Studied by 35 people
AP Psychology Cognition (Perception, Memory, and Intelligence)
Bottom-up procession
analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information
Top-down processing
information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
Schemas
concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information.
Perceptual set
a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
Context
the circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events that help determine meaning
Gestalt Principles
principles that describe the brain's organization of sensory information into meaningful units and patterns. (closure, figure-ground, proximity, similarity)
Selective attention
focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events
Cocktail party effect
ability to attend to only one voice among many
Change blindness
failing to notice changes in the environment
Inattentional blindness
failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
Habituation
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
Sensory adaptation
diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation
Visual cliff
a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
Binocular depth cues
cues of depth perception that arise from the fact that people have two eyes
Retinal disparity
a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the difference between the two images, the closer the object
Convergence
a binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes shift inward when looking at an object
Monocular cues
depth cues available to either eye alone
Relative clarity
a monocular cue for perceiving depth; hazy objects are farther away than sharp, clear objects
Relative size
a monocular cue for perceiving depth; the smaller retinal image is farther away
Texture gradient
the tendency for textured surfaces to appear to become smaller and finer as distance from the viewer increases
Linear perspective
A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the more parallel lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.
Interposition
monocular visual cue in which two objects are in the same line of vision and one partially conceals the other, indicating that the first object concealed is further away
Perceptual constancy
perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightness, color, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change
Apparent motion
illusion of movement in a stationary object
Stroboscopic motion
illusion of movement produced by showing the rapid progression of images or objects that are not moving at all
Phi phenomenon
an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
Autokinetic effect
the tendency to perceive a stationary point of light in a dark room as moving
Concepts
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Prototypes
a mental image or best example of a category
Metacognition
awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.
Schemas
concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information (includes assimilation and accommodation)
Algorithms
very specific, step-by-step procedures for solving certain types of problems
Heuristics
mental shortcuts or "rules of thumb" that often lead to a solution (but not always).
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
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
Mental set
a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past
Functional fixedness
the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving
Priming
the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response
Framing
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is posed can significantly affect decisions and judgments
Gambler's fallacy
a cognitive bias that occurs when someone believes that the frequency of past events can influence the likelihood of a random event in the future.
Sunk-cost fallacy
the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial
Executive functions
higher order thinking processes that include planning, organizing, inhibition, and decision-making
Creativity
the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas
Convergent thinking
thinking that narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution
Divergent thinking
thinking that expands the number of possible problem solutions
Information processing model
model of memory that assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer processes memory in a series of three stages
Encoding, storage, retrieval
three stages in the process of memory
Automatic processing
unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information
Effortful processing
encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Explicit memory
memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"
Implicit memory
retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection
Episodic memory
explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious/explicit memory systems
Semantic memory
explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious/explicit memory systems
Levels of processing
a continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory
Structural encoding
relatively shallow processing that emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus (emphasizing what a word looks like)
Phonemic encoding
emphasizes what a word sounds like
Semantic encoding
the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words
Multi-store model
an explanation of memory proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin which assumes there are three unitary (separate) memory stores, and that information is transferred between these stores in a linear sequence
Sensory memory
the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system (includes iconic and echoic)
Short term memory (STM)
the memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used
Long term memory (LTM)
the system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently
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 (insludes the central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer)
Prospective memory
remembering to do things in the future
Mnemonic devices
memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Method of Loci
a mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations
Chunking
organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Spacing effect
the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice
Source amnesia
attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined
Constructive memory
a psychological concept that describes how the brain creates memories by updating them based on new experiences, situations, and challenges (via memory consolidation or imagination inflation)
Serial position effect
our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list
Maintenance rehearsal
a system for remembering involving repeating information to oneself without attempting to find meaning in it
Elaborative rehearsal
A memory technique that helps transfer information from short-term to long-term memory. It involves connecting new information to what's already known in a meaningful way, such as by thinking about the meaning of the information or using associations.
Autobiographical memory (also highly superior autobiographical memory)
the memory for events and facts related to one's personal life story
Retrograde amnesia
an inability to retrieve information from one's past
Anterograde amnesia
an inability to form new memories
Alzheimer's disease
The most common type of dementia. It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment, involves parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language.
Infantile amnesia
the inability to remember events from early childhood
Retrieval cues
stimuli that aid the recall or recognition of information stored in memory
Context-dependent memory
the theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place
State-dependent memory
the theory that information learned in a particular state of mind (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind
Mood-congruent memory
the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood
Retrieval practice
the repeated retrieval of an item of information from memory
Testing effect
enhanced performance on a memory test caused by being tested on the material to be remembered
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
Forgetting curve
Ebbinghaus' graph showing retention and forgetting over time
Encoding failure
failure to process information into memory
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
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
the temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that it's just out of reach
Repression
in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories
Misinformation effect
incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event (can be a result of framing)
g theory
the theory that there is ONE KIND of overall intelligence
Multiple abilities
the theory that there are multiple types of intelligence
Fluid intelligence
our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood
Crystallized intelligence
our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age
IQ (Intelligence Quotient)
mental age/chronological age x 100
Standardization
defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
Norming
administering a test to a large population so data can be collected to reference the normal scores for a population and its groups
Percentile rank
the percentage of scores below a specific score in a distribution of scores
Note 
Flashcard (31)