Myers' Psychology for AP Second Edition Unit 7: Cognition 

Module 31: Studying and Building Memories 

Studying Memory 

• Memory is learning that has persisted over time 
• Memory is information that has been acquired, stored, and can be retrieved 
• Memory can decline with age or after an incident 

Memory Models

• Encoding is getting information into our brain 
• Storage is retaining encoded information over time
• Retrieval is getting information out of storage
• Our brains process things simultaneously through parallel processing 
• Everytime you learn something new, your brain's neural connections change, forming and strengthening pathways 
• Sensory memory is very brief
• Sensory memory records sensory information 
• Short term memory is activated memory
• Short term memory can only hold a few pieces of information at a time 
• Long term memory is mostly permanent and limitless
• Long term memory includes knowledge, skills, and experience 

Working Memory 

• Short-term memory is active in processing information
• It makes sense of new input and links it to long term memories 
• Context and experience can guide us in how we interpret words and sounds 
• Working memory focuses on conscious, active processing 
• Without focused attention, information fades 

Building Memories: Encoding 

Dual-Track Memory: Effortful Versus Automatic Processing 

• Explicit memories are facts and experiences we consciously know and declare 
• Explicit memories are also called declarative memories 
• Encoding explicit memories is effortful processing 
• Automatic processing is the unconscious encoding of information 
• Automatic processing produces implicit memories 
• Implicit memories are independent from conscious recollection 
• Implicit memories are also called nondeclarative memories 

Automatic Processing and Implicit Memories 

• Implicit memories include procedural memories 
• Implicit memories include classically conditioned associations 
• We automatically process space, time, and frequency 
• Space is often the location 
• Time is going through a sequence of events
• Frequency os keeping track of how many times something happened 

Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories 

• Automatic processing is difficult to shut off 
• With experience and practice reading becomes automatic 

Sensory Memory 

• Sensory memory feeds our working memory 
• Iconic memory is momentary 
• Iconic memory usually involves visual stimuli 
• Echoic memory is for auditory stimuli 
• Auditory echoes linger for 3-4 seconds 

Capacity of Short-Term and Working Memory 

• We can retain, in our short-term memory, up to seven information bits 
• Short-term memories are very short 
• Working memory capacity varies with age and other factors 
• Young adults have large working memory capacity 
• Multitasking is not as efficient
• We do things better when we solely focus on one task at a time

Effortful Processing Strategies 

• Effortful processing strategies boost our ability to form new memories 
• Chunking organizes items into manageable units
• Chunking happens automatically 
• We remember chunks best when they are in meaningful arrangements 
• Mnemonics are memory aids 
• Many mnemonics create images because humans are good at remembering pictures
• Peg-words sometimes come in the form of a jingle 
• Chunking and mnemonics are good for unfamiliar material 
• Acronyms can help as well
• Hierarchies are categories and subcategories that organize pieces of information 
• Organization helps with studying 

Distributed Practice 

• We retain information better when we learn it over time 
• This is known as the spacing effect
• Massed practice, also known as cramming, is speedy short-term learning. This often gives the feeling of confidence 
• Those who learn quickly also forget quickly 
• Distributed practice is better for long term recall 
• Repeated self testing or the testing effect enhances memory. It forces you to remember rather than reread

Levels of Processing 

• Shallow processing is encoding on a basic level 
• Shallow processing are things like letters or word sounds
• Deep processing helps find the meaning of words
• Deep processing encoded semantically 
• Deeper processing can give a much better memory than shallow processing 

Making Material Personally Meaningful  

• If new information does not relate to us, we have difficulty processing it 
• Context also helps us remember things 
• We do not recall what we read, we recall what we encode 
• It is easier to remember your own notes than someone elses 
• The amount remembered depends on time spent learning and making meaningful processing
  

Module 32: Memory Storage and Retrieval 

Memory Storage 

Retaining Information in the Brain 

• The brain has a vast storage capacity 
• Many parts of the brain work to encode, store, and retrieve information

Explicit Memory System: The Frontal Lobes and Hippocampus 

• Explicit memories occur in the frontal lobes and hippocampus 
• The frontal lobes deal with working memory processing 
• The left brain and right brain have different processing functions 
• The hippocampus helps process explicit memories for storage 
• Amnesia is memory loss 
• Damage to the hippocampus can result in disruption to the recall of explicit memories 
• Subregions of the hippocampus serve different purposes. Some parts recognize faces while others smells
• Sleep helps memory consolidation 
• During sleep the hippocampus processes memories 

Implicit Memory System: The Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia 

• The hippocampus and frontal lobes process explicit memories 
• Explicit memories can be lost due to automatic processing 
• The cerebellum helps form and stores implicit memories 
• Implicit memories are often caused by classical conditioning 
• Damage to the cerebellum leads people to be unable to develop conditioned reflexes 
• The basal ganglia is a brain structure involved in motor movement 
• The basal ganglia factilates procedural memories 
• We lose many of our early memories because we index many explicit memories and the hippocampus is the last part to mature

The Amygdala, Emotions, and Memory 

• Emotions trigger stress hormones. These hormones can influence memory formation 
• Hormones let the brain know that something important is happening 
• Stress hormones provoke the amygdala which sends activity that boosts the brain's memory forming areas
• Emotions persis, even when we don't know what caused them 
• Memory serves to predict the future and alert us of potential danger 
• Flashbulb memories are clear memories. They are often of emotionally significant moments/events 

Synaptic Changes 

• When there is an increase in a particular pathway it is because neural interconnections are forming and strengthening 
• Long term potentiation is an increase in a cell's firing potential 
• LTP is a physical basis for memory 
• Once LTP has occurred, electric currents through the brain won't disrupt old memories 
• The electric current will wipe out very recent memories 
• Sleep helps save memories 

Retrieval: Getting Information Out 

Measuring Retention 

• There are three measures of retention: recall, recognition, and relearning 
• Recall is retrieving information that you learned at an earlier time
• Recall is not currently in you conscious 
• An example of recall is a fill in the blank question on a test
• Recognition is identifying items that were previously learned
• An example of recognition is a multiple choice question on a test
• Relearning is when you learn something quicker because it is the second or third time you are hearing it 
• We recognize easier than we recall 
• Recognition is often quick 
• Overlearning can increase retention 
• We remember more than we can recall 

Retrieval Cues

• Memories are stored in a web of associations 
• Each memory is connected to others
• Retrieval cues are associations you can use at a later time to access key information 
• The more retrieval cues, the more likely you are at finding the memory

Priming 

• Our best retrieval cues come from associations we made at the time of the event 
• Associations can be smells, stastes, and sights that can evoke our memories 
• We make associations without our awareness
• Priming is making these associations 
• Priming can influence our thoughts and behaviors

Context Dependent Memory 

• Putting yourself back into the context of where you learned something can help you remember it 
• Context helps encode your thoughts 

State Dependent Memory 

• State dependent memory is what we learn while we are in different states, for example drunk or sober 
• We are more likely to recall what we learned in that state when we are in the state again 
• Emotions that accompany events, good or bad, can act as retrieval cues 
• Memories are mood congruent 
• When we are happy, we think of happy memories, which makes us continue to be happy 

Serial Position Effect 

• The serial position effect is our tendency to recall the last and first items in a list the best 
• The more time you spend on something the more likely you are to remember it 
• The last item is a recency effect
• The first item is a primacy effect 

Module 33: Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Memory Improvement 

Forgetting 

• We forget things to try to declutter the brian 
• Too much memory can cause us to lose the ability to understand the meaning behind something 
• Sometimes we cannot control when we remember, which causes us to lose new information 
• Memories are quirky 
• Sometimes memory abandons us when we need it the most 

Forgetting and the Two-Track Mind 

• Memory loss can be sever and permanent 
• Memory loss can occur with age or from an accident 
• Anterograde amnesia is being able to recall the past, but not being able to form new memories 
• Retrograde amnesia is being able to form new memories, but not being able to recall the past 
• Sometimes people lose their explicit memories but keep their implicit memories
• People with amnesia can still find the bathroom in a "new" building, even if they can't tell you how they got there 

Encoding Failure 

• What we never notice, we fail to encode 
• What we fail to encode, we won't remember 
• Age effects encoding efficiency 
• Without effort, memories will not form 

Storage Decay 

• Even if we encode something well, we can still forget it 
• Forgetting starts off rapid, and then levels off 
• Memories can be inaccessible for many reasons such as not being acquired, being discarded, or being out of reach 

Retrieval Failure 

• Forgetting is not memories fading, but memories retrieved 
• Retrieval problems contribute to an adults failing memory 
• Retrieval problems occur from interference and motivated forgetting 

Interference 

• Your brain never stops filling with information, but it does get cluttered 
• Proactive interference occurs when old information disrupts recalling newer information
• Retroactive information occurs when new information disrupts recalling old information
• Information processes before sleep is protected from retroactive interference 
• Positive transfer is when old information facilitates learning new information 

Motivated Forgetting 

• When we remember the past, we often revise it 
• Because we often revise, our memory can be very unreliable 
• When we process information we filter, alter, or lose the majority of it 
• We repress painful or bad memories to protect ourselves 

Memory Construction Errors

• Memory is not precise 
• We often reweave memories 

Misinformation and Imagination Effects 

• Wording of questions can affect our memory 
• The misinformation effect is when we incorporate misleading information into our memory of an event 
• Hearing retellings can create false memories 
• Imaginating events can create false memories 
• Children are very confident in their false memories 

Source Amnesia 

• The frailest parts of memory are the source
• We can recognize a person but not where they are from
• We can't remember if we dreamt something or if it really happened
• Source amnesia is pretending we experienced something that we only heard, read, or imagined 
• Misattribution and source amnesia are at the center of many false memories 
• Deja vu is the sense the "I have already experienced this" 
• Deja vu occurs because the stimulus is familiar and we cannot determine where we have seen it before 
• We experience familiarity before remembering details 

Discerning True and False Memories 

• We often fill memory gaps with reasonable guesses and assumptions 
• Fake memories can feel real 
• False memories are persistent 
• We remember gists more than the words themselves

Children's Eyewitness Recall 

• A child's memory can easily be molded 
• Children often piece together different events to make fictitious ones 
• Children often believe their false memories are real 
• If they are asked in neutral words, children will give the truth of events 
• If they are promoted, they might change their story. But more often than not they tell the truth 

Repressed or Constructed Memories of Abuse?

• Sometimes people don't believe abuse survivors and sometimes innocent people are wrongly accused
• Sometime therapists create false images in a patients mind. Although they are trying to help, the practice is looked down upon 
• Even if the accusations are false, a patients memories are heartfelt 
• Those who want to stop child abuse have agreed on the following things 
• Child abuse happens
• Injustice happens, both for those who were hurt and those wrongly convicted
• Forgetting happens
• Forgetting can happen because the incident was so long ago or because they didn't understand what was happening 
• Recovered memories happen 
• Memories of things before age 3 are unreliable 
• The older or more intense the abuse, the more likely a child will remember it 
• Memories recovered under hypnosis are unreliable 
• Memories can be emotionally upsetting 

Improving Memory 

• SQ3R can help you remember 
• SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, Review 
• Constantly rehearsing should be spaced out 
• Exercising new memories will strengthen them
• Critical reflection helps more than simply rereading 
• Studying actively and not the night before will be more effective 
• Making the material meaningful is another strategy 
• Applying knowledge to your own life will make you more likely to remember it 
• Activating retrieval cues can jog your memory 
• Mnemonic devices like rhymes can help you remember information 
• Minimizing interference, like studying right before you go to bed, can help memory
• Sleeping more will help your memory 
• Testing your knowledge constantly can help you determine what you do and do not know
• Study more of what you don't know so that you can learn to know it 

Module 34: Thinking, Concepts and Creativity 

Thinking and Concepts 

• Cognition is all of the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating information 
• Humans have the ability to form concepts 
• We mentally group similar objects, ideas, events, and people 
• Concepts simplify thinking 
• Concepts are formed by developing prototypes
• Prototypes are our best example of a category 
• A robin is a birdier bird than a penguin 
• The farther away from a prototype, the more the category blurs
• Concepts seep up thinking, but they are not always wise 

Creativity 

• Creativity is the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas 
• Convergent thinking narrows problem solving strategies to find one solution 
• Divergent thinking gives many possible solutions 
• Although there is no test to measure creativity a creative person needs expertise, imaginative skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, and a creative environment 
• Expertise is a well developed knowledge of a topic 
• Imaginative skills allow us to see things in new ways 
• A venturesome personality makes us want to take risks have have new experiences
• Intrinsic motivation is being self driven by interest or satisfaction 
• Creative people don't focus as much on deadlines or making money 
• A creative environment helps support and create creative ideas 
• Creative environments can help with team building and working with others 
• To become more creative you should develop expertise, allow time for incubation, set aside free time, and experience other cultures
• Developing expertise will allow you to find you passion 
• Allowing time for incubation makes you unconsciously process associations 
• Setting aside free time from TV or the Internet will allow your mind to explore on its own
• Experiencing cultures and other ways of thinking will make you more creative and see things differently 

Module 35: Solving Problems and Making Decisions

Problem Solving: Strategies and Obstacles 

• Humans have problem solving skills
• Some problems are solved through trial and error 
• Algorithms are step by step processes that guarantee a solution
• Algorithms can be long and tiring 
• Heuristics are simpler thinking strategies 
• Insight is a sudden realization of an answer
• Insight is sudden, there are no signs that we are getting closer to the solution when it occurs 
• We seek evidence that supports our ideas. This is confirmation bias 
• Fixation is the inability to see a problem from a new perspective 
• We use our mental set to approach a problem with strategies that have previously worked 

Forming Good and Bad Decisions and Judgments 

• When making everyday decisions and judgments we usually rely on our intuition 
• Intuition is effortless, immediate, and automatic
• Intuition can be a feeling or a thought 
• Mental shortcuts allow for snap judgments 

The Representative Heuristic 

• Representative heuristics are judging the likelihood of things based on how well they match our prototypes 
• However, these heuristics often cause us to ignore other relative information 

The Availability Heuristic 

• The availability heuristic is when we estimate the likelihood of an event based on how mentally available it is 
• Casinos make us remember wins and not loses 
• Information that translates into vividness, recentness, or distinctiveness seem more common place
• We tend to fear the wrong things
• We fear extremely unlikely events
• Dramatic outcomes cause and effect, not really probabilities 
• Humans overfeel and underthink 

Overconfidence 

• We are more confident than correct
• People overestimate their performances 
• Humans have overconfidence 
• Projects generally take twice the time people believe they will 
• Humans overestimate future leisure time
• Despite continuing to be wrong, we continue to be overconfident in ourselves and our estimates
• People who are overconfident tend to be happier 

Belief Perseverance 

• We tend to cling to our beliefs, even if there is evidence suggesting otherwise 
• Belief perseverance fuels social conflict as no one is willing to change their minds or accept the other sides viewpoint 
• Considering the opposite can help you limit your own belief perseverance 
• The more we think about why our beliefs are true, the more we support them 
• Prejudice is persistent 

The Effects of Framing 

• Framing is the way an issue is presented 
• A 10% risk of dying sounds scarier than a 90% survival rate
• Framing is important in everyday lives
• Many countries have used framing to ask people if they want to be an organ donor, save for retirement, or help save the planet 
• Those who understand framing can use it to influence our decisions 

The Perils and Powers of Intuition

• Intuition can stop us from seeing problems clearly, making wise decision and judgments, and reason logically
• Intuition perils fuel fear and prejudice
• Intuition is huge
• Intuition focuses on what we are not consciously processing 
• We make wiser decisions when we do not think about them
• Intuition is adaptive 
• We assume small things are far away so that we are not scared
• Intuition is recognition that is born of experience 
• Intuition is implicit knowledge 
• Humans tend to overfeel and underthink 

Module 36: Thinking and Language 

• When we speak, it is actually air pressure beating on the eardrum 
• Language is spoken, written, or signed words that convey a meaning
• Language is fundamental 

Language Structure 

• Phonemes are the smallest distinctive sounds in a language 
• Both bat and chat have three phonemes (b, a, t and ch, a, t) 
• English has about 40 phonemes
• Constants matter more than vowels in phonemes 
• Morphemes are the smallest units that carry meaning 
• Some words like I or bat are also phonemes
• Prefixes and suffixes are types of morphemes
• Grammar is the set of rules that allow us to form sentences 
• Semantics derive meaning from sounds
• Syntax combine words into grammatically correct sentences
• There are more than 100,000 morphemes
• There are more than 616,500 words in the Oxford English Dictionary 

Language Development 

• Between your first birthday and high school graduation you will learn 60,000 words (in your native language) 
• You learn nearly 3,500 words per year 
• You learn nearly 10 words per day 
• Humans have a facility for language 
• We make grammatically correct sentences without even thinking about it 
• Humans also have the ability to analyze social context clues that allow them to know if saying certain sentences is OK

When Do We Learn Language? 

Receptive Language 

• Language develops from simple to complex
• By 4 months, babies can recognize different words and read lips 
• Receptive language is the ability to understand what is said to and about a person, typically babies 
• At 7 months babies start to segment sounds into words 

Productive Language 

• A baby's productive language is their ability to produce words 
• The babbling stage begins at around 4 months 
• Babies utter basic sounds by opening and closing their mouths 
• The sounds made in the babbling stage can be from various languages 
• At around 10 months, babbling has changed to just the household language 
• By 1, most babies enter the one-word stage 
• During the word word stage, babies usually say a single noun 
• At about 18 months babies say one word per day rather than one word per week 
• By 2, babies are in the two-word stage 
• The two-word stage is similar to telegraphic speech 
• The two-word stage is mainly made up of nouns and verbs that are in a sensible order

Explaining Language Development 

• Languages are diverse but share some universal grammar 
• All languages have nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The order of words can change throughout the many languages 
• English: white house 
• Spanish: casa blanca 
• Humans are born with a predisposition to learn grammar rules
• We are not born knowing a specific language 
• Babies all across the word always start with saying simple nouns 
• Biology and experience work together to learn a language 

Statistical Learning 

• When adults hear a different language, they cannot tell apart the different syllables 
• Babies have the ability to differentiate the statistical aspects of language 
• A babies brain can tell syllables apart and know what letters go with each other 
• Babies can also tell the difference between and ABA and an ABB pattern of speech 

Critical Periods 

• It is harder to learn a language at an older age 
• Childhood represents the critical period for learning language 
• Those who learn a second language later on have trouble with using the correct accent and grammar 
• Deaf children have an easier time when they have been exposed to some form of sign language 

The Brain and Language 

• Aphasia is the impairment of language. It can result from damage to either Broca's or Wernicke's Area 
• Broca's area is located in the left frontal lobe
• Damage to Broca's area results in impaired language expression, such as speaking or writing 
• Wernicke's Area is in the left temporal lobe
• Damage to Wernicke's area results in no longer being able to comprehend language 
• The brain divides mental functions so that they are easier to processes 
• The brain tends to divide speaking, perceiving, thinking, and remembering into further subfunctions 

Language and Thought 

Language Influences Thinking 

• Whorf believed language shapes a person's ideas 
• However, his linguistic determinism hypothesis is too extreme 
• We imagine things that can not be described in words 
• We have unsymbolized thoughts 
• A person can think differently depending on what language they use 
• They often answer based on the beliefs of the language the question was asked in 
• Words do not determine our thoughts, but they do influence them 
• Words have a large role in determining colors as some languages have more words for distinct shades
• We choose our words carefully despite subtle differences
• Expanding upon language is expanding thinking 

Thinking in Images 

• Implicit memories are nondeclarative and procedural 
• Words convey ideas, but ideas can also convey words
• Artists, composers, poetsm mathematicians, athletes, scientists, and almost everyone can think in images 
• Imagining a physical experience actives the same neural networks that activate when actually doing the activity 
• Mental rehearsal can help you achieve a goal 
• A greater result occurs when you imagine the process rather than the outcome 
• New words combine old words to express new ideas