AP psychology unit 5: cognition

Memory

The persistence of learning overtime through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.

storage

the process of retaining encoded information over time.

retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage.

parallel processing

the processing of many aspects of
a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

sensory memory

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

short-term memory

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

long-term memory

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

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

explicit memory

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

implicit memory

retention independent of conscious recollection. (Also called nondeclarative memory.)

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

automatic processing

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

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.

echoic memory

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

haptic memory

momentary sensory memory of physical stimuli. Less than 1 second.

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

mnemonics

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

hierarchies

few broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts.

spacing effect

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

testing effect

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

self-reference effect

we have especially good recall for information we can meaningfully relate to ourselves

serial position effect

when you recall is better for the first and last items on a list, but poor for middle items.

shallow processing

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

deep processing

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

episodic memories

tied to specific episodes of your life

procedural memory

skills like how to ride a bike

hippocampus

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

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

(LTP) long-term potentiation

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

Recall

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

Recognition

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

Relearning

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

priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.

Mood-congruent memory

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

State-dependant memory

memory we usually recall experiencing that are consistent with put state of consciousness and current mood

serial position effect

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

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories.

retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one’s past.

proactive interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new 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

misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event.

source amnesia/source misattribution

attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined.

déjà vu

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

basal ganglia

Deep brain structure involved in motor movement and procedural memories.

cognition

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

concept

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

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).

creativity

the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

convergent thinking

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

divergent thinking

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

Imaginative thinking skills

provide the ability to see things in novel ways, to recognize patterns, and to make connections.

venturesome personality

seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk, and perseveres in overcoming obstacles.

Intrinsic motivation

is being driven more by interest, satisfaction, and challenge than by external pressures

creative environment

environment that sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas

algorithm

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

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.

insight

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

intuition

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

representative 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.

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.

overconfidence

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

belief perserverance

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

belief bias

tendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning.

framing

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

language

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

phenome

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

morpheme

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

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.

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.

one-word stage

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

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.

apasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).

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.

Wernicke's area

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

linguistic determinism

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

intelligence

mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, 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.

genreal 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.

factor anaylsis

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

savant syndrome

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

grit

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

emotional intelligence

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

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.

stanford-binet

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test.

intelligence quotient

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 to relative performance above or below average.

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.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS

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

standardization

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

normal curve

the symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes.

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 retesting.

validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to. (See also content validity and predictive validity.)

content validity

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

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. (Also called criterion-related validity.)

crystalized intelligence

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