Memory and Thinking Vocab

AP Psych

sunk-cost fallacy

Definition: a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it

Characteristics/Facts:

• minimal benefit

• fueled by overconfidence

Examples: continuing to gamble after you have spent a ton of money because “you have to win at some point”

Non-Example: selling tickets to an expensive concert after getting sick

spacing effect

Definition: distributed practice to yield better long-term retention

Characteristics/Facts:

• reliable

• long-term recall

Examples: studying for your test for 30 minutes for the month leading up to your test

Non-Example: studying for your test 5 hours the night before

repression

Definition: the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety. Causing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Characteristics/Facts:

• traumatic events

• can be retrieved by therapy

Examples: an adult repressing their childhood due to traumatic events

Non-Example: smoker that doesn’t believe smoking is harmful

deep encoding

Definition: encoding based on semantics or the meaning of words

Characteristics/Facts:

• best retention

• meaning leads to better retention

Examples: connecting information from class to stuff in your personal life

Non-Example: skimming through your notes

shallow encoding

Definition: encoding on a basic level through structure or appearance

Characteristics/Facts:

• bad retention

• low level

Examples: memorizing vocab definitions by the first and last word

Non-Example: teaching a math formula to a friend in a new way

meta-cognition

Definition: cognition about cognition, evaluating our mental processes

Characteristics/Facts:

• thinking about thinking

• better academic performance

Examples: asking questions about comprehension while studying

Non-Example: convincing yourself you know the information so you can stop studying

accommodation

Definition: adapting current understandings to incorporate new information

Characteristics/Facts:

• narrowing our schema to characterize items more particularly

Examples: a zebra is a striped member of the equine family, similar but not the same as a horse or donkey

Non-Example: calling a zebra a striped horse

prospective memory

Definition: memory that involves remembering to complete an action or intention in the future

Characteristics/Facts:

• future thinking

• long-term memory

• working memory

Examples: remembering to brush your teeth without a reminder

Non-Example: a multiple choice test

semantic

Definition: meaning and interpretation of words, signs, and sentence structure

Characteristics/Facts:

• based on words

• connections

Examples: memorizing a formula

Non-Example: remembering the first letter of the answer

elaborative rehearsal

Definition: a technique to pass short-term thoughts and ideas into long-term by relating new concepts to old concepts that are already stored in long-term memory.

Characteristics/Facts:

• memory strategy

• deeper understanding

• knowledge retention

Examples: mnemonic devices

Non-Example: repetition without thinking of the meaning behind it

alzheimers

Definition: neurological disorder, that slowly degrades memory and thinking skills, and eventually, the ability to carry out basic tasks

Characteristics/Facts:

• progressive

• strips away memory

• damages brain

Examples: difficulty remembering new information

Non-Example: someone is able to find their phone after they lost it by recounting their previous events

assimilation

Definition: interpreting new experiences in terms of our understanding

Characteristics/Facts:

• influenced by current schemas

• processed by what we already know

Examples: a kid saying dogs and cats are the same because they fit into the box of animals with four legs

Non-Example: adapting the formula of finding the area of a circle to have height so they can find the area of a cylinder

factor analysis

Definition: a statistical procedure that identifies factors (clusters of related items)

Characteristics/Facts:

• identifies different dimensions of a performance that underlie a person’s score

Examples: IQ test determines skills that relate to g

Non-Example: finding a direct relationship between two variables (does not provide the ability to group)