MCAT Psych/Soc Flashcards – Cognition, Language, Emotion

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180 Q&A style flashcards covering cognition, language, and emotion topics from the notes.

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128 Terms

1
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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.

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Piaget Stage 1: Sensorimotor (0–2 years) hallmarks?

Object permanence and stranger anxiety.

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Sensorimotor definition of object permanence?

Awareness that objects continue to exist even when not seen, heard, or touched.

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Piaget Stage 2: Preoperational (≈2–7 years) hallmark?

Emergence of symbolic thought and pretend play; egocentrism; struggle with conservation tasks.

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Preoperational egocentrism definition?

Inability to understand another’s perspective; assumes others see and feel as they do.

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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.

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Piaget Stage 3: Concrete Operational (≈7–11 years) hallmark?

Understanding conservation and reversibility; logical thinking about concrete events; no hypothetical reasoning yet.

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Concrete Operational reversibility definition?

Understanding that numbers or objects can be changed and returned to their original state.

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Piaget Stage 4: Formal Operational (12+ years) hallmark?

Abstract thought, hypothesis testing, moral reasoning; solving novel problems with abstract logic.

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Schemas (Piaget) definition?

Mental frameworks that organize and interpret information.

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Assimilation (Piaget) definition?

Integrating new information into existing schemas.

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Accommodation (Piaget) definition?

Adjusting or creating schemas to fit new information.

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Equilibration in cognitive development?

Movement between assimilation and accommodation to restore cognitive balance.

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Well-defined vs ill-defined problems?

Well-defined problems have clear start and end points; ill-defined problems lack obvious goals or information.

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Problem solving strategy: trial and error?

Random attempts until something works; often inefficient and poorly tracks past attempts.

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Problem solving strategy: algorithm?

Methodical step-by-step procedure guaranteed to yield a solution, though sometimes inefficient.

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Problem solving strategy: heuristics?

Mental shortcuts that speed up decisions but are not guaranteed to be correct.

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Means–ends analysis heuristic?

Break the problem into subproblems and tackle the largest gap first between current and goal state.

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Working backward heuristic?

Start from the goal state and reason back to the current state.

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Fixation in problem solving?

Getting stuck on an ineffective approach and missing better solutions.

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Insight vs incubation in problem solving?

Insight is the sudden solution; incubation is the solution arising after a break from the problem.

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Type I error in basic terms?

False positive; concluding there is an effect when none exists.

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Type II error in basic terms?

False negative; failing to detect a real effect.

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Availability heuristic?

Estimating likelihood from how easily examples come to mind.

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Representativeness heuristic?

Judging probability by how much something matches a prototype.

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Conjunction fallacy?

Believing the conjunction of two events is more probable than one event alone.

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Anchoring and adjustment heuristic?

Start with an initial anchor value and adjust; often adjustments are insufficient.

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Overconfidence bias?

Overestimating the accuracy of one’s knowledge or judgments.

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Belief perseverance?

Clinging to initial beliefs even with disconfirming evidence.

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Confirmation bias?

Seeking information that confirms preexisting beliefs and ignoring contrary data.

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Framing effects?

Choice outcomes change based on positive versus negative framing.

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Semantic networks: concept?

Knowledge organized as nodes connected by links; related ideas have stronger or shorter links.

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Spreading activation?

Activation of one node triggers related nodes, aiding retrieval and sometimes creating false memories.

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Definition of intelligence?

Mental ability enabling learning from experience, problem solving, and adapting to new situations.

35
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IQ: average and SD?

Average 100 with standard deviation around 15.

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Spearman’s g factor?

General intelligence underlying performance across diverse cognitive tasks.

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Sternberg’s triarchic theory?

Analytical, creative, and practical intelligences linked to real-world success.

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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.

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Emotional intelligence: definition?

Ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively.

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Fluid intelligence definition?

Ability to reason quickly and solve novel problems independent of prior knowledge; tends to decline with age.

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Crystallized intelligence definition?

Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills from experience; tends to stay stable or increase with age.

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Cattell on fluid vs crystallized intelligence?

Fluid: reasoning about novel problems; Crystallized: using learned knowledge.

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Convergent intelligence (Guilford)?

Intelligence measured by standard IQ-type tasks converging on a single correct answer.

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Binet’s original intent for IQ testing?

Assess a child’s mental age to predict school performance.

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Stanford–Binet revision (Terman) note?

Adapted for U.S. use; extended to teens and adults; early misuse due to language bias.

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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.

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Fixed vs growth mindset?

Fixed: intelligence is static; Growth: intelligence can change with effort.

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Galton’s hereditary genius?

Proposed that ability is largely genetic.

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Mental age definition?

Level at which a child performs relative to the average for their age.

50
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Aging and cognitive declines?

Declines in recall, episodic memory, processing speed, and divided attention.

51
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Aging and cognitive stability?

Implicit memory and recognition memory remain relatively stable.

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Aging and cognitive improvements?

Semantic memory and crystallized intelligence can improve or remain stable; emotional reasoning can improve.

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Lateralization of language?

About 90% have left-hemisphere language dominance.

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Broca’s area: location and function?

Inferior frontal gyrus; language production/speech.

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Wernicke’s area: location and function?

Posterior superior temporal gyrus; language comprehension.

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Aphasia: general definition?

Language disorder from brain damage affecting speaking, listening, reading, or writing.

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Broca’s aphasia features?

Nonfluent, effortful speech with relatively preserved comprehension; often with apraxia.

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Wernicke’s aphasia features?

Fluent but meaningless speech and poor comprehension; neologisms; unaware of deficits.

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Global aphasia?

Severe impairment of language production and comprehension; both Broca and Wernicke areas affected.

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Conduction aphasia: lesion and deficit?

Damage to the arcuate fasciculus; impaired repetition despite relatively preserved comprehension and production.

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Agraphia definition?

Inability to write.

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Anomia (anomic aphasia) definition?

Impaired naming or word-finding difficulty; trouble retrieving words for objects.

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Arcuate fasciculus significance?

White-matter tract connecting Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas; present in signers and supports language coupling across modalities.

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Neuroplasticity and language recovery?

Post-stroke language recovery can involve recruiting other regions and strengthening new connections.

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Corpus callosum: function?

Thick band of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres and enables interhemispheric communication.

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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.

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Contralateral organization?

Each hemisphere processes the opposite side of the body and controls opposite-side movements.

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Prosody: lateralization and role?

Primarily right-hemisphere; conveys intonation, rhythm, emotion, and discourse features.

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Left vs Right brain broad tendencies?

Left: logical, sequential, analytical; Right: intuitive, holistic; real brains are integrated.

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Linguistic universals theory?

Some features are common across all human languages.

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Universalism vs linguistic determinism?

Weak form: language influences thought; strong form: language determines thought.

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Piaget on thought and language?

Cognitive development drives language; concepts prompt words.

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Vygotsky interactionist view on thought and language?

Thought and language start independent but converge through social interaction and scaffolding.

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Linguistic determinism weak (Sapir–Whorf) definition?

Language influences habitual thought but does not fully determine it.

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Linguistic determinism strong (Sapir–Whorf) definition?

Language determines thought and perception; linguistic categories limit cognition.

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Nativist theory of language (Chomsky)?

Humans are born with a Language Acquisition Device and universal grammar; language ability is innate.

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Critical/sensitive period for language?

Early window roughly birth to age 8–9; language is learned more readily then.

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Transformational grammar?

Rules for moving from deep structure to surface forms to convey meaning.

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Learning theory of language (Skinner)?

Language learned via operant conditioning, reinforcement, and imitation; may not explain novel sentences.

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Interactionist theory of language development (Vygotsky)?

Biological readiness plus social motivation; language develops through social interaction.

81
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Neural networking theory in language?

Innate neural mechanisms can be activated by experience to support language learning.

82
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Lexicon definition?

Vocabulary items and morphemes of a language; in ASL includes signs and morphological elements.

83
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Lexical access definition?

Identifying a word and linking it to its stored meaning in memory.

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Phonology definition?

Sound system of a language; about 40 phonemes in English; ASL uses phoneme-like units via movements and locations.

85
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Categorical perception in phonology?

Ability to distinguish meaningful sound categories (phonemes) despite acoustic variation.

86
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Morphology definition?

Structure of words and the combination of morphemes.

87
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Semantics definition?

Meanings of words, phrases, and sentences; semantic violations elicit larger N400 in ERPs.

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Syntax definition?

Rules governing word order and sentence structure; syntactic violations elicit larger P600 in ERPs.

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Pragmatics definition?

Language use in context; depends on background knowledge and prosody.

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Do all animals have language MCAT?

Many species communicate, but human language with syntax and generativity is unique.

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Babbling universality significance?

Babbling is a universal early stage of language development.

92
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Limbic system HAT?

Hippocampus, Amygdala, Thalamus, and associated cortex; often summarized as HAT.

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Thalamus role in emotion context?

Sensory relay station routing inputs to cortex; smell can bypass thalamus and go toward the amygdala.

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Amygdala role?

Key for fear, anger, and anxiety; stimulation causes fear or aggression; bilateral lesions produce changes such as disinhibition.

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Hippocampus role?

Forms new long-term memories; bilateral damage leads to anterograde amnesia.

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Hypothalamus role?

Regulates autonomic nervous system and endocrine responses; drives like hunger, thirst, sleep, and sex.

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Hemispheric asymmetry in emotion?

Left hemisphere activity tends to be related to positive/approach emotions; right to negative/withdrawal emotions.

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Prefrontal cortex: executive functions?

High-order control such as planning, decision making, impulse control, and social behavior.

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Sympathetic nervous system changes?

Pupils dilate; saliva decreases; respiration and heart rate increase; glucose release up; epinephrine and norepinephrine rise; digestion decreases.

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Parasympathetic nervous system changes?

Pupils constrict; saliva increases; respiration and heart rate slow; glucose storage increases; digestion increases.