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180 Q&A style flashcards covering cognition, language, and emotion topics from the notes.
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What is the core idea of Piaget’s cognitive development theory?
Children actively construct knowledge as they grow; cognitive development progresses through predictable stages rather than kids being miniature adults.
Piaget Stage 1: Sensorimotor (0–2 years) hallmarks?
Object permanence and stranger anxiety.
Sensorimotor definition of object permanence?
Awareness that objects continue to exist even when not seen, heard, or touched.
Piaget Stage 2: Preoperational (≈2–7 years) hallmark?
Emergence of symbolic thought and pretend play; egocentrism; struggle with conservation tasks.
Preoperational egocentrism definition?
Inability to understand another’s perspective; assumes others see and feel as they do.
Why do children in the preoperational stage struggle with conservation tasks?
They focus on one dimension such as height of liquid and don’t understand volume remains the same.
Piaget Stage 3: Concrete Operational (≈7–11 years) hallmark?
Understanding conservation and reversibility; logical thinking about concrete events; no hypothetical reasoning yet.
Concrete Operational reversibility definition?
Understanding that numbers or objects can be changed and returned to their original state.
Piaget Stage 4: Formal Operational (12+ years) hallmark?
Abstract thought, hypothesis testing, moral reasoning; solving novel problems with abstract logic.
Schemas (Piaget) definition?
Mental frameworks that organize and interpret information.
Assimilation (Piaget) definition?
Integrating new information into existing schemas.
Accommodation (Piaget) definition?
Adjusting or creating schemas to fit new information.
Equilibration in cognitive development?
Movement between assimilation and accommodation to restore cognitive balance.
Well-defined vs ill-defined problems?
Well-defined problems have clear start and end points; ill-defined problems lack obvious goals or information.
Problem solving strategy: trial and error?
Random attempts until something works; often inefficient and poorly tracks past attempts.
Problem solving strategy: algorithm?
Methodical step-by-step procedure guaranteed to yield a solution, though sometimes inefficient.
Problem solving strategy: heuristics?
Mental shortcuts that speed up decisions but are not guaranteed to be correct.
Means–ends analysis heuristic?
Break the problem into subproblems and tackle the largest gap first between current and goal state.
Working backward heuristic?
Start from the goal state and reason back to the current state.
Fixation in problem solving?
Getting stuck on an ineffective approach and missing better solutions.
Insight vs incubation in problem solving?
Insight is the sudden solution; incubation is the solution arising after a break from the problem.
Type I error in basic terms?
False positive; concluding there is an effect when none exists.
Type II error in basic terms?
False negative; failing to detect a real effect.
Availability heuristic?
Estimating likelihood from how easily examples come to mind.
Representativeness heuristic?
Judging probability by how much something matches a prototype.
Conjunction fallacy?
Believing the conjunction of two events is more probable than one event alone.
Anchoring and adjustment heuristic?
Start with an initial anchor value and adjust; often adjustments are insufficient.
Overconfidence bias?
Overestimating the accuracy of one’s knowledge or judgments.
Belief perseverance?
Clinging to initial beliefs even with disconfirming evidence.
Confirmation bias?
Seeking information that confirms preexisting beliefs and ignoring contrary data.
Framing effects?
Choice outcomes change based on positive versus negative framing.
Semantic networks: concept?
Knowledge organized as nodes connected by links; related ideas have stronger or shorter links.
Spreading activation?
Activation of one node triggers related nodes, aiding retrieval and sometimes creating false memories.
Definition of intelligence?
Mental ability enabling learning from experience, problem solving, and adapting to new situations.
IQ: average and SD?
Average 100 with standard deviation around 15.
Spearman’s g factor?
General intelligence underlying performance across diverse cognitive tasks.
Sternberg’s triarchic theory?
Analytical, creative, and practical intelligences linked to real-world success.
Gardner’s multiple intelligences?
Seven to nine relatively independent abilities such as logical-mathematical, verbal-linguistic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, plus naturalist and existential.
Emotional intelligence: definition?
Ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively.
Fluid intelligence definition?
Ability to reason quickly and solve novel problems independent of prior knowledge; tends to decline with age.
Crystallized intelligence definition?
Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills from experience; tends to stay stable or increase with age.
Cattell on fluid vs crystallized intelligence?
Fluid: reasoning about novel problems; Crystallized: using learned knowledge.
Convergent intelligence (Guilford)?
Intelligence measured by standard IQ-type tasks converging on a single correct answer.
Binet’s original intent for IQ testing?
Assess a child’s mental age to predict school performance.
Stanford–Binet revision (Terman) note?
Adapted for U.S. use; extended to teens and adults; early misuse due to language bias.
Nature vs nurture in intelligence: twin studies?
Identical twins raised together show higher correlations; raised apart or fraternal twins show lower correlations, indicating both genetics and environment matter.
Fixed vs growth mindset?
Fixed: intelligence is static; Growth: intelligence can change with effort.
Galton’s hereditary genius?
Proposed that ability is largely genetic.
Mental age definition?
Level at which a child performs relative to the average for their age.
Aging and cognitive declines?
Declines in recall, episodic memory, processing speed, and divided attention.
Aging and cognitive stability?
Implicit memory and recognition memory remain relatively stable.
Aging and cognitive improvements?
Semantic memory and crystallized intelligence can improve or remain stable; emotional reasoning can improve.
Lateralization of language?
About 90% have left-hemisphere language dominance.
Broca’s area: location and function?
Inferior frontal gyrus; language production/speech.
Wernicke’s area: location and function?
Posterior superior temporal gyrus; language comprehension.
Aphasia: general definition?
Language disorder from brain damage affecting speaking, listening, reading, or writing.
Broca’s aphasia features?
Nonfluent, effortful speech with relatively preserved comprehension; often with apraxia.
Wernicke’s aphasia features?
Fluent but meaningless speech and poor comprehension; neologisms; unaware of deficits.
Global aphasia?
Severe impairment of language production and comprehension; both Broca and Wernicke areas affected.
Conduction aphasia: lesion and deficit?
Damage to the arcuate fasciculus; impaired repetition despite relatively preserved comprehension and production.
Agraphia definition?
Inability to write.
Anomia (anomic aphasia) definition?
Impaired naming or word-finding difficulty; trouble retrieving words for objects.
Arcuate fasciculus significance?
White-matter tract connecting Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas; present in signers and supports language coupling across modalities.
Neuroplasticity and language recovery?
Post-stroke language recovery can involve recruiting other regions and strengthening new connections.
Corpus callosum: function?
Thick band of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres and enables interhemispheric communication.
Split-brain visual field naming deficit?
If an object is in the left visual field, it is processed by the right hemisphere; cannot verbally name it but can be manipulated with the left hand.
Contralateral organization?
Each hemisphere processes the opposite side of the body and controls opposite-side movements.
Prosody: lateralization and role?
Primarily right-hemisphere; conveys intonation, rhythm, emotion, and discourse features.
Left vs Right brain broad tendencies?
Left: logical, sequential, analytical; Right: intuitive, holistic; real brains are integrated.
Linguistic universals theory?
Some features are common across all human languages.
Universalism vs linguistic determinism?
Weak form: language influences thought; strong form: language determines thought.
Piaget on thought and language?
Cognitive development drives language; concepts prompt words.
Vygotsky interactionist view on thought and language?
Thought and language start independent but converge through social interaction and scaffolding.
Linguistic determinism weak (Sapir–Whorf) definition?
Language influences habitual thought but does not fully determine it.
Linguistic determinism strong (Sapir–Whorf) definition?
Language determines thought and perception; linguistic categories limit cognition.
Nativist theory of language (Chomsky)?
Humans are born with a Language Acquisition Device and universal grammar; language ability is innate.
Critical/sensitive period for language?
Early window roughly birth to age 8–9; language is learned more readily then.
Transformational grammar?
Rules for moving from deep structure to surface forms to convey meaning.
Learning theory of language (Skinner)?
Language learned via operant conditioning, reinforcement, and imitation; may not explain novel sentences.
Interactionist theory of language development (Vygotsky)?
Biological readiness plus social motivation; language develops through social interaction.
Neural networking theory in language?
Innate neural mechanisms can be activated by experience to support language learning.
Lexicon definition?
Vocabulary items and morphemes of a language; in ASL includes signs and morphological elements.
Lexical access definition?
Identifying a word and linking it to its stored meaning in memory.
Phonology definition?
Sound system of a language; about 40 phonemes in English; ASL uses phoneme-like units via movements and locations.
Categorical perception in phonology?
Ability to distinguish meaningful sound categories (phonemes) despite acoustic variation.
Morphology definition?
Structure of words and the combination of morphemes.
Semantics definition?
Meanings of words, phrases, and sentences; semantic violations elicit larger N400 in ERPs.
Syntax definition?
Rules governing word order and sentence structure; syntactic violations elicit larger P600 in ERPs.
Pragmatics definition?
Language use in context; depends on background knowledge and prosody.
Do all animals have language MCAT?
Many species communicate, but human language with syntax and generativity is unique.
Babbling universality significance?
Babbling is a universal early stage of language development.
Limbic system HAT?
Hippocampus, Amygdala, Thalamus, and associated cortex; often summarized as HAT.
Thalamus role in emotion context?
Sensory relay station routing inputs to cortex; smell can bypass thalamus and go toward the amygdala.
Amygdala role?
Key for fear, anger, and anxiety; stimulation causes fear or aggression; bilateral lesions produce changes such as disinhibition.
Hippocampus role?
Forms new long-term memories; bilateral damage leads to anterograde amnesia.
Hypothalamus role?
Regulates autonomic nervous system and endocrine responses; drives like hunger, thirst, sleep, and sex.
Hemispheric asymmetry in emotion?
Left hemisphere activity tends to be related to positive/approach emotions; right to negative/withdrawal emotions.
Prefrontal cortex: executive functions?
High-order control such as planning, decision making, impulse control, and social behavior.
Sympathetic nervous system changes?
Pupils dilate; saliva decreases; respiration and heart rate increase; glucose release up; epinephrine and norepinephrine rise; digestion decreases.
Parasympathetic nervous system changes?
Pupils constrict; saliva increases; respiration and heart rate slow; glucose storage increases; digestion increases.