AP Psych Unit 7 - Cognition (Myers Textbook)

Memory

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

Information-Processing Models

Analogies that compare human memory to a computer’s operations

Encoding

The processing of information into the memory system- for example, by extracting meaning

Storage

The process of retaining encoded information over time

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage

Parallel Processing

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and conscious problem solving

Sensory Memory

Level one of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Model; the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

Short-Term Memory

Level two of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Model; activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

Long-Term Memory

Level three of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Model; the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system which includes knowledge, skills, and experience

Working Memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

Explicit Memory

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare” (also called declarative memory)

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Automatic Processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

Implicit Memories

Retention independent of conscious recollection (also called declarative memory)

Ionic 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

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

Mnemonics

Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices (ex. Peg-word system - requires you to memorize a jingle)

Hierarchies

By organizing words or concepts into hierarchies or groups, we can retrieve information better

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 re-reading information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning

Shallow Processing

Encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

Deep Processing

Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage (the brain’s equivalent of a “save button”); registers and temporality holds elements of explicit memories before moving them to other brain regions for long-term storage. The left-hippocampus holds verbal information while the right holds visual designs and locations

Cerebellum

Portion of the brain at the bottom-back of the head that plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit memories created by classical conditioning

Basal Ganglia

Deep brain structures involved in motor movement; facilitates formation of our procedural memories for skills

Infantile Amnesia

The phenomenon of (later in life) not consciously remembering learning associations and skills during the first three years of life

Flashbulb Memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event; noteworthy for their vividness and the confidence with which we recall them

Amygdala

The most notably involved brain structure in emotional responses and the formation of emotional memories

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; neurons become more efficient at releasing and sensing the presence of the neurotransmitters, and more connections develop between neurons

Recall

Retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time A fill-in-the-blank question tests your recall

Recognition

Identifying items previously learned. A multiple-choice question tests your recognition

Relearning

Learning something more quickly when you learn it a second or later time. When you study for a final exam or engage a language, you will relearn the material more easily than you did initially

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory; “the wakening of associations”

State-Dependent Memory

What we learn in one state- be it drunk or sober- may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state

Mood-Congruent Memory

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

Serial Position Effect

Our tendency to recall best the last (a recency event) and the first items ( a primacy effect) in a list; last is remembered better in short-term memory, while first is best remembered in long-term memory

Anterograde Amnesia

An inability to form new memories

Retrograde Amnesia

An inability to retrieve information from one’s past

Proactive Interference

The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

Retroactive Interference

The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

Repression

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

Positive Transfer

Old and new do not always compete with each other. Previously learned information often facilitates our learning of new information

Reconsolidation

We often construct our memories as we encode them, every time we “replay” a memory, we replace the original with a slightly modified version

Misinformation Effect

Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event. Expose to misleading information, we tend to misremember and can influence later attitudes and behavior

“Imagination Inflation'“

Repeatedly imagining nonexistent actions and events can implant false memories

Source Amnesia

Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, hear about, read about, or imagined. (Also called source misattribution). Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.

Déjà vu

The eerie sense that “I’ve experience this before.” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Concept

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Prototype

A mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird such as a robin)

Creativity

The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas (correlates somewhat with intelligence, but beyond an intelligence test score of 120, that correlation dwindles)

Convergent Thinking

Narrows the available possible problem solution to determine the single best solution

Divergent Thinking

Expands 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

Heurisitic

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms (ex. reducing number of options by grouping)

Insight

A sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions

Confirmation Bias

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

Fixation

An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective

Mental Set

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

Intuition

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling of thought, as contrasted with systematic explicit, conscious reasoning

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent or match particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability (vividness, recency, distinctiveness) in memory; if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events as common

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgement

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 framed can significantly affect decision and judgements

Language

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

Phoneme

In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit; language’s basis of sound Morpheme

Morpheme

In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

Grammer

In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. In a given language, semantics is the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Receptive Language

The ability to understand what is said to or about you

Productive Language

The ability to produce words

Babbling Stage

Beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development is 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 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Two-Word Stage

Beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statments

Telegraphic Speech

Early speech stage on which a child speaks like a telegram- “go car”- using mostly nouns and verbs

Universal Grammer

Proposed by linguist Noam Chomsky- the basis building blocks of language (nouns, verbs, adjectives)- and that humans are born with a predisposition to learn language

Aphasic

Impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to the Broca’s area (impairing speeck) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding)

Broca’s Area

Controls language expression- an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

Wernicke’s Area

Controls language reception- a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

Linguistic Determinism

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think. However in actuality, our words may not determine what we think, but they do influence our thinking