AP Psych Benchmark 1

Cognition

all the mental processes involved with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Memory

The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory system

Storage

the retention of encoded material over time

Retrieval

the process of getting the information out of memory storage

Three Stage Processing Model

the theory that a memory goes from sensory memory to short term (aka working) memory and then into long term memory

2 seconds

immediate storage for information, large capacity, limited to .5

Iconic Memory

visual images stored in sensory memory for .5 seconds

Echoic Memory

auditory information stored in sensory memory for 2 seconds

9 items for 20

aka working memory, holds 5

9 items for 20

aka short term memory, holds 5

30 seconds

the amount of items that can be held in short term / working memory for 20

9 items over and over to keep them in short term / working memory

when you practice saying your 5

Long Term Memory (LTM)

where our semantic and episodic memories are stored, unlimited capacity and time

Explicit Memory (a.k.a. declarative)

facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare (easy to explain)

declarative Memory (a.k.a. explicit)

facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare (easy to explain)

Effortful Processing

when you try to get something into your long term memory

Automatic Processing

when you accidentally get something into your long term memory (especially spacing, timing, frequency)

procedural Memory (a.k.a. Implicit)

actions your body knows how to do without you being able to describe exactly every step involved (impossible to explain)

Implicit Memory (a.k.a. procedural)

actions your body knows how to do without you being able to describe exactly every step involved (impossible to explain)

Positive Transfer

when something you memorized previously helps you memorize something new

Negative Transfer

when something you memorized previously makes it harder to memorize something new

Chunking

grouping items into meaningful groups helps you remember more

Mnemonics

memory aids that help you remember by using a pattern of letters, numbers, or relatable associations like rhymes, poems, songs, outlines, images, etc

Spacing Effect

distributed practice leads to better retention than massed practice

Testing Effect

quizzing yourself on material leads to improved retention

Shallow processing

barely thinking about something leads to poor memory

Deep processing (semantic)

semantic encoding and the self reference effect leads to better memory

Self

applying information to your own life helps you remember it best

Prospective memory

remembering to do something that you had planned to do in the future

Hippocampus

the brain part that processes explicit memories

Cerebellum

the brain part that processes implicit memories

Infantile amnesia

most people have no memories before age 3 because the hippocampus hadn't developed well enough to process explicit memories yet

term memory, which happens especially when we sleep

when recent learned experiences are transformed into long

Flashbulb Memory

a clear, strong, and persistent episodic memory

Long Term Potentiation

neurons that fire together get wired together

term memory with no clues

type of retrieval when we just have to pull it from long

Recognition

type of retrieval when we have options and can just choose the right one

Priming

activating a retrieval cue

Context

when your environment serves as a retrieval cue

State

when your state of consciousness serves as a retrieval cue

dependent memory

a type of state

Serial Position Effect (primacy/recency)

remembering the beginning and end of a list the best

Anterograde Amnesia

type of forgetting where you can't encode new memories

Retrograde Amnesia

type of forgetting where you can't remember old memories

Encoding failure

when you didn't get information into your memory system

Hermann Ebbinghaus

researcher who studied nonsense syllables and found that spaced studying leads to increased retention and that memory fades over time

Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve

memories going through an initial stage of rapid memory decline, followed by a slower rate of memory decay over the long term

Savings Score

(aka Relearning Method) Memories are easier to relearn than learn from scratch

"Tip of the tongue" Phenomenon

a type of retrieval failure

Retrieval failure

when you can't find the information in your memory system

Proactive Interference

when old information blocks you from retrieving newer information

Retroactive interference

when new information blocks you from retrieving older information

Source Amnesia

when you can't remember where you got information (you sometimes think it happened to you)

Next

you are unlikely to remember the information that the person presented right before you presented (because you didn't encode what they said)

46poorly stored memory that sort of matches the current situation

when you feel like a new situation is familiar because of a term

Memory Construction

every time you retrieve a memory, you unconsciously fill in the blanks with stuff you know now (aka reconstructive memory)

Misinformation Effect

when the way someone words a question or statement changes your memory

Elizabeth Loftus

researcher who studied eyewitness testimony and focused on the misinformation effect

Visual Encoding

the encoding of picture images

Acoustic Encoding

the encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words

Semantic Encoding

the encoding of meaning

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. (p. 356)

concept

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. (p. 356)

convergent thinking

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution. (p. 357)

creativity

the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas. (p. 357)

divergent thinking

expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions). (p. 357)

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). (p. 356)

algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier/but also more error/prone/use of heuristics. (p. 361)

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. (p. 364)

belief perseverance

clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. (p. 367)

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence. (p. 362)

framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments. (p. 368)

heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error

insight

a sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with strategy/based solutions. (p. 361)

intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning. (p. 363)

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past. (p. 362)

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct/to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments. (p. 365)

representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information. (p. 364)

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding). (p. 377)

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. (p. 374)

Broca's area

controls language expression an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech. (p. 377?)

grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. In a given language, semantics is the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences. (p. 373)

language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning. (p. 372)

linguistic determinism

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think. (p. 379)

morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix). (p. 373)

one word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words. (p. 375)

phoneme

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit. (p. 373)

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram/"go car"/using mostly nouns and verbs. (p. 375)

two

word stage

Wernicke's area

controls language reception/a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe. (p. 377)

emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions. (p. 612)

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score. (p. 608)

general intelligence (g)

a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test. (p. 608)

grit

in psychology, grit is passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long

intelligence test

a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores. (p. 607)

intelligence

mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. (p. 607)

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing. (p. 609)

achievement test

a test designed to assess what a person has learned. (p. 619)

aptitude test

a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn. (p. 619)