Cognition

Thinking & problem solving 

Schema 

• framework for thinking 

Modified through:

• Assimilation 

  • Taking in new information but not changing the schema in the light of it 

• Accomadation

  • Taking in new info and changing the schema to incorporate the new info 

Strategies for problem-solving 

• Algorithms

  • Step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution to certain types of problems

• Heuristics 

  • A rule of thumb- a rule that is generally but not always true that we can use to make a judgment in a situation 

Heuristics

• Availability heuristics

  • Tendency to estimate the probability of certain events in terms of how readily they come to mind 

• Representativeness heuristics 

  • Tendency to judge the likelihood of things according to how they relate to a prototype 

• Can cause 

  • Overconfident

    • someone has an inflated belief in their own abilities, knowledge, or judgment.

  • Belief perseverance

    •  tendency to hold on to our beliefs even when faced with contradictory evidence.

Obstacles to problem-solving

• Rigidy/ mental set

  • Tendency to fall into established thought patterns 

    • Functional fixedness 

      • The inability to see a new use for an object 

• Confirmation bias

  • Tendency to search for and use information that supports our preconceptions and ignore information that refutes our ideas

• Framing 

  • The way a problem is presented 

Decision making 

• Gambler’s fallacy 

  • Failure to recognize the independent of chance events leading to the mistaken belief that one can predict the outcome of a chance event of the basis of the outcomes of past chance events

• Sunk cost fallacy

  • The phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial 

Executive functions 

• The cognitive process that allows individuals to generate, organize, plan, and carry out goal-directed behaviors and experience critical thinking 

Creativity 

• Convergent thinking

  • Thinking pointed towards one solution

• Divergent thinking 

  • Thinking that searches for multiple possible answers to a question 

Memory 

• Persistence of learning over time through the stage and retrieval of information

Recall versus recognition 

• Recall 

  • You must retrieve information from your memory 

• Recognition 

  • You must identify the target from possible targets 

The key process in memory

• Encoding 

  • Processing of information into the memory system 

• Storage 

  • Retention of encoded material over time 

• Retrieval 

  • Process of getting the information out of memory storage 

Memories 

• Iconic memory

  • Memory for visual stimuli 

• Echoic memory 

  • Memory for sound stimuli 

• Prospective memory 

  • Type of memory related to future actions 

Biological perspective 

• long term potentiation 

  • The process that strengthens synaptic transmission between neurons and is thought to be a neural mechanism for learning and memory

  • Hippocampus 

Multi-store model of memory: Richard Atkinson & Richard Shiffrin 

• Sensory memory

  • Encoding 

    • Info lost because it is not encoded 

• short-term memory

  • Encoding 

    • Info lost because it is not encoded 

• long-term memory

  • Info lost due to retrieval failure 

Sensory memory 

• Split-second holding tank for ALL sensory (temporrary) information 

short term memory

• Stuff we encode from the sensory goes to STM

• Holds about 7 items for about 20 seconds (George Miller)

• We recall digits better than letters 

Long term memory

• An unlimited storehouse of information

  • Explicit memories 

    • are the memories we can consciously recall and articulate.

  • implicit memories 

    • kind of memories that you can’t consciously recall but still influence your behavior. 

3 formats for storing long-term memories 

• episodic memories 

  • Specific events stored in a sequential series of events 

• Semantic memories 

  • General knowledge of the world is stored as facts, meanings, or categories 

• Procedural memory 

  • Memories of skills and how to perform them

Working memory model= short-term memory

Central executive 

• Directs attention to tasks 

• Allocates information based on modality 

Phonological loop 

• Limited capacity 

• Deals with auditory information and language 

• Bradley (1986) further subdivided into 

  • Phonological store 

    • Holds words heard 

  • Articulatory store 

    • Holds words heard/seen and silently repeated like an inner voice 

Visuospatial sketchpad

• Limited capacity

• Visual and/or spatial info stored here 

  • Visual cache 

    • What things look like stores information about the form and the color 

  • Inner scribe 

    • Processes spatial and movement formation 

Episodic buffer

• Dedicated to linking information across the domains to form integrated units of visual, spatial, and verbal information, with time sequencing such as the memory of a story, an event, or a movie scene 

Levels of processing model 

• Explains why we remember what we do by looking at how deeply the memory was processed or thought about 

Shallow processing

• Structural processing 

  • Appearance 

  • When we encode only the physical qualities of something 

• Phonemic processing 

  • Which is when we encode its sound 

Deep processing

• semantic processing

  • When we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to similar words with similar meaning 

Rterieval- herman ebbinghaus

• Primary effect

  • Tendency to remember items at the beginning of the list 

• Recency effect 

  • Tendency to remember items at the end of the test 

• Serial positioning effect 

  • Tendency to recall information that is presented first and last better than information in the middle 

Context matters 

• Tip of the tongue phenomenon 

  • that frustrating moment when you know you know something, but you just can’t quite pull it out of your brain.

• Flashbulb memories 

  • vivid, detailed memories of significant events, often tied to strong emotions.

• Mood congruent memory

  • tendency to recall memories that are consistent with your current mood.

• State dependent memory 

  • dea that you’re more likely to recall information when you’re in the same physical or emotional state as when you learned it. 

Forgetting 

• Ineffective encoding 

  • Psuedoforgetting 

    • where you think you’ve forgotten something, but in reality, you never really learned it in the first place. 

  • Information may never have been inserted into memory 

• Decay 

  • Forgetting because we do not use a memory 

• Retroactive inference 

  • New information blocks out old information

• Proactive interference

  • Old information blocks out new information

Amnesia 

• Organic amnesia 

  • Extensive memory loss due to head injury 

• Retrograde 

  • The loss of memories taht formed before a trauma such as brain injury 

• Anterograde

  • Prevents new memories from being formed after a trauma such as barin injury  

Intelligence

• The ability to gather and use information in productive ways.

Fluid Intelligence

• Reasoning ability, memory capacity, and speed of information processing

Crystallized Intelligence

• Ability to apply acquired knowledge and skills in problem solving

Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences

• Gardner believed that there exists at least 9 different types of intelligences

  • Linguistic 

  • Logical-mathematical 

  • Spatial

  •  Musical

  •  Body-kinesthetic

  •  Intrapersonal

  • Interpersonal

  •  Naturalist

  •  Existential

Robert Sternberg and his Triarchic Theory

• Most commonly accepted theory today

•  Three types of intelligence:

  • Analytical (a.k.a. theoretical)

    • It’s all about problem-solving, critical thinking, and the ability to analyze and evaluate information.

  • Creative (a.k.a. experiential)

    • It’s all about the ability to think outside the box, generate new ideas, and come up with innovative solutions to problems.

  • Practical (a.k.a. contextual)

    • It’s all about the ability to solve everyday problems and adapt to real-world situations.

Assessment/Testing

Lewis Terman and his IQ Test

•  Used Binet’s research to construct the modern day IQ test called the Stanford-Binet Test

• IQ=Mental age/Chronological age X 100

How do we construct an Intelligence Test?

• Standardized 

  •  Uniform procedures to administer & score a test

• Reliable 

  • Consistent results when retested?

• Validity 

  •  Does it measure what it is supposed to measure

Types of Tests

Aptitude

•  Measure ability or potential

Achievement

• Tests that measure what you have learned

Mindset

• Fixed Mindset 

  • Intelligence is fixed from birth

• Growth Mindset 

  • Intelligence can adjust due to experience

Stereotype threat

• Negative stereotypes of stigmatized groups’ intellectual abilities create feelings of vulnerability in the classroom.

• These feelings of stereotype threat can undermine group members’ performance on tests & other measures of academic achievement

Flynn Effect

• IQ scores have generally increased over time due to societal factors, such as higher socioeconomic status and access to better healthcare and better nutrition.