cognition exam 3

anatomic dissociation

Different cognitive tasks are supported by different areas of the brain; damage to one area may impair a specific type of memory without affecting others.

explicit memory

Conscious memory for facts and events that can be verbally described.

episodic memory

Memory of personally experienced events tied to specific times and places.

semantic memory

General knowledge about the world not tied to specific experiences.

implicit memory

Unconscious memory that affects behavior without conscious awareness, such as motor skills.

sequencing skill

Ability to remember and execute steps in a particular order.

motor skill

Memory of movements or physical actions (e.g., riding a bike).

adaptation skill

Ability to adjust behavior based on changes in the environment or task.

repitition priming

Improved processing of a stimulus due to its previous presentation.

conditioning

Learning through associations between stimuli and responses.

emotional conditioning

Learning an emotional response to a stimulus via association (e.g., fear of a sound).

content-addressable storage

Memories are accessed based on their content, not by location or time.

hierarchical theory

Concepts are organized in a tree-like structure from general to specific.

nodes

Concepts in a semantic network.

links

Connections between related nodes in a semantic network.

activation

Mental excitation of a concept or node in a memory network.

property inheritance

Concepts inherit properties from higher levels in the hierarchy (e.g., birds have feathers → robins have feathers).

semantic network

Interconnected system of concepts organized by meaning.

six properties of a semantic network

Includes: units, activation, output, connectivity, activation rule, learning rule.

a set of units

basic elements or nodes in a semantic network

state of activation

current status(active/inactive) of nodes

output function

determines whether a node produces a response

pattern of connectivity

how nodes are linked or associatedact

activation rule

guidelines for spreading activation between nodes

learning rules to change weights

rules that adjust the strength of connections between nodes based on experience

spreading activation model

theory where activating one concept leads to activation of related concepts

default values

typical properties of a category stored in memory (e.g., birds typically fly)

semantic priming

faster recognition of a word when it’s preceded by a semantically related word

encoding

the process of transforming info into a memory representation

levels of processing framework

theory that deeper, semantic processing leads to better long-term memroy

depth of processing

degree to which info is meaningfully processed

deep processing

semantic encoding involving meaningful analysis

flashbulb memories

highly vivid and emotionally charged memories

adaptive processing

encoding strategies that enhance memory based on content or utility

survival processing

encoding info based on its relevance to survival

incidental memory tests

tests wehre participants are not told in advance to remember info

intentional memory tests

participants are instructed to remember info for a future test

language

system of communication using symbols and rules

letters

visual symbols representing phonemes

phonemes

smallest units of sound in speech

words

meaningful combos of phonemes

sentences

structured groups of words conveying complete thoughts

text

multiple sentences that form a coherent message

situation model

mental representation of what a text is about, integrating prior knowledge

grammar

set of rules that govern language structure

competence

internalied knowledge of language rules

word-chain grammars

early theory that each word triggers the next based on association strength

phrase-structure grammars

theory emphasizing hierarchical and nested sentence structure

recursion

ability to embed phrases within phrases infinitely

cooing

early strage of language (0-5 months); vowel-like sounds

babbling

stage of language (6-10 months); repititive consonant-vowel sounds.

overregularziation

applying grammatical rules to irregular cases (goed)

whorfian hypothesis

language shapes the way we think

coarticulation

overlap of speech sounds in normal speech

speech stream

continuous flow of spoken words without clear boundaries

mondegreens

misheard phrases in speech or music

homonym

words that sound alike but have different meanings

categorical perception

tendency to perceive phonemes in distinct cateogies

phoneme restoration effect

brain “fills in” missing phonemes based on context

McGurk effect

mismatch between visual and auditory speech cues changes perception

lexical decision

task requiring recognition of real words vs non-words

dual route models of reading

theory proposing two pathways: lexical (whole word) and phonological (sounding out)

acquired dyslexia

reading disorder resulting from brain damage

surface dyslexia

difficulty reading irregular words due to damage to the lexical route

garden path sentence

sentence that initially leads to incorrect parsing, requiring reanalysis

key word

word that privdes syntactic or semantic clues during sentences processing

surface code

exact wording and order of a sentence in memory

proposition

basic unit of meaning, often expressed in a simple statement

situation model

mental simulation of events, actions, and people described in text.