Cognition, Memory, and Intelligence

Vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions and concepts across cognition, perception, memory models, testing, and intelligence.

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Metacognition

"Thinking about thinking"—awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes and learning strategies.

Schemas

Mental frameworks or concepts that help us organize and interpret new information based on past experiences.

Algorithms

Step-by-step logical rules or procedures that guarantee a correct solution to a problem.

Cognitive biases

Systematic errors in thinking that affect decisions and judgments.

Confirmation bias

Searching for or interpreting information in a way that confirms pre-existing beliefs.

Overconfidence

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

Belief perseverance

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

Gambler's fallacy

The mistaken belief that if a random event happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future (or vice versa).

Convergent thinking

Narrows available problem solutions to determine the single best answer.

Divergent thinking

Expands the number of possible solutions through creative, outside-the-box brainstorming.

Heuristics

Simple, efficient mental shortcuts that allow us to make judgments and solve problems quickly (though they are more error-prone than algorithms).

Availability heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory (how vivid or recent they are).

Representativeness heuristic

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

Functional fixedness

A cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used.

Framing

The way an issue is posed or worded, which can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Priming

The implicit activation of specific associations in memory, subtly influencing perception or behavior.

Top-down processing

Constructs perceptions guided by prior knowledge, expectations, and experience.

Bottom-up processing

Begins with raw sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.

Memory

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

Implicit (automatic) memories

Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection.

Explicit (effortful) memories

Retention of facts and personal experiences that one can consciously know and "declare."

Automatic processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information (like space, time, and frequency) and well-learned skills.

Procedural memory

Memory for how to perform motor skills and habits (e.g., riding a bike).

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires conscious attention and deliberate effort.

Semantic memory

Memory of general facts and knowledge about the world.

Episodic memory

Memory of personally experienced events.

Autobiographical memory

A blend of semantic and episodic memories that form a person's life story.

Prospective memory

Remembering to perform an intended action in the future (e.g., taking medication at 8:00 PM).

Multi-store Model (Atkinson-Shiffrin)

The three-stage processing model of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).

Sensory memory

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

Short-term memory (STM)

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly (typically $\sim 7$ items for $15$–$30\text{ seconds}$) before the information is stored or forgotten.

Long-term memory (LTM)

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

Iconic memory

A fleeting visual sensory memory lasting only a few tenths of a second.

Echoic memory

A momentary auditory sensory memory lasting about $3$ to $4\text{ seconds}$.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation—believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Shallow encoding

Encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words (e.g., font or sound).

Deep encoding

Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words, which yields much better retention.

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units.

Hierarchies

Dividing broad concepts into narrower categories and subcategories.

Method of loci

A mnemonic device that associates items to be remembered with specific physical locations along a familiar route.

Retrieval cues

Anchor points (words, sights, smells) that trigger access to target information in long-term memory.

Context-dependent memory

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

State-dependent memory

The tendency to recall information best when in the same physical or emotional state as when it was learned.

Source amnesia

Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined.

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Temporary inability to retrieve a known word or name, accompanied by the feeling that retrieval is imminent.

Interference

Disruption of recall when older memories block newer ones (proactive interference) or newer memories block older ones (retroactive interference).

Misinformation effect

Incorporating misleading post-event information into one's memory of the event.

Forgetting Curve (Ebbinghaus)

A graph showing that memory retention drops rapidly right after learning and then levels off over time.

Intelligence

The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

Achievement tests

Tests designed to assess what a person has already learned (e.g., an AP exam).

Aptitude tests

Tests designed to predict a person's future performance or capacity to learn (e.g., the SAT).

Intelligence tests

Methods for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others using numerical scores.

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields consistent results.

Validity

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.

Test-retest reliability

Measuring reliability by administering the same test to the same group of people on two different occasions and comparing the scores.

Predictive validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior or outcome it is designed to predict (e.g., high school test scores predicting college GPA).

Scientific bias (in testing)

Occurs when a test predicts future behavior differently for different groups.

Cultural bias (in testing)

Occurs when test questions assume familiarity with a specific culture's experiences or vocabulary.

Flynn Effect

The worldwide phenomenon of rising average intelligence test performance over successive generations.

Stereotype threat

A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype, which can impair performance.

Stereotype lift

A boost in performance caused by the awareness that an outgroup is negatively stereotyped, elevating confidence in one's own group.

Growth mindset

The belief that intelligence and abilities can be developed through effort and learning.

Fixed mindset

The belief that intelligence is static and unchangeable.