4. Cognition, Consciousness, & Language (7%)

Cognition

How the brain processes and reacts to the information overload around us

The mental processes of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses

Dual-Coding Theory

Name the Theory

“both verbal association and visual images are used to process and store information”

We process information through two separate but connected channels: a verbal channel (words/language) and a visual channel (images/mental pictures).

Effective learning and memory happen when we use both channels, creating two memory traces (verbal & visual) for the same concept, making it easier to recall than if we only used one, like just reading text.

Information Processing Model

Name the Model

“thinking requires sensation, encoding, and storage of stimuli”

Defines the mind as a computer-like system that receives, encodes, stores, and retrieves information through distinct stages, primarily sensory, short-term (working), and long-term memory, focusing on how we acquire and use knowledge through processes like attention, perception, and memory.

Cognitive Development

The development of one's ability to think and solve problems across the lifespan

pace of brain maturation

What limits cognitive development during childhood?

Jean Piaget

The most influential person in developmental psychology

speak, continuous, sequential, prepares

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development are used to explain the qualitative differences between the way that children and adults _______. The passage through each of these stages is a ___________ and ____________ process in which completion of each stage _________ the individual for the following stage.

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Name the 4 stages in order

instinctual interaction with the environment

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

According to Piaget, infants learn mainly through WHAT?

Schema

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Organized patterns of behavior and thought.

It can include a concept, a behavior, or a sequence of events.

Adaptation

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Adaptation vs. Assimilation vs. Accommodation

The process that Piaget believed children use to process new information into the different schemata.

Assimilation

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Adaptation vs. Assimilation vs. Accommodation

The process of clarifying new information into existing schemata

Accommodation

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Adaptation vs. Assimilation vs. Accommodation

The process by which existing schemata are modified to encompass new information

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

WORD BANK: Formal Operational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage, Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage

——

Piaget's first stage of cognitive development.

Birth to 2 years of age

The child learns to manipulate the environment to meet their needs.

Primary Circular Reactions

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Sensorimotor Stage

When a body movement happened by accident but results in repetition because the child finds it soothing.

EX: thumb-sucking.

Secondary Circular Reactions

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Sensorimotor Stage

When manipulation is focused on something outside of the body, such as throwing toys from a high chair.

The child repeats the action due to a response from the environment.

Object Permanence

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Sensorimotor Stage

The key milestone that marks the end of Piaget’s sensorimotor stage

Representational Thought

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Preoperational Stage

Begins upon the development of object permanence.

Children begin to create mental representations of external objects and events.

Preoperational Stage

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

WORD BANK: Formal Operational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage, Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage

——

Piaget's second stage of cognitive development.

2 to 7 years of age

Characterized by symbolic thinking, egocentrism, and centration.

Symbolic Thinking

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Preoperational Stage

The ability to pretend and have an imagination.

Egocentrism

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Preoperational Stage

The inability of a child to imagine another person's point of view.

Centration

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Preoperational Stage

The tendency to focus only on one aspect of a phenomenon.

Marked by the inability to understand the concept of conservation.

Conservation

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Preoperational Stage

How one slice of pizza looks like less to a child than an identical amount when cut in two pieces

Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

WORD BANK: Formal Operational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage, Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage

——

Piaget's third stage of cognitive development.

7 t 11 years of age

Marked by understanding conservation and the ability to imagine things from others' point of view.

They can practice logical thought when working with concrete objects and information that is directly available.

Formal Operational Stage

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

WORD BANK: Formal Operational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage, Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage

——

Piaget's fourth stage of cognitive development.

Begins around age 11.

Marked by the ability to think logically about abstract ideas.

Hypothetical Reasoning

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Formal Operational Stage

The ability to mentally manipulate variables in a number of ways, generally within the scope of scientific experiments.

Lev Vygotsky

An educational psychologist who proposed that the engine that drives cognitive development is the child's internalization of their culture, including interpersonal skills, societal rules, symbols, and language.

Zone of Proximal Development

Lev Vygotsky

the gap between what a learner can do without help and what they can achieve with guidance from a more knowledgeable person

Fluid Intelligence

Cognitive Function - Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence

Subtype of intelligence consisting of solving new or novel problems, possibly using creative methods.

Crystallized Intelligence

Cognitive Function - Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence

Subtype of intelligence more related to solving problems using acquired knowledge, and often can be procedural.

Intellectual Decline

Cognitive Function

A noticeable decrease in mental abilities like memory, judgment, awareness, and thinking speed

Occurs with age

Related to activities of daily life

Dementia

Cognitive Function

A type of intellectual decline that often begins with impaired memory, but later progresses to poor judgment and confusion.

Alzheimer’s Disease

Cognitive Function

Most common cause of dementia

Down's Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome

Cognitive Function

Chromosomal abnormalities linked with delayed cognitive development (2)

Delirium

Cognitive Function

Rapid fluctuation in cognitive function that is reversible and caused by medical causes

Can be caused by electrolyte and pH disturbances, malnutrition, low blood sugar, infection, drug reactions, withdrawal, and pain

Delirium Tremens

Cognitive Function

The delirium associated with alcohol withdrawal.

Mental Set

Thinking

The tendency for a person to solve problems using familiar strategies based on past experiences, even if those strategies are not the most efficient or appropriate for the new situation

Functional Fixedness

Thinking

The inability to consider how to use an object in a nontraditional manner.

Trial-and-Error

Thinking - Problem Solving Methods

Trying things until something work.

Algorithms

Thinking - Problem Solving Methods

Using a formula or procedure for solving a certain type of problem.

Deductive Reasoning

Thinking - Problem Solving Methods - Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning

Using top-down reasoning → starts from a set of general rules and draws conclusions from the information given.

EX: a logic puzzle.

Inductive Reasoning

Thinking - Problem Solving Methods - Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning

Using bottom-up reasoning → seeks to create a theory via generalization.

Starts with specific instances and then draws conclusions from them.

Heuristics

Thinking

Simplified principles used to make decisions

Colloquially called "rules of thumb"

Availability Heuristic

Thinking - Availability vs. Representativeness Heuristic

Where people estimate the likelihood of an event based on how easily similar events come to mind.

Often leads to a correct decision, but not always.

Representativeness Heuristic

Thinking - Availability vs. Representativeness Heuristic

Categorizing items on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical, stereotypical, or representative image of the category.

EX: Flipping a coin heads ten times and then neglecting that the actual probability is still fifty percent for the next flip.

Base Rate Fallacy

Thinking

Ignoring general statistical/numerical information and focusing too heavily on specific, vivid details

Leads to flawed judgments

Disconfirmation Principle

Thinking

Principle stating that the presence of a confirmation bias may prevent someone from discarding a solution to a problem that fails during testing.

Confirmation Bias

Thinking

The tendency to focus on information that fits an individual's belief, while rejecting information that goes against them.

Overconfidence

Thinking

The tendency to believe that one's decisions, knowledge, and beliefs are infallible.

Hindsight Bias

Thinking

The tendency for people to overestimate their ability to predict the outcome of events that already happened.

Belief Perseverance

Thinking

The inability to reject a particular belief despite clear evidence to the contrary.

Intuition

Thinking

The ability to act on perceptions that may not be supported by available evidence.

What the person does "feels correct" to them.

Recognition-Primed Decision Model

Thinking

Model explaining how experienced professionals make rapid, effective decisions in complex, time-pressured situations by matching patterns in the current scenario to past experiences, quickly selecting a workable action without extensive analysis, and then mentally simulating it to see if it works, relying on intuition and experience over deliberate calculation.

A doctor is able to sort through a lot of information in order to identify a pattern. With practice and experience, it becomes accessible without awareness.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner

Theory created by Howard Gardner describing seven defined types of intelligence including linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Name the 7 defined types of intelligence

Consciousness

One's level of awareness of both the world and one's existence within the world.

Alertness

Consciousness

State of consciousness where we are awake and able to think.

Higher cortisol levels.

Experience a certain level of physiological arousal.

Reticular Formation

Consciousness

A neural structure located in the brainstem that communicates with the prefrontal cortex to keep the cortex awake and maintain the state of alertness.

Beta Waves

Sleep - Alpha vs. Beta vs. Delta vs. Theta Waves

High frequency

Occur when a person is alert or attending to a mental task.

Occur when neurons are randomly firing.

Alpha Waves

Sleep - Alpha vs. Beta vs. Delta vs. Theta Waves

Occur when we are awake but relaxing with our eyes closed.

Somewhat slower and more synchronized than beta waves.

Theta Waves

Sleep - Alpha vs. Beta vs. Delta vs. Theta Waves

Seen during stage 1 and stage 2 of sleep.

Irregular waveforms with slower frequencies and higher voltages.

Stage 1 (NREM1)

Sleep - Name the Sleep Stage

Occurs as soon as you doze off

Theta waves.

Stage 2 (NREM2)

Sleep - Name the Sleep Stage

Occurs as you fall into a deeper sleep.

Theta waves w/ sleep spindles and K-complexes.

Sleep Spindle, K-Complex

Sleep

Characteristics of the theta waves observed in stage 2 sleep when the person is relatively difficult to awaken (2)

Sleep Spindle

Sleep - Sleep Spindle vs. K-Complex

Rapid bursts of high-frequency brain waves during stage 2 (NREM2) of sleep

May help inhibit certain perceptions so we maintain a tranquil state during sleep.

Associated with the ability to sleep through loud noises.

K-Complex

Sleep - Sleep Spindle vs. K-Complex

Observed in stage 2 of sleep (NREM2)

Suppress cortical arousal and keep you asleep.

Help sleep-based memory consolidation.

Sleep-Based Memory Consolidation

Sleep

When some memories are transferred to long term memory during sleep, particularly declarative/explicit memories.

Explicit (or Declarative)

Sleep - Explicit vs. Implicit

The type of memories that are stored in long-term memory during sleep-based memory consolidation.

Stages 3 and 4

Sleep - Name the Sleep Stage (2)

Stages of slow-wave sleep (SWS).

EEG grows progressively slower until only a few sleep waves per second.

Rousing someone from sleep becomes exceptionally difficult.

SWS has been associated with cognitive recovery and memory consolidation as well as increased growth hormone release.

Delta Waves

Sleep - Alpha vs. Beta vs. Delta vs. Theta Waves

Seen during slow-wave sleep in stages 3 and 4.

Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM)

NREM vs REM

Stages 1 through 4 of sleep

Rapid Eye Movement (REM)

NREM vs REM

Stages of sleep interspersed between cycles of the other sleep stages.

Arousal levels reach that of wakefulness, but the muscles are paralyzed. Also called paradoxical sleep.

The stage in which dreaming is most likely to occur.

Also associated with memory consolidation.

Sleep Cycle

Sleep

A single complete progression through the sleep stages.

Cortisol, melatonin

Sleep

The 2 main circadian rhythm hormones

Melatonin

Sleep

Serotonin-derived hormone secreted by the pineal gland.

Associated with increased drowsiness.

Cortisol

Sleep

Steroid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex.

Contributes to wakefulness.

Its levels slowly increase during early morning

Corticotropin Releasing Factor (CRF)

Sleep

Secreted by the hypothalamus to trigger the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the anterior pituitary, which stimulates cortisol release.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH)

Sleep

Secreted by the anterior pituitary in response to increased levels of CRF.

Its secretion leads to the release of cortisol.

Activation-Synthesis Theory

Sleep - Dreams

WORD BANK: Activation-Synthesis Theory, Problem-Solving Dream Theory, Cognitive Process Dream Theory

——

Theory stating that dreams are caused by widespread, random activation of neural circuitry.

This activation can mimic incoming sensory information, and may also contain pieces of stored memory.

Problem-Solving Dream Theory

Sleep - Dreams

WORD BANK: Activation-Synthesis Theory, Problem-Solving Dream Theory, Cognitive Process Dream Theory

——

Theory stating that dreams are a way to solve problems while you sleep.

Cognitive Process Dream Theory

Sleep - Dreams

WORD BANK: Activation-Synthesis Theory, Problem-Solving Dream Theory, Cognitive Process Dream Theory

——

Theory stating that dreams contain random thoughts or sequences of thoughts during sleep.

Neurocognitive Models of Dreaming

Sleep - Dreams

Models that seek to unify biological and psychological perspectives on dreaming by correlating the subjective and cognitive experience of dreaming with measurable physiological changes.

Sleep Disorders

Sleep

Disorders that disrupt the sleep cycle of a person.

Frequently they occur during NREM sleep.

Dyssomnias

Sleep - Dyssomnias vs. Parasomnias

A group of sleep disorders that make it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep or avoid sleep.

EX: insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea.

Parasomnias

Sleep - Dyssomnias vs. Parasomnias

A group of sleep disorders that include abnormal movements or behaviors during sleep.

EX: night terrors, sleepwalking.

Insomnia

Sleep - Dyssomnias

Sleep disorder characterized by difficulty falling asleep.

Narcolepsy

Sleep - Dyssomnias

Sleep disorder characterized by uncontrolled falling asleep.

Cataplexy

Sleep - Dyssomnias

A symptom of narcolepsy characterized by a loss of muscle control and sudden intrusion of REM sleep during waking hours.

Usually caused by an emotional trigger.

Sleep Paralysis

Sleep - Dyssomnias

A symptom of narcolepsy characterized by a sensation of being unable to move despite being awake.

Hypnagogic Hallucinations

Sleep - Dyssomnias - Hypnagogic vs. Hypnopompic Hallucinations

A symptom of narcolepsy characterized by hallucinations when falling asleep

Hypnopompic Hallucinations

Sleep - Dyssomnias - Hypnagogic vs. Hypnopompic Hallucinations

A symptom of narcolepsy characterized by hallucinations when awakening

Sleep Apnea

Sleep - Dyssomnias

Sleep disorder characterized by the inability to breathe while sleeping.

Night Terrors

Sleep - Parasomnias

Sleep disorder characterized by periods of intense anxiety that occur during slow-wave sleep.

Somnambulism

Sleep - Parasomnias

Sleepwalking.

Usually occurs during slow-wave sleep in N3 and N4.

REM Rebound

Sleep

Occurs when people are recovering from sleep deprivation

People show a greater duration of REM sleep than normal.

Hypnosis

Altered Conscious States

When a person appears to be conscious and in control, but they are in a highly suggestible state.

Hypnotic Induction

Altered Conscious States

Beginning of hypnosis in which the hypnotist seeks to relax the subject and increase the subject's level of concentration.

Meditation

Altered Conscious States

Involves the quieting of the mind and relaxing.

Depressants

Altered Conscious States

A class of psychoactive drugs that reduce nervous system activity, resulting in relaxation and reduced anxiety.

Alcohol

Altered Conscious States

A depressant that increases activity of the GABA receptor, causing hyperpolarization of the membrane.

This causes generalized brain inhibition, resulting in diminished arousal.

May also cause disinhibition which occurs because the centers of the brain that prevent inappropriate behavior are also depressed.

Increases dopamine levels, causing a sense of mild euphoria.