Unit 7: Cognition

Memory

The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

Recall

Retrieve the information from your memory

Recognition

Multiple choice test (easier than recall)

Relearning

We learn things more quickly once it has already been learned

Encoding

Getting information into your brain

Storage

Retaining information

Retrieval

Getting information out of memory storage

Parallel Processing

Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously

Sensory Memory

Iconic memory and echoic memory

Short-term Memory

Working memory; capacity = 5-9 items; duration = 10-30 seconds

Long-term Memory

Relatively permanent and limitless storehouse

Working Memory

Where we consciously, actively process incoming information

Explicit Memory

Declarative memory, facts and experiences encoded using effortful processing

Effortful Processing

Requires attention and conscious effort

Automatic Processing

Unconscious encoding of information

Implicit Memory

Without conscious recollection, encoded using automatic processing

Iconic Memory

Visual stimuli, few tenths of a second

Echoic Memory

Auditory stimuli, 3-4 seconds

Chunking

Organizing information into meaningful units

Mnemonics

Memory aids; include visual imagery & organizational devices

Spacing Effect

Distributed study or practice

Testing Effect

Memory is enhanced after retrieving information

Shallow Processing

Maintenance rehearsal

Deep Processing

Elaborative rehearsal, yields better memory results

Semantic Memory

General knowledge of the world

Episodic Memory

Events that happened to you

Memory Consolidation

Neural storage of a long-term memory, physical processes

Flashbulb Memory

A clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant event

Long-term Potential (LTP)

An increase in the cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation

Priming

Unconscious activation of memory associations

Encoding Specificity Principle

Cues and contexts specific to a memory are most effective in helping retrieve it

Mood-congruent Memory

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood

Serial Position Effect

Our tendency to recall best the last (recency) and first (primacy) items in a list

Anterograde Amnesia

An inability to form new memories

Retrograde Amnesia

An inability to retrieve information from one’s past

Proactive Interference

Prior learning disrupts learning and recall of new information

Retroactive Interference

New learning disrupts recall of old information

Repression

Psychoanalytic approach; banishing anxiety-arousing thoughts and memories from consciousness

Reconsolidation

Previously stored memories are retrieved, altered, and stored again (biological)

Misinformation Effect

When misleading information has distorted one’s memory of an event

Source Amnesia

Faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined

Deja Vu

Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

Cognition

Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering

Convergent Thinking

Finding the single best solution

Divergent Thinking

Creative thinking that diverges in different directions

Algorithm

Step-by-step procedures

Heuristic

Rule of thumb (thinking shortcuts)

Insight

The sudden clear understanding of a problem's solution, occurring without gradual trial-and-error, often involving a shift in perspective

Confirmation Bias

A tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions

Sunk-Cost Fallacy

Continuing an endeavor due to already invested resources, regardless of the outcome

Gamblers Fallacy

The mistaken belief that past events affect the probabilities in independent random events

Fixation

A cognitive concept where one can't see new solutions to a problem, remaining stuck on old ones (functional fixedness)

Mental Set

A tendency to approach problems in a similar/familiar way or only see solutions that have worked in the past

Intuition

Knowing or understanding something immediately, without conscious reasoning or deliberate analysis

Representative Heuristic

Judging a situation based on how similar the aspects are to prototypes

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in our memory

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct

Belief Perseverance

Maintaining a belief even after it has been proven wrong

Framing

The way an issue is presented can affect decisions and judgment

Language

Our spoken, written, or signed words

Phoneme

The smallest distinctive sound unit

Morpheme

The smallest unit that carried meaning (a word)

Grammar

A system of rules in language that enables us to communicate (syntax = organization) (semantics = meaning)

Babbling Stage

Begins at 4 months

One-word Stage

Age 1-2

Two-word Stage

Begins around age 2

Telegraphic Speech

Child speaks like a telegram

Aphasia

Impairment of language caused by brain damage

Linguistic Determinism

Language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us

Linguistic Influence

The idea that specific language you speak shapes, but doesn’t strictly determine, how you think, perceive, and understand the world