UNit 7 PSYCH

Hindsight Bias

The "I-knew-it-all-along" phenomenon; the belief that an outcome was predictable after it has already occurred.

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.

Forgetting Curve

Ebbinghaus’s finding that memory for novel information fades quickly at first and then levels off over time.

Misinformation Effect

Occurs when misleading information has distorted one’s memory of an event.

Illusory Correlation

Perceiving a relationship between variables (such as people, events, or behaviors) even when no such relationship exists.

Sensory Memory

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

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.

Short-Term Memory

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly (7 ± 2 items) before the information is stored or forgotten.

Working Memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information.

Long-Term Memory

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system, including knowledge, skills, and experiences.

Explicit Memory (Declarative)

Retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"; processed in the hippocampus and frontal lobes.

Implicit Memory (Nondeclarative)

Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection; processed in the cerebellum and basal ganglia.

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.

Memory Consolidation

The neural storage of a long-term memory; shifting memories from the hippocampus to the cortex for permanent storage.

Context-Dependent Memory

The improved recall of specific episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same.

State-Dependent Memory

The phenomenon where people remember more information if their physical or mental state is the same at encoding and recall.

Mood-Congruent Memory

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.

Flashbulb Memory

A clear, vivid memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Algorithms

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Heuristics

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are common.

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes.

Confirmation Bias

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

Fixation

The inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set.

Mental Set

A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

Belief Perseverance

Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Framing

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Encoding

The process of getting information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.

Automatic Processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency.

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

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.

Chunking

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

Mnemonics

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

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.

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response.

Divergent Thinking

Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.

Convergent Thinking

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

Prototypes

A mental image or best example of a category.

Standard Deviation

A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.

P-value

A statistical measurement used to determine if a result is statistically significant (typically < .05), meaning it is unlikely to have occurred by chance.