Cognitive Psych Exam 4

Memory strategy

Mental activities that can help to improve your encoding and retrieval.

Elaboration

Focusing on the specific meaning of a particular concept.

Rehearsal

Repeating the information you want to learn or remember.

Distinctiveness

One memory trace should be different from all other memory traces.

Self-reference effect

Enhancing long-term memory by relating the material to your own experiences.

Encoding Specificity

Recall is often better if the context at the time of encoding matches the context at the time of retrieval.

Total time hypothesis

The amount you learn depends on the total time you devote to learning.

Distributed practice effect

You will remember more material if you spread your learning trials over time.

Spaced learning

Spreading your learning trials over time.

Massed learning

Learning the material all at once.

Desirable difficulty

A learning situation that is somewhat challenging, but not too difficult.

The testing effect

Being tested on material boosts your long-term recall for that material.

Mnemonics

Mental strategies designed to improve your memory.

Keyword method

Identifying an English word (the keyword) that sounds similar to the new word you want to learn.

Chunking

Combining several small units into larger meaningful units.

Hierarchy Technique

Organizing items in a series of classes from general to specific.

First-letter technique

Composing a word or sentence using the first letters of the words you are trying to remember.

Narrative technique

Making up stories that link a series of words together.

Retrospective memory

Remembering information you acquired in the past.

Prospective memory

Remembering that you need to do something in the future.

External memory aids

Any device, external to yourself, that facilitates your memory in some way.

Metacognition

Your knowledge and control of your cognitive processes.

Metamemory

People’s knowledge, monitoring, and control of their memory.

Metacomprehension

Your thoughts, knowledge, monitoring, and control of your language comprehension.

Foresight Bias

Overestimating the number of answers that they will supply on a future test.

Tip-of-the-tongue effect

Subjective experience of knowing the target word but cannot recall it right now.

Tip of the finger effect

Subjective experience of knowing the target sign, but that sign is temporarily inaccessible.

Feeling-of-knowing effect

Subjective experience of knowing some information, but cannot recall it right now.

Problem representation

The way you translate the elements of the problem into a different format.

Matices

A grid showing all possible combinations of items.

Diagrams

A representation of abstract information in a concrete fashion.

Hierarchical Tree Diagram

A figure that uses a tree-like structure to show various possible options in a problem.

Situated cognition approach

Using information in our immediate environment to create spatial representations.

Embodied cognition approach

Using our own body and motor actions to express abstract thoughts and knowledge.

Algorithm

A well-defined procedure or set of rules used to solve a problem.

Exhaustive search

Trying all possible answers until the correct answer is found.

Heuristic

A general rule or strategy in which you ignore some alternatives and explore only those likely to produce a solution.

Analogy approach

Using a solution to a similar, earlier problem to help solve a new problem.

Problem Isomorphs

A set of problems that have the same underlying structures and solutions, but different specific details.

Surface Features

Specific objects and terms used in the question.

Structural Features

The underlying core that must be understood to solve the problem correctly.

Means-Ends heuristic

Dividing the problem into subproblems and reducing the difference between the initial state and the goal state.

Hill climbing heuristic

Choosing the alternative that seems most directly toward your goal at a choice point.

Expertise

Consistent exceptional skill and performance in a particular area.

Mental set

Using the same solution from previous problems, even when a different, easier method is available.

Fixed Mindset

Believing that you possess a certain amount of intelligence that cannot be improved.

Growth Mindset

Believing that you can cultivate your intelligence and skills.

Functional fixedness

Assigning stable/fixed uses to an object.

Stereotype threat

Belonging to a group hampered by a negative stereotype can negatively impact performance.

Insight problems

Problems that seem impossible until a sudden solution appears.

Non-insight problems

Problems that are solved gradually.

Creativity

Finding solutions that are novel and useful.

Divergent production

A measure of creativity in terms of the number of different responses made to a test item.

Extrinsic motivation

Desire to work on a task to earn a promised reward.

Intrinsic motivation

Motivation to work on a task for its own sake.

Deductive reasoning

Judging whether premises allow you to draw a particular conclusion based on logic.

Syllogism

Two statements that must be assumed to be true, plus a conclusion.

Propositional Calculus

A system for categorizing the four kinds of reasoning used in analyzing propositions.

Propositions

Statements.

Antecedent

The first proposition or statement in a conditional sentence.

Consequent

The proposition contained in the 'then…' part of a conditional sentence.

Belief Bias Effect

Judgments made based on prior beliefs rather than logic.

Confirmation Bias

Trying to confirm a hypothesis instead of disproving it.

Decision Making

Assessing and choosing among several alternatives.

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging a sample likely if it resembles the population from which it was selected.

Small sample fallacy

Assuming a small sample will be representative of the population.

Base rate

How often an item occurs in the population.

Base-rate fallacy

Emphasizing representativeness and under-emphasizing important information about base rates.

Conjunction Rule

The probability of two events cannot be larger than the probability of either event alone.

Conjunction Fallacy

Judging the probability of the conjunction of two events greater than that of a constituent event.

Availability Heuristic

Estimating frequency or probability based on how easy it is to think of relevant examples.

Recognition Heuristic

Concluding that recognized categories have higher frequencies when comparing two categories.

Illusory correlation

Believing two variables are related despite a lack of evidence.

Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic

Beginning with a first approximation and adjusting based on additional information.

Confidence Interval

A range expected to contain a number a certain percentage of time.

Ecological rationality

Creating heuristics to help make adaptive decisions in the real world.

Default heuristic

Choosing the default option when available.

Framing effect

The outcome of a decision influenced by context and wording of questions.

Overconfidence

Judgments of confidence higher than actual performance.

My-side bias

Overconfidence in one's own view, often leading to conflict.

Planning Fallacy

Underestimating the amount of time required to complete a project.

Hindsight

Judgments about past events.

Hindsight bias

Judging an event as inevitable after it has occurred.

Maximizers

Judging an event as inevitable after it has happened.

Satisficers

Settling for satisfactory outcomes in decision-making.

Affirming the Antecedent

One of the four kinds of conditional reasoning outcomes.

Affirming the Consequent

One of the four kinds of conditional reasoning outcomes.

Denying the Antecedent

One of the four kinds of conditional reasoning outcomes.

Denying the consequent

One of the four kinds of conditional reasoning outcomes.

Dual Process Theory

A theory that describes the dual systems of thinking in reasoning.

Difficulties with Linguistically Negative Information

Challenges in understanding negative information.

Difficulties with Abstract Reasoning Problems

Challenges faced in solving abstract reasoning tasks.

Strategies for completing projects on time

Approaches to overcome time management challenges.