Cognition and Memory Review Notes

Information Processing Model: Encoding, storage, and retrieval.
- Encoding: Putting information into memory.
- Storage: Retaining information over time.
- Retrieval: Getting information out of memory.
Levels of Processing Theory: Memory formation depends on the depth of processing.
- Shallow Processing: Structural encoding.
- Deep Processing: Semantic encoding for longer-lasting memories.
- Self-Reference Effect: Processing relevant information deeply for easier recall.
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model: Sensory, short-term, and long-term memory systems.
- Sensory Memory: Holds external events briefly.
  - Iconic Memory: Visual stimuli.
  - Echoic Memory: Auditory stimuli.
- Short-Term Memory (STM): Working memory, limited capacity (7±2 items), about 20 seconds.
  - Rehearsal: Maintains information in STM.

Long-Term Memory (LTM): Permanent storage with unlimited capacity; explicit and implicit.
- Explicit (Declarative) Memory: Consciously known facts and experiences.
  - Semantic Memory: General knowledge.
  - Episodic Memory: Personal events.
- Implicit (Nondeclarative) Memory: Skills and dispositions.
  - Procedural Memory: Perceptual, motor, and cognitive skills.
Organization Models:
- Hierarchies: General to specific classes.
- Semantic Networks: Irregular systems with multiple links.
- Schemas: Frameworks based on past experiences.
- Connectionism: Memory stored in neuron connections.

Long-term potentiation (LTP): Increases synaptic firing potential, basis for learning/memory.
Brain Areas:
- Thalamus: Encoding sensory memory into STM.
- Hippocampus: STM to LTM.
- Amygdala: Emotional memories.
- Cerebellum & Basal Ganglia: Implicit memories.
Retrieval:
- Retrieval Cues: Stimuli that trigger memory.
- Priming: Activating specific associations.
- Recall vs. Recognition
- Encoding Specificity Principle: Retrieval depends on encoding/retrieval match.
- Context & State-Dependent Memory
- Serial Position Effect: Primacy and recency effects.

Forgetting: Failure to retrieve information.
- Interference: Proactive and retroactive.
- Repression: Forgetting traumatic memories (Freud).
- Amnesia: Anterograde and retrograde.
Cognition: Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering.
- Metacognition: Thinking about thinking.
- Problem-Solving Strategies: Algorithms, heuristics, insight.
- Hindrances: Mental sets, functional fixedness.

Cognitive Biases:
- Availability & Representativeness Heuristics
- Framing & Anchoring Effects
- Confirmation, Hindsight, & Overconfidence Biases
Language: Communication system.
- Phonemes & Morphemes
- Syntax & Semantics
- Language Development: Babbling, holophrases, telegraphic speech, overgeneralization.
- Perspectives: Behavioral, nativist, social-interactivist.
- Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (Whorf): Language influences thought.

Psychometrics: Measuring mental traits and abilities.
- Standardization & Norms
- Reliability (consistency) & Validity (accuracy)
- Types of Tests: Performance, speed, power, aptitude, achievement; group vs. individual.
Ethics: APA guidelines, culture-relevant tests.

Intelligence: Capacity to act purposefully and think rationally.
- Stanford-Binet & Wechsler Intelligence Tests: Deviation IQ scores.
Intellectual Disability: Degrees range from mild to profound (IQ below 70).
Theories of Intelligence:
- Spearman: $g$ factor and $s$ (specialized abilities).
- Thurstone: Primary mental abilities.
- Cattell: Fluid vs. crystallized intelligence.
- Gardner: Multiple intelligences.
- Sternberg: Triarchic theory (analytical, practical, creative).
Heredity/Environment: Twin studies, Flynn effect.