psych cognitive memory vocab

Central Executive

It replaces the 'sensory buffer' and directs attention to tasks before allocating information based on modality.

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Where visual and/or spatial information is stored as well as where the visual cache and inner scribe are located.

Phonological Loop

Where auditory information and language (both written and spoken) are dealt with.

Episodic Buffer

It is dedicated to linking information across domains to form integrated units of visual, spatial, and verbal information with time sequencing, such as the memory of a story, event, or a movie scene.

Dual-Task Technique

Two tasks are performed where the primary task is what the researcher is looking to observe and the secondary task merely is a competitor to the primary.

phonological store

holds words heard

articulatory process

holds words heard/seen and silently repeated like an inner voice

inner voice

the result of certain brain mechanisms that allow you to 'hear' yourself talk in your head without actually making any noise

inner scribe

processes spatial and movement information

visual cache

processes what things look like and information about form and color

articulatory suppression

the act of overwhelming the phonological loop and preventing the inner voice from rehearsing (articulatory processes from occurring)

articulatory rehearsal component

the inner voice repeating information

amnesia

loss of memory

amnesiacs

people who have a loss of memory

primacy effect

information presented at the beginning of an experiment is more likely to be remembered due to increased opportunity for rehearsal

recency effect

information presented at the end of an experiment is more likely to be remembered due to it still being within the short term memory duration

retrograde amnesia

the loss of old memories prior to an injury/event

childhood amnesia

a form of retrograde amnesia but specifically relating to the loss of childhood memories

global amnesia

amnesia both prior to or post injury/event

anterograde amnesia

the inability to retain or form new memories made post-injury/event

mean

average of all data points (all data added together and divided by the total number of data points)

standard deviation

a quantity calculated to indicate the extent of deviation for a group as a whole

mann whitney u test

a non-parametric statistical test used to compare two samples or groups (independent measures)

statistical significance

the probability of the null hypothesis being true compared to the acceptable level of uncertainty regarding the true answer

independent samples

an experimental design in which two separate samples are used, one for the experimental condition and one for the control condition

one tailed hypothesis

a directional hypothesis which points to the direction the effect will appear in

two tailed hypothesis

a non-directional hypothesis that predicts the existence of an effect but not the direction it will appear in

null hypothesis

a hypothesis that says there will not be a psychological test in either condition

word length effect

increased word length correlates with increased syllable count and therefore increased units of information making longer words harder to remember

Long-term memory storage

where long term memories are stored after appropriate rehearsal in the STM

attention

focusing on certain stimuli

rehearsal

repetition of information in the STM

Executive Control Processes

decision making of the central executive in the prefrontal cortex

auditory information

any information received through hearing

Goal Shifting

a part of the CE that has to apply schemas and explains how we choose which tasks to switch to

Rule Activation

our understanding based on different goals

Task Switching

switching between where attention is being focused and what tasks are being carried out

T-Test

a statistical test that compares the means of two samples and requires a normal curve

Wilcoxon Test

a non-parametric test that determines whether two dependent groups differ significantly from each other (typically repeated measures)

engrama

a hypothetical permanent change in the brain accounting for the existence of memory/a memory trace

short-term memory/working memory

a store with limited capacity and duration that gets information from the sensory buffer if it is paid attention.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

The information must be rehearsed in the STM to move to the LTM.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

Where memory is stored after it has been rehearsed while in STM and has unlimited capacity and duration.

Semantic Memory

Factual knowledge that you have.

Episodic Memory

Autobiographical memories, memories of events or experiences.

Procedural Memory

Memories of how to do something or habits.

Facial Recognition

The ability to recall and recognize faces.

Human Memory

Has 3 components; sensory memory, short-term memory store, and long-term memory store which are characterized by duration and capacity.

Transfer

The movement of information from store to store.

Retrieval

The movement of information from the LTM to the STM allowing for recall to occur.

Iconic Memory

Memory based on visual inputs which has a duration of 1 second.

Echoic Memory

Memory based on auditory inputs that has a duration of 2-5 seconds.

Duration

The period of time for which a store can hold information.

Capacity

The amount of units of information a store can hold.

Chunking

Grouping information together to form 'larger' units of information.

Prosopagnosia

Face blindness/the inability to recognize/recall who someone is based on their face due to damage to the fusiform gyrus.

Conscious (Explicit) Memories

Semantic memory for facts and episodic memory for events expressed through recollection.

Unconscious Implicit Memory

Systems that include skills, habits, and learned emotional responses expressed through performance.

Sensory Buffer

A temporary store that holds information from the environment very briefly in its original form (visual, auditory, tactile, or olfactory).

Miller's Rule

The capacity of short term memory is 7+/- 2 units of information.

Reconstructive Memory

The process of piecing together information from stored knowledge when there is no clear memory of an event.

Levels of Processing Theory

The idea that the way information is encoded affects how well it is remembered (deep vs. shallow processing).

ledoux's theory about memory

• 2 pathways: slow, controlled thinking (thalamus, primary sesnory cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and then response) vs shortcut thinking (thalamus & amygdala)

• the amygdala performs a key function in fear processing.

flashbulb memory

a highly detailed, exceptionally vivid “snapshot” of the moment when an event happened that has surprise & personal consequentiality (emotional arousal)

special-mechanism hypothesis

only emotional/traumatic memories form in the amygdala.

overt rehearsal

rehearsing something out loud, like constantly telling people about an event.

covert rehearsal

rehearsing the event internally

schema

a mental representation used to organize our knowledge, assist recall, guide our behavior (can be problematic), predict likely happenings, and help us make sense of current experiences. we could all be in the same exact situation but our personal schemas change how we perceive our realities. schemas differ from person to person and there are many other factors that make up our schemas.

scripts

schema specifically for events in time, like how we expect xyz to happen on our birthday. if things don’t happen according to our script, it can be frustrating and confusing.

accommodation

existing schema is replaced with a new one (such as the development of technology)

assimilation

adding info to your schema (ex. knowing how your own shower works but a hotel has a different type of faucet and you learn how to use that faucet to produce the same result)

pattern recognition

seeing patterns in unstructured stimuli

effort after meaning

finding meaning in the patterns that were recognized (connecting new ideas to the ones we already know)

cryptomnesia

false memories; memories can be partially made up because studies have shown that as time goes on, gaps in our memory start to form and so, we start putting things together to try to recall memories.

misinformation effect

people are able to manipulate us to believe false memories because they 1. build trust, 2. suggest false info, 3. do “2 truths & 1 lie”, 4. apply social pressure (essentially gaslighting broken down)

proactive interference

old information gets in the way of trying to remember new things.

retroactive interference

new information gets in the way of trying to recall or retrieve old info.

confabulation

the process of trying to fill in memory gaps with schemas. this isn’t considered lying because we believe that our own confabulation is true.

intuitive thinking

the ability to make quick judgements & decisions based on instinct, prior knowledge, and immediate perceptions, rather than systematic reasoning. it is less accurate than rational thinking.

think aloud protocol

1. obtain participants from a representative sample.

2. perform an interesting task while verbalizing your thought process.

3. observe the participants while jotting down notes & making a flow chart.

4. prompt the participants to keep talking because more often than not they will drift deep into thoughts.

dual processing model

• system 1: focuses on what we see and ignores absent evidence; quick but prone to errors; generates impressions; takes shortcuts or heuristics (uses schemas = LTM)

• system 2: requires concentration & effort; works with abstract concepts while using logic and conscious reasoning; more reliable but slower (uses STM)

bottom-up processing

the cognitive process is data-driven; perception is not biased by prior knowledge or expectations.

top-down processing

your prior knowledge/schemas act as lens or a filter for the info that you receive and process.

leveling

leaving out “unnecessary” info and changing the order of events for more coherence.

sharpening

emphasizing major points of an event and purposely leaving out minor details.

normative model

unrealistic model depicting how we use logic or rational thinking for all the decisions we make.

descriptive model

a model that could represent realistic mental processes for all the decisions we make.

introspective illusion

a tendency for humans to believe that they are aware of cognitive processes, but in reality if we had to explain our cognitive processes, it’s all just a confabulated mess.

loss aversion

the human tendency to feel pain/loss more strongly than the pleasure of equivalent gain. we tend to feel more sadness losing $5 compared to gaining $5, for example.

anchoring bias

a human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of info offered when making decisions. once the anchor is set, all the following thought processes will revolve around it.

cognitive misers

literally humans because we want to use as little energy as we can to think.

ego depletion

the inner-panic when we spend too much time and effort on one problem. when we panic, we start to think more about protecting our ego than the actual problem at hand.

cognitive load

we don’t have enough energy to allocate to every task, so our cognitive processes are worn out.

law of least effort

combines cognitive misers, ego depletion, and cognitive load. if there are several ways to achieve the same goal, we tend to use the easiest way.