Cognitive Psychology: Attention, Memory, Language, and Problem Solving

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering attention models, consciousness, memory systems, linguistics, and problem-solving strategies based on lecture notes.

Iconic memory

A form of visual sensory memory that lasts less than a second, exemplified by the ability to recall a letter after a brief flash.

Echoic Memory

Auditory sensory memory that lasts a couple of seconds, allowing for temporal integration (the "what?" then remembering effect).

Selective attention

A type of attention described as a spotlight that focuses on specific information while filtering out others.

Covert spatial orientation

The act of paying attention to a noise or stimulus without physically looking towards its source.

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP)

An experimental model used to study breakthrough attention, such as hearing one's own name in a loud crowd.

Saccades

Rapid, jumping eye movements used when scanning a visual scene, often studied using eye-tracking.

Change Blindness

The failure to notice changes in a visual environment, which can be triggered by flashing, "mudsplashes," or gradual transitions.

Blindsight

A condition resulting from damage to the primary visual cortex where a person can respond to visual stimuli or emotions without conscious awareness.

Neglect

A condition caused by damage to the temporal-parietal junction where an individual fully ignores one half of their visual field.

Saccadic suppression

The phenomenon where the brain blocks visual processing during eye movements, which is why you cannot see your own eyes move in a mirror.

Serial position curve

A finding in memory research where items at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list are recalled better than the middle.

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to form new long-term memories while short-term memory typically remains intact.

Phonological loop

A component of the Baddeley and Hitch Model of working memory that deals with auditory and speech-based information.

Visuospatial sketchpad

A component of the Baddeley and Hitch Model of working memory used for visual and spatial mental imagery, such as visualizing a chessboard.

Wisconsin Card Sort Test

A test used to assess executive function and front lobe damage by requiring subjects to adapt to changing rules without notice.

Schemata

Mental models about the world that develop over a lifetime, helping to guide scripts for actions or reconstruct details in memory.

Imagination inflation

A memory distortion where imagining an event repeatedly over time makes an individual believe it actually occurred in their childhood.

Fuzzy Trace Theory

A theory used to explain the Mandela Effect, suggesting that collective false memories occur because the "gist" of the memory is correct even if the details are wrong.

Learned Helplessness

A state observed in experiments with dogs receiving shocks where the subject stops trying to escape, linked to depression and chronic stress.

Retroactive interference

A memory retrieval failure where new information interferes with the ability to recall old information.

Pollyanna Effect

The tendency for pleasant memories to be remembered more accurately or more frequently than unpleasant ones.

Broca's Aphasia

A speech disorder caused by damage to Broca's area, characterized by difficulty articulating and slow, broken speech.

Wernicke's Aphasia

A speech disorder caused by damage to Wernicke's area, characterized by fluent but nonsensical speech and "word deafness."

Phoneme

The basic unit of speech sound, categorized by place, manner, and voicing of articulation.

McGurk Effect

An illusion that demonstrates the interaction of vision and hearing in speech perception, where seeing a different mouth movement changes the sound heard.

Garden path sentences

Sentences like "The old man the sea" that lead the reader to a false initial interpretation due to ambiguous syntax.

Neologisms

Newly created words formed by combining existing ones, such as "smog" (smoke and fog) or "chillax" (chill and relax).

Einstellung

A problem-solving obstacle where a person applies a previously learned solution to a new problem even when it is not the most efficient method.

Remote Associates Test (RAT)

A task used to assess creativity by finding a word that links three seemingly unrelated words.

Alternative Uses Task (AUT)

A creativity assessment that asks participants to list as many unconventional uses for a common object as possible.