Language, Cognition, and Problem-Solving Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms in cognitive psychology, language processing, aphasia, problem-solving strategies, and decision-making heuristics.

Voiced consonants

Consonants produced with vibration of the vocal cords, such as $b$, $d$, and $g$.

Unvoiced consonants

Consonants produced without vocal cord vibration, such as $p$, $t$, and $k$.

Broca’s aphasia

A condition characterized by slow, effortful, and grammatically simplified speech with relatively preserved comprehension.

Wernicke’s aphasia

A condition involving fluent but meaningless speech, often described as “word salad,” with impaired comprehension.

Broca’s area

Located near the motor cortex controlling the mouth and face; it coordinates the motor processes required for speech production.

Wernicke’s area

Located near the auditory cortex; it is involved in translating sounds into meaningful language.

Early childhood speech discrimination

Infants transition from discriminating phonemes of all languages during their first year to becoming sensitive primarily to their native language phonemes.

Regularization errors

Mistakes made by children, such as saying “singed” instead of “sang,” caused by overapplying learned grammatical rules rather than memorizing irregular forms.

Williams syndrome

A condition showing that language and intelligence are dissociated, as individuals typically have low IQ but relatively strong language skills.

Focal colors

The best examples of basic color categories, which were remembered more accurately across different cultures in Rosch’s experiment.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

The theory that language determines thought; it is challenged by findings that people with limited color vocabularies still perceive and remember focal colors similarly.

Problem solving through analogy

Applying the solution from a previously encountered problem to a new problem that possesses a similar structure.

Insight

A sudden restructuring of a problem that leads to a solution, often experienced as an “aha” moment.

Functional fixedness

A cognitive bias that limits creativity by restricting individuals to thinking about objects only in terms of their usual functions.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter that supports motivation, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, aiding the ability to shift strategies during problem solving.

Means-ends analysis

A problem-solving strategy that involves creating subgoals and allows for steps that may temporarily increase the distance from the ultimate goal.

Difference reduction

A problem-solving approach focusing only on steps that immediately reduce the gap between the current state and the goal.

Bayes’ rule

A method of combining prior probabilities (base rates) with new evidence to calculate a more accurate posterior probability of an event.

Subjective expected utility

A calculation used in decision making where utility is determined by multiplying probability by value.

Representativeness heuristic

A mental shortcut where likelihood is judged based on how typical something appears, often leading individuals to ignore base rates.

Monty Hall problem switching probability

If the initial choice is incorrect, the probability of finding the car after switching is $100\%$.

Availability heuristic

A process where base rates are estimated based on how easily examples of an event come to mind.

Prospect Theory

A theory describing how people are risk-averse for gains and risk-seeking for losses, depending on how outcomes are framed.

Omission bias

The tendency to prefer inaction over action when action might cause harm, influenced by moral and emotional considerations.

Hot hand fallacy

The belief that an individual who has been successful is more likely to continue succeeding.

Gambler’s fallacy

The belief that a deviation from randomness will be corrected, making a specific outcome “due” soon.