Psychology Exam 3 Study Guide

What does encoding refer to?

• The initial process of receiving, interpreting, and transforming sensory stimuli into a meaningful mental representation or memory trace.

• First stage of memory

What does storage refer to?

• The retention of encoded information over time; the mental, neurological process of maintaining information in sensory, short-term, or long-term memory systems, allowing it to be accessed later.

• Second stage of memory

What does retrieval refer to?

• The cognitive process of accessing, recovering, and bringing stored information from long-term memory back into conscious awareness.

• Third and final stage of memory

Rehearsal

• Process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about information.

• Rehearsing first item interferes with later items

Short-term memory (working memory)

• A mental “scratchpad” that lasts only about 20-30s

• Capacity for # is about 7 (give or take)

Serial position effect

First and last items of a list are easier to remember than those in the middle

Primacy effect

• First items are always easier to remember

• Items presented earlier can be rehearsed longer

• Happens during rehearsal

• First item interferes with later items

Recency effect

• Last items is sometimes easier to remember

• Only true if test immediately follows the list

• Last items most likely to stay in short-term memory

Declarative memory (Explicit memory)

• In long term memory

• Semantic memory: like facts and figures, lyrics

• Episodic memory: memories of events and experiences

Non-declarative memory (Implicit memory)

• In long term memory

• Procedural memory – how to do things

• Classical/operant conditioning

Recall

Recall is retrieving information learned earlier

Recognition

Recognition is identifying information previously learned

Context-dependent memory in memory retrieval

• Retrieval cue

• Being in the same situation that you learned helps with retrieving

Mood-congruent memory in memory retrieval

• Retrieval cue

• When happy, more likely to recall happy memories

• When sad, more likely to recall sad memories

Misinformation effect in memory retrieval

When you incorporate misleading information into your memory of an event

Representative Heuristic/bias

• We judge the likelihood of something belonging to one category or another based on how well it

seems to match the prototype (stereotype) of a category

• Leads us to ignore other more important information, such as base rates

• Ex: At Kent, there’s 22 _______ profs, 6 ______profs

• “Stereotypes first, statistics later”

• If it looks a duck, it must be a duck”

Availability Heuristic

• We estimate the likelihood of events based on their “availability” in memory.

• If events come easily to mind, we believe that they are more

  likely to happen than if they don’t come easily to mind

• Causes us to overestimate the likelihood of certain rare, memorable and highly publicized events such as…

• Airline crashes

• Terrorist attacks

• Nuclear accidents

• Shark attacks

• Winning the lottery

• “If I can picture it quickly, it must happen often”

Framing effects

• The way material is presented can affect the kinds of decisions we make

• People more likely take risky actions to avoid something framed as a “loss” than if it’s

framed as a “gain”

• People are very loss averse

• “Same numbers, different reactions”

• “We hate losing more than we like winning”

Rooting reflex

Touch a baby’s cheek, and they open mouth and search for the mother’s breast or bottle for feeding

Habituation

• A decrease in response following repeated exposure to a stimulus. (“Getting used to a situation”)

• Ex: Ignoring the sound of a train passing daily.

Schema

A concept or framework that helps us organize and interpret the world around us

Assimilation

Interpreting one’s new experiences in terms of an existing schema (no change to schema)

Accommodation

Modifying a schema so that it can incorporate new information (changes the schema)

Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development?

1. Sensorimotor stage (0-2yrs)

2. Pre-operational stage (2-6yrs)

3. Concrete operational stage (6-12yrs)

4. Formal operational stage (12+ yrs)

Sensorimotor stage

• (0-2yrs)

• Children discover by sensing and doing

• Children begin differentiating old things and new things (video)

• Can observe this through habituation or EEG measurements

• Schema of causality develops (If I do A then B happens)

• Object permanence develops

Pre-operational stage

• (2-6yrs)

• Language develops

• Theory of mind develops - ability to take another’s perspective

Concrete operational stage

• (6-12yrs)

• Conservation develops

Formal operational stage

• (12+yrs)

• Abstract thinking develops

Object permanence

• When a child recognizes that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible.

• Emerges during Sensorimotor stage(0-2yrs)

Conservation

• Transitions in youngsters’ patterns of thinking, including reasoning, remembering, and problem solving.

• Emerges during Concrete operational stage (6-12yrs)

Theory of mind

• Ability to take another’s perspective

• Emerges during Pre-operational stage (2-6yrs)

“Safe Haven”

• When distressed, an attachment figure provides a source of comfort

• Ex: A mother returning to her baby after physically leaving, thus the baby seeking comfort in her presence

• A person holding/embracing their nervous/distressed spouse

“Secure base”

• When in new environment, an attachment figure offers a source of affection and security that promotes exploration.

• A child going to daycare for the first time while having their mom with them

• A young adult moving to college but have their parents with them

Pre-conventional morality

• (before age 9)

• Morality is guided by self-interest

• “Will I get busted? Will I get a reward?”

Conventional morality

• (early adolescence)

• Morality upholds conventional rules and laws

• Takes into account other people’s evaluations

• “Am I breaking a law? What will other people think of me?”

Post-conventional morality

• (late adolescence)

• Morality is guided by agreed-upon rights and ethical principles

• “Everybody has a right to live.”

• “Do unto others as they should do unto you.”

• “The ends justify the means… Life is worth more than $1000.”