Cogntive Psychology - Chapter 1 Review

cognitive approach

A theoretical orientation that emphasizes a person’s mental processes and knowledge.

cognition

The acquisition and retrieval of knowledge, including the use of that knowledge.

behaviorism

A psychological approach that focuses only on objective reactions to environmental stimuli.

Gestalt psychology

Emphasizes the basic human tendency to organize perceptions.

ecological validity

The principle that experiments should have application to experiences outside the laboratory.

information-processing approach

Comparing mental processes to the operations of a computer.

serial processing

Performing cognitive activities as a sequence of separate operations.

parallel processing

Simultaneous processing of many signals in cognitive activities.

cognitive science

The interdisciplinary study of internal representations involved in thinking.

connectionist approach

An approach to cognition that can perform many operations at the same time.

bottom-up processing

Processing that emphasizes how sensory receptors register information.

top-down processing

Processing that relies on prior knowledge and expectations to interpret sensory information.