unit 3 psych

Perception

Sensory areas (thalamus, parietal, occipital, temporal, etc.) & interpretation via memory retrieval by hippocampus,  judgement / thinking via frontal lobes, maybe emotional reaction via amygdala

Thinking

several parts of the cerebral association areas but esp. frontal lobes, parts of limbic system, esp hippocampus for memory, amygdala for emotion

Attention

RAS, Frontal lobes, brain stem for alertness, parietal lobes for spatial awareness

Memory+ learning

hippocampus encodes & retrieves, long-term storage throughout the outer layer of cerebrum, procedural storage in cerebellum

Language

Temporal lobes, Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area, Frontal lobes (incl. Motor Cortex), Left hemisphere, in general

Problem-Solving

frontal lobes, especially prefrontal cortex

Cognition

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

Metacognition

When we think about our thinking, active control and awareness of our own thinking

Concepts

an idea that represents a class of objects or events or their properties

Prototype

in concept formation, the “best” or “average” exemplar of a category.

Schema

A framework that organizes and interprets information

Assimilation

Taking in new information without changing an existing schema in light of it

Accommodation

Taking in new information and changing/adapting a schema to incorporate the new

Convergent Thinking:

A type of thinking in which an individual uses linear, logical steps to analyze a number of already formulated solutions to a problem to determine the correct one or the one that is most likely to be successful.

Algorithms

a well-defined procedure or set of rules that is used to solve a problem or accomplish a task.

Divergent Thinking:

Creative thinking in which an individual solves a problem or reaches a decision using strategies that deviate from commonly used or previously taught strategies.

Mental Set

Tendency people have to only use solutions that have worked in the past rather than looking for alternative ideas

Functional Fixedness

the tendency to perceive an object only in terms of its most common use.

Heuristics

an experience-based strategy for solving a problem or making a decision that often provides an efficient means of finding an answer but cannot guarantee a correct outcome. Some heuristics, such as the availability heuristic or representativeness heuristic, involve systematic bias.

Representativeness Heuristic

Comparing the present situation to the most representative mental prototype

Availability Heuristic

Basing decisions on examples and information that immediately spring to mind

Priming

the effect in which recent experience of a stimulus facilitates or inhibits later processing of the same or a similar stimulus.

Confirmation Bias:

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

Belief Perseverance

Tendency to hold on to beliefs even when evidence proves those beliefs to be wrong

Overconfidence

Tendency to overestimate our own knowledge, skill, or judgment

Hindsight Bias

The tendency people have to view events as more predictable than they really are

Framing/Framing Effect

the process of defining the context or issues surrounding a question, problem, or event in a way that serves to influence how the context or issues are perceived and evaluated

Anchoring Bias

the tendency, in forming perceptions or making quantitative judgments under conditions of uncertainty, to give excessive weight to the starting value (or anchor), based on the first received information or one’s initial judgment, and not to modify this anchor sufficiently in light of later information.

Gambler’s Fallacy

a failure to recognize the independence of chance events, leading to the mistaken belief that one can predict the outcome of a chance event on the basis of the outcomes of past chance events. 

Sunk-cost Fallacy

the tendency to pursue an inferior option because of a previous investment of resources that cannot be recovered

Executive Functions

Cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior.

Memory

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

Encoding

the conversion of a sensory input into a form capable of being processed and deposited in memory (a mental process that follows the physical process of transduction)

Storage

the process of retaining encoded information over time.

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage.

Storage

the process of retaining (keeping) encoded information over time

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage and returning it to active consciousness.

Multi-Store Model of Memory

a theory hypothesizing that information moves through and can be retained in three interacting memory storage systems

Sensory Memory

brief storage (.25-4 secs) of information from each of the senses, in a relatively unprocessed form beyond the duration of a stimulus, for recoding into another memory format (such as short-term memory)

Iconic Memory

Sensory input to the visual system goes into iconic memory (“eye-conic”)

Echoic Memory

he branch of sensory memory used by the auditory system

Short-Term Memory (STM)

the reproduction, recognition, or recall of a limited amount of material after a period of about 10 to 30 seconds

Working Memory

the short-term maintenance and manipulation of information necessary for performing complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

an information storage system that enables one to retain, retrieve, and make use of skills and knowledge hours, weeks, or even years after they were originally learned.

Levels-of-Processing Model of Memory:

the theory that encoding into memory and therefore subsequent retention depend on the depth of cognitive elaboration that the information receives and that deeper encoding improves memory.

Elaboration

the process of interpreting or embellishing information to be remembered or of relating it to other material already known and in memory.

Shallow Processing

Encoding on a basic level based on the structure of appearance

Deep Processing

Occurs when we attach meaning to information and create associations between the new memory and existing memories

Semantic Encoding

Encode meaning & associate something with existing knowledge

Automatic Processing:

The encoding of details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort. You must purposely try to remember

Implicit Memory

memory for a previous event or experience that is produced indirectly, without an explicit request to recall the event and without awareness that memory is involved

Procedural memories

long-term memory for the skills involved in particular tasks. This is demonstrated by skilled performance and is often separate from the ability to verbalize this knowledge

Explicit Memory

long-term memory that can be consciously recalled: general knowledge or information about personal experiences that an individual retrieves in response to a specific need or request to do so.

Semantic Memory

These are memories of facts, concepts, names, and other general knowledge

Autobiographical memory

your memories of your own personal life history

Episodic Memory

Long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations, and experiences

Prospective Memory

Remembering to complete a task in the future

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

Strengthening of a synaptic connection that happens when the synapse of one neuron repeatedly fires ad excites another neuron

Chunking

the process by which the mind divides large pieces of information into smaller units (chunks) that are easier to retain in short-term memory.

Distributed Practice

a learning procedure in which practice periods for a particular task are separated by lengthy rest periods or lengthy periods of practicing different activities or studying other material, rather than occurring close together in time

Massed Practice

a learning procedure in which practice trials occur close together in time, either in a single lengthy session or in sessions separated by short intervals.

The Spacing Effect

a cognitive phenomenon in which distributing to-be-learned information across time in short, interrupted study sessions leads to better long-term retention than continuous, massed sessions. In other words, distributed practice is more beneficial than massed practice

Mnemonic

any device or technique used to assist memory, usually by forging a link or association between the new information to be remembered and information previously encoded.

Method of Loci

a type of mnemonic that involves associating items that need to be memorized with mental visualization of places on a familiar path

Serial Position Effect

When we try to retrieve a long list of words or concepts, we usually recall the last words and first items best, forgetting the words in the middle 

Primacy Effect

refers to better recall of the first items from greater rehearsal

Recency Effect

refers to better recall of the last items, still in working memory

Testing Effect

the finding that taking a test on previously studied material leads to better retention than does restudying that material for an equivalent amount of time.

Maintenance Rehearsal

repeating items over and over to maintain them in short-term memory

Elaborative Rehearsal:

a memory technique where you actively connect new information to knowledge you already have, creating meaningful associations to better store and recall information in your long-term memory

Amnesia

Occurs when a person experiences the full or partial loss of memory, injury or trauma can create problems with various brain functions

Retrograde Amnesia

Cannot remember things that happened before the event that caused their amnesia

Anterograde Amnesia

Condition in which a person is unable to create new memories after an amnesia-inducing event

Infantile Amnesia

he inability of human adults to remember episodic experiences that occurred during the first few years of life (generally 0–3 years) and the tendency to have sparse recollection of episodic experiences that occurred before age 10

Alzheimer’s Disease

a progressive brain disorder that causes memory loss, confusion, and other cognitive decline. It is the most common form of dementia

Recall

Retrieving information from long-term memory with little to no external cues.

Recognition

Identifying previously learned information when it is presented with other options or connected to a cue

Retrieval Cues

a prompt or stimulus used to guide memory recall

Context-Dependent Memory

the phenomenon where memory recall is improved when the environment of the retrieval is the same as the environment where the information was learned

State-Dependent Memory

the phenomenon where memory retrieval is improved when a person is in the same psychological or physiological state as they were during the encoding of the information

Mood-Congruent Memory:

consistency between one’s mood state and the emotional context of memories recalled

Schema

a mental model that provides a frame for interpreting information entering the mind through the senses

Perceptual set

 predisposition to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others

Inattentional Blindness

a failure to notice unexpected but perceptible stimuli in a visual scene while one’s attention is focused on something else in the scene

Change Blindness

a failure to notice changes in the visual array appearing in two successive scenes.

Gestalt Psychology

a psychological approach that focuses on the dynamic (changing; active) organization of experience into patterns or configurations

Figure-Ground Pattern

Tendency of the visual system to simplify a scene into the main object that we are looking at (the figure) and everything else that forms the background (or ground)

Grouping

Brains have a tendency to organize stimuli into groups in order to process the complexity of the world

Depth Perception:

The ability to perceive the world in three dimensions (3D) and to judge the distance of objects

Visual Cliff

a tool to test depth perception (pictured on the right) involving an apparent, but not actual drop from one surface to anoth

Visual Cliff

a tool to test depth perception (pictured on the right) involving an apparent, but not actual drop from one surface to another

Binocular Cues:

are those that require the use of both eyes (integrated by the brain) in order for us to perceive depth or distance

Retinal Disparity

The difference between the visual images that each eye perceives because of the different angles in which each eye views the world

Convergence

Our eyes move together to focus on an object that is close and that they would move farther apart for a distant object

Monocular Cues

Clues that can be used for depth perception that involves using only one eye. How we form 3D from 2D

Linear Perspective

 Depth cue that makes parallel lines appear to converge at a vanishing point on the horizon

Interposition (Overlap)

When one object overlaps another, the object that is partially obscured is perceived as being farther away

Relative Size

If two objects are roughly the same size, the father away object will appear smaller even though the objects are still the same size

Relative Height:

We perceive objects higher in our visual field as being further away  and those that are close should appear lower