AP Psychology Unit 7: Cognition Flashcards
Memory
The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information
Alzheimer’s Disease
A disease that weakens the brain’s memory centers. Begins as difficulties remembering new information and progresses into an inability to do everyday tasks
Recall
A measure of memory in which a person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test
Recognition
A measure of memory in which the person identifies terms previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test
Relearning
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again
Overlearning
Studying material beyond a pre-determined level of mastery, increasing retention (especially when practice is distributed over time)
Information-Processing Model
Likens human memory to computer operations. Thus, to remember any event, we must encode, store, and retrieve it
Encoding
The process of getting information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning
Storage
The process of retaining encoded information over time
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage
Parallel Processing
Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions
Connectionism
Views memories as products of interconnected neural networks. Specific memories arise from particular activation patterns within these networks. Each time you learn something new, your brain’s neural connections change, forming and strengthening pathways allowing you to interact with and learn from the changing environment
Atkinson’s and Shiffrin’s Memory Model
- We record to-be-remembered information as fleeting sensory memory
- We process information into short-term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal
- Information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval
Focuses on how we process explicit memories
Sensory Memory
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system
Short-Term Memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten
Long-Term Memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences
Working Memory
A newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from the long-term memory
Alan Baddeley’s Model of Working Memory
Includes visual-spatial and auditory rehearsal of new information. A hypothetical central executive (manager) focuses our attention, and pulls information from long-term memory to help make sense of new information.
Central Executive
According to Baddeley’s model, the central executive coordinates focused processing without which, information often fades.
Explicit Memory
Retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare” (also called declarative memory)
Effortful Processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Automatic Processing
Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings
Implicit Memory
Retentions of learned skills/procedural memory or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. Implicit memory processes information about space, time, and frequency (also called “nondeclarative memory”)
Iconic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second
Echoic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
Chunking
An effortful processing strategy that organizes items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Mnemonics
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Hierarchies
An effortful processing technique that divides and subdivides a few broad concepts into narrower concepts and facts
Effortful Processing Strategies
- Chunking
- Mnemonics
- Hierarchies
Spacing Effect
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice
Massed Practice
Also known as “cramming.” Produces speedy short-term learning and a tendency to forget learned information quickly
Testing Effect
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning
Shallow Processing
Encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words
Deep Processing
Encoding semantically, cased on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention
Self-Reference Effect
We remember material that is personally meaningful/applicable to ourselves better than information that is not
Semantic Memory
Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory)
Episodic Memory
Explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory)
Prefrontal Cortex
The front part of the frontal lobe and the part of the brain where many brain regions send input when you remember a past experience.
Hippocampus
A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories - of facts and events - for storage. Located in the temporal lobe and the limbic system, similar to a “save” button for memories. Damage to the hippocampus disrupts the formation and recall of explicit memories.
Memory Consolidation
The neural storage of long-term memory. When information moves from the hippocampus to other parts of the brain. Supported by sleep.
Cerebellum
Plays a key role in forming and storing implicit memories (classically-conditioned responses). With damage to the cerebellum, people cannot develop certain conditioned reflexes.
Basal Ganglia
Facilitate the formation of our procedural movements for skills. Receive input from the cortex but do not send information back to the cortex for conscious learning.
Infantile Amnesia
The phenomenon in which a person cannot remember the first four years of our lives. This is because:
1. We index much of our explicit memory with a command of language that young children do not possess
2. The hippocampus is one of the last brain structures to mature. As it does, more gets retained
Amygdala
Two limbic system, emotion-processing clusters that can initiate a memory trace that boosts activity in the brain’s memory-forming areas. Thus, emotional arousal can sear certain events into the brain while disrupting memory for irrelevant events.
Tunnel-Vision Memory
A type of memory caused by a highly-emotional situation that focuses our attention and recall high priority information and reducing our recall of irrelevant details
Flashbulb Memories
A clear, sustained memory of an emotionally-significant event or moment
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
An increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory. By stimulating certain memory-circuit connections, they become more sensitive and the sending neuron needs less prompting to release its neurotransmitter, and more connections exist between the neurons
Glutamate
A neurotransmitter that increases LTP. Some people want to make drugs with glutamate to boost memory
CERB
A protein that enhances LTP. Boosting CERB might trigger increased production of other proteins that help reshape synapses and transfer short-term memories into long-term memories.
Retrieval Cues
Aspects of an individual’s physical and cognitive environment which aid the recall process; they can be explicitly provided at recall, self-generated, or encountered more incidentally through the retrieval context
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
Encoding Specificity Principle
The idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it; memories are context-dependent
Overlearning
Practice that is continued beyond the point at which the individual knows or performs the task as well as can be expected
State-Dependent Memory
What we learn in one state (i.e. drunk or sober) can be more easily recalled in that state
Mood-Congruent Memory
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood. People are more likely to recall positive events/interpret things positively when they are in a good mood, and vice-versa.
Serial Position Effect
Our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list
Recency Effect
Our tendency to recall the last items on a list accurately, especially if tested immediately after hearing the list. This is because the items are newest in our short-term memory.
Primacy Effect
Our tendency to recall the first items on a list accurately, especially if you are tested after a delay. This is because our mind rehearses the first names in a list the most.
Anterograde Amnesia
An inability to form new memories
Retrograde Amnesia
An inability to retrieve information from one’s past
Encoding Failure
The inability to recall specific information because of insufficient encoding of the information for storage in long-term memory
Storage Decay
Occurs when information stored in the brain gradually fades away.
Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve
Established that we forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off
Retrieval Failure
An explanation for forgetting from long-term memory. It refers to difficulties in recall that are due to the absence of correct retrieval cues or triggers.
Retrieval Cues
Aspects of an individual’s physical and cognitive environment which aid the recall process; they can be explicitly provided at recall, self-generated, or encountered more incidentally through the retrieval context
Proactive Interference
The forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information
Retroactive Interference
The backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information
Positive Transfer
When old information facilitates our learning of new information
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories
Reconsolidation
A process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again
Misinformation Effect
Occurs when misleading information has distorted one’s memory of an event
Imagination Inflation
An increased tendency to falsely remember that an item has been seen, or an action has been performed, when it has only been imagined
Source Amnesia
Faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined. (Also called source misattribution). Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories
Déjà Vu
That eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience. Occurs when the brain regions for explicit memory (hippocampus and frontal lobe) are not aligned with the regions for implicit memory (temporal lobe)
Cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Concept
A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Prototype
A mental image of the best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).
Creativity
The ability to produce new and valuable ideas
Convergent Thinking
Narrowing the problem solutions to determine the single best solution
Divergent Thinking
Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions
Algorithm
A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier - but also more error-prone - use of hueristics
Heuristic
A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm
Insight
A sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions. Associated with a burst of activity in the right temporal lobe
Confirmation Bias
A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore our distort contradictory evidence
Fixation
In cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving
Mental Set
A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past. Predisposes how we think
Intuition
An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
Representativeness Heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information
Availability Heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily yo mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.
Planning Fallacy
Overestimating our future leisure time and income
Belief Perseverance
Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
Motivated Reasoning
When emotional biases lead to justifications or decisions based on their desirability rather than an accurate reflection of the evidence. We use our conclusions to assess our evidence
Framing
The way an issue is posed; how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgments
Language
Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Phoneme
In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
Morpheme
In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or part of a word (such as a prefix)
Grammar
In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.
Semantics
A language’s set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds
Syntax
A language’s set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
Universal Grammar
Chomsky’s idea that all humans have a built-in predisposition to learn grammar rules and language
Receptive Language
A stage after about 4 months, when babies begin to understand what is being said to and about them
Productive Language
A stage that takes place after the receptive language stage as a baby’s ability to produce words matures
Babbling Stage
Beginning around 4 months, the stages of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to household language
One-Word Stage
The stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly single words
Two-Word Stage
Beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks in mostly two-word sentences
Telegraphic Speech
Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram - “go car” - using mostly nouns and verbs
Aphasia
Impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding)
Broca’s Area
Helps control language expression - an area in of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs muscle movements involved in speech. If damaged, a person may be unable to speak
Wernicke’s Area
A brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe. Damage to this area will inhibit language understanding
Linguistic Determinism
The strong form of Whorf’s hypothesis - that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us
Linguistic Influence
The weaker form of “linguistic relativity” - the idea that language affects thought (thus our thinking and world view is “relative to” our cultural language)
Bilingual Advantage
Wallace Lambert’s theory that a bilingual person has a superior ability to inhibit their attention to irrelevant information, which helps protect against age-induced cognitive decline. They also exhibit enhanced social skills by better understanding another’s perspective
Outcome Simulation
Visualizing a hopeful outcome. Ultimately has little effect on the actual outcome
Process Simulation
Visualizing processes you would have to undergo to achieve a hopeful outcome. effective and influences real life actions.
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Created the retention curve, which established that we remember more than we recall. As he repeated a list of syllables over several days, he found that the time required to relearn the list decreased
Richard Atkinson
Proposed the 3-stage model to explain our memory-forming process (sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory)
Richard Shiffrin
Same as Atkinson (3-stage model)
George A. Miller
Proposed that we can store +/- 7 pieces of information in short-term memory
Eric Kandel
Performed experiments on Aplysia (sea slug) and noticed that, when learning occurs, the slug releases serotonin, causing synapses to become more sensitive/efficient (LTP)
Elizabeth Loftus
Showed how people/eyewitnesses can misremember faces/events and how easy it is to reconstruct memories
Robert Sternberg
Came up with the 5 components for creativity: Expertise, imaginative thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, and a creative environment
Wolfgang Köhler
Demonstrated that other animals (like chimps) can display insight
Amos Tversky
Studied representative and availability heuristics and established how they can lead to faulty decision-making
Daniel Kahneman
Same as Tversky. Both won the Nobel Prize for their work
Steven Pinker
Dubbed language as “the crown jewel of cognition”
Noam Chomsky
Argued for the idea of “universal grammar,” that humans have the innate ability to learn language
Paul Broca
Confirmed that damage to an area of the left frontal lobe (Broca’s area) inhibited speaking ability
Carl Wernicke
Discovered that damage to a specific area of the left temporal lobe (Wernicke’s Area) inhibited understanding
Benjamin Lee Whorf
Came up with the idea of “linguistic determinism,” that language controls the way we think
