Cognitive Psychology CTY 2025 Post Test

Ulric Neisser

Father of Cognitive Psychology

Jean Piaget

Developmental stages

Noam Chomsky

Language acquisition theory

Donald Broadbent

Selective attention theory

George Miller

Working memory capacity ('The Magic Number 7')

Cognitive Revolution

A shift from behaviorism to focus on internal mental processes.

Information Processing Model

Mind is like a computer

Bottom-Up Processing

Perception driven by raw sensory data.

Top-Down Processing

Perception influenced by prior knowledge or expectations.

Inattentional Blindness

Failure to notice unexpected stimuli.

Attentional Blink

Missing a second stimulus when it quickly follows the first.

Optical Illusions

Reveal how perception can be tricked.

Hippocampus

Memory consolidation.

Prefrontal Cortex

Attention, decision-making.

Sensory Memory

Brief, lasts milliseconds.

Working Memory

Short-term; holds info for 30 seconds.

Long-Term Memory

Relatively permanent.

Semantic Memory

Knowing what a cat is.

Episodic Memory

Remembering your graduation.

Procedural Memory

Riding a bike, typing.

Flashbulb Memory

Vivid memory tied to emotion.

Prospective Memory

Remembering to do something later.

Case Study

In-depth analysis of one individual.

Experiment

Measures cause and effect.

Correlation

Measures relationship, not causality.

Random Assignment

Helps avoid bias.

Confounding Variable

Unexpected factor affecting results.

Statistical Significance

Not due to chance (typically p < .05).

Quasi-Experiment

Lacks random assignment.

Prosopagnosia

Can't recognize faces.

Synesthesia

Blending of senses (e.g., colors + letters).

Motion Blindness

Can't detect movement.

Phantom Limb

Sensation in missing limb.

Visual Agnosia

Can't recognize objects.

Broca's Area

Speech production.

Wernicke's Area

Language comprehension.

Phoneme

Smallest sound unit.

Morpheme

Smallest meaningful unit.

Syntax

Grammar rules.

Pragmatics

Social/contextual language use.

Confirmation Bias

Seeking info that supports beliefs.

Availability Heuristic

Judging likelihood by memory ease (e.g., plane crashes).

Representativeness Bias

Stereotyping based on similarity.

Overconfidence Bias

Thinking you're more accurate than you are.

Functional Fixedness

Inability to see alternative uses for objects.

Insight Learning

Sudden realization (aha! moment).

Gardner

Multiple Intelligences.

Sternberg

Triarchic (analytical, creative, practical).

Spearman

g factor (general intelligence).

Goleman

Emotional Intelligence (EQ).

Aptitude Test

Measures potential to learn.

Achievement Test

Measures what you've learned.

Flynn Effect

IQ scores have increased over generations.

fMRI

Blood flow (active brain areas).

EEG

Measures brain's electrical activity.

PET

Brain activity via radioactive tracer.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Language influences thought.

Bilingualism

Enhances cognitive flexibility, delay in dementia.

Cultural Cognition

Influences memory, attention, decision-making.

Cognitive Load

Mental effort required; affected by multitasking.

Cognitive Offloading

Using tools (e.g., phone calendar) to reduce memory demands.

Decision Fatigue

Decline in quality of decisions after many choices.

Mnemonic Device

Mnemonic for the stages of memory: 'ESR' → Encoding, Storage, Retrieval.

Dopamine

Reward, motivation, movement.

Serotonin

Mood, sleep, appetite.

Acetylcholine

Muscle control, memory.

Norepinephrine

Alertness, arousal.

Epinephrine

Fight/flight response.

GABA

Main inhibitory NT, calming.

Glutamate

Main excitatory NT, learning.

Endorphins

Pain relief, euphoria.

Oxytocin

Bonding, trust.

Histamine

Wakefulness, immunity.

Substance P

Pain transmission.

Anandamide

Appetite, pain, mood.

Nitric Oxide

Neural signaling, vasodilation.

Neuroplasticity

Ability of the brain to reorganize itself.

Vasopressin

Memory, social behavior.

CRF

Stress Response

Melatonin

Sleep regulation.

Dynorphins

Pain and emotion.

Glycine

Inhibitory neurotransmitter in spinal cord

Neuropeptide Y

Appetite, stress resilience.

Cholecystokinin (CCK)

Eating behavior.