Cognitive Psychology Lecture Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts, theories, and processes of cognitive psychology and neuroscience as detailed in the lesson notes.

Cognitive psychology

The study of mental processes such as thinking, learning, memory, attention, perception, language, and problem solving.

Wilhelm Wundt

Helped establish psychology as a scientific field and is known for creating an early psychology laboratory.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Studied memory and forgetting; known for the forgetting curve.

William James

Studied consciousness, attention, and habits; viewed the mind as active and constantly changing.

Behaviorism

A psychological approach that focuses on observable behavior instead of internal thoughts and feelings.

Cognitive revolution

A shift back to studying internal mental processes scientifically, helping establish cognitive psychology as a field.

Cognitive neuroscience

Studies how the brain supports mental processes such as memory, attention, language, emotion, and decision making.

EEG

Measures electrical activity in the brain.

MRI

Shows brain structure.

fMRI

Shows brain activity by measuring changes in blood flow.

Mind-brain relationship

The question of how physical brain activity creates mental experiences such as thoughts, feelings, memory, and consciousness.

Information processing model steps

Encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Encoding

Taking in information and changing it into a form the brain can store.

Storage

Keeping information in memory over time.

Retrieval

Bringing stored information back into awareness when needed or bringing stored information back from memory.

Sensory memory

Briefly holds information from the senses for a very short time.

Iconic memory

Visual sensory memory; it briefly holds what we see.

Echoic memory

Auditory sensory memory; it briefly holds what we hear.

Haptic memory

Sensory memory for touch.

Working memory

The mental workspace used to hold and use information at the same time.

Long-term memory

Stores information for longer periods, from minutes to years.

Episodic memory

Memory for personal events and experiences.

Semantic memory

Memory for facts and general knowledge.

Procedural memory

Memory for skills and actions, such as riding a bike or typing.

Three types of encoding

Visual encoding, acoustic encoding, and semantic encoding.

Semantic encoding

A type of encoding that focuses on meaning and is usually the strongest type.

Recall

Retrieving information without many clues, such as answering an essay question.

Recognition

Identifying the correct information from choices, such as on a multiple-choice test.

Forgetting

The inability to remember information that was once learned or experienced.

Decay theory

Says memories fade over time if they are not used or reviewed.

Interference theory

Says forgetting happens when other information gets in the way of remembering.

Retrieval failure

Happens when a memory is stored but cannot be accessed at that moment.

Encoding failure

Happens when information was never properly stored in memory.

Seven sins of memory

Transience, absent-mindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence.

Transience

When memories fade over time.

Absent-mindedness

Forgetting because of lack of attention.

Blocking

Temporarily being unable to retrieve information you know.

Misattribution

Remembering information but confusing where it came from.

Suggestibility

Happens when misleading information changes or influences a memory.

Bias (Memory)

Happens when current beliefs or feelings affect how we remember the past.

Persistence

When unwanted memories keep coming back.

Proactive interference

Happens when old information blocks new information.

Retroactive interference

Happens when new information blocks old information.

Sensation

Detecting information from the environment through the senses.

Perception

Interpreting sensory information and giving it meaning.

Bottom-up perception

Starts with sensory details and builds them into a meaningful perception.

Top-down perception

Uses prior knowledge, expectations, memories, and context to interpret sensory information.

Multimodal perception

When the brain combines information from more than one sense.

Decision making

The mental process of choosing between different options.

Heuristic

A mental shortcut used to make decisions quickly.

Availability heuristic

Judging something based on how easily examples come to mind.

Representativeness heuristic

Judging something based on how much it seems to match a category or stereotype.

Anchoring

Relying too much on the first piece of information given.

Confirmation bias

Looking for or believing information that supports what you already think.

Hindsight bias

Believing after something happens that you knew it would happen all along.

Overconfidence bias

Being too sure about your answer, judgment, or ability.

Framing effect

Happens when the way information is presented changes a person's decision.

Inductive reasoning

Uses specific examples to form a general conclusion.

Deductive reasoning

Uses a general rule to reach a specific conclusion.

Problem solving

The process of finding a way to move from a current situation to a goal.

Trial and error

Trying different solutions until one works.

Algorithm

A step-by-step method that guarantees a solution if followed correctly.

Means-end analysis

Breaking a large problem into smaller steps to reach a goal.

Working backward

Starting with the goal and figuring out the steps needed to reach it.

Insight

A sudden realization or aha moment when a solution becomes clear.

Well-defined problem

Has a clear starting point, clear goal, clear rules, and usually one correct answer.

Ill-defined problem

Has unclear steps, unclear goals, or many possible answers.

Functional fixedness

When a person only sees an object being used in its usual way.

Mental set

When a person keeps using a familiar strategy even when it may not work.

Creativity

The ability to produce ideas, solutions, or products that are new and useful.

Divergent thinking

Generating many possible ideas or solutions.

Convergent thinking

Narrowing choices to find the best or correct answer.

Psychometric approach to creativity

Studies creativity by measuring it with tests.

Cognitive approach to creativity

Focuses on the mental processes involved in creative thinking and problem solving.

Personality approach to creativity

Studies traits that may support creativity, such as curiosity, openness, persistence, and flexibility.

Social/cultural approach to creativity

Says creativity is influenced by environment, culture, and social support.

Wallas's four stages of creativity

Preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification.

Preparation (Wallas's stage)

A person gathers information, studies, researches, or thinks about the problem.

Incubation (Wallas's stage)

A person takes a break while the mind continues working in the background.

Illumination

The sudden aha moment when a creative idea appears.

Verification

The idea is tested, improved, edited, or applied.

Attention

The mental process of focusing on certain information while ignoring other information.

Selective attention

Focusing on one thing while filtering out distractions.

Filter model of attention

Says the brain filters information early before fully processing everything.

Late-selection theory

Says the brain may process unattended information for meaning before deciding what to focus on.

Capacity theory

Says attention is a limited mental resource.

Automaticity

When a practiced task becomes automatic and requires little conscious attention.

Language

A system of symbols, sounds, words, and rules used to communicate meaning.

Phonemes

The smallest units of sound in a language.

Morphemes

The smallest units of meaning in a language.

Syntax

The set of rules for arranging words into sentences.

Semantics

The meaning of words and sentences.

Pragmatics

The social use of language in different situations.

Language acquisition

The process of learning language.

Babbling

When babies repeat speech sounds, such as ba-ba or da-da.

One-word stage

When a child uses one word to communicate a larger idea.

Telegraphic speech

When a child uses short phrases with only the most important words, such as Mommy go work.

Cognition

Thinking, learning, remembering, understanding, and problem solving.