Cognition Flashcards

1. Selective attention: focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus. 

2. Inattentional blindness: failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.  

3. Change blindness: failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness. 

4. Perceptual set: a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. 

5. Gestalt: an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

6. Figure-ground: the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground). 

7. Grouping: the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups. 

8. Depth perception:  the ability to see objects in three dimensions, although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance.  

9. Visual cliff: a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals. 

10. .Binocular cues: a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of both eyes.   

11. .Convergence: a cue to a nearby object’s distance, enabled by the inward angle of the eyes.  

12. Retinal disparity: a binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance — the greater the disparity between two images, the closer the object. 

13. 13.Monocular cue: a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone.

14. 14.Stroboscopic movement: an illusion of continuous movement (as in a motion picture) experienced when viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still images.

15. 15.Phi phenomenon: an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in succession.   

16. 16.Autokinetic effect: the illusory movement of a still spot of light in a dark room.

17. 17.Perceptual constancy: perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change. 

18. 18.Color constancy: perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object. 

19. 19.Perceptual adaptation: the ability to adjust changed sensory input , including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

20. 20.Cognition: all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. 

21. 21.Metacognition: cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes. 

22. 22.Concept: a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

23. 23.Prototype: a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype is a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a crow).  

24. 24.Creativity: the ability to produce new and novel ideas. 

25. 25.Convergent thinking: narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.  

26. 26.Divergent thinking: expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.  

27. 27.Schema: a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. 

28. 28.Assimilation: interpreting new experiences in terms of our existing schemas. 

29. 29.Accommodation: adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information.

30. 30.Executive functioning: cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior. 

31. 31.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. 

32. 32.Heuristics: a simple thinking strategy — a mental shortcut — that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm. 

33. 33.Insight: a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrast with strategy-based solutions. 

34. 34.Confirmation bias: a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

35. 35.Fixation: in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle in problem solving.

36. 36.Mental set: a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

37. 37.Intuition: an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted to explicit conscious reasoning.  

38. 38.Representativeness heuristic: judging the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information. 

39. 39.Availability heuristic: judging 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.  

40. 40.Overconfidence: the tendency to more confident than correct — to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements.   

41. 41.Belief perseverance: the persistence of one’s initial conceptions even after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. 

42. 42.Framing: the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.  

43. 43.Nudge: framing choices in a way that encourages people to make beneficial decisions. 

44. 44.Memory: the persistence of learning over time through encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

45. 45.Recall: a measure of memory in which a person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test. 

46. 46.Recognition: a measure of memory in which a person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test. 

47. 47.Relearning: a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again. 

48. 48.Encoding: the process of getting information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.

49. 49.Storage: the process of retaining encoded information over time.

50. 50.Retrieval: the process of getting information out of memory storage.

51. 51.Parallel processing: processing multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously. 

52. 52.Sensory memory: the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

53. 53.Short-term memory:  briefly activated memory of a few items (such as digits of a phone number while calling) that is late stored or forgotten.

54. 54.Long-term memory: the relatively permanent, limitless archive of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences. 

55. 55.Working memory: a newer understanding of short-term memory; conscious, active processing of both (1) incoming sensory information and (2) information retrieved from long-term memory.

56. 56.Central Executive: a memory component that coordinates the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. 

57. 57.Phonological loop: a memory component that briefly holds auditory information.  

58. 58.Visuospatial sketchpad:  a memory component that briefly holds information about objects’ appearance and location in space. 

59. 59.Neurogenesis: the formation of new neurons.

60. 60.Long-term potentiation: an increase in a nerve cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory. 

New Terms for Tuesday/Block Day 

1. 61.Explicit memory: retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously know and “declare.” (Also called declarative memory.)

2. 62.Effortful processing: encoding that requires attention and conscious effort. 

3. 63.Automatic processing: unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of familiar or well-learned information, such as sounds, smells, and word meanings. 

4. 64.Implicit memory: retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. (Also called nondeclarative memory.)

5. 65.Iconic memory: a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second. 

6. 66.Echoic memory: a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds. 

7. 67.Chunking: organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically. 

8. 68.Mnemonics: memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices. 

9. 69.Spacing effect: the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through mass study or practice.

10. 70.Testing effect: enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information. Also referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning.  

11. 71.Shallow processing: encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words.  

12. 72.Deep processing: encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention

13. 1.Semantic memory: explicit memories of facts and
    general knowledge; one of our two conscious
    memory systems (the other is episodic memory).
    2.Episodic memory: explicit memory of personally
    experienced events; one of our two conscious
    memory systems (the other is semantic memory).
    3.Hippocampus: a neural center located in the limbic
    system; helps process explicit (conscious)
    memories—of facts and events—for storage.
    4.Memory consolidation: the neural storage of a long-
    term memory.
    5. Flashbulb memory: a clear memory of an
    emotionally significant moment or event.
    6. Priming: the activation, often unconsciously, of
    associations in memory.
    7.Encoding specificity: the idea that cues and context
    specific to a particular memory will be most effective
    in helping us recall it.
    8.Mood-congruent memory: the tendency to recall
    experiences that are consistent with one’s current
    good or bad mood.
    9. Serial position effect: our tendency to recall best the
    last items in a list initially (a recency effect), and the
    first items in a list after a delay (a primacy effect).
    10. Interleaving: a retrieval strategy that involves

    mixing the study of different topics.
    11. Anterograde amnesia: an inability to form new
    memories.
    12. Retrograde amnesia: an inability to remember
    information from one’s past.
    13. Proactive interference: the forward-acting
    disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of
    new information.
    14. Retroactive interference: the backward-acting
    disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of
    old information.
    15. Repression: in psychoanalytic theory, the basic
    defense mechanism that banishes from
    consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings,
    and memories.
    16. Reconsolidation: a process by which previously
    stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially
    altered before being stored again.
    17. Misinformation effect: occurs when a memory
    has been corrupted by misleading information.
    18. Source amnesia: faulty memory for how, when,
    or where information was learned or imagined (as
    when misattributing information to a wrong source).
    Source amnesia, along with misinformation effect, is
    at the heart of many false memories.
    19. Déjà vu: that eerie sense that “I’ve experienced
    this before.” Cues from the current situation may

    unconsciously trigger the retrieval of an earlier
    experience.
    20. Intelligence: the ability to learn from
    experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to
    adapt to new situations.
    21. General intelligence (g): according to Spearman
    and others, underlies all mental abilities and is
    therefore measured by every task on an intelligence
    test.
    22. 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.
    23. Fluid intelligence (Gf): our ability to reason
    speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age,
    especially during late adulthood.
    24. Crystallized intelligence (Gc): our accumulated
    knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with
    age.
    25. Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory: the theory
    that our intelligence is based on g as well as specific
    abilities, bridged by Gf and Gc.
    26. Savant syndrome: a condition in which a person
    otherwise limited in mental ability has an
    exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or
    drawing.
    27. Grit: in psychology, passion and perseverance in

    the pursuit of long-term goals.
    28. Emotional intelligence: the ability to perceive,
    understand, manage, and use emotions.
    29. Intelligence test: a method for assessing an
    individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them
    with those of others, using numerical scores.
    30. Achievement test: a test designed to assess
    what a person has learned.
    31. Aptitude test: a test designed to predict a
    person’s future performance; aptitude is the
    capacity to learn.
    32. Mental age: a measure of intelligence test
    performance devised by Binet; the level of
    performance typically associated with children of a
    certain chronological age. Thus, a child who does as
    well as an average 8-year-old is said to have a
    mental age of 8.
    33. Stanford-Binet: the widely used American
    revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s
    original intelligence test.
    34. Intelligence quotient (IQ): defined originally as
    the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age
    (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca x 100). On
    contemporary tests, the average performance for a
    given age is assigned a score of 100.
    35. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): the
    WAIS and it companion versions for children are the

    most widely used intelligence test; they contain
    verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.
    36. Psychometrics: the scientific study of the
    measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and
    traits.
    37. Standardization: defining uniform testing
    procedures and meaningful scores by comparison
    with the performance of a pretested group.
    38. Normal curve: the bell-shaped curve that
    describes the distribution of many physical and
    psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the
    average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the
    extreme
    39. Flynn effect: the rise in intelligent test
    performance over time and across cultures.
    40. Reliability: the extent to which a test yields
    consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of
    scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of
    the test, or on retesting.
    41. Validity: the extent to which a test measures or
    predicts what it’s supposed to (see also predictive
    validity).
    42. Content validity: the extent to which a test
    samples the behavior that is of interest.
    43. 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. (Also called
    criterion-related validity.)
    44. Cross-sectional study: research that compares
    people of different ages at the same point in time.
    45. Longitudinal study: research that follows and
    retests the same people over time.
    46. Cohort: a group of people sharing a common
    characteristic, such as being from a given time
    period.
    47. Growth mindset: a focus on learning and
    growing rather than viewing abilities as fixed.
    48. Fixed Mindset: the view that intelligences,
    abilities, and talents are unchangeable, even with
    effort.
    49. Stereotype threat: a self-confirming concern
    that one will be evaluated based on a negative
    stereotype.