ap psych unit 7

Noam Chomsky: Language

Argued that all languages shared basic
elements (nouns, verbs, adjectives), which he
called “universal grammar.”
• He also believed that humans come pre-wired
to use language, just as birds come pre-wired
to fly.

Herman Ebbinghaus

Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve:
• We forget a lot at first, but then it levels off
(or this less memory “decay”).

Wolfgang Kohler

Animals (not just humans) can have sudden
insight into problem solving.

Elizabeth Loftus

Using certain words can change people’s
memories of an event.

George A. Miller

Magical Number 7, plus or minus 2
• This says that we can only remember about 7
things at a time, plus or minus 2. (So between
5 and 9.)

Memory

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

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory systems – for example, by extracting meaning.

Storage

the process of retaining encoded information over time.

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage.

Parallel Processing

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions. Contrasts with the step- by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

Sensory Memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

Short-Term Memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing before the information is stored or forgotten.

Long-Term Memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

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.

Explicit Memory

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare.” (Also called declarative memory)

Effortful Processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Automatic Processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.

Implicit Memory

retention independent of conscious recollection. (Also called non-declarative memory)

Iconic Memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

Echoic Memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

Mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Spacing Effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

Testing Effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning.

Shallow Processing

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words.

Deep Processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention.

Hippocampus

a neural center that is located in the limbic
system; helps process explicit memories
for storage.

Flashbulb Memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Recall

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learning 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.

Relearning

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.

Mood Congruent Memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.

Serial Position Effect

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

Anterograde Amnesia

an inability to form new memories

Retrograde Amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one’s past.

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.

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.

Source Amnesia

attributing the wrong source an event we have
experienced, heard about, read about, or
imagined. (Also called source misattribution.)
Source amnesia, along with the misinformation
effect, is at the heart of many false memories

Deja Vu

that eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this
before.” Cues from the current situation
may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an
earlier experience.

Cognition

the mental activities associated with
thinking, knowing, remembering, and
communicating.

Concept

a mental grouping of similar objects,
events, ideas, or people.

Prototype

a mental image or best example of a
category. Matching new items to a
prototype provides a quick and easy
method for sorting items into categories
(as when comparing feathered creatures
to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).

Creativity

the ability to produce novel and valuable
ideas.

Convergent Thinking

narrows the available problem solutions to
determine the single best solution.

Divergent Thinking

expands the number of possible problem
solutions (creative thinking that diverges in
different directions).

Algorithm

\
a methodical, logical rule or procedure that
guarantees solving a particular problem.Contrasts with the usually speedier – but
also more error-prone – use of heuristics

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows
us to make judgments and solve problems
efficiently; usually speedier but also more
error-prone than algorithms.

Insight

a sudden realization of a problem’s
solution; contrasts with strategy-based
solutions.

Confirmation Bias

a tendency to search for information that
supports our preconceptions and to ignore
or distort contradictory evidence.

Mental Set

a tendency to approach a problem in one
particular way, often a way that has been
successful in the past.

Intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or
thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious
reasoning.

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

Overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than
correct – to overestimate the accuracy of
our beliefs and judgments.

Belief Perseverance

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after
the basis on which they are formed has
been discredited.

Framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is
framed can significantly affect decisions
and judgements

Language

our spoken, written, or signed words and
the ways we combine them to
communicate meaning.

Phoneme

in language, the smallest distinctive sound
unit.

Morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that
carries meaning; may be a word or a part
of a word (such as a prefix).

Grammar

in a language, a system of rules that
enables us to communicate with and
understand others. In a given language,
semantics is the set of rules for deriving
meaning from sounds, and syntax is the
set of rules for combining words into
grammatically sensible sentences.

Babbling Stage

beginning at about 4 months, the stage of
speech development in which the infant
spontaneously utters various sounds at
first unrelated to the household language.

One-Word Stage

the stage in speech development, from
about age 1 to 2, during which a child
speaks mostly in single words.

Two-Word Stage

beginning about age 2, the stage in
speech development during which a child
speaks mostly two-word statements.

Telegraphic Speech

early speech state in which a child speaks
like a telegram – “go car” – using mostly
nouns and verbs.

Aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by
left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s
area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s
area (impairing understanding).

Broca’s Area

controls language expression – an area of
the frontal lobe, usually in the left
hemisphere, that directs the muscle
movements involved in speech.

Wernicke’s Area

controls language reception – a brain area
involved in language comprehension and
expression; usually in the left temporal
lobe.

Linguistic Determinism

Whorf’s hypothesis that language
determines the way we think.