Cognition

15-25% of the exam

Top-Down Processing

Information processing is guided by higher-level mental processing. Our brain uses prior knowledge, expectations, and context to interpret sensory data

Bottom-up Processing

Learning based solely on the stimulus, without drawing on past experiences or contextual information

Signal Detection

It explains why we are able to pick up or focus on things we're expecting and ignoring or minimizing everything else

Selective Attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimuli, so because you are focused on one stimulus, you don't take notice of details or surrounding

Cocktail Party Effect

Ability to focus attention on a single talker among a mixture of conversation and background noises

Inattentional Blindness

Failure to notice an unexpected item

Change Blindness

Failure to detect change in a visual stimuli

Binocular Cues

Judging the distance of nearby objects with two eyes

Retinal Disparity

The slight difference in the images received by each eye due to their different positions

Convergence

The inward movement of both eyes to focus on a close object

Stroboscopic Effect

A visual illusion where a rapid series of slightly different images is perceived as a moving image

ex: flip book

Phi Phenomenon

A visual illusion of movement is created when 2 or more lights next to each other blink on and off

ex: christmas light shows, animated signs

Autokinetic Effect

A visual illusion where a stationary point of light appears to move in a dark environment due to small movements

ex: illusions

Perceptual Adaption

The brain’s ability to become accustomed to new or unusual sensation

Perceptual Set

To perceive one thing and not the other— how we perceive things in one perspective

• context: external factors that can impact how we perceive info

• motivation: we see what we want to see— desires or needs

• emotions: they can alter what we experience

  ex: if two people see a gathering of people in the street several hundred yards ahead, someone who is in a happy emotional state will likely see this is some form of party. Someone who is worried or anxious may instantly perceive it as some form of disturbance

• expectations: we expect/predict certain results using prior beliefs

  ex: last time I had grapes, they were sour, so this grape will be sour

Habituation

We stop responding to a stimulus because we’re uninterested or we’ve become used to it

Memory

Learning that persists over time

Encoding (get info)

Storage (retain info)

Retrieval/recall (get the info)

Information Processing Mode of Human Memory

Recall: retrieving past info that was stored away, not in our conscious awareness

Recognition: identifying/recognizing items previously learned

Relearning: going over information more than once to learn it easily

Working memory

A cognitive system that temporarily holds and manipulates information — you hold information AND work with it at the same time

Central Executive Functions

It decides what to focus on, what to ignore, and how to organize your thoughts.

It helps you switch tasks, plan, solve problems, and stay on track

tasks:

1. Focus attention

2. Divide attention between tasks

3. Switch attention from one thing to another

4. Connect working memory with long-term memory

Phonological Loop

Tendency to repeat over and over what you heard to help you remember

ex: phone number

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Mentally envisioning an image/event/scene

Explicit Memory

A type of long-term memory that involves conscious recollection of facts and events that requires intentional effort to recall

• Episodic: memory of personal experiences and specific events

• Semantic: memory of general knowledge and facts

Implicit Memory

Memory that enables you to perform tasks automatically after enough practice or exposure, without needing to actively recall how to do them — memory that influences behavior without conscious awareness

Automatic Processing

The subconscious encoding of information without active effort or conscious awareness. Allows for the absorption of information effortlessly, such as recognizing familiar faces or places

Auto processing leads to implicit memory formation

Effortful Processing

Active, conscious effort you put into encoding, storing, and retrieving information. It's essential for learning new, complex, or unfamiliar information — requires focused attention and concentration + often involves repetition and practice

Sensory Memory

A short-term memory system that holds information from what you see, hear, touch, smell, or taste for just a brief moment

• Iconic: visual memory — flashbacks

• Echoic: auditory memory that allows you to retain sounds for a short period even if you weren’t consciously paying attention

Short-term Memory

Helps store memory for up to 30 seconds and up to 5-9 items until we deem them as:

• important —> transfers over to long-term memory

• unimportant —> memory decays without active rehearsing or new information pushes out older information from short-term memory (displacement)

Long-term Memory

Can hold and retain memory over extended periods (from hours to decades)

due to its large and unlimited capacity

Chunking

A memory strategy that involves breaking down big pieces of information into smaller, easier-to-remember “chunks”

149217761812 —> 1492 - 1776 - 1812

Mnemonic Devices

Techniques that help you remember information more easily by using associations, patterns, or imagery. They work by making information more meaningful or easier to recall.

Method of Loci

A mnemonic device that uses spatial memory to aid in memorizing information

Hierarchies

A structure that organizes information from broad concepts to more specific details

animal —> mammal —> dog —> pug

Spacing Effect

Recalling memories by studying or practicing things in a distributed time — a learning strategy where you spread out your study sessions over time instead of cramming all at once.

Testing Effect

A phenomenon where testing yourself on previously learned material significantly improves long-term retention (the ability to remember information for extended periods) and learning compared to simply restudying the material — active recalling (actively trying to remember information from memory without looking at a reference)

Shallow Processing

A type of memory processing that involves focusing on surface-level features (appearance/sound) of information — leads to STM

Deep Processing

A type of memory processing that involves analyzing/focusing on the meaning of information and making connections to things — leads to LTM

Retrieval Cue

A hint or trigger that helps you access information stored in your memory

State Dependent Memory

We recall or learn better when we’re in a specific state

ex: If you study while feeling relaxed, you might remember better if you're also relaxed during the test

Mood Congruent Memory

Your mood can act as a cue to recall memories tied to that mood — helps us recall positive/negative memories

Context Dependent Memory

When you learn something in a particular place or situation—your surroundings or environment act as retrieval cues

Serial Position Effect

A psychological phenomenon where people tend to remember the first and last items in a list better than the items in the middle

• Primary effect: able to remember the first items better because you’ve had more time to rehearse/repeat them

• Recency effect: able to recall the most recent item because it’s still fresh in your STM — (higher than primary)

Retrograde Amnesia

Can not recall past (retro) memories

Anterograde Amnesia

Can’t form new long-term memories

Antero —> After

Encoding Failure

Failure to store information properly because the brain never processed the details deeply enough to store them because of:

• distraction

• lack of rehearsal

Storage Decay

Over time we forget things even if we encode it well due to lack of active recall

Forgetting Curve

A concept that shows how quickly we forget information over time if we don’t actively try to remember it

Proactive Interference

Prior information interferes with learning or remembering new information

Prior —> Pro

Retroactive Interference

New information interferes with recalling old information

Recent —> Retro

Motivated Forgetting (Repression)

A defense mechanism where the brain blocks out traumatic or distressing memories automatically

Constructive Memory

Memory distortion can replace some parts of your memory by filling in missing details to create a complete and coherent story. —> False, unreliable, and distorted memories

Misinformation Effect

Memories may not be accurate reproductions of events but can be altered by new information related to beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions to fill in gaps in the memory

Source Amnesia

The inability to remember where, when, or how previously learned information was acquired, while retaining the factual knowledge itself

Cognition

Your ability to think, know, remember, and communication with information

Schema

A mental framework where we categorize and store knowledge about objects, people, events, and ideas

Prototypes

Common or representative example of a category or concept

bird —> goose

Assimilation

Take in new information and incorporate it into our existing schema

Accommodation

Modifying your existing schema or creating a new schema to fit new information

Availability Heuristics

A mental shortcut where people judge the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind

Ex: If you recently saw news reports about plane crashes, you might overestimate the risk of flying, even though flying is statistically very safe. The plane crashes are more available in your memory, so they feel more common

Overconfidence

Overestimating the accuracy of our abilities, knowledge, or judgments

Belief Perseverance

Clinging onto our beliefs even though evidence argues otherwise—even after they’ve been proven wrong

Framing

The way information is presented or worded can significantly influence people's decisions and judgments

Gambler’s Fallacy

Where we believe something is less likely or more likely to happen based on the previous outcome

Sunk-Cost Fallacy

Reluctant to abandon strategy because they invested too much or heavily

Creativity

The ability to produce and express new ideas

1. expertise

2. imaginative thinking skills

3. adventurous personality

4. intrinsic motivation

5. creative environment

Concept

A mental categorization of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Recall

Ability to remember without cues

Recognition

Ability to remember what you’ve been told — with cues

Function Fixedness

Can only see one common use for an item — no creativity

Divergent Thinking

Creative thinking that allows you to come up with many uses for an object or many solutions to a problem

Convergent Thinking

Logical thinking that focuses on finding the single best or correct solution to a clearly defined problem

Executive Thinking

Generating, organizing, planning, and carrying out goal-directed behaviors

Massed Practice

Cramming —> opposite of spacing

Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon

Unable to fully retrieve a word or name from memory, but feels like it’s about to come out any second

Prospective Memory

The ability to remember to perform an action in the future

Imagery

Attaching images to information to learn and remember better

Duel Encoding

We remember information better when it is processed in both verbal and visual forms

Representative Heuristics

Where people judge how likely something is based on its similarity to a stereotype

Ex: quiet person —> librarian

Mental Set

The tendency to approach problems with the same strategy — even when a new or better solution might be available

Metacognition

Being aware of your cognitive processes and adjusting those strategies when needed

Ex: “I remembered most things, but I still mixed up two terms. Next time, I’ll make flashcards for those.”

Semantic Networks

A semantic network is like a web in your brain where words and ideas are linked based on meaning.

Ex: Bird —> feather —> eggs —> nest —> fly —> goose

Multi-Store Model

How information flows through three separate memory stores:

1. Sensory memory

2. 2. STM

3. 3. LTM

Structural Encoding

A type of shallow processing that involves focusing on the physical appearance or structure of information — you notice how it looks, not what it means

Ex: “TABLE” —> remembering it because it was in caps

Phonetic Encoding

A type of shallow processing that focuses on the sound of information

Ex: “Cat” rhymes with “hat”

Semantic Encoding

A type of deep processing where you remember something because of its meaning

Elaborative Rehearsal

Strategies used to enhance encoding information

Autobiographical Memory

A memory system that helps you remember the story of your life — memory of personal life experiences

• Episodic: specific event(s)

• Semantic: facts about yourself

Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

A cognitive bias, where something recently learned or noticed seems to appear more frequently than it actually does

Superior Autobiographical

The ability to recall personal life events with extreme accuracy — extremely rare case

Intelligence

The mental potential to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

General Intelligence/General Ability

One general ability that makes you good at many things — (g-factor)

Standardization

A uniform to test where an individual’s score is compared to the rest of the tested groups in order to see where you’re at compared to everyone else

Ex: SAT

IQ

Mental age/Chronological age x 100 = IQ score

**How you behave and think mentally

**How old you really are

Flynn Effect

A worldwide phenomenon where IQ scores showed an increase globally

• Occurs decade to decade

• Makes us question whether it’s the result of better nutritious meals or more access to education

Imagination Inflation

Imagining an event increases your confidence that it actually happened

**misinformation effect can influence your perspective:

“Peppa tripped Suzy” —> imagination manifests —> you now think Peppa did actually trip Suzy

Psychometrics

The field of psychology focused on the measurement of mental abilities, traits, and processes

• Tests

• Scales

• Assessments

Multiple Intelligence

8 Types of Intelligence:

• Linguistic Intelligence

• Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

• Spatial Intelligence

• Musical Intelligence

• Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

• Interpersonal Intelligence

• Intrapersonal Intelligence

• Naturalistic Intelligence

Crystallized Intelligence

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills increase with age

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to think, reason, and problem-solve quickly and abstractly without the influence of one’s prior knowledge or experience — decreases with age