cognition

an algorithm – a methodical, logical approach that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Heuristics - are a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make

judgments and educated-guesses to solve problems efficiently.

Wolfgang Koehler - pioneered insight research with his experiments on chimpanzees.

mental set—the tendency to approach a problem the same way.

functional fixedness – a cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used

Intuition - is an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

Jonathon Haidt - discovered that decisions are based primarily on intuitive predispositions and rationalized after the fact.

Confirmation bias - profoundly misleads our judgements we tend to almost-exclusively

use or remember information that confirms what we already believe, and readily dismiss

information that runs counter to our intuitions

belief perseverance – the clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the

basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Representative heuristics - may cause one to judge the likelihood of events or situations based on

stereotypes, cause them to miss or dismiss relevant information.

Availability heuristics may also mislead us in regards to memory as they cause us to estimate the likelihood of an event based on the availability in memory.

Overconfidence – the tendency to be more confident than correct –may also evoke certainty in

our judgement or ability when the evidence or likelihood of success may not be as good as we feel.

Framing - is the wording or way an issue or question is posed.

Creativity - is the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

Convergent thinking - is thinking that narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single, best solution.

Divergent thinking - takes place mainly in the frontal lobes on the right hemisphere.

Expertise: a well-developed base of knowledge provides more building blocks

with which to create novel ideas and uses

Imaginative thinking: having mastered a problem’s basic elements, we tend to

redefine or explore it in a new way, allowing different perspectives

A venturesome personality: seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguities and

risks, and perseveres by overcoming obstacles

Intrinsic motivation: being driven, interested in, or satisfied to constantly think

about and analyze (Isaac Newton, for example, obsessed over thoughts until

they were solved or completed)

A creative environment: support innovation, team-building, and communication

Noam Chomsky discovered human beings are predisposed to grammatical

structures: phonemes (letters), morphemes (words and prefixes), and grammar.

Broca’s area – the area in the left hemisphere that controls language expression.

Discovered by Paul Broca

aphasia—the inability to understand or formulate language;

Wernicke’s area— discovered by Carl Wernicke—controls language reception & plays a key role

in language development.

babbling stage - from 4-10 months, which is a series of indiscernible sounds and noises

Phonemes - are any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another,

Morphemes- are a meaningful morphological unit of a language that

cannot be further divided

syntax - is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.