Unit 2 Part 1 AP Psychology: Cognition

Cognition

All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Metacognition*

"Thinking about our thinking" ; examining how we are thinking, biases we may have, and how we approach a task

Cognitive Biases*

Systematic ways of thinking that interfere with a person's ability to draw rational and objective conclusions

Concepts*

Mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people

Prototypes*

A mental image of the best example of a specific concept or category

Schema*

Mental representation of a set of connected ideas. More complex mental framework for several related topics compared to a concept

Assimilation*

Allows us to make sense of new information/situations be relating it to our existing schemas

Accommodation*

Occurs when we take in new information and then change the schema in order to incorporate the new information

Executive Functions

A set of cognitive processes that help us manage and coordinate our thoughts/actions to achieve goal-directed behavior.

Prefrontal Cortex

Plays a key role in executive function processes

Trial and Error

Process of trying different solutions until you find one that works

Algorithms*

A specific set of step-by-step instructions designed to perform a task or problem

Heuristics*

A mental shortcut or "rule of thumb" used for problem-solving and decision-making, allowing for quick and efficient judgments

Representativeness Heuristic*

A heuristic we use to judge how closely something represents, or matches our prototype for a given category

Availability Heuristic*

Estimates the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

Confirmation Bias*

Tendency to search for info that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or dismiss contrary evidence

Mental Set*

tendency to approach decision-making in a particular way based on past experiences, habits, or previously successful strategies

Priming*

Involves exposing people to certain stimuli that unconsciously influences subsequent behavior or decisions

Framing*

A cognitive bias in which the way the info is worded influences how people perceive it and make decisions based on it

Gambler's Fallacy*

Occurs when people believe that the outcomes of random events are influenced by previous outcomes, even if they're independent

Sunk Cost Fallacy*

Occurs when people continue investing resources (time, money, effort) into something because they have already invested significant resources into it

Creativity*

Ability to produce novel and valuable ideas within any discipline including art, music, architecture, math, science and engineering

Convergent thinking*

A question only has one correct answer, limits creativity

Divergent thinking*

when a question can have many possible responses, promotes creativity

Functional fixedness*

cognitive bias that limits a person's ability to see alternate uses for familiar objects because they're fixated on common use

Memory

Persistence of learning over time through encoding, storage, and retrieval of info

Recall*

Retrieving info that is not currently in your conscious awareness but learned at an earlier time (Ex. fill in blank tests)

Recognition*

Identifying items previously learned (Ex. multiple choice question tests)

Relearning

Learning something more quickly when you learn it a second or later time

Biological Approach

Focuses on memory as the product of interconnected neural networks

Long term potentiation*

Physical basis for learning and memory; refers to the increased efficiency in neural firing resulting from repeated connections between neurons

Encode*

Get info into our brain

Store*

Retain encoded info overtime

Retrieve*

Later get info back out of our brain

Three-Stage Multi-Store Model*

Information processing idea can be applied to memory through sensory, short-term, and long-term memory

Sensory Memory*

Immediate, very brief recording of info picked up by sensory organs

Short-term memory*

Temporarily holds a few select items in consciousness before it is either stored or forgotten

Long-term memory*

relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system; includes knowledge, skills, and experiences

Iconic memory*

A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; duration: few tenths of a second

Echoic memory*

A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; duration: 3-4 seconds

Capacity*

Amount of information that can be held; essentially unlimited space

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Automatic processing*

Encoding that does NOT require attention and conscious effort; occurs without our conscious awareness

Automatic Processing Track*

creates implicit memories(skills well learned that they become automatic and don't require conscious attention)

Effortful Processing Track*

Creates explicit memories(involves facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare")

Semantic memories

Facts and general knowledge

Episodic emories

Events in one's own past

Role of Selective Attention

Ability to focus your conscious awareness on a particular stimulus while blocking out competing stimuli

7 pieces

Amount of information (plus or minus 2 pieces) that our short-term/working memory can typically hold

Central Executive of our working memory*

Directs and focuses our attention on the stimuli needed for us to accomplish our working mmeory tasks

Phonological loop*

a memory component that briefly holds auditory information as you engage in active conscious processing

Visuospatial sketchpad*

memor component that briefly holds info about an object's appearance and location in space

Maintenance rehearsal*

Information is repeated to keep it actively present in working memory for a brief period

Elaborative rehearsal*

Cognitive strategy of actively connecting new info to existing ones, creating meaningful associations/visuals; transfers it from short-term to long-term

Parallel Processing

Processing multiple aspects of a stimulus simultaneously

Sequential processing

Processing one aspect of a stimulus at a time

Levels of processing*

Process verbal information at two different levels: shallow and deep

Structural encoding

Based on the physical appearance of a word

Shallow processing*

focuses on the physical appearance of a word(eg. is it long, short, typed) rather than its meaning

Phonemic encoding

based on the sound of a word

Deep processing*

involves semantic encoding, which involves the meaning of words; leads to better retention

Chunking*

Organizing info into familiar, manageable units enables us to recall it more easily

Mnemonics*(aka mnemonic devices)

techniques to use vivid imagery and organizational devices

Method of loci* (aka Memory Palace)

Visualize a familiar location and mentally place items you want to remember in that space

Hierarchies*

Organizing knowledge into broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts to promote efficient retrieval

Distributed Practice*

We retain information better when our encoding is distributed over time

Spacing effect*

the tendency for distributed study/practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study/practice

Memory Consolidation*

Neural process of converting short-term memories into long-term

Hippocampus*

plays an important role in memory formation; acts as a loading dock where the brain temporarily holds info to be transferred for storage elsewhere

Case Study: Henry Molaison*

Had his hippocampus removed to help reduce seizures and was unable to form new long-term explicit memories (anterograde amnesia)

Infantile amnesia*

As adults, our conscious memory of our first 4 years is largely blank

Factors of infantile amnesia

1: we index much of our explicit memory with help of language; 2: The hippocampus matures last, and as time goes on, more gets retained

Amygdala

Part of the brain's limbic system involved in emotion-related memory formation

Retrieval Cues

Bits of info that you associate with a specific memory

Retrospective memory*

Refers to remembering experiences of info we learned in the past (retro = older)

Prospective memory*

pertains to our intended future actions; concerned with remembering to do something in the future (p for present)

Context-Dependent memory*

Putting yourself back in the context where you experienced something easier can prime your memory retrieval

State-Dependent Memory*

When we learn, when in a specific internal state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state(physical or mental)

Mood-congruent memory*

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

Serial-Position Effect*

Tendency to recall best the last items in a list initially(recency effect) and the first item in a list after a delay (primary effect)

Highly superior autobiographical memory*

rare condition that leads people to remember an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid detail

Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve*

The course of forgetting is initially rapid, but then levels off with time

Encoding failure

Items need our attention to make it into our working memory

Storage Decay

Even encoding something well, we sometimes later forget

Retrieval failure

occurs when something is stored in our long-term memory but we can't access it

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Inability to recall a word or idea while being certain it's in your memory

Interference

When some other info blocks the recall of info

Proactive interference* (forward-acting")

prior learning interrupts new info recall (pr = previous)

Retroactive interference* ("backward-acting")

new learning disrupts recall of old info (re = recent)

Freud's concept of Repression*

We keep painful or unacceptable memories out of our conscious awareness in order to protect our self-image or miinimize anxiety

Most memory researchers believe this about repression:

Repression rarely if ever, occurs

Amnesia

temporary or permanent loss of memory

Anterograde amnesia*

An inability to form new explicit memories, but the person CAN recall their past

Retrograde amnesia*

Inability to recall past info or experiences, but your procedures remain intact and you CAN form new memories

Misinformation effect*

occurs when a memory has been corrupt by misleading info

Imagination inflation*

Once misinformation and false memories are planted, people will fill in rich details

Source amnesia* (source misattribution)

inability to remember the origin of a memory while retaining its substance

Hindsight Bias*

"I knew it all along" ; we tend to believe after learning an outcome we should've foreseen it

Overconfidence*

overestimating the accuracy of your beliefs/judgements; allows to be happier and easier decision-making, but risk for errors; "we don't know what we don't know"