Unit 4 Exam Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes about Cognition, Language, Intelligence, and Motivation.

Cognitive Psychology

The scientific study of mental processes, including perception, attention, thought, and language.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The scientific study of the biological basis of mental processes by examining brain activity.

Cognition

A general term for mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge.

Thinking

The manipulation of mental representations of information to draw inferences and conclusions.

Mental Images

Mental representation of objects or events that are not due to external visual input.

Concepts

Mental category of objects or ideas typically based on shared properties.

Prototype Theory

Concepts are represented by an abstract 'best example' or prototype.

Exemplar Theory

Concepts are represented by collections of specific remembered examples (exemplars).

Fusiform Facial Area (FFA)

Brain area activated when looking at a face or imagining one.

Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA)

Brain area activated when looking at a place or imagining one.

Algorithm

Using a specific rule, procedure, or method that is guaranteed to produce the correct solution.

Heuristics

Following a general rule of thumb to reduce the number of possible solutions.

Insight

Sudden realization of how a problem can be solved.

Functional Fixedness

Tendency to view objects as functioning only in their usual or customary way.

Mental Set

Tendency to persist in solving problems with solutions that have worked in the past.

Availability Heuristic

Probability of an event judged by how easily previous occurrences of that event can be recalled.

Representativeness Heuristic

Likelihood of an event is estimated by comparing how similar it is to the prototype of the event.

Language

A structured system of communication using symbols, sounds, gestures, or written characters.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Suggests language shapes how we perceive and categorize the world (linguistic relativity).

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

A mental component that gives Children an innate capacity for language (Universal Grammar).

Cooing

Repeating vowel sounds such as ahhhh or oooo. Occurs at ~3 months

Babbling

Adding consonants to the vowels and string sounds: ba-ba-ba, de-de-de, ma-ma-ma. Occurs at ~5 months

G-factor

A general intelligence factor that is responsible for a person’s overall performance on tests of mental ability.

Intelligence

Global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment.

Mental age

To quantify a child’s mental age they used standard test like identify missing objects from scenes, define words, repeat back sentences.

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

General intelligence score derived by comparing an individual’s score with the scores of others in the same age group.

Standardization

Test is administered to a large, representative sample of people to establish norms.

Reliability

Ability of a test to produce consistent results when administered on repeated occasions.

Validity

Ability of test to measure what it is intended to measure.

Flynn Effect

Improvement in average IQ scores has occurred in several cultures and countries during the past few generations.

Mirror Test

Visual Self recognition. Developed by Gordon Gallup Jr in 1970 to assess self-awareness in animals.

Numerical Cognition

The ability to perceive, process, and manipulate numerical quantities.

Subitizing

Immediate recognition of small quantities (1-4) without counting.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Is the field devoted to building artificial animals (or at least artificial creatures that – in suitable contexts – appear to be animals) and, for many, artificial persons (or at least artificial creatures that – in suitable contexts – appear to be persons

Connectionism

A framework for understanding mental processes as networks of simple units.

Statistical learning

Babies pick up on probabilities (e.g., which sounds go together in speech).

Motivation

The process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors.

Instinct Theory

Proposes that behaviors are innate and universal within species.

Drive Theory

Biological needs create internal states of tension (drives).

Incentive Theory

External stimuli (incentives) pull us toward certain behaviors.

Arousal Theory

People are motivated to maintain optimal level of arousal.

Humanistic Theory

Focuses on psychological growth and self-fulfillment. Emphasizes free will and personal choice

Self-Actualization

Realizing one's full potential and capabilities.

Self-Determination Theory

Focuses on intrinsic motivation and psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness).

Emotions

More intense, brief, specific trigger

Moods

Less intense, longer-lasting, often without clear cause

James-Lange Theory

Physical reactions occur first, emotions follow

Cannon-Bard Theory

Emotion and physiological arousal occur simultaneously

Trial and error

If at first you don’t succeed… try, try again!

Affect-based

Making decisions based on emotions or gut feeling

What is Language?

Language is a structured system of communication using symbols, sounds, gestures, or written characters

Bonobos, dolphins, and parrots

can respond to spoken commands and questions but not nearly as well as humans

Kanzi the Bonobo

Extremely skilled at using lexigrams (symbols on a keyboard that represent words). Understood over 400 symbols! Understood English at a very basic level was able to follow simple novel instructions.

Communication in Prairie Dogs

Use specific calls that directly correspond to distinct cognitive behaviors ( establish territory vs warning of predators).

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Which included both a verbal and performance scale .

Carroll Three-Stratum Model and the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory of Intelligence

Combined models break intelligence into 3 layers or strata

Intellectual disability

< 70 IQ

Intellectual giftedness

130 or higher

Descartes

Animals are automata lack rational minds

Behaviorism

Focused on external cognitive behavior & conditioning

Dancing to communicate food sources in Bees

Forager honeybees use dance as means to communicate the location of food sources.

Higher emotional intelligence

first allows for reduced conflict as cognitive warning systems as cogntive warning systems and better assessment of rivals strength / desire to fight developed

Numerical discrimination

Distinguishing between different quantities

Ordinal understanding

Comprehending that numbers follow a sequence

Arithmetic operations

Basic addition, subtraction, or other manipulations

Abstract number concept

Understanding number independent of physical properties

What is Motivation?

Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Pyramid model with five levels of needs that motivate behaviorLower needs must be reasonably satisfied before higher needs become dominant.

Darwin's Observations About Emotions

Documented similarities in emotional expressions across cultures and speciesProposed emotions evolved because they had survival value.

Paul Ekman's six basic emotions

Happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, surprise