AP Psych: Cognition Vocab

Metacognition

thinking about thinking

Cognition

mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating (language)

Concepts

mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people that help us categorize and understand the world.

Schema

cognitive concepts we use to organize information, helps us retrieve memories, subfolders within a folder

Prototypes

mental image or best example of a category, can become a stereotype, they are personal to you 

Assimilation

Placing new information learned into the schema we already have (add new information to EXISTING schema)

Accommodation

Creating a new schema for information

Algorithms

Step by step procedure - methodical, logical rule that guarantees solving a problem, it can take a long time, it always leads to the correct answer 

Heuristics 

Simple thinking strategy, a mental shortcut, allows us to make quick judgements but is more error prone

Representative heuristic

Making a judgement based on our prototype of a category, leading to potential biases in decision-making.

Stereotype

a prototype can be this, generalized beliefs about a group, becomes the mental shortcut that we rely on (sometimes but not always correct)

Availability heuristic

making a judgement based on availability in memory something just happened and is fresh in your mind, what comes to mind quickly is deemed significant, use this to make decisions

Insight 

a type of heuristic, a sudden realization of the solution to a problem relies on things we used in the past, often don’t know how we solved it, also known as an AHA moment, considered effortless, automatic feeling, not always correct

Framing

our decisions can be influenced, the way an issue or problem is present, affects our problem solving strategy, also known as wording effect

Gambler’s Fallacy

mistaken belief that the probability of a random event occurring in the future is influenced by past occurrences, people believe a streak of one outcome will soon be followed by the opposite outcome

Sunk-cost Fallacy

when you feel like you should continue to pour money, time, or effort into a situation since you’ve already “sunk” so much into it, makes it difficult to walk away from the situation since you don’t want to see your resources wasted or lost, often leads to irrational decision making.

Overconfidence

Using intuition to solve problems can lead to this → our tendency to be more bold and to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs rather than being correct

Confirmation Bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions or what we believe, to ignore or distort information that contradicts our belief 

Belief Perservance

overconfidence and confirmation = can lead to this, we cling to our initial concepts even after they have been discredited → we refuse to believe that we are wrong

Fixation 

the inability to see a problem from a new perspective by employing a different mental set/perceptual set, relied on stored base of problem solving strategies the older we are, we have a high tendency to approach a problem one way

Convergent thinking

looks at obtaining one solution to a problem

Divergent Thinking

often associated with creativity and creative thinking since it seeks to find several different solutions to the same problem

Functional Fixedness

When we have a problem to solve, the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions

Memory

the persistence of learning over time through storage and retrieval of information, it is differentiated by how are recollections are processed stored and retrieved by the brain

Sensory memory

brief storage of information from your series

Short term memory

ability to recall info for about 15-30 seconds

Working memory

part of short-term memory, holds cognitive info temporarily so we can problem solve and make decisions

Long term memory

information is stored for long periods and must be retrieved when needed for tasks or knowledge.

Explicit memories

also known declarative memory, requires conscious recall or thinking

Semantic memory

type of explicit memory, word meanings or faces that allows us to understand and communicate information.

Episodic memory

type of explicit memory, events from your life

Retrospective

past recollection of events or experiences, an explicit memory

Prospective memory

remembering to perform an action in the future, an explicit memory

Implicit memories

also known as non-declarative, doesn’t require conscious recall, may start as explicit memory, become procedural without rehearsal. ex: playing an instrument or riding a bike, located in the cerebellum (muscle memories)

Classical conditions

responses to conditioned stimuli, an implicit memory

Priming

previous exposure to a stimulus that automatically conjures a memory, an implicit memory

Long-term potential

the synapse is more efficient at firing, the basis for memory and learning, neural connections are strengthened, more serotonin is released, (mood, memory, and learning)

Dual processing

a “two-track” mind, information is processed consciously and unconsciously at the same time, consciously aware of ourselves and environment → we pay attention to it, unconsciously unaware → the memory suddenly returns later after you’ve been trying to remember

selective attention

focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus while ignoring other stimuli, enhancing perception and memory of the focused item.

Multi store model

Sensory memory → short term memory → long term memory

Sensory memory

1st part of multi store model, immediate brief recording of sensory info, must pay attention for information to move to short term memory

Iconic memory

a part of sensory memory, brief visual memory, often unreliable, can recall an image

Echoic memory

a part of sensory memory, brief auditory memory, lasts longer than iconic memory, retains sounds for a short period, retains last 4 or 5 words

Selective attention

information is automatically gone or forgotten if you don’t pay attention to the stimuli

Short term memory

information moves from sensory memory to short to this memory, can hold info for about 30 seconds

Working memory

a type of short term memory, even shorter than short term memory loss

Long term Memory

relatively permanent limitless storehouse of memories, from short term to this, encodes in the hippocampus, can be done automatically like time and space, can require effort through rehearsal

Working memory model

argues that working memory is a part of short term memory, allows for manipulation of information so we can cognitively process it

Visual and auditory

the two types of working memory, information is held here in our conscious attention

phonological loop

helps us remember auditory information like words, sounds and songs

Visuospatial Sketchpad

helps us remember what things look like or how they are laid out spatially

The central executive

controls your working memory, it connects your short term with long term, so you can connect new information with stored, allows you to select attention and focus

episodic buffer

helps explain large chunks of information that people remember for a short period of time, it may also include information for other senses like smell or taste

levels of processing model

focuses on how we encode infomation

structural encoding

shallow tactic, visual, what it looks like, goes to long term

phonetic encoding

sounds, rehearsal of words or rhythmic patterns, song, (short term first then long term)

Semantic encoding

deep tactic, encoding of meaning, including the meanings of words, goes to long term memory

self reference effect

remembering things that pertain to ourselves better than other types of information, as personal relevance enhances memory retention. (goes to long term)

Shallowing Processing

occurs when we only take in superficial sensory information, like the letters/sounds in a word, leads to memory decay, structural and phonetic encoding can lead to this if it isn’t combined with semantic encoding

Deep Processing

occurs when we attach meaning to the info, and create association between new memories and existing memories, called Elaborative Rehearsal, semantic encoding leads to this

Encoding

turning short term memory to long term memory, stored/does this in the hippocampus

Forgetting Curve

a graphical representation of the rate at which we forget information over time, demonstrating that most forgetting occurs shortly after learning, led to the spacing effect

Spacing effect

amount remembering depends on the time spent learning, retain information better when our rehearsal is distributed over time, while cramming only produces short term learning

Serial Position Effect

Tendency to recall the first and last items on a list

Primacy Effect

remembering the beginning of the list better than the middle items on the list

Recency Effect

remembering the end of the list, still present in the working memory and thus more easily retrievable than earlier items.

Von Restoroff Effect

items that “stick out like a sore thumb” are more likely to be remembered

Mnemonic Devices

memory aids that use vivid imagery or other organizational devices to enhance recall and memory retention, useful for encoding new information, helps retrieve information as well

First word method

takes the first letter of words you want to remember and creates a new word

Method of Loci

create a mental map or cognitive map of a place you know well, place objects to remember in a room that you can “walk” though to find, also known as memory palace