Key defintions
BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN PROCESSES. BOTTOM UP (data driven) is when we are guided by the object itself (we will recognise features of the object we can use to recognise it by itself), data driven processes, driven purely by the object in front of us (the data by itself).
TOP DOWN (conceptually driven) is when our prior knowledge and experience are influencing our ability to recognise objects. Skipping features to read the whole word.
Parallel processing, different areas of the brain doing their work at the same time. Because of this the brain areas that analyse a pattern's basic features do their work at the same time as the brain areas that analyse the patterns large-scale configuration.
Unconscious inference refers to the hypothesis that perception is influenced by prior knowledge and experience, even when we're not consciously aware of it
Prosopagnosia: Is a condition resulting in the inability to recognise faces. However these people can recognise objects and words.
Inversion effect: faces are much more difficult to recognise upside down than other objects are.
Perceptual constancy allows us to perceive an object as the same, despite changes in sensation. Cognitive illusions are examples of how our expectations can influence our perceptions.
Composite effect: combining one half of someone's face with another half of another person's face. When participants were asked to identify the top half, participants would see the face as a whole and struggle to focus on only the top half. Once the bottom half was covered they were able to recognise who it was.
Viewpoint independent is when the angle doesn’t matter when viewing and recognizing and object
Viewpoint Dependent (multiple-view model) suggests that we have lots of images stored in our memories, these images show objects from various angles.
Late selection hypothesis - a proposal that selective attention operates at a late stage of processing, so that the unattended inputs receive considerable analysis.
Biased competition theory: A proposal that attention functions by shifting neurons priorities, so that the neurons are more responsive to inputs that have properties associated with the desired or relevant input. In other words, attention creates a temporary "bias" in what the neuron is sensitive too, this bias again, created by attention, favours one input over the other, with the result that the desired input is given further processing and the distractor input is not.
Spatial Attention: The mechanism through which people allocate processing recourses to particular positions in space, so that they are more efficiently process any inputs from that region in space. "your ability to focus attention on a specific location in space."
Expectation-based priming explores that if you expect a stimulus on the left (or perhaps a stimulus of a particular colour or moving a certain way) this takes something away from the other detectors. Being prepared for one target makes you less prepared for other targets.
Repetition priming involves priming produced by a prior encounter with the stimulus, seeing a stimulus before allows us to prime a quicker response of what we have already seen.
The Binding Problem: The problem of reuniting the various elements of a scene, given that they are initially dealt with by different systems in the brain. E.g., Figuring out the color of the object in front of you at the same time that you figure out its shape and its position.
divided attention- Divided attention refers to the skill of performing multiple tasks simultaneously.
Task similarity - when you have a task with similar processes (e.g. writing essay and listening to music) both focus on the language part of brain. It's harder to multitask.
Task Difficulty - Driving to a place you haven't been before (gps on and music) you turn down music/ or stop conversation when you're trying to figure out where you're turning next. Unable to divide attention when something is hard for us.
Executive control is when there is an overlap between the two tasks, it’s a general recourse mechanism we use to keep our current goals in mind
Automaticity is a state achieved by some tasks and some forms of processing, in which the task can be performed with little or no attention
the three phases of memory, Acquisition - The process of placing new information into long-term memory, Storage - The state in which a memory, once acquired, remains until its retrieved, Retrieval - The process of locating information in memory and activating that information for use.
Phonological similarity effect - confusion of letters and words that sound similar
Word Length Effect - Takes longer to rehearse long words and produce them during recall.
Articulatory suppression - occurs when people make irrelevant sounds. It reduces memory because speaking interferes with rehearsal.
Serial Position effect: The psychological tendency to remember the first and last items in a list between than those in the middle,
Primacy Effect - An observed advantage in remembering the early-presented words (or material) within a sequence of words (or materials).
Recency Effect - The Tendency to remember materials that occur late in a series. Due to the series just being presented, the recency affect can be attributed to the fact that the late-arriving items are still in our working memory. (
Digital span task: A task often used for measuring working memory's storage capacity. Research participants are read a series of digits (8 3 4) and must immediately repeat them back. If they do this successfully they are given another number added to the list (8 3 4 5) if they get it right again same thing occurs until the participants stat to make errors.
Operation span task: A measure of working memory's capacity. Requiring participants to engage in a process that is irrelevant to the be-remembered information. Measure working memory when it is actually working.
PHONOLOGICAL LOOP (otherwise known as articulatory rehearsal loop) - is a system that keeps sound based information active in working memory for a short period of time.
VISIOSPATIAL SKETCHPAD - The helper within working memory system, that stores visual materials.
PHONOLOGICAL BUFFER - a passive storage system used for holding a representation (essentially an "internal echo") of recently heard of self-produced sounds.
CENTRAL EXECUTIVE - control centre of working memory system, doesn’t store, but coordinates information by phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.
Concurrent articulation - saying something at the same time as you're trying to say something else.
Maintenance rehearsal : Items are continually cycled through working memory, merely by being repeated over and over.
Elaborative rehearsal : (otherwise known as relational rehearsal) a form of mental processing in which one thinks about relations, or connection, among ideas. The connection is created (or strengthened) in this way will later guide memory search.
Intentional learning - the acquisition of memories in a setting in which people know that their memory for information will be tested later
Incidental learning - learning that takes place in the absence of any intention to learn, correspondingly, in the absence of any expectation of a subsequent memory test.
Shallow processing : involves thinking about the materials superficial traits.
Deep processing : Involves thinking about what the material means.
Mnemonic strategies: techniques designed to improve memory accuracy and to make learning easier; in general mnemonic strategies seek to help memory by imposing an organization on the materials to be learned.
Context Dependent Learning - A pattern of data which materials learned in one setting are well remembered when the person returns to that setting, but are less well remembered in other settings.
Context reinstatement - A procedure in which a person is led to the same mental and emotional state they were in during a previous event; context reinstatement can often promote accurate recollection of that event.
Summation - the addition of two or more separate inputs so that the effect of the combines inputs is greater than the effect of any one input itself.
Recall: the act of retrieving information or events from the past while lacking a specific cue to help retrieve that information. E.g. "what did you have for breakfast this morning?"
Recognition: a form of remembering characterized by a feeling of familiarity when something previously experiences is again encountered. E.g. "which of the following did you have for breakfast this morning: toast or cornflakes"
Implicit memory - memory without awareness. (indirect testing)
Indirect memory testing - form of testing in which research participants are not told that their memories are being tested.
Explicit memory - A memory revealed by direct memory testing and usually accompanied by the conviction that one is, in fact, remembering by drawing on some sort of knowledge.
Direct memory testing - Form of testing in which people are asked explicitly to remember some previous event.
Illusion of truth - Tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure. An effect of implicit memory in which claims that are familiar end up seeing more plausible.
Retrograde amnesia - An inability to remember experiences that occurred before the event that triggered the memory disruption.
Anterograde amnesia - An inability to remember experiences that occurred after the event that triggered the memory disruption.
Transplant errors - Memory errors in which we transplant information from one similar memory into another similar unrelated memory.
Intrusion errors: A memory error in which a person recalls elements that were not part of the original event.
Schema = a person's knowledge about some aspect of the environment; developed through our experiences.
Script = a person's conception of a sequence of actions that usually occurs during a particular experience.
Misinformation effect: A phenomenon when peoples memory accuracy is affected by misleading information.
Decay theory - The hypothesis that with the passage of time, memories may fade or erode.
Interference theory - The hypothesis that materials are lost from memory because of interference from other materials that are also in memory
Retrieval failure - A mechanism that probably contributes to a great deal of forgetting. Retrieval failure occurs when a memory is, in fact, in long-term storage but the person is unable to locate that memory when trying to retrieve it.
autobiographical memory. The aspects of memory that records the episodes and events in a person's life.
Self-schema - Based on the idea of consistency. When people remember the past they reconstruct their history in a biased way that maximized the stability of their lives.
Self-reference effect - more likely to remember self-relevant information.
Consolidation - The biological process through which new memories are "cemented in place", acquiring some degree of permanence through the creation of or new (or altered) neural connections.
Flashbulb memories - A memory of extraordinary clarity, typically for some high emotional event, that is retained over many years. Despite their remarkable vividness, flashbulb memories are sometimes inaccurate.
Childhood amnesia - Most people have few memories of their early childhood (roughly from birth to age 3 or 4) This pattern is referred to as "childhood amnesia".
Reminiscence bump - Periods from age 10 to 30 are well remembered producing a reminiscence bump. Tendency to have strong memories for late teens, early adulthood. Events
Recency - people remember fewer events from 30-35, then we remember events because they weren't experienced too long ago.
Graded membership - the idea that some members of a category are "better" members and therefore are more firmly in the category than other members.
Basic level categories - usually represented in our language via a single word, while more specific categories are identified with a phrase.
Exemplar theory - people categorize a novel object by comparing its similarity to the memory representations of all previous exemplars from each relevant category.
Prototype - The standard. An average representing the entire category.
Exemplar - The standard provided by whatever example of the category comes to mind. Provide information about the variability within a category that's lost from the prototype.
Propositions - the smallest unit of knowledge that can be either true or false. Propositions are often expressed via simple sentences. But this is merely a convenience; other modes of representation are available.
Introspection - Used to study mental imagery (people may visualise differently)
Chromatic studies - A more scientific way of studying visual images.
Spatial imagery - mental representation of spatial relationships between parts of an object or its location in space.
Aphantasia The inability to form and create visual images.
Eidetic imagery Exquisite imagery, very detailed and "photographic" in nature.
Dual coding - A theory that imageable materials such as high-imagery words, will be doubly represented in memory: The word itself will be remembered, and so will the corresponding mental image.
Boundary extension - A tendency for people to remember pictures are being less "zoomed in" (and therefore having wider boundaries) than they actually were.
Availability heuristic - Estimates the probability of events based on how easily we can recall similar events, how vivid or dramatic they are.
Attribute substitution - making a judgment with easily available information.
Gamblers fallacy - Say you want to hire someone, the person you are hiring are similar to a really good worker you have. So you hire them because you think they most probably will do well as the other similar worker does.
Covariation - The relationship between two variables (events).
Confirmation bias - tendency to find evidence that confirms your beliefs rather than evidence that might challenge your beliefs
Base rate - information about the frequency/likelihood of an event
Type 1 thinkig - fast, easy, and uses heuristics. Commonly used name for judgment and reasoning strategies that are fast and effortless, BUT prone to error.
Type 2 thinking - slower, more effortful, less likely to make heuristic-related errors. Commonly used name for judgment and reasoning strategies that are slow and require more effort than the other type of thinking.
Inductive reasoning - The process through which you make forecasts about new causes based on cases you’ve observed so far.
Deductive reasoning - The process in which you start with claims or assertions that you count as "give" and ask what follows from these premises.
Confirmation bias - greater sensitivity to cues and information confirming our beliefs; tendency to disconfirm evidence incongruent with our beliefs.
Belief perseverance - People persistent in their beliefs even when presented with disconfirming evidence
Categorical syllogisms - A logical argument containing two premises and a conclusion, and concerned with the properties of, and relationship between, categories.
Four card task - An experimental procedure, commonly used to study reasoning, in which a person is presented with four cards with certain information on either side of the card
Utility maximation - The proposal that people make decisions by selecting the option that has the greatest utility. (advantage = utility)
Framing - is where people will make a decision based on how the option are presented
Affective forecasting - The process in which a person predicts how they will feel at same future point about an object or state or affairs.
Problem Solving - A process in which a person begins with a goal and seeks some steps that will lead toward that goal.
Hill-climbing strategy - A commonly used strategy in problem solving. If people use this strategy, then whenever their efforts towards solving a problem give them a choice, they will choose the option that carries them closer to the goal.
Means-end analysis - A strategy used in problem solving in which the person is guided, step by step, by the difference between the current state and the goal state, and by asking what operations are available for reducing that difference.
Ill-defined : A problem for which the goal state is specified only in general terms and the operations available for reaching the goal state are not obvious at the start.
Well Defined: Completely specific initial conditions, clear goals, a defined set of operator for transforming conditions, and a limited number of solutions.
. What is the "intelligence quotient"?The total score derived from a set of standardised tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence.
Fluid intelligence: The ability to deal with new and unusual problems
Crystalized intelligence: A person's acquired knowledge including their repertoire of verbal knowledge and cognitive skills.
Practical Intelligence - The ability to solve everyday problems through skilled reasoning that relies on tactic knowledge a acquired through experience.
Emotional Intelligence - The ability to understand one's own and others' emotions and to control one's emotions appropriately.
Theory of multiple intelligences - A proposal that there are many forms of intelligence, including linguistic, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, and personal.
Flynn effect - A worldwide increase in IQ scores over the last several decades, occurring in both impoverished, and developed nations. And proceeding at a rate of roughly 3 points per decade.
Stereotype threat - A mechanism through which a person's performance is influenced by the perception that their score will confirm stereotypes about their group.