AP Psychology Cognition Unit

memory

learning that's persisted over time

recall

when you retrieve info from memory without context

recognition

retrieving info from memory with context

relearning

takes a fraction of the time when reviewing

encoding

pulling info into the brain

storage

maintain info in STM or LTM

retrieval

pulling info from LTM to STM

phonological loop

auditory memory

visualspatial sketchpad

visual memory

long-term potentiation (LTP)

explains how memories are physically created

explicit memory

declarative memory; episodic memory (personal experiences), semantic memory (facts)

implicit memory

nondeclarative memory; procedural memory, classical conditioning

automatic processing

info into memory without effort

effortful processing

reviewing info consciously to put in memory

sensory memory

info brain is processing unconsciously; fleeting

iconic memory

fleeting photographic memory (1/10 seconds)

echoic memory

fleeting auditory memory (3-4 seconds)

short-term memory

can hold 7 pieces of info plus or minus 2

chunking

way to remember things by putting them in units to remember them

mnemonics

memory tricks; visual imagery (peg word system), acronyms, method of loci

hierarchies

in order of importance

overlearning

after LTP, continuing to review

spacing effect

remember more when you don't cram; use distributed practice

testing effect

quiz yourself

shallow processing

memorization; less likely to remember

deep processing

connecting meaning (semantic encoding) (self-reference effect)

hippocampus

temporary stores explicit memories

cerebellum

stores implicit memories

basal ganglia

procedural memories

infantile amnesia

unable to remember anything before the age of 3

amygdala

fear and aggression; next to hippocampus

flashbulb memoryies

highly emotional memories that are clearly remembered

priming

activation of certain areas

context effects

easier time retrieving when in the same situation where originally learned

state dependent memroy

it's easier to remember when in the same state of consciousness when info was originally learned

mood congruent memory

when in a mood, it's easy to remember stuff in the same mood

serial position effect

most likely to remember stuff at the beginning and end of a list

primacy

remember stuff at the beginning of a list

Von Restorff

remember things due to special emphasis

recency

remember stuff at the end of a list

superior autobiographical memory

claim that they can't forget anything since late childhood

anterograde amnesia

unable to create new memories after brain damage

retrograde amnesia

unable to remember the past before brain damage

encoding failure

forgetting because info didn't actually encode

storage decay

once in LTM, but forgotten

retrieval failure

info is there, but it's hard to pull out

proactive interference

stuff in the past makes us unable to remember something in the present; forward acting

retroactive interference

stuff from the present prevents from remembering stuff from the past; backward acting

repression

traumatic memories being blocked out

reconsolidation

sometimes our memories become inaccurate info due to being repeated

misinformation effect

when memories become inaccurate because of misleading info

source amnesia

know piece of info without remembering the origin

deja vu

feel like something's already happened

cognition

thinking

metacognition

thinking about thinking

concept

idea you have of what something is

prototype

best example of a concept

creativity

ability to come up with new and useful ideas

convergent thinking

problem solving for one solution

divergent thinking

problem solving for multiple solutions

functional fixedness

when we have a difficult time coming up with alternate uses of something

algorithm

step-by-step, go through every possible solution, 100% accuracy

heuristic

short hand rules of thumb, don't go through every solution

insight

light bulb moment

confirmation bias

seek out information that supports our beliefs

mental set

ideas to solve problems based on what's previously asked

intuition

gut instinct

representativeness heuristic

judge the likelihood of something based on how closely it fits with your prototype

availibility heuristic

judging the likelihood of an even based on how readily is comes to mind

overconfidence

thinking you know more than you actually do

belief perseverance

continuing to have an opinion on something after it's been thoroughly disproven

framing

how you phrase/word a question/statistic changes perception