ap psych - unit 5 vocab (31-36, 60-64)

koch 22-23

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to broca’s (speaking) or wernicke’s (understanding) area

algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees slicing a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier- but also more error-prone - use of heuristics

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

achievement test

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

aptitude test

a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common

broca’s area

controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

babbling stage

beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

belief perseverance

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our perceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory information

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

creativity

the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

concept

mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

convergent thinking

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

chunking

organizing item into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

cohort

a group of people from a given time period

crystalized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

content validity

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

deja vu

that eerie sense that “i’ve experienced this before”. Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

deep processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention

down syndrome

condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosomes

divergent thinking

expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions)

ebbinghaus retention curve

the more times you practice something in a day, the more you can remember and spend less time practicing on the next day

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

explicit memory

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare” (aka declarative memory)

echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3-4 seconds

encoding

the processing of information into the memory system - ex: extracting meaning

emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions if performance that underlie a person's total score

grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. In a given language, semantics is the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

general intelligence

(g) a general intelligence factor that, according to spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

grit

in psychology, grit is passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goal

heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms

hippocampus

a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage

heritability

the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied

intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

insight

a sudden realization of a problems solution; contrasts with strategy based solutions

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

implicit memory

retention independent of conscious recollection (aka nondeclarative memory)

intelligence

mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problem, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Intelligence test

a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

Intellectual disability

a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or lower and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life

Intelligence quotient

(iq) defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus iq=ma/ca*100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100, with scores assigned relative performance above or below average

linguistic determinism

whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

long-term potentiation

(ltp) an increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences

morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or part of a word (such as a prefix)

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, novel stimuli increases liking of them

misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

mood-congruent memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

memory

the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

mental age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8

normal curve

(normal distribution) a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (about 68% fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes

one-word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1-2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments

phoneme

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category, matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)

proactive interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

priming

the activation, often unconsciously of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

parallel processing

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brains natural ode of information processing for many functions including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving

predictive validity

the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior (aka criterion-related variability)

representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

retroactive interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

recognition

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

recall

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test

relearning

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again

retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retests

source amnesia

attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. (aka source misattribution). Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories

shallow processing

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items ( a primary effect) in a list

storage

the process of retaining encoded information over time

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

short-term memory

activated memory that holds few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

standardization

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

stereotype threat

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

stanford-binet

the widely used american revision (by terman at stanford university) of binet’s original intelligence test

two-word stage

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram - “go car” - using mostly nouns and verbs

testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information. Also sometimes referred to as retrieval practice effect or test-enhancing learning

validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what is supposed to visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

wechsler adult intelligence scale

(wais) the wais is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

wernicke’s area

controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and

richard atkinson

was able to put the mind in theory in mathematical terms. came up with the 3 stages of memory sensory, short term, and long term memories.

richard shiffrin

worked with atkinson to develop the 3 stages of memory and putting the mind in mathematical terms. also helped come up with the iconic, and echoic memories.

george a. miller

worked in short term memory and coined the phrase “the magical number 7 plus or minus 2” when describing the human memory.

hermann ebbinghaus

created the forgetting curve- information is mostly forgotten within the first 20 minutes/hour/day. this curve like the learning curve are exponential.

eric kandel

researched the physiological basis for memory storage in neurons. used a sea slug called aplysia.

elizabeth loftus

studied false memory formation and the misinformation effect. famous for the car crash experiment.