Cognition (Unit 2)

AP Psych Review

Bottom-up Processing

A cognitive process that begins with sensory input and builds up to a final perception. It involves analyzing individual components before synthesizing them into a complete understanding.

Top-down Processing

A cognitive process that starts with a higher-level mental process and applies existing knowledge, experiences, or expectations to interpret sensory information. It influences perception by guiding expectations based on prior knowledge. “Expectations driven”

Perceptual Set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another, influenced by expectations, experiences, and context.

Gestalt Psychology

An approach emphasizing that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. “Whole over parts”

Figure and Ground

Organizing the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground)

Selective Attention

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus to the exclusion of others, allowing individuals to prioritize what is most relevant or important.

Inattentional Blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Change Blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Binocular Depth Cues

Visual cues that require both eyes to perceive depth, including retinal disparity and convergence.

Retinal Disparity

A binocular depth cue that refers to the slight difference in the images perceived by each eye due to their horizontal separation. This difference helps the brain gauge distance.

Convergence

A binocular depth cue that occurs when the eyes move inward to focus on a nearby object. This inward movement provides information about the distance of the object.

Monocular Depth Cues

Depth cues available to either eye alone

Relative Clarity

A monocular cue for perceiving depth, hazy objects are farther away than sharp, clear objects

Relative Size

A monocular cue that smaller objects are perceived as more distant, “smaller is father”

Texture Gradient

A gradual change from coarse, distinct texture to fine, indistinct texture signals increasing distanceLiner

Linear Perspective

Parallel lines appear to converge with distance

Interposition

If one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer

Perceptual Constancies

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

Assimilation

Incorporating new experiences into our current understanding (schema) “Adding to existing”A

Accomodation

Adjusting a schema to incorporate new info “Updating framework”This process involves changing existing schemas or creating new ones when new information does not fit within existing frameworks.

Heuristics

Shortcuts or rules of thumb for problem solving, faster than algorithms but not guaranteed to work that do not always guarantee an optimal solution.

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging likelihood based on how well an example represents a specific categoryor prototype, often leading to cognitive biases.

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory, if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are common

Mental set

A tendency to approach situations in a certain way because that method worked in the past

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memorywhich influences perception and response.

Framing

The way an issue is posed, framing can significantly affect decisions and judgments. It emphasizes certain aspects while downplaying others, altering perceptions and interpretations.

Gambler’s Fallacy

The belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn’t occurred recently

Divergent thinking

A type of creative thinking in which one generates new solutions to problems. “Out of the box thoughts”

Convergent thinking

A type of critical thinking in which one focuses on finding a single, correct answer

Functional fixedness

The tendency to perceive the functions of objects as fixed and unchanging

Metacognition

Thinking about thinking

g (General intelligence)

A factor that underlies specific mental abilities and is measured by every task on an intelligence test “Overall intelligence”

Multiple Intelligence

Theory proposing that there are different types of intelligences that are independent of each other, including linguistic, mathematical, spatial, musical, and interpersonal intelligence.

Standardization

Ensuring that the conditions for administering a test are the same for all participants, so that scores are comparable

Construct validity

The extent to which a test measures the theoretical construct it is intended to measure

Predictive Validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict, it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms, or on retesting “Consistency of scores”

Test-Retest Reliability

The consistency of scores on a test over time “Score stability”

Split-Half Reliability

The extent to which all parts of the test contribute equally to what is being measured

Flynn Effect

The observed rise over time in standardized intelligence test scores

Achievement Tests

Designed to assess what a person has learned

Aptitude tests

Tests designed to predict a person’s future performance or capacity to learn

Explicit Memory

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare

Episodic Memory

The collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place “Life episodes”

Semantic Memory

Memory for knowledge about the world “Fact storage”

Implicit memory

“Automaric memory”

Procedural memory

Type of implicit memory that involves motor skills and behavioral habits “Skill memory”

Prospective memory

Remembering to perform a planned action or recall a planned intention at some future point in time

Long-term potentiation

An increase in a synapses firing potential after brief rapid stimulationIt is believed to be a cellular mechanism underlying learning and memory.

Central Executive

The part of working memory that directs attention and processing

Phonological Loop

Part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory info

Multi-store Model

A memory model that suggests info flows through a series of storage systems

Sensory Memory

Brief immediate recording of sensory info “Instant capture”Ico

Iconic Memory

Brief sensory memory of visual stimuli “Visual snapshot”

Echoic Memory

A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli

Encoding

Process of info into the memory system

Levels of processing

Theory that deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes

Shallow encoding

Encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

Chunking-Grouping

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units to make them easier to remember

Hierarchies-Grouping

Arranging info in a structured order from broad to specific or vice versa to enhance memory recall and organization.

Primacy Effect

Enhanced recall of items at the beginning of a list

Recency Effect

Enhanced recall of items at the end of a list

Elaborative Rehearsal

A memory technique that involved thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered as opposed to simply repeating the word

Retrogade Amnesia

A condition characterized by the inability to recall memories formed before the onset of amnesia, often following brain injury or trauma.

Anterograde amnesia

A condition where an individual cannot form new memories after the onset of amnesia, often due to brain injury.

Recognition

Identifying items previously learned

Context-dependent memory

Theory that info learned in a particular place is better remembered when in that same placee

State-deoendent memory

Theory that info learned in a particular state of mind is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind

Proactive interference

Disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new info

Retroactive interference

Disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old info

Imagination Inflation

The increased confidence in a false memory of an event following repeated imagination of the event