ap psych unit five - cognitive psychology

study set over unit five of ap psychology, cognitive psychology (memory, forgetting, and language).

memory

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

1 - encoding - getting the info into memory.

• like a keyboard.

2 - storage - retaining the encoded info.

• like a flash drive.

3 - retrieval - getting info out of the brain.

• like a computer monitor.

all three must happen to remember and learn.

cognitive

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

recall

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier

• uses effort.

ex) a fill in the blank test.

recognition

a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned

• identify amongst others.

ex) a multiple choice test.

relearning

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time (or effort) saved when learning material again.

• hence re-learning.

parallel processing

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously.

• the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions.

sensory memory

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

• lasts around an instant.
• can either be iconic* or echoic*.

allows us to take in all of the information and decide if it is important enough to keep.

*iconic = a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.

*echoic = a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.

echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.

short-term memory

memory that holds meaningful info for a short amount of time (usually less than thirty seconds).

ex) remembering the digits to a phone number while calling.

• lasts around less than thirty seconds.
• has a limited capacity.

Information will leave this memory if it is not rehearsed.

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storage of the memory system.

ex) knowledge, skill, and experience.

• is relatively permanent knowledge.
• limitless capacity.

working memory

an active "workspace" in which information is retrieved and manipulated through rehearsal.

• there is a "central executive" that is involved in making decisions and reasoning- it coordinates two distinct storage rehearsal systems:

visual store: specializes in visual and spatial info.

verbal store: responsible for material related to speech, words, and numbers.

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

• durable and accessible memory.

ex) novel info such as a friend's new phone number requires effort and attention to remember.

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of information. for example, your route to school is automatically processed.

other examples include:
space - while reading a textbook you automatically encode the place of a picture on a page.

time - we unintentionally note when the events take place in a day.

frequency - you effortlessly keep track of how often things happen to you.

implicit memory

retention independent of conscious recollection.

• the individual is unaware that remembering has occurred.
• unconsciously.

relates to procedural memories, which is the memory for skills and habits - you don't have to think about "how to" with these memories.

explicit memory

retention of facts and experience that one can consciously know and "declare."

related to declarative memories, which is the memory of factual info such as names, faces, or dates.

• requires effort.

chunking

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

ex) try and remember the number "1776149218121941".

it's difficult like that, but easier if you split it up into "1776 (declaration of independence) 1492 (columbus) 1812 (war of 1812), and 1941 (pearl harbor)" and possibly connect them to things you already know.

mnemonics

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

ex) phonemes - the smallest distinctive sound unit in language, and morphemes - the smallest unit that carries meaning.

method of loci

a mnemonic memory aid.

involves imagining moving through a familiar series of locations with items you need to remember, associating those items with a sequence of familiar locations.

peg-word

a mnemonic memory aid.

• associates numbers with items that rhyme with or resemble the numbers.

ex) first memorize a jingle, then associate the jingle with a list that you're trying to remember, and then visualize those items.

linking method

a mnemonic memory aid.

involves forming a mental image of items to be remembered in a way that links them together.

spacing effect

we retain info better when our rehearsal is distributed over time.

• distributed study or practice tends to yield better results.

ex) spacing out your study times over a week instead of cramming, or studying every night before bed.

next-in-line effect

when your recall is better for what other people say but poor for the person just before you in line.

ex) think about when you have had to read aloud in class… you are worried about what you have to read and are not paying attention to what the person before you said.

serial position effect

when your recall is better for first and last items on a list, but poor for middle items.

• also known as primary/recency effect.

ex) trying to remember the whole phone number.

tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon (TOT)

inability to recall words or ideas while knowing it's in your memory.

• knowing a word, but not being able to immediately recall it.

testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information

semantic memory

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge.

episodic memory

explicit memory of personally experienced events.

WAY TO REMEMBER: "that [personally experienced event] was so crazy, it felt like we were on an episode of survival!"

memory consolidation

the neural storage of long term memories.

flashback

a clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant event.

long-term potential

an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation.

long term potentiation

a process of strengthening synapses that leads to longer-lasting memories.

context effect

the tendency to recover information more easily when the retrieval occurs in the same setting as the original learning of the information.

ex) scuba divers recalled more words under water if they learned the list underwater.

priming

the procedure of providing cues that stimulate memories without awareness of the connection between the cue and the memory.

encoding specifically 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.

state-congruent memory

improved recall of memory/information when in the same state as encoding.

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories (or remember ongoing events) that happened AFTER the incidence of trauma or the onset of a disease that causes amnesia.

*antero = after

retrograde amnesia

an inability to remember events that occurred BEFORE the incidence of trauma or the onset of a disease that causes amnesia.

*retro = before, or the backwards acting.

source amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined.

• attributing events to the wrong source (misattribution).

proactive interference

old info interferes with remembering new info.

ex) when you get a new phone number, it's harder to learn the new one.

retroactive interference

the learning of new info interferes with remembering old info.

repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

ex) after being cut from the soccer team, you want to go to grandma's house and eat cookies.

reconsolidation

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

ex) when you remember a traumatic memory and you try and convince yourself something happened differently, or it isn't as bad as you thought.

deja vu

that eerie sense that "I've experienced this before."

cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier, or similar experience.

concept

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

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category.

convergent thinking

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

divergent thinking

expanding 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.

ex) facebook's harmful algorithm.

heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent or match a particular prototype*.

• it allows people to make quick judgments, but those judgments are often wrong as you often ignore all other relevant info.

ex) a detective might focus entirely on circumstantial evidence when making an arrest.

*prototype = a mental image or best example of a category.

availability heuristic

a cognitive shortcut in which the probability of an event is determined by how easily the event can be brought to mind (availability in memory).

• you choose the alternative that is most mentally "available".

ex) plane crashes make people afraid of flying.

insight

a sudden awareness of how items are related and seeing the solution to the problem.

• you often need some prior experience and initial trial-and-error to gain insight.

ex) an ah-ha moment.

confirmation bias

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

ex) if you believe that the earth is flat, you'll ignore the scientific evidence and search for "flat earthers" information.

fixation

the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem-solving.

functional fixedness

tendency to view problems only in their customary or typical use.

• but you don't see an iron as a hammer.

ex) to a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

mental set

the tendency for old patterns of problem-solving to persist and make it impossible for us to see new ways to solve problems.

• we approach a problem, often in a way that has been successful in the past.

intuition

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

over-confidence

a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one's beliefs and judgements.

• the tendency to be more confident than correct.

ex) exaggerated fear.

belief perseverance

clinging to one's initial beliefs even when presented with contrary evidence.

ex) after being proved to that the earth is round, you still belive it's flat.

framing

how an issue is presented can significantly affect decisions and judgements.

• can have profound effect on judgement.

language

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

grammer

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.

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 one to two, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.

two-word stage

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

telegraphic stage

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram-'go car'- using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting 'auxiliary' words.

aphasia

impairment of language.

ex) damaged left hemisphere of brain, or wernicke's area, or broca's area.

liguistic determinism

the strong form of whorf's hypothesis—that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us.

influence determinism

the weak form of whorf's hypothesis*.

*whorf's hypothesis = the hypothesis that the words and structures of a language can affect how the speakers of that language conceptualize or think about the world

misinformation

occurs when a memory has been distorted by misleading information.

forgetting

inability to retrieve info due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval.

motivated forgetting

people unknowingly revise their memories.

• we don't remember the things we don't want to remember.

parts of the brain involved in memory

• prefrontal cortex
• amygdala
• hippocampus
• cerebellum
• medial temporal lobe

prefrontal cortex

part of frontal lobe responsible for thinking, planning, and language.

ex) you use the prefrontal cortex when managing emotional reactions, etc.

amygdala

two lima bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system*.

• linked to emotion.

ex) when we hear an unpleasant sound, the amygdala heightens our perception of the sound.

limbic system - the part of the brain involved in our behavioral and emotional responses.

• especially when it comes to survival: feeding, reproduction and caring for our young, and fight or flight responses.

hippocampus

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

• a complex brain structure embedded deep into temporal lobe

ex) learning how to memorize speeches or lines in a play

cerebellum

a large structure of the hindbrain that controls fine motor skills.

ex) the cerebellum plays a role in learning to ride a bicycle or play a musical instrument.

medial temporal lobe

includes the hippocampus, amygdala, and parahippocampal regions, and is crucial for episodic and spatial memory.

encodes and transfers new explicit memories to long-term memory.

• function consists of distinct processes such as encoding, consolidation, and retrieval.