Unit 3: Cognitive Approach to Human Behavior

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

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

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

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

Goal Shifting

a part of the Central Executive that has to apply schemas in task switching

Rule Activation

our understanding based on different goals

Task Switching

switching between where attention is being focused and what tasks are being carried out (often called multi-tasking)

short-term memory/working memory

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

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.

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.

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).

Working Memory Model

An model created by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) that provides more aspects of Short Term Memory.

Multi-store memory model

sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory model by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain schemata, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

Encoding

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

Leveling

tendency to minimize the less central details of a memory

Sharpening

emphasizing important or more interesting elements in telling a story or a memory

Assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas, adding to the schema or altering our memory of the new experience to fit existing schema

accommodation

replacing our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

Schema

These are mental representations, derived from prior experience and knowledge that are used to organize our knowledge, assist recall, guide our behavior, predict likely happenings, and help us make sense of current experiences.

scripts

broad representations in memory of events and the order in which they occur

top-down processing

the use of preexisting knowledge (schemas) to organize individual features and sensory inputs into a unified understanding (think Rat Man)

bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information into an understanding

Effort After Meaning

Tendency to connect information with schemas to try to give it meaning so it can be more readily stored. From Bartlett's research.

flashbulb memory

A clear and vivid long-term memory of an especially meaningful and emotional event.

Amygdala

A limbic system structure involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear and aggression.

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

dual-pathway model of fear

LeDoux's theory that the brain uses two pathways (a "high road" and a "low road") to process fear messages

appraisal theory

a theory of emotion that proposes that emotions are based on an individual's assessment of a situation or an outcome and its relevance to his or her goals

reconstructive memory

the process whereby memories of an event become distorted by information encountered after the event occurred

Cryptomnesia (false memory)

a form of misattribution where a memory is mistaken for imagination, or the confusion of true memories with false memories