week 7 - cognitive thinking

Thinking (Cognition)

Mental activity that goes on in the brain when a person is processing information, involving organization, understanding, communication, words, and images.

Attention

A limited resource made up of a set of processes that control the flow of information through the nervous system.

Selective Attention

Selecting some sources of input for dedicated processing.

Sustained Attention

The ability to maintain a state of alertness and focus for a longer period of time.

Mental Images

Mental representations that stand for objects or events and possess a picture-like quality.

Concepts

Categories of linguistic information, images, ideas, or memories used to see relationships among different elements of experience.

Natural Concepts

Concepts created naturally through either direct or indirect experience, such as the concept of snow.

Artificial Concepts

Concepts defined by a specific set of characteristics with strict, objective, and unchanging rules, such as geometric shapes.

Prototype

The best example or representation of a concept that varies based on individual experience.

Prototype

Associated with the left hemisphere and visual cortex for holistic processing.

Exemplar

Associated with the right hemisphere, prefrontal cortex, and basal ganglia for analysis and decisions.

Schema

A mental construct consisting of a collection of related concepts that automatically trigger assumptions about people, objects, or situations.

Role Schema

A schema that makes assumptions about how individuals in certain social roles will behave.

Event Schema (Cognitive Script)

A set of routine or automatic behaviors that dictate actions and make habits difficult to break.

Trial and Error

A problem-solving strategy involving continuing to try different solutions until the problem is solved.

Algorithm

A step-by-step problem-solving formula.

Heuristic

A general problem-solving framework or mental shortcut (rule of thumb).

Working-Backwards Heuristic

A problem-solving heuristic that begins by focusing on the end result first.

Sub-Goaling

A heuristic that involves breaking large tasks into a series of smaller steps.

Conditions for Using Heuristics

Used when faced with too much information, limited time, unimportant decisions, little available information, or when an appropriate heuristic readily comes to mind.

Functional Fixedness

The inability to see an object being used for anything other than the specific way it was designed.