AP Psychology Unit 2: Cognition

Cognition

Central to psychology, encompassing memory processes relevant to daily life.

Memory

The mental capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information.

Thinking

The process of using one's mind to produce thoughts, judgments, and decisions.

Problem-Solving

The mental process of finding solutions to difficult or complex issues.

Judgment

The ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions.

Decision-Making

The cognitive process of selecting a course of action from multiple alternatives.

Nudge

A subtle policy shift that encourages people to make decisions that are in their broad self-interest.

Gambler's Fallacy

The belief that past random events affect the probabilities in future random events.

Sunk-Cost Fallacy

The tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made.

Functional Fixedness

A cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used.

Insight

The sudden realization of a problem's solution.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one's preconceptions.

Metacognition

Awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.

Prototype

A mental image or best example of a category.

Schema

A cognitive framework that helps organize and interpret information.

Assimilation

The process of taking in new information and incorporating it into existing cognitive schemas.

Accommodation

The process of altering one's existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences.

Executive Functions

Cognitive processes that include working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control.

Algorithm

A step-by-step procedure for solving a problem.

Heuristic

A mental shortcut that allows people to solve problems and make judgments quickly.

Creativity

The ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

Divergent Thinking

A thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.

Convergent Thinking

The ability to give the correct answer to standard questions that do not require significant creativity.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

A long-lasting enhancement in signal transmission between two neurons that results from stimulating them simultaneously.

Explicit Memory

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare.

Implicit Memory

Retention independent of conscious recollection.

Prospective Memory

Remembering to perform an action in the future.

Working Memory

A system for temporarily holding and manipulating information.

Sensory Memory

The shortest-term element of memory, retaining impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli have ended.

Effective Storage

Relies on the Process of Encoding

Encode

The process of converting information into a form that can be stored in memory.

Mnemonic Devices

Techniques that aid memory retention through association.

Method of Loci

A mnemonic device that uses visualization of familiar spatial environments to enhance memory.

Chunking

A method of grouping information into larger, manageable units to improve memory retention.

The Spacing Effect

The phenomenon where information is better retained when study sessions are spaced out over time.

Massed Practice

A study technique where learning occurs in a single session without breaks.

Distributed Practice

A study technique where learning is spread out over multiple sessions.

Serial Position Effect

The tendency to remember the first and last items in a list better than the middle items.

Autobiographical Memory

Memory of personal experiences and specific events in one's life.

Flashbulb Memory

A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event.

Retrograde Amnesia

The inability to recall memories formed before a specific event, usually an injury.

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to form new memories after a specific event.

Alzheimer's Disease

A progressive neurological disorder that causes memory loss and cognitive decline.

Infantile Amnesia

The inability to remember events from early childhood.

Sensory Memory

The brief retention of sensory information.

Short-Term Memory

The capacity for holding a small amount of information in an active state for a short period.

Long-Term Memory

The continuous storage of information over an extended period.

Memory Consolidation

The process of stabilizing a memory trace after the initial acquisition.

Maintenance Rehearsal

A technique for keeping information in short-term memory by repetition.

Elaborative Rehearsal

A technique for improving memory by associating new information with existing knowledge.

Recognition and Recall

Recognition is identifying previously learned information, while recall is retrieving it without cues.

Context-Dependent Memory

The improved recall of specific episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same.

Mood-Congruent Memory

The tendency to recall memories that are consistent with one's current mood.

State-Dependent Memory

The phenomenon where people are more likely to remember information if they are in the same state of consciousness as when they learned it.

Testing Effect

The improved memory performance that results from retrieving information during testing.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

The sensation of knowing that a specific piece of information is stored in memory but being unable to retrieve it.