Unit 2 Vocab: Cognition

Bottom-up processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information; it is data-driven.

Top-down processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, such as experience, expectations, and schemas, which constructs perceptions.

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another, heavily influenced by top-down processing.

Gestalt Principles

Organizational rules the brain uses to group stimuli into meaningful forms.

Figure-Ground

The perceptual tendency to organize the visual field into objects (figure) that stand out from their surroundings (ground).

Closure

A Gestalt principle where the brain fills in gaps to perceive a continuous, whole object.

Selective attention

The process of focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, often at the exclusion of others.

Cocktail party effect

The ability to attend selectively to one voice among many, demonstrating the limits of selective attention.

Sensory adaptation

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Retinal disparity

A binocular depth cue that uses the difference between the images cast on the two retinas to compute distance.

Linear perspective

A monocular depth cue where parallel lines appear to converge in the distance, providing a cue for depth.

Perceptual constancy

The ability to perceive objects as unchanging (having consistent size, shape, color, and lightness) even as the image on the retina changes.

Schemas

Mental frameworks or concepts that organize and interpret information, allowing us to quickly process new information.

Prototypes

A mental image or the best example that incorporates all the features we associate with a category.

Algorithms

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem, though it is often slow.

Heuristics

Simple thinking strategies or mental shortcuts that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently, though they are prone to error.

Representativeness heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on how well they seem to match a particular prototype, which can lead to neglecting base rates.

Availability heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; instances that are vivid or easily recalled are judged as more common.

Functional fixedness

A cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used.

Framing

The way an issue is presented; how information is worded can significantly alter people's decisions and judgments.

Convergent thinking

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

Divergent thinking

Expanding the number of possible solutions; creative thinking that moves in different directions.

Information processing model

A framework that compares human memory to a computer's operations, involving three main processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Encoding

The process of getting information into the memory system (e.g., through effortful or automatic processing).

Storage

The process of retaining encoded information over time.

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage.

Explicit memory (Declarative)

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare," processed in the hippocampus.

Implicit memory (Nondeclarative)

Retention independent of conscious recollection, involving skills, preferences, and conditioned associations, processed by the cerebellum.

Working memory

A system for the active, brief processing of incoming sensory information and information retrieved from long-term memory.

Sensory memory (Iconic/Echoic)

The immediate, brief, high-capacity recording of sensory information before it is forgotten or encoded.

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically, increasing the capacity of short-term memory.

Spacing effect

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

Serial position effect

The tendency to recall best the last items (recency effect) and the first items (primacy effect) in a list.

Anterograde amnesia

An inability to form new memories after a point of injury or disease.

Retrograde amnesia

An inability to retrieve information from one's past that was formed prior to a point of injury or disease.

Proactive interference

The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

Retroactive interference

The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.

Misinformation effect

The phenomenon where a person's recall of an event becomes less accurate because of exposure to misleading information after the event.

Fluid intelligence

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly, often used when solving novel problems; tends to decrease with age.

Crystallized intelligence

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.

Autokinetic effect = The perception that a stationary point of light in a dark room is moving.::

Metacognition = "Thinking about thinking"; the awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.::

Assimilation (Schema) = Interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas.::

Accommodation (Schema) = Adapting or changing our current schemas to incorporate new information.::

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

Priming = The unconscious activation of certain associations, predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.::

Gambler’s fallacy = The mistaken belief that future random events are influenced by past random events (e.g., after five coin flips landing heads, the next must be tails).::

Sunk-cost fallacy = The tendency to continue investing in a project because of already invested resources, rather than deciding based on future costs and benefits.::

Executive functions = Higher-level cognitive skills managed by the prefrontal cortex, including planning, impulse control, and working memory.::

Creativity = The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.::

Automatic vs. effortful processing = Automatic is unconscious encoding (e.g., space, time, frequency); effortful requires conscious attention and rehearsal.::

Episodic memory = Explicit memory of personally experienced events or episodes (e.g., what you ate for dinner last night).::

Semantic memory = Explicit memory of facts, general knowledge, and concepts (e.g., the definition of a schema).::

Levels of processing (Shallow/Deep) = Theory that the depth of processing (semantic is deepest) determines how well a memory is encoded and recalled.::

*Structural encoding = Shallow level of processing; encoding only the physical structure or appearance of the word.::

*Phonemic encoding = Intermediate level of processing; encoding the sound of a word.::

*Semantic encoding = Deepest level of processing; encoding the meaning of a word.::

Multi-store model = A memory model proposing three stages: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).::

Working memory (Components) = Includes the central executive (boss), phonological loop (verbal), visuospatial sketchpad (visual/spatial), and episodic buffer (integration).::