Psych midterm

unit 1-5.1

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

Recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier (as on a fill-in-the-blank test)

Relearning

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again

Encoding

the process of getting 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

processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions

working memory

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

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Discovered the retention curve and how relearning time decreases with rehearsal as well as how the forgetting curve and how it flattens over time.

explicit memory

retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare" (declarative memory)

Carl Wernicke

Discovered that damage to Wernicke's are makes it so people can't understand language.

belief perseverance

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

Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin

Proposed the three-stage model of memory forming: sensory, short-term, long-term.

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

automatic processing

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

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

mnemonic

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten

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

testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information (retrieval practice effect/test-enhanced learning)

semantic memory

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems

mood-congruent memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

episodic memory

explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems

Steven Pinker

The noises people make in air like exhales contain information.

Sensory memory

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

Hipposcampus

a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories (of facts and events) for storage

Memory

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

Robert Sternberg

Creativity has five components: expertise, imaginative thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, and a creative environment.

memory consolidation

the neural storage of a long-term memory

flashbulb memory

a clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Benjamin Lee Whorf

Argued for linguistic determinism, that language shapes a person's basic ideas.

long-term potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory

priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

proactive interference

the forward-acting disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of NEW information

Recognition

a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned (as on a multiple choice test)

linguistic influence

the weaker form of "linguistic relativity"—the idea that language affects thought (thus our thinking and world view is "relative to" our cultural language)

Repression

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

reconsolidation

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

Wolfgang Köhler

Displayed that animals have insight and forsight.

Framing

the way an issue is posed or how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments

Wernicke's area

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

Noam Chomsky

Theorized universal grammar: a built-in predisposition to learn grammar rules.

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory. if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common

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).

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

source amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined (source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect is at the heart of many false memories)

Eric Kandel

Discovered in slugs that experience and learning increase the number of neuron synapses (long-term potentiation is created).

deja vu

that eerie sense that "I've experienced 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

creativity

the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

convergent thinking

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

divergent thinking

expanding 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 (contrasts with faster but more error prone use of heuristics)

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently (usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms)

insight

a sudden realization of a problem's solution (contrasts with strategy-based solutions)

retroactive interference

the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of OLD information

Paul Broca

Confirmed that damage to Broca's area makes it difficult for someone to speak.

phoneme

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

confirmation bias

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

Fixation

in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective or an obstacle to problem solving

missinformation effect

occurs when misleading information has distorted one's memory of an event

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 or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

encoding specificity principle

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

Representatativeness heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes (may lead us to ignore other relevant information)

George A. Miller

Proposed that we can store seven pieces of information in our short-term memory.

linguistic determinism

Whorf's hypothesis that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

Overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct or to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments

language

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

Morpheme

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

grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others (Semitics is the language's set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of rules for combining sensible sentences)

babbling stage

beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in 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

Elizabeth Loftus

Demonstrated how memory reconsolidation can cause people to replace original memories with false memories.

two-word stage

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

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—"go car"—using mostly nouns and verbs

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding).

Broca's area

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

implicit memory

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection

Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman

Showed how heuristics like the availability and representativeness can lead people the wrong way.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The interdisciplinary study of the brain actively linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)

Psychology

the study of behavior and mental processes

Personality Psychologists

an I/O psychology subfield that helps with job seeking, recruitment, selection, training, development, etc

Nature-Nurture Issue

the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development and psychological traits and behaviors (arising from the interaction of nature and nurture)

Clinical psychologists

studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

Mary Whiton Calkins

First woman in psychology; studied at Harvard but denied degree

evolutionary psychology

the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind using principles of natural selection

Culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

Positive Psychology

the scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive

G. Stanley Hall

Established first formal US psychology laboratory

biopsychosocial approach

an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural viewpoints

Wilhelm Wundt

Established the first psychology laboratory

behavioral psychology

the scientific study of observable behavior, and it's explanation by principles of learning