AP Psych Vocab 2.3-2.8

Memory

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

Recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

Recognition

A measure of memory in which the person identifies 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.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory, famous for discovering the forgetting curve and the spacing effect.

Encoding

The process of getting information into the memory system—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

Processing many aspects of a problem or stimulus simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions.

Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin

Psychologists who proposed the classic three-stage information-processing model of memory (sensory memory to short-term memory to long-term memory).

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 calling, 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 adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

Central Executive

In Alan Baddeley's model of working memory, the component that coordinates and focuses attention, pulling information from long-term memory and directing the subsystems.

Phonological Loop

A subsystem of working memory that handles verbal and auditory information.

Visuospatial Sketchpad

A subsystem of working memory that handles visual and spatial information.

Neurogenesis

The formation of new neurons in the brain.

Eric Kandel

Neuroscientist who won a Nobel Prize for his research on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of memory storage using the sea slug Aplysia.

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.

Explicit Memory

Retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare" (also called declarative memory).

Automatic Processing

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

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Implicit Memory

Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection (also called nondeclarative 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.

George A. Miller

Psychologist who proposed that human short-term memory capacity is limited to "the magical number seven, plus or minus two."

Mnemonics

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

Chunking

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

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 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.

Episodic Memory

Explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems.

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories—of facts and events—for storage.

Memory Consolidation

The neural storage of a long-term memory.

Flashbulb Memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repeating information over and over again to keep it active in short-term memory.

Elaborative Rehearsal

A memory technique that involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered, as opposed to simply repeating the word to yourself.

Autobiographical Memory

A memory system consisting of episodes recollected from an individual's life, based on a combination of episodic and semantic memory.

Semantic Memory

Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems.

Episodic Memory

Explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems.

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories—of facts and events—for storage.

Memory Consolidation

The neural storage of a long-term memory.

Flashbulb Memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Encoding Specificity Principle

The idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it.

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 (a primacy effect) items in a list.

Interleaving

Practicing several related skills or topics together rather than focusing on one skill at a time.

Retrograde Amnesia

An inability to retrieve information from one's past.

Proactive Interference

The forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information.

Retroactive Interference

The backward-acting disruptive effect of newer 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.

Reconsolidation

A process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again.

Elizabeth Loftus

Cognitive psychologist renowned for her research on the malleability and inaccuracy of human memory, particularly eyewitness testimony and the misinformation effect.

Misinformation Effect

Occurs 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 (also called source misattribution).

Déjà Vu

That eerie sense that "I've experienced this before." Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

Intelligence

the mental capacity to learn from experience, reason abstractly, solve problems, and adapt effectively to new or changing environments

Charles Spearman

Psychologist who proposed that general intelligence (g) underlies all mental abilities and is measured by every task on an intelligence test.

General Intelligence (g)

According to Spearman and others, a general intelligence factor that underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

Factor Analysis

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a total score.

L.L. Thurstone

Psychologist who opposed Spearman’s single g factor and identified seven clusters of primary mental abilities.

Fluid Intelligence

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood.

Crystallized Intelligence

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.

Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory

A comprehensive hierarchy theory of intelligence that integrates Spearman’s g with broad and narrow cognitive abilities.

Howard Gardner

Psychologist known for his theory of multiple intelligences, proposing that people possess at least eight distinct types of intelligence.

Savant Syndrome

A condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.

Grit

In psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.

Intelligence Test

A method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.

Achievement Test

A test designed to assess what a person has learned.

Aptitude Test

A test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.

Francis Galton

Pioneer in mental testing who attempted to measure natural ability and coined the phrase "nature vs. nurture."

Alfred Binet

French psychologist who developed the first practical intelligence test to assess mental age and identify children needing special schooling.

Mental Age

A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance.

Lewis Terman

Stanford professor who revised Binet's test to create the Stanford-Binet intelligence test and supported eugenics/intelligence quotient testing.

Stanford-Binet

The widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.

David Wechsler

Psychologist who developed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC).

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

The WAIS and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.

Psychometrics

The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits.

Standardization

Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.

Normal Curve

A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes.

Flynn Effect

The substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores measured in many parts of the world over time.

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms, or on retesting.

Validity

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.

Content Validity

The extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest.

Predictive Validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior.

Cross-Sectional Study

Research in which people of different ages are compared with one another at one point in time.

Longitudinal Study

Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.

Cohort

A group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as being born during the same time period.

Carol Dweck

Psychologist who researched motivation and achievement, coining the terms fixed mindset and growth mindset.

Growth Mindset

The belief that intelligence and abilities can be developed through effort, learning, and persistence.

Fixed Mindset

The belief that basic qualities, like intelligence or talent, are fixed traits that cannot be changed.

Steven Pinker

Cognitive scientist who studied language and human nature, proposing evolutionary perspectives on cognitive abilities and gender differences.

Stereotype Threat

A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.