Psychology 1 Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on Psychology 1 lecture notes.

Memory

Storage and retrieval of information.

Learning

A relatively long-lasting change in behavior resulting from experience.

Encoding

The initial process of memory creation, including sensation and the transient storage of information in working memory.

Automatic Processing

Requires no attention or conscious effort.

Controlled Processing

Requires active attention and effort.

Maintenance Rehearsal

The rote, repetitive rehearsal of new information without thinking about its meaning or context.

Elaborative Rehearsal

The rehearsal of new information by thinking about its meaning, purpose, and relationship to previously known concepts.

Visual Encoding

Encoding of an image or visualization.

Acoustic Encoding

Encoding of a sound.

Semantic Encoding

Encoding of meaning, understanding, or a concept’s interrelation with other stored information.

State-Dependent Learning

If a memory is encoded in a particular place or setting, or in conjunction with a sight, sound, or smell, recall is enhanced when attempted in a matching state.

The Testing Effect

Testing (forced active recall) during the learning phase dramatically increases retention.

Desirable Difficulties

Easy learning processes produce memories that are easily forgotten. Challenging learning processes produce memories that are difficult to forget.

Shallow Processing: Structural Processing

Encoding what things look like

Shallow Processing: Phonemic Processing

Encoding what things sound like.

Deep Processing: Semantic Processing

Encoding the meaning of a concept, the context surrounding a concept, or making relational connections to other previously encoded memories.

Explicit Memory (Declarative)

Requires conscious, intentional recall.

Implicit Memory (Non-declarative/Procedural)

Automatic, unconscious recall, usually of skills, procedures, or conditioned responses.

Semantic Networks

A theory for explaining how our long-term memory stores concepts and the relationships among them through web-like networks.

Spreading Activation

When working memory focuses attention on a node, any nodes directly connected to that node are activated first, followed by nodes connected to those nodes, and so on.

Recall

Retrieval and active statement of, or correct application of, a memory.

Recognition

Associating information with an existing memory.

Relearning

Increased learning efficiency when reinforcing an existing memory.

Priming Effect

Presenting a related word first increases recall or verification rate.

Typicality Effect

Using a typical example of a concept increases recall or verification rate over using a less typical example

Familiarity Effect

Increasing level of familiarity with an example increases recall or verification rate.

True-False Effect

True statements are verified more quickly than false statements are negated.

Category Size Effect

Recall and verification rates increase if the category has few members and decrease if the category has many members.

Serial-Position Effect

Presentation order impacts recall. The primacy effect predicts that the first few concepts will be remembered at a higher rate, and the recency effect predicts that the last few concepts will be remembered at a higher rate.

Interference Effects

A new memory that is very similar to an existing one can cause increased difficulty recalling the original memory.

Proactive Interference

Old memories interfere with the formation of new ones.

Retroactive Interference

New memories interfere with the recall of old ones.

Automatic Spreading Activation

Said to occur when the primer is a category name and the target is an example within that category.

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

A brain disorder resulting from severe thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency, most often resulting from chronic alcohol abuse.

Confabulation

Fabrication of false, but usually vivid and detailed memories to fill in the gaps in a coherent story or memory.

Misinformation Effect

The presentation of inaccurate post-event information can cause an accurate memory to be altered or recalled inaccurately.

Source Monitoring Errors

Recall errors in which the source of the memory is inaccurately identified.

Heuristic Judgments

Unconscious determination of the source based on clues or short-cuts associated with the memory.

Systematic Judgments

Conscious determination of the source based on intentional logical evaluation of the details remembered.

Neural Plasticity

A general term referring to the ability of the brain and its neurons to physically change in response to various stimuli and for various reasons.

Synaptic Pruning

The number of synapses is decreased through selective destruction of some synapses and strengthening of others.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

The persistent strengthening of a synapse based on increased activity at that synapse.

Long-Term Depression (LDP)

The persistent weakening of a synapse based on decreased activity.

Habituation

A decreased response to a stimulus after the stimulus has been presented multiple times, due to a shift of attention away from the stimulus.

Dishabituation

An increased response to a stimulus after habituation has already occurred.

Sensitization

An increased response to a stimulus after the stimulus has been presented multiple times.

Classical Conditioning

Learning to associate one stimulus with another. Depends on the automatic nature of some reflex, instinct, or biological response.

Operant Conditioning

Learning to associate a behavior with a consequence.

Punishment

Decreases the frequency of a behavior.

Reinforcement

Increases the frequency of a behavior.

Escape Learning

Subject adopts a behavior to reduce or end an unpleasant stimulus.

Avoidance Learning

Subject adopts a behavior to avoid an unpleasant stimulus in the future.

Automatic (Associative Learning)

Unconscious, unintentional, and stimulus-driven.

Rule-Based Processing

Conscious and intentional, driven by both the event experienced, and by language, cognition, or formal reasoning.

Latent Learning

Learning that exists without the presentation of a reward, but is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is presented.

Instinctive Drift

The tendency of a subject of operant conditioning to revert from a conditioned response to an instinctual response.

Observational Learning

Generalized term describing learning from observing others' behaviors.

Social-Cognitive Theory

A broad psychological perspective that attempts to explain behavior, learning, and other phenomena. Includes observational learning, self-efficacy, situational influences, and cognitive processes.

Modeling

The process of learning a behavior by watching others and then mimicking their behavior.

Sensation

The detection of environmental stimuli by sensory receptors, conversion of those stimuli to an electrical impulse, and transmission of that impulse to the Central Nervous System (CNS).

Threshold

The minimum magnitude of a stimulus, or the minimum difference in magnitude between two stimuli, that can be perceived by the CNS.

Weber’s Law

The minimum just-noticeable-difference (JND) for a stimulus is directly proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus.

Psychophysics

Branch of psychology interested in using precise, quantitative measurement of physical stimuli to understand the relationships between external stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they elicit.

Rods

Black and White only and Poor Resolution

Cones

Process stimuli to determine color and has fine resolution

Perceptual Organization

Use what information we do have about an incomplete stimulus

Gestalt Principles

Grouping, Organize, Fill-in missing parts for missing information