AP Psych Unit 2: Cognition

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

memory

the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information.

concept

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category.

algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics.

encoding

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

heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.

insight

a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

storage

the retention of encoded information over time.

creativity

the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage.

fixation

the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set.

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving.

representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

belief perseverance

clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

semantics memories

Semantic memory is a type of long-term memory that stores general knowledge, concepts, facts, and meanings of words, allowing for the understanding and comprehension of language, as well as the retrieval of general knowledge about the world

spacing effect

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

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding).

Broca's area

speech production part of the brain

Wernicke's area

language comprehension part of the brain

semantic encoding

the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words.

imagery

mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding.

mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units in STM because space is limited to 7 bits. This increasing the efficiency of STM.

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

echoic memory

A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.

long-term potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

implicit memory

retention independent of conscious recollection. (Also called non-declarative or procedural memory.)

explicit memory

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare." (Also called declarative memory.)

hippocampus

a neural center that is located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage.

recall

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

recognition

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.

relearning

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time.

priming

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

mood-congruent memory

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

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.

repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

source amnesia/misattribution

attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. (Also called source misattribution.) Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.

episodic memory

Explicit memories that have a time and a place.

procedural memory

Implicit memories (retrieved unconsciously) which involved motor skills; for example; riding a bike, typing, and tying a shoe.

Curve of forgetting

Indicates LTM decay over time. Rapid decay occurs within the first 20 minutes and then memory decay slows down to 20-30% over 30 days.

Elaborative Rehearsal

Connecting new information with memories already stored in LTM.

Deep processing

Similar to elaboratiave rehearsal; connecting semantics of a new word to LTM which builds a strong memory trace that is resistant to memory decay.

Shallow Processing

Phonetic memory building which leads to a fragile memory trace that is susceptible to rapid decay. (Focusing on how to say the word).

cerebellum

Brain part that stores implicit memories.

state-dependent memory

Long-term memory retrieval is best when a person's physiological state at the time of encoding and retrieval of the information is the same.

context dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place.

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

retrograde amnesia

loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backwards, or loss of memory for the past

Elizabeth Loftus

Her research on memory construction and the misinformation effect created doubts about the accuracy of eye-witness testimony

Hermann Ebbinghaus

the first person to study memory scientifically and systematically; used nonsense syllables and recorded how many times he had to study a list to remember it well

George Miller

Found that short term memory has the capacity of about 7 (+/- 2) items.

motivated forgetting

forgetting that occurs when something is so painful or anxiety-laden that remembering it is intolerable

retrieval failure

the inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

A model for describing memory in which there are three distinguishable kinds of memory (sensory, short term, long term) through which info passes in a sequential way as it is processed.

semantic memory

a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world (fact memories)

distributed practice

spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study periods

primacy effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

recency effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

deja vu

that eerie sense that "I've experienced this before." Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

parallel processing

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

selective attention

the ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input

divided attention

concentrating on more than one activity at the same time

Metacognition

awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.

prospective memory

remembering to do things in the future

Wolfgang Kohler

researcher who studied insight learning in chimps

testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information

convergent thinking

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

divergent thinking

a type of creative thinking in which one generates new solutions to problems

Gambler's Fallacy

Believing that 'runs' occur to statistically independent phenomena such as roulette wheel spins.

sunk cost fallacy

a framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation

autokinetic effect

illusion, caused by very slight movements of the eye, that a stationary point of light in a dark room is moving