Ap Psych: Cognition

MEMORY

Perception

The way we make sense of our senses through internal expectations (top-down) or external sensory information (bottom-up)

Influences on perception

schemas and perceptual sets, contexts and culture, perceptual principles, attention

Internal perception filters

Schemas (prior knowledge) and Perceptual Sets (expected way to perceive stimuli)

External perception filters

Context, experiences, cultures, and expectations

Gestalt Principles

How humans organize their perception: closure, figure ground, proximity, similarity

Attention

How we focus on what we sense and see —> influenced by internal and external factors

selective attention

attention on a particular focus: cocktail party effect

inattentional/change blindness

Environmental changes are not perceived due to background stimuli not being registered in consciousness

visual perception processes

• binocular and monocular

• visual perceptual constancies

• apparent movement

Binocular cues

depth perception cues with both eyes:

• retinal disparity (difference in both eyes)

• convergence (merge of both images)

Monocular cues

Depth perception cues with one eye:

• linear perspective (parallel lines in distance appear to meet)

• relative size (two objects similar in size, the smaller it looks the father)

• interposition cue (position in relation, overlapping)

• texture gradient (clear vs smooth)

• relative clarity (haziness)

perceptual constancies

maintaining perception of an object in different conditions

apparent movement

illusion that images are moving when they’re not (old tv)

Thinking

• concepts (mental grouping)

• prototypes (best image of concept)

• assimilation (addition of info without change of schema),

• accommodation (addition of info with change of schema)

Problem solving

algorithms (trying all possible solutions until correct one is found)

Judgements

Heuristics (mental shortcuts):

• representative (new info fits prototype)

• availability (new info influences judgement)

Decision making

influenced by:

• mental set (previous way of solving a problem is used again)

• priming (exposure to something influences your response subconsciously)

• framing (the way you show information)

Decision making processes

• Gambler’s fallacy (probability change)

• Sunk-cost fallacy (inability to abandon idea that took time and effort)

Executive functions

brains mental management skills to follow a goal

Creativity

Ability to create novel ideas with

• divergent thinking (convergent is opposite)

• Hindered by functional fixedness (can’t see another purpose for something that already has purpose in brain)

Types of memory

• Explicit (episodic and semantic, the WHAT, easy to explain)

• Implicit (procedural, the HOW, hard to explain)

• Prospective (memory of plans for future)

Long term potentiation

synaptic connections become stronger with frequent activation

Working memory model

Working memory —> Long-term memory

• central executive (boss of working memory; controls attention and decides what information to focus on and ignore, and how to organize and use the info from short-term memory)

• phonological loop (sound)

• visual spatial sketchpad (images and spatial awareness)

• episodic buffer (events in order)

Multistore model

Information must pass through: sensory —> short term —> long term

• Sensory (iconic and echoic)

• Short term (rehearsal)

• Long term (retrieval)

Effortful processing: takes focus and work, short term ←→ longterm

Automatic processing: without trying, straight to longterm

Levels of processing

Shallow —> Deep

• Structural (looks)

• Phonemic (sounds)

• Semantic (meaning)

Encoding

Creating memories determines how effectively we can store and retrieve information

Helps encoding

• chunking

• categories (similarities)

• hierarchies (ranked/layered)

• Mnemonic devices (method of loci)

solidifies encoding

Spacing effect (effectiveness of encoding):

• massed practice

• distributed practice

influences encoding

The way information is presented:

• primacy effect

• recency effect

more memorable than information in the middle

Storing memories

• Maintenance and elaborative rehearsal

• Autobiographical memory (memories connected to us individually are more memorable)

• Hinders storage —> Retrograde and anterograde amnesia, alzheimers, infantile amnesia

Retrieval (of memories)

• Recall (without cues)

• Recognition (with cues)

Enhances retrieval

• context-dependentmemory (in the same environment)

• mood congruent memory

• state-dependent memory (physical state)

Successful retrieval

• test effect

• metacognition (thinking about how you think you learn, what you know and don’t)

Forgetting

• Forgetting curve (forgetting is dependent on time, stress, and sleep, meaningfulness, retrieval opportunities, and difficulty of information)

Forgetting due to encoding failure

• proactive or retroactive interference

• tip of the tongue phenomenon (retrieval failure)

Forgetting due to repression

Memories can be forgotten to defend the ego

Accuracy of memories

• misinformation effect (memory changed by false information after event)

• source amnesia

• constructive memory (construction/fill in the gaps in your memory)

Intelligence and Achievement

Scientists debate whether intelligence is genetic or due to the environment

IQ

chronological age/mental age

Standardized test

consistent procedures and environment, same test for everyone

Valid test

Measures what its supposed to measure:

• Construct validity (how well a test reflects the range of material; unit tests)

• Predictive validity (measures qualities that apply to future success; SAT)

Reliable tests

Same results each time test is administered (bell curve)

• test-retest reliability (same performance at og time and later time)

• split-half reliability (split test in half and correlate scores)

Stereotype threat and Lift

• Threat: test anxiety due to the threat of fitting into a stereotype

• Lift: better performance because not a part of the stereotype

Flynn effect

IQ scores increased due to better societal factors

IQ varies within group more than in between groups

Poverty, discrimination, and educational inequities

can negatively influence the intelligence scores

of individuals and societal groups around the

world. —> scores have been used to limit access to jobs

Academic tests

• Achievement tests (measure what someone knows)

• Aptitude tests (measure ability to do well in the future)

Belief of intelligence on academics

• fixed mindset (unchanging from birth)

• malleable (growth)

Crystallized and Fluid Intelligence

• Crystallized (cumulative knowledge, holds steady or increases with age)

• Fluid (rapid learning, decreases with age)