input for further processing while simultaneously suppressing irrelevant or distracting information

2.1 COCKTAIL PARTY EFFECT

ability to focus attention on a particular stimulus while filtering a range of other stimuli (ex. noise)

2.1 INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

2.1 CHANGE BLINDNESS

failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness

2.1 GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

theory of perception that emphasizes the processing of entire patterns and configurations, and not merely individual components

2.1 CLOSURE

elements that form a closed object perceived as a group

2.1 FIGURE AND GROUND (FIGURE-GROUND)

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)

2.1 Grouping

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

2.1 PROXIMITY

objects near each other viewed as groups

2.1 SIMILARITY

naturally group similar items together

2.2 Depth Perception

the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

2.2 Visual Cliff

a laboratory device for testing the depth perception in infants and young animals

2.2 BINOCULAR CUES

a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes

2.2 CONVERGENCE

how the brain combines different sensory information to understand and interpret our surroundings

2.2 RETINAL DISPARITY

a binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object

2.2 MONOCULAR CUES

a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone

2.2 RELATIVE CLARITY

idea that objects that are clear, sharp, and detailed are perceived as closer than objects that are hazy

2.2 RELATIVE SIZE

the idea that the perceived size of an object is influenced by the size of other objects in the visual field

2.2 TEXTURE GRADIENT

a depth cue that refers to the way textures appear to change as objects move away from the viewer

2.2 LINEAR PERSEPCTIVE

a visual cue when viewing two parallel lines that appear to meet at a distance

2.2 INTERPOSITION

monocular cue that perceives depth by judging the distance of two objects based on whether one partially obscures the other,

2.2 PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCIES

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change

2.2 Color Constancy

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

2.2 Perceptual Adaptation

the ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

2.2 APPARENT MOTION

two individual objects perceived as a moving object if they are presented one after the other within a short period of time

2.2 Stroboscopic Movement

visual phenomenon that creates the illusion of continuous motion by showing a series of slightly different images in rapid succession

2.2 Phi Phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

2.2 Autokinetic Effect

a phenomenon of visual perception in which a stationary, small point of light in a dark or featureless environment starts to move

2.3 Memory

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

2.3 EXPLICIT MEMORY

retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare” (also called declarative memory)

2.3 EPISODIC MEMORY

explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory)

2.3 SEMANTIC MEMORY

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory)

2.3 IMPLICIT MEMORY

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection

2.3 PROCEDURAL MEMORY

type of long-term memory involved in the performance of other motor skills and actions

2.3 PROSPECTIVE MEMORY

a form of memory that involves remembering to perform a planned action or recall a planned intention at some future point in time

2.3 Neurogenesis

the formation of new neurons

2.3 LONG-TERM POTENTIATION (LTP)

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

2.3 WORKING MEMORY

a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processes of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

2.3 VISUOSPATIAL SKETCHPAD

ability temporarily to hold visual and spatial information

2.3 LONG-TERM MEMORY

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences

2.3 MULTI-STORE MODEL

describes flow between three permanent storage systems of memory: the sensory register (SR), short-term memory (STM), long-term memory (LTM)

2.3 SENSORY MEMORY

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

2.3 CENTRAL EXECUTIVE

responsible for controlled processing in working memory (directing attention, maintaining task goals, decision making, and memory retrieval)

2.3 PHONOLOGICAL LOOP

speech-and-sound related component of working memory and holds verbal and auditory information

2.3 ICONIC MEMORY

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

2.3 ECHOIC MEMORY

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

2.3 SHALLOW PROCESSING

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

2.3 DEEP PROCESSING

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield retention

2.3 AUTOMATIC PROCESSING

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

2.3 EFFORTFUL PROCESSING

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

2.3 ENCODING

the process of getting information into the memory system—for example, by extracting memory

2.3 STORAGE

the process of retaining encoded information overtime

2.3 RETRIEVAL

the process of getting information out of the memory storage

2.3 STRUCTURAL PROCESSING

only remembering the physical quality of the word

2.3 PHONEMIC PROCESSING

only remembering the word by the way it sounds

2.3 SEMANTIC PROCESSING

stage of language processing that occurs after hearing the word and encodes its meaning

2.4 ENCODE

initial experience of perceiving and learning information

2.4 MNEMONIC DEVICES

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

2.4 METHOD OF LOCI

mnemonic device that uses visualization of familiar environments to help with memory

2.4 CHUNKING

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

2.4 CATEGORIES

group of objects, events, or abstracts entities that are considered similar in some way

2.4 HIEARCHIES

ranking of members in social groups based on the power, influence, or dominance they exhibit, where somemembers are superior and or subordinate to others

2.4 THE SPACING EFFECT

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

2.4 MASSED PRACTICE

learning technique where a person practices a skill or learns information in a short period of time without much rest

2.4 DISTRIBUTED PRACTICE