IBDP Psychology: Learning & Cognition Practice Flashcards

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering the IBDP Psychology Unit on Learning and Cognition, including biological bases of attention, memory models, cognitive biases, conditioning, and social learning theory.

Attention

The mental process which allows individuals to focus on certain information while filtering out other stimuli, enabling the selection of what is noticed, thought about, and responded to.

Selective attention

Directing full focus towards a single task, which can lead to missing other information and can be challenging to maintain over long periods.

Inattentional blindness

The lack of notice regarding surrounding visual occurrences due to intense focus on a specific task.

Inattentional deafness

The lack of notice regarding surrounding auditory stimuli due to intense focus on a specific task.

Change blindness

A phenomenon where changes in the environment are not noticed, even when they occur directly in front of the observer or in an area they believe they are attending to.

Multitasking

When attention is divided between at least two activities, which is particularly difficult when tasks require the same mental resources.

Attentional blink

Missing information during moments of rapid task-switching due to the time required for mental adjustment.

Alerting network

A biological process responsible for achieving and maintaining a state of readiness, involving the thalamus and frontal/parietal regions of the right hemisphere, with $Norepinephrine$ playing a key role.

Orienting network

The process responsible for selecting information from sensory input and directing attention to a specific stimulus, involving the superior parietal lobe and temporoparietal junction, with $Acetylcholine$ playing a key role.

Executive Control network

The process responsible for resolving conflict among responses, error detection, and cognitive control, involving the anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and basal ganglia, with $Dopamine$ holding a key role.

Broadbent’s Filter Model

A bottleneck theory suggesting information is filtered based on physical properties (volume, brightness, etc.) so that only the most important information passes through a single channel, making parallel processing impossible.

Automaticity Model

A model suggesting that tasks practiced frequently become fast and habitual (automatic), requiring less effort and allowing redirection of cognitive resources, while new tasks require effortful (controlled) processing.

Cognition

Mental processes involved in acquiring, storing, transforming, and using knowledge, including perception, memory, language, and problem-solving.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behaviour or knowledge resulting from experience, including associative and observational forms.

Multi-Store Model (MSM)

A model by Atkinson and Shiffrin ($1971$) proposing that memory consists of three separate, sequential stores: Sensory Memory, Short-Term Memory ($STM$), and Long-Term Memory ($LTM$).

Sensory Memory

A temporary store holding environmental information very briefly ($0.5$ to $2.0$ seconds) in modality-specific forms such as iconic (visual) or echoic (auditory) memory.

Short-Term Memory ($STM$)

A store with limited capacity of $7 \times 2$ chunks ($Miller, 1956$) and duration of approximately $18-30$ seconds, primarily using acoustic encoding.

Long-Term Memory ($LTM$)

A theoretically unlimited store for information held up to a lifetime, primarily using semantic encoding.

Declarative memory

Also known as 'knowing what,' it includes episodic memory (specific events) and semantic memory (general knowledge of facts and people).

Procedural memory

Also known as 'knowing how,' it refers to memories of how to perform motor skills or actions.

Retrograde amnesia

The loss of memory for events that occurred before a specific time or event, such as a brain injury.

Anterograde amnesia

The loss of memory for events occurring after a specific time or event, resulting in an inability to form new declarative memories.

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter active in the hippocampus during the learning of new information that helps strengthen connections between neurons.

Primacy effect

The tendency for the first few items in a list to be recalled more frequently than middle items as they have been transferred to Long-Term Memory.

Recency effect

The tendency for people to begin recall with the end of a list, reflecting the presence of those items in the Short-Term Memory.

Levels of Processing Theory

A theory by Craik and Lockhart ($1972$) arguing that memory depends on the depth of analysis: deep processing (meaning/importance) leads to better recall than shallow processing (surface structure).

Working Memory Model ($WMM$)

A model by Baddeley and Hitch ($1974$) suggesting that $STM$ is not a single store but consists of several components: the Central Executive, Phonological Loop, Visuo-spatial Sketchpad, and Episodic Buffer.

Central Executive

The component of working memory that monitors and coordinates the operation of the other system components and handles attention.

Phonological Loop

The component of working memory responsible for processing auditory and verbal information.

Visuo-spatial Sketchpad

The component of working memory responsible for storing and manipulating visual and spatial information.

Episodic Buffer

A temporary store that integrates information from the other working memory components and Long-Term Memory into single complex 'episodes.'

Articulatory suppression

A technique used to disrupt the phonological loop by requiring participants to repeat a word or sound while performing a task, thereby decreasing recall accuracy.

Cognitive Load Theory ($CLT$)

A theory by Sweller suggesting that working memory has a limited capacity, and information overload occurs if the total mental effort required exceeds that capacity.

Intrinsic Load

The level of difficulty inherently associated with a specific task (e.g., calculus has a higher load than basic addition).

Extraneous Load

The difficulty in processing information due to external factors, such as distractions or poor instructional design.

Germane Load

The mental effort dedicated to processing information in working memory to facilitate its encoding into Long-Term Memory.

Cognitive offloading

The use of external tools or technology to reduce the cognitive demand of a task, also known as transactional memory.

Schema

Mental representations derived from prior experience and knowledge used to organize information, guide behaviour, and make sense of current experiences.

Assimilation

The process of adjusting new information into an existing schema.

Accommodation

The process of replacing or significantly altering an existing schema when new information does not fit.

Reconstructive memory

The idea that memory is not a perfect record but is reconstructed at the point of retrieval by accessing various features linked to existing schemas.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and recall information in a way that supports one's prior beliefs or existing schemas.

Dual Process Model

A theory of thinking and decision-making that postulates two modes: System $1$ (automatic, intuitive, fast) and System $2$ (slower, conscious, rational).

Heuristic

A mental shortcut or simple rule applied with little thought to quickly generate a probable answer or decision.

Law of Least Effort

The principle that if there are several ways to achieve a goal, individuals will choose the least demanding option, often defaulting to System $1$ thinking.

Anchoring Bias

The common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the 'anchor') when making decisions.

Decoy Effect

Influencing choices by providing a less attractive third option (the decoy) to make one of the other options seem more reasonable.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning through association where a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus until it elicits a conditioned response by itself.

Operant Conditioning

A type of learning through consequences where behaviours are modified based on the reward (reinforcement) or punishment that follows them.

Social Learning Theory ($SLT$)

A model by Bandura suggesting that humans learn behaviour through observation and imitation of models.

ARRM Model

The four components of social learning: Attention, Retention, Reproduction Potential, and Motivation.

Vicarious reinforcement

Learning by observing the consequences of another person’s behaviour; being more likely to imitate a behaviour if the model is rewarded.

Reciprocal determinism

The holistic idea that cognition, behaviour, and the environment all interact and influence each other.