Cognitive Psych Exam 3
Chapter 8
Terms to Know:
● Inference = the logical interpretations and conclusions that were never part of the original stimulus material
● Episodic memory = memory that contains information about events that have happened to us
● Semantic memory = Semantic memory includes general knowledge, lexical or language knowledge, and conceptual knowledge.
● Category = a set of objects that belong together which the cognitive system considers to be at least partly equivalent
● Concept = a mental representations of a category
● Situated Cognition Approach = the approach which emphasizes that our knowledge depends on the context surrounding us
● Prototype = the item that is most typical and representative of the category
○ Prototype Approach = We decide whether an item belongs to a category by comparing that item with a prototype
○ Prototypicality = the degree to which members of a category are representative of their category
● Graded Structure = members of categories are not all created equally in terms of prototypicality
● Typicality Effect = when judging whether an item belongs to a particular category, typical items are judged faster than atypical items
● Semantic Priming Effect = People respond faster to an item if it was preceded by an item with similar meaning
● Family Resemblance = no single attribute shared by all examples of a concept ● Superordinate-level Categories = higher-level or more general categories ● Basic-level Categories = moderately specific categories
● Subordinate-level Categories = lower-level or more specific categories
● Exemplar Approach = We first learn some specific examples of a concept (exemplars), then classify each new stimulus by deciding how closely it resembles those specific examples.
● Node = one unit located within the network
● Spreading Activation = A single activation expands or spreads from one node to other connected nodes
● Declarative knowledge = knowledge about facts and things
● Propositional network =a pattern of interconnected propositions
○ Proposition = smallest unit of knowledge that can be judged either true or false
● Spontaneous Generalization = using individual cases to draw a conclusion about a general category
● Default Assignment = drawing a conclusion about a specific member of a category using our category knowledge
● Schema = generalized, well-integrated knowledge about a situation, an event, or a person
● Script = simple, well-structured sequence of events
○ Life Script = a list of events that a person believes would be most important throughout his or her lifetime.
● Heuristic = a general rule that is typically accurate
● Boundary Extension = our tendency to remember having viewed a greater portion of a scene than was actually shown
● Abstraction = a memory process that stores the meaning of a message but not the exact words
● Verbatim Memory = word-for-word recall
● Constructive model of memory = People integrate information from individual sentences in order to construct larger ideas; later, they cannot untangle the constructed information from the verbatim sentences.
● False Alarm = occurs when people “remember” an item that was not originally presented
● Pragmatic view of memory = People pay attention to the aspect of a message that is most relevant to their current goals.
● Gender Stereotypes = widely shared sets of beliefs about the characteristics of different genders
Theories to Understand and be Able to Compare and Contrast:
● Prototype Approach
● Exemplar Approach
● Network models
● Act-R model
● Parallel Distributed Processing Approach
● Constructive model of memory
● Pragmatic view of memory
Other Things to Understand:
● Effects of Identifying a Script in Advance
● Schemas and Memory Selection
● Memory and stereotypes
Chapter 9:
Terms to Know:
● Phoneme = the basic unit of spoken language, such as the sounds a, k, and th. ● Morpheme = the basic unit of meaning
● Morphology = the study of morphemes
● Syntax = the grammatical rules that govern how we organize words into sentences
● Grammar = encompasses both morphology and syntax; it therefore examines both word structure and sentence structure
● Semantics = the area of psycholinguistics that examines the meanings of words and sentences
● Pragmatics= our knowledge of the social rules that underlie language use
● Ambiguous Sentences = sentences may have identical surface structures but very different deep structures
● Transformational Rules = the rules we use to convert deep structures into surface structure that we can actually speak and write.
● Lexical Ambiguity = the fact that a single word can have multiple meanings
● Syntactic Ambiguity = when a sentence has an ambiguous structure, sometimes without punctuation
● Neurolinguistics = the discipline that examines the underlying neurological structures and systems that support language and language-related processes
● Aphasia = an acquired difficulty communicating, typically as a result of damage to the brain caused by a stroke or a tumor
○ Broca’s Aphasia = an expressive-language deficit aphasia as a result of damage to Broca’s area
○ Werinicke’s Aphasia = a receptive-language deficit aphasia as a result of damage to Werinicke’s area
● Lateralization = each hemisphere of the brain has somewhat different functions
● Mirror system =a network of neurons in the brain’s motor cortex that are activated when you watch someone perform an action.
● Dual-Route Approach to reading = skilled readers employ both a Direct-access route (recognize word directly through vision) and an Indirect-access route (recognize word by first sounding out the word)
● Discourse = interrelated language units larger than a sentence
● Theory of Mind = In everyday life, people try to figure out the mental state of other people in their lives.
● Metacognition = your knowledge about your cognitive processes, as well as your control of these cognitive processes.
○ Metacomprehension = your thoughts about your own comprehension
Theories to Understand and be Able to Compare and Contrast:
● Chomsky’s Approach
● Cognitive–Functional Approach
● Incremental Interpretation
● Reading vs Spoken Language
● dual-route approach to reading
○ The Indirect-Access Route
● Whole-word approach
● Phonics approach
● The Constructionist View of Inferences
Other Things to Understand:
● Effects of Negation and the Passive Voice
● Syntactic Complexity
● On-line language processing measures
● Effects of syntactic ambiguity
● Factors affecting reading comprehension
Chapter 10:
Terms to Know:
● Slip-of-the-tongue errors = errors in which sounds or entire words are rearranged between two or more different words
● Prosody = the “melody,” intonation, rhythm, and emphasis of speech
● Narrative = type of discourse in which someone describes a series of actual or fictional events
● Iconic gestures = gestures that represents the concept about which a speaker is talking ○ Deictic gestures = pointing to an object or location
○ Beat Gestures = gestures occuring in rhythm that matches the speech rate and prosodic content
● Common Ground = occurs when conversationalists share similar background knowledge, schemas, and perspectives necessary for mutual understanding
● Directive = a sentence that requests someone to do something
● Direct request = resolves the interpersonal problem in a very obvious fashion
● Indirect request = uses subtle suggestions to resolve an interpersonal problem, rather than stating the request in a straightforward manner.
● Frame = mental structures that simplify reality
● Working memory = the brief, immediate memory for material that you are currently processing; working memory also coordinates your ongoing mental activities.
● Bilingual Speaker = a person who is fluent in two different languages ● Multilingual Speaker = someone who speaks more than two languages.
● Simultaneous Bilingualism = Bilinguals/Multilinguals that learn two languages simultaneously during childhood
● Sequential Bilingualism = Bilinguals/Multilinguals who’s native language is referred to as their first language, and the nonnative language that they acquire is their second language
● Age of acquisition = the age at which you learned a second language
● Critical period hypothesis = your ability to acquire a second language is strictly limited to a specific period of your life.
● Phonology = the sounds of speech
● Translation = converting a text written in one language into a second written language ● Interpreting = converting a message in one language into a second language
Theories to Understand and be Able to Compare and Contrast:
● Speech Errors
● Narrative Structure
● Parts of working memory implicated in writing
● Advantages and Disadvantages of Bilingualism
Other Things to Understand:
● Embodied Cognition
● Language Production and Writing
● The Role of Working Memory in Writing
● Effects of expertise in writing
● Simultaneous Interpreter