AP Psychology Cognition Unit 2

Cognition

How people process, store, and receive information.

Top-down processing

Concept based processing using knowledge we already have processed.

Bottom-up processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory information.

Schema

A collection of basic knowledge about a concept or entity that serves as a guide (mental framework).

Perceptual Set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Perceptual Adaptation

Brain’s ability to adjust how it interprets sensory information.

Selective attention

Ability to focus on conscious awareness of one particular stimulus while excluding other present stimuli.

Cocktail party effect

The ability to focus one’s listening attention on a single talker.

Inattentional blindness

The failure to notice the existence of an unexpected change.

Gestalt

A psychological approach that focuses on the dynamic organization of experience into patterns on configurations.

Closure

The tendency to perceive an incomplete figure as a whole by synthesizing the missing units.

Proximity

People tend to organize objects close to each other into a perceptual group and interpret them as a single entity.

Similarity

People tend to organize objects with similar qualities into a perceptual group and interpret them as a whole.

Figure ground

Relating to the principle that perceptions have two parts: a figure or object that stands out in good contour and an indistinct, homogeneous background.

Depth perception

The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance.

Binocular depth cues

A visual cue for depth perception such as retinal disparity, that rely and depend on the use of two eyes.

Retinal disparity

A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance — the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

Convergence

A cue to nearby objects’ distance, enabled by the brain combining retinal images.

Monocular depth cues

A type of monocular cue of monocular cue in which one object partially obscures or covers another object, giving the perception the object that is partially covered is further away.

Relative clarity

Objects that appear sharp, clear, and detailed are seen as closer than more hazy objects.

Relative size

The depth cue in which we perceive distance based on the comparison.

Texture gradient

A monocular cue in which there is a gradual change in appearance of objects from coarse to fine.

Linear perspective

A type of depth prompt that the human eye perceives when viewing two parallel lines that appear to meet at distance.

Perceptual constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.

Apparent movement

Perceive movement where it isn’t

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

Assimilation

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

Accomodation

Change in our schemas (1) In sensation and perception, the process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus images of near or far objects on the retina. (2) In developmental psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information.

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 — a mental shortcut — that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm.

Representative heuristic

Judging the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

Availability heuristic

Judging 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.

Mental set

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

Priming

A technique whereby exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, without conscious guidance or intention.

Framing

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

Gambler’s fallacy

The belief that the chances of something happening with a fixed probability become higher and lower as the process is repeating.

Sunk-cost fallacy

The tendency for people to continue investing time, money, and effort into something simply because they have already invested in it, even when continuing to a new approach could save us time.

Executive function

A set of cognitive processes and skills that work together to allow and enable one to generate, organize, plan, and regulate their behavior to achieve goals.

Divergent thinking

Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions

Convergent thinking

Narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.

Functional fixedness

The perceived inability of someone to use an object for something other than its original intended purpose.

Encoding

The process of getting information into the memory system.

Storage

The process of retaining encoding information over time.

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage.

Automatic processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as storage, time, and frequency, and of familiar information, such as sounds, smells, and word meanings.

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Iconic

A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

Echonic

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

Working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory; conscious, active processing of both (1) incoming sensory information, and (2) information retrieved from long-term memory.

Central executive

A memory component that coordinates the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.

Visuospatial sketchpad

A memory component that briefly holds information about objects’ appearance and location in space.

Phonological loop

A memory component that briefly holds auditory information.

Shallow processing

Encoding in a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words.

Structural

Encoding information with the use of visual and physical characteristics.

Phonemic

Encoding information using auditory characteristics.

Semantic

Explicit memory of facts or general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other being episodic memory).

Deep processing

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

Long-term potentiation

An increase in a nerve cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory.

Explicit memory

Retention of facts and experience that we can consciously know and '“declare”.

Semantic memory

The ability to remember factual information, general knowledge, and facts, not linked to a particular remporal or spatial context.

Implicit memory

Retention of learning skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection.

Procedural memory

A type of memory that we use to do repetitive everyday tasks. Example: typing shoes or riding a bike.

Prospective memory

Remembering to perform an action in the future at a certain time.

Encoding

First step to memory process, getting information to the brain.

Mnemonic device

Any memory trick

Method of loci

Associating words with different places (mnemonic device).

Chunking

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

Spacing effect

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

Memory consolidation

The neural storage of long-term memory or the process by which STM are transformed into stable, long-term memory.

Memory consolidation

Short term to long term memory can produce speedy short-term learning and an inflated feeling of confidence.

Imagination inflation

Imagining leads to recollection.

Serial position effect

Our tendency to recall best the last items in a list initially and the first items in a list after delay.

Short-term memory

Briefly activated memory of a few items (such as digits of a phone number while calling) that is later stored or forgotten.

Sensory memory

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

Working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory; conscious, active processing of both (1) incoming sensory information, and (2) information retrieved from long-term memory.

Long-term

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

Maintenance rehearsal

Repetition of a piece of information to keep it within your active short-term memory.

Elaborative rehearsal

Connecting what you are trying to memorize to something you already know.

Highly superior autobiographical memory

A condition that leads people to be able to remember an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid detail.

Autobiographical memory

Includes all memories related to your life story, identity, and general facts about yourself (not just events).

Anterograde amnesia

Inability to form new memories

Retrograde amnesia

Inability to remember your past memories

Alzheimer’s disease

A progressive brain disorder causing memory loss.

Infantile amnesia

The inability to remember things prior to age 3.

Retrieval

Getting information out

Recall

The retrieval of information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but was learned at a previous time. This is tested through fill-in-the-blank tests.

Recognition

A type of memory retrieval in which one must identify present information as having been previously presented.

Context effects

The effects of environmental determinants on an individual's response to stimuli around them; you retrieve info better if you try to get it in the environments you learned it in.

State-dependent memory

People remember more information if their physical or mental state is the same at the time of encoding and time of recall.

Mood-congruent memory

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's good or bad mood. Ex: If you're happy your more likely to remember more happy memories.

Retrieval practice

Actively recalling information to strengthen retention.

Testing effect

An enhancement in the long-term retention of information as a result of taking a memory test.

Metacognition

The ability to control and be aware of your own thoughts.

Forgetting curve

Gradual fading or weakening of the memory trace due to not being recalled.

Encoding failure

The brain's occasional failure to create a memory link.

Proactive interference

Proactive Old prevents New

Retroactive interference

The backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information.

Retroactive Remembers Recent, new Prevents old

Inadequate retrieval

A situation where there are not enough reminders or triggers available to help retrieve stored information from memory.

Tip-of-the-tounge phenomenon

Occurs when someone cannot recall a specific word or term, but feels certain that they know it. You have memory but are unable to fully retrieve.