AP Psychology Exam Study Guide: Cognition
Unit 2: Cognition Study Guide
Questions from Unit 0 will appear on MCQ exams to reflect AP Exam guidelines.
Perception
Understand the following concepts well enough to identify and answer correctly on an MCQ test, and to write about them specifically enough for an AAQ (Apply a Question) and/or EBQ (Evaluate a Question) (FRQs).
Gestalt Principles: Principles that describe how we organize sensory information into meaningful wholes.
Closure: Tendency to perceive incomplete figures as complete.
Figure-ground: Organization of visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground).
Proximity: Grouping nearby figures together.
Similarity: Grouping figures that are similar.
Attention: Focusing awareness on a particular stimulus.
Selective attention: Focusing on one stimulus while blocking out others.
Cocktail party effect: Ability to attend to one voice among many.
Change blindness: Failure to notice changes in the environment.
Inattentional blindness: Failure to see visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere.
Sensory adaptation: Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
Visual cliff experiment: Used to test depth perception in infants and young animals.
Binocular depth cues: Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.
Retinal disparity: Difference between the visual images that each eye perceives.
Convergence: Extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object.
Monocular cues: Depth cues available to either eye alone.
Relative size: Smaller objects are perceived as farther away.
Texture gradient: Change in texture that signals distance.
Linear perspective: Parallel lines appear to converge with distance.
Interposition: Closer objects block farther objects.
Perceptual constancy: Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change.
Size constancy: Perceiving objects as having a constant size, even when our distance from them varies
Color constancy: Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.
Shape constancy: Perceiving the form of familiar objects as constant even while our retinal images of them change.
Lightness constancy: Perceiving an object as having a constant lightness even when illumination varies
Thinking, Problem-solving, Judgment and Decision Making
Prototypes: Mental image or best example of a category.
Metacognition: Awareness of one's own thinking processes.
Algorithms: Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.
Heuristics: Simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.
Representativeness heuristic: Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes.
Availability heuristic: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory.
Mental set: Tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
Functional fixedness: Tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.
Priming: Activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.
Framing: The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
Gambler’s fallacy: The belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa.
Sunk-cost fallacy: Occurs when people continue a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money or effort).
Belief Perseverance vs. Confirmation Bias:
Belief Perseverance: Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
Confirmation Bias: Tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
Creativity: The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.
Convergent thinking: Narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.
Divergent thinking: Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.
Introduction to Memory
Information processing model: Model that compares human memory to computer operations, involving encoding, storage, and retrieval.
Encoding: Getting information into our brain.
Storage: Retaining encoded information over time.
Retrieval: Getting information out of memory storage.
Automatic vs. effortful processing:
Automatic processing: Unconscious encoding of incidental information.
Effortful processing: Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.
Levels of processing: Analysis of information
Shallow processing (structure): Encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words.
Intermediate processing (phonemic): Encoding on a level based on the sounds of the words
Deep processing (semantic): Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words.
Multi-Store Model
Sensory memory: Immediate, very brief recording of sensory information.
Iconic memory: Momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.
Echoic memory: Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.
Short term memory (STM): Activated memory that holds a few items briefly.
Working memory: A newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing
Central executive: The part of working memory that directs attention and processing
Phonological loop: The part of working memory that deals with spoken and written material
Visuospatial sketchpad: The part of working memory that deals with visual information
Maintenance rehearsal vs. elaborative rehearsal:
Maintenance rehearsal: Repeating information to prolong STM duration.
Elaborative rehearsal: Connecting new information to existing knowledge to enhance LTM storage.
Long term memory (LTM): Relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.
Prospective memory: Remembering to do things in the future.
Explicit memory: Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare".
Implicit memory: Retention independent of conscious recollection.
Episodic memory: Memory of personal experiences.
Semantic memory: Memory of general knowledge.
Autobiographical memory: Memory of one's own life history.
Encoding Memories
Mnemonic devices: Memory aids, especially techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Method of Loci: Mnemonic device using visualization to organize and recall information.
Chunking: Organizing items into familiar, manageable units.
Spacing effect: Tendency for distributed practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed practice.
Distributed practice (spacing effect): Encoding over time
Massed practice: Cramming
Serial position effect: Our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first items (primacy effect) in a list.
Primacy effect: Remembering the first items in a list.
Recency effect: Remembering the last items in a list.
Retrieving Memories
Retrieval cues: Stimuli that help you retrieve information from long-term memory.
Context-dependent memory: Improved recall of specific episodes when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same.
State-dependent memory: What we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state.
Mood-congruent memory: Tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.
Retrieval practice: The act of retrieving information from memory, which strengthens the memory trace.
Testing effect: Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information.
Recall: A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier.
Recognition: A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned.
Forgetting and Other Memory Challenges
Forgetting curve (Ebbinghaus): Course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time.
Proactive interference: Forward-acting disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
Retroactive interference: Backward-acting disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: The temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that it's just out of reach.
Misinformation effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
Source amnesia: Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined.
Imagination inflation: Repeatedly imagining nonexistent actions and events can create false memories.
Retrograde amnesia: Inability to retrieve information from one's past.
Anterograde amnesia: Inability to form new memories.
Alzheimer’s disease: A progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning.
Infantile amnesia: The inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories before the age of 2–4 years.
Intelligence and Achievement
g theory vs multiple abilities:
g theory: A general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.
Multiple abilities: The theory that intelligence is composed of multiple independent factors.
Fluid and crystallized intelligence:
Fluid intelligence: Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.
Crystallized intelligence: Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.
IQ as mental age/chronological age, expressed by IQ = (\frac{mental \,age}{chronological \, age}) * 100.
Modern uses of IQ tests: Identifying students in need of educational services.
Standardization: Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.
Percentile rank: Percentage of scores that fall at or below a particular score.
Reliability: Extent to which a test yields consistent results.
Validity: Extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.
Stereotype threat: A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
Stereotype lift: Awareness of positive expectations can improve task performance.
Flynn effect: The rise in average IQ scores over generations.
Discriminatory uses of intelligence testing: Socio-cultural Bias, Poverty Discrimination, Educational Inequalities.
Achievement tests vs. aptitude tests:
Achievement tests: Tests designed to assess what a person has learned.
Aptitude tests: Tests designed to predict a person's future performance.
Growth vs. fixed mindset:
Growth mindset: Belief that intelligence is malleable and can be developed.
Fixed mindset: Belief that intelligence is static and unchangeable.
Normal Bell Curve & IQ Scores: Approximately 68% of scores fall within one standard deviation of the mean, and about 95% fall within two standard deviations.
Guiding Questions
What is the difference between encoding, storage, and retrieval?
What is the capacity and duration of sensory, short-term/working, and long-term memory?
How do implicit and explicit memories differ?
Explain the difference between shallow, intermediate, and deep processing
What parts of the brain play a role in memory formation and storage? What are their functions?
Explain the difference between retrograde and anterograde amnesia
Explain the difference between proactive and retroactive interference
What fosters creativity?
In what ways do we solve problems? Why might we make mistakes when solving problems?
What are arguments in support of one general intelligence that can be measured by a score?
How are Gardner and Sternberg’s theories different from Spearman’s?
What is the difference between achievement and aptitude intelligence tests?
What is standardization and the normal curve?
What is the difference between reliability and validity?
What can affect our attention?
What is Gestalt Psychology and how does it relate to perception?
How do binocular and monocular cues help us to see depth?
Difference between encoding, storage, and retrieval:
Encoding: Getting information into our brain, which involves the processing of information so that it can be stored.
Storage: Retaining encoded information over time for future use.
Retrieval: Getting information out of memory storage when needed.
Capacity and duration of memory types:
Sensory memory: Brief recording of sensory information, lasting only a few seconds.
Short-term memory: Holds a few items (typically 7±2) briefly for about 20-30 seconds.
Long-term memory: Relatively permanent with a potentially limitless capacity.
Difference between implicit and explicit memories:
Implicit memory: Retention without conscious recollection; includes skills and conditioned responses.
Explicit memory: Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare.
Difference between shallow, intermediate, and deep processing:
Shallow processing: Encoding based on the structure or appearance of words.
Intermediate processing: Encoding based on the sounds of the words.
Deep processing: Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words, which leads to better retention.
Parts of the brain in memory formation and storage:
Hippocampus: Critical for the formation of new explicit memories.
Amygdala: Involves emotions related to memories, especially fear.
Cerebral cortex: Stores long-term memories.
Difference between retrograde and anterograde amnesia:
Retrograde amnesia: Inability to retrieve information from one’s past.
Anterograde amnesia: Inability to form new memories after the onset of amnesia.
Difference between proactive and retroactive interference:
Proactive interference: When old information interferes with the recall of new information.
Retroactive interference: When new information interferes with the recall of old information.
What fosters creativity:
Influenced by factors like a supportive environment, diverse experiences, and the ability to think divergently.
Ways we solve problems and potential mistakes:
We use methods such as algorithms and heuristics. Mistakes may arise from cognitive biases and fixed mental sets.
Arguments supporting one general intelligence:
g theory posits a single factor underlying all cognitive abilities, as supported by correlations across various cognitive tasks.
Difference between Gardner and Sternberg’s theories and Spearman’s:
Spearman: Focused on a single general intelligence factor (g).
Gardner: Proposed multiple independent intelligences.
Sternberg: Suggested a triarchic theory including analytical, creative, and practical intelligence.
Difference between achievement and aptitude intelligence tests:
Achievement tests: Measure what a person has learned.
Aptitude tests: Predict a person’s future performance or ability to learn.
Standardization and the normal curve:
Standardization: Establishing uniform procedures for administering and scoring tests and comparing results with a norm group.
Normal curve: A bell-shaped distribution where most scores cluster around the mean.
Difference between reliability and validity:
Reliability: Consistency of results across different instances of a test.
Validity: The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is intended to.
Factors affecting attention:
Selective attention is influenced by sensory overload, motivation, and cognitive resources.
Gestalt Psychology and perception:
Gestalt Psychology emphasizes holistic processing of sensory information, suggesting that we perceive objects as organized wholes rather than as individual components.
How binocular and monocular cues help in depth perception:
Binocular cues: Require two eyes, such as retinal disparity and convergence.
Monocular cues: Available to each eye alone, include relative size, texture gradients, linear perspective, and interposition.