Cognition, Intelligence, Memory, and Lifespan Development

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts, theories, and empirical research within Cognition, Intelligence, Memory Systems, and Lifespan Development.

Cognition

The collection of all mental processes related to perceiving, attending, thinking, remembering, judging, and problem-solving.

Concepts

Mental categories used by the brain to group concrete objects or abstract constructs together.

Natural Concepts

Mental categories formed organically through direct, everyday life experiences and environmental interactions.

Artificial Concepts

Concepts defined by a specific set of explicit characteristics, mathematical formulas, or formal definitions learned through instruction.

Prototype

The single best representation or most typical example of a category formed by an individual.

Schemata (Schema)

Complex mental structures composed of clusters of related concepts that enable rapid information processing based on assumptions.

Role Schema

Cognitive assumptions and expectations regarding how individuals in specific social positions or roles will behave.

Event Schema (Cognitive Script)

A culturally dependent set of automatic, routine behaviors executed in specific, recurring situations.

Algorithm

A rigid, step-by-step problem-solving procedure that guarantees a correct outcome if executed accurately.

Heuristic

A mental shortcut or rule of thumb deployed to make decisions and solve problems efficiently.

Mental Set

The cognitive pitfall of persisting with a previously successful problem-solving strategy despite the presence of simpler alternatives.

Functional Fixedness

A cognitive block that prevents a person from perceiving an object being utilized for functions outside its traditional design.

Hindsight Bias

The cognitive tendency to believe, after an outcome has transpired, that one predicted or knew it all along.

Phonemes

The foundational units of sound in a language; the English language contains approximately $44$ distinct phonemes.

Morphemes

The smallest linguistic units that convey meaning, including roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

Syntax

The structural rules dictating the order in which words must be combined to form phrases and grammatically valid sentences.

Overgeneralization (Language)

The developmental stage where children naturally deduce grammatical rules and temporarily misapply them to linguistic exceptions.

Critical Period Hypothesis

The principle that language must be acquired during early childhood; extreme deprivation prevents the mastery of complex grammatical syntax.

General Intelligence ($g$)

Charles Spearman's theoretical construct positing that a single foundational factor underlies performance across all intellectual domains.

Fluid Intelligence ($g_f$)

Raymond Cattell's term for the capacity to reason quickly, process novel information, and solve unfamiliar challenges, which peaks in early adulthood.

Crystallized Intelligence ($g_c$)

Raymond Cattell's term for acquired knowledge, vocabulary, and accumulated wisdom that broadens across the lifespan.

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Robert Sternberg's model proposing that intelligence is comprised of analytical, creative, and practical dimensions.

Multiple Intelligences Theory

Howard Gardner's model asserting that humans possess at least eight independent modalities of intellectual capability.

Classical Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Formula

Lewis Terman's formula expressing standardized intelligence: $\text{IQ} = \left( \frac{\text{Mental Age}}{\text{Chronological Age}} \right) \times 100$.

Flynn Effect

The observed generational increase in raw intelligence test scores worldwide, requiring continuous restandardization of tests to a mean of $100$.

Stereotype Threat

Performance decrement resulting from acute anxiety and cognitive burden when an individual is primed with a negative cultural stereotype regarding their group.

Range of Reaction

The framework proposing that genetic inheritance establishes upper and lower limits on intellectual capacity, while environmental quality dictates the realized score.

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

A memory framework proposing that incoming information sequentially traverses sensory memory, short-term/working memory, and long-term storage.

Iconic Memory

Subtype of sensory memory that stores a visual snapshot lasting less than $1\text{ second}$.

Echoic Memory

Subtype of sensory memory that maintains auditory traces for $3$ to $4\text{ seconds}$.

Chunking

A cognitive strategy that groups individual pieces of data into meaningful units to optimize short-term memory capacity.

Primacy Effect

The heightened recall probability for items placed at the beginning of a sequence due to greater opportunity for long-term rehearsal.

Recency Effect

The heightened recall probability for items placed at the terminus of a list because they remain readily accessible in active working memory.

Explicit (Declarative) Memory

The memory system responsible for conscious recollections of factual information and autobiographical episodes that can be verbalized.

Semantic Memory

A division of explicit long-term memory containing generalized world knowledge, facts, concepts, and vocabulary detached from personal experience.

Episodic Memory

A division of explicit long-term memory storing personally experienced autobiographical events contextualized in subjective time and place.

Implicit (Non-Declarative) Memory

Long-term memories that unconsciously dictate behavioral execution, physical performance, and conditioned emotional responses.

Procedural Memory

A subcategory of implicit memory dedicated to automated physical skills, motor habits, and behavioral routines.

Flashbulb Memory

An exceptionally vivid, emotionally charged recollection of a historic or shocking event that feels photographic but remains prone to reconstructive decay.

Misinformation Effect

The corruption and reconstructive alteration of original eyewitness memories following exposure to leading questions or misleading post-event information.

Dissociation

A continuum-based defensive coping mechanism wherein an individual mentally detaches from traumatic reality as it unfolds.

Proactive Interference

The memory retrieval failure occurring when previously stored memories disrupt or impede the recall of recently acquired information.

Retroactive Interference

The memory retrieval failure occurring when recently learned material hinders the recollection of older, previously consolidated memories.

Elaborative Rehearsal

A deep memory encoding technique that links new incoming concepts meaningfully to established knowledge networks.

Self-Reference Effect

The cognitive phenomenon where information is retained and recalled far more effectively when personally applied to one's own experiences.

Fixation (Freudian)

Sigmund Freud's concept describing libidinal energy remaining stalled at an early psychosexual stage due to unresolved developmental conflict.

Assimilation (Piaget)

The cognitive process of integrating novel information and environmental experiences directly into preexisting schemata.

Accommodation (Piaget)

The cognitive modification of existing schemata or creation of brand-new mental categories in response to contradictory sensory inputs.

Object Permanence

The developmental milestone wherein an infant understands that physical objects persist in existence even when concealed from view.

Egocentrism (Piaget)

The cognitive inability in the preoperational stage to conceptualize, perceive, or adopt another person's physical or mental viewpoint.

Conservation (Piaget)

The logical recognition that altering the superficial appearance or container of an object does not alter its underlying quantity, volume, or mass.

Teratogens

Exogenous biological, chemical, pharmacological, or physical agents capable of inducing irreversible structural or functional harm during prenatal gestation.

Blooming and Pruning

The rapid early proliferation of neural synaptic connections followed by the systematic reduction of nonfunctional pathways to enhance brain efficiency.

Contact Comfort

Harry Harlow's experimental finding that maternal infant bonding is driven primarily by tactile reassurance and warmth rather than alimentary provisioning.

Secure Attachment

Mary Ainsworth's attachment style where an infant explores comfortably using the caregiver as a base, displays separation distress, and is promptly consoled upon reunion.

Insecure Avoidant Attachment

An attachment style characterized by an infant's emotional indifference to a parent's absence and active avoidance or rejection upon their return.

Insecure Resistant (Anxious) Attachment

An attachment style marked by intense clinginess, reluctance to explore, acute separation anxiety, and ambivalent anger upon parental return.

Disorganized Attachment

An attachment classification characterized by contradictory, fearful, or frozen reactions to caregiver presence, commonly emerging from abuse or trauma.

Authoritative Parenting

Diana Baumrind's parenting pattern characterized by high warmth and high demandingness, combining explicit structural limits with responsive communication.

Authoritarian Parenting

A parenting approach defined by low warmth and high demandingness, emphasizing strict adherence to rules, obedience, and punitive control.

Permissive Parenting

A parenting style exhibiting high warmth and low demandingness, setting minimal rules, enforcing no punishment, and offering unbounded freedom.

Uninvolved Parenting

A parenting style marked by low warmth and low demandingness, exhibiting emotional indifference, dismissiveness, and neglect.

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

Laura Carstensen's aging theory proposing that as individuals realize time is finite, they prune social circles to prioritize emotionally fulfilling connections.