Barron's: Chapter 7 - Cognition

Question 1

memory

Answer 1

• distributed around the cortex

Question 2

three-box/information-processing model

Answer 2

• proposes the three stages that information passes through before it is stored

Question 3

levels of processing model

Answer 3

• describes memory recall of stimuli as a function of the depth of mental processing

Question 4

sensory memory

Answer 4

• a split-second holding tank for incoming sensory information

Question 5

iconic memory

Answer 5

• a split-second perfect photograph of a scene

Question 6

selective attention

Answer 6

• determines which sensory messages get encoded

Question 7

echoic memory

Answer 7

• an equally brief (3-4 second) memory for sounds

Question 8

short-term memory (working memory)

Answer 8

• the capacity for holding, but not manipulating, a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time

Question 9

chunking

Answer 9

• if you want to remember a list, you would group the items into no more than seven groups

Question 10

mnemonic devices

Answer 10

• techniques a person can use to help them improve their ability to remember something

Question 11

rehearsal

Answer 11

• repeat something so you remember it

Question 12

long-term memory

Answer 12

• our permanent storage of memories

Question 13

episodic memory

Answer 13

• memories of specific events, storied in a sequential series of events

Question 14

semantic

Answer 14

• general knowledge of the world, stored as facts, meanings, or categories rather than sequentially

Question 15

procedural memory

Answer 15

• memories of skills and how to perform them. these memories are sequential but might be very complicated to describe in words

Question 16

explicit memories (also called declarative memories)

Answer 16

• what we usually think of first, they are conscious memories of facts or events we actively tried to remember

Question 17

implicit memories (also called nondeclarative moments)

Answer 17

• unintentional memories that we might not even realized we have

Question 18

eidetic, or photographic, memory

Answer 18

• one is able to perfectly and indestructiblt recall images

Question 19

retrieval

Answer 19

• getting information out of memory so we can use it

Question 20

recognition

Answer 20

• the process of matching a current event or fact with one already in memory

Question 21

recall

Answer 21

• retrieving a memory with an external cue

Question 22

primary effect

Answer 22

• predicts that we are more likely to recall items presented at the beginning of a list

Question 23

recency effect

Answer 23

• demonstrates our ability to recall the items at the end of a list

Question 24

serial position effect (also called serial position curve)

Answer 24

• effect is seen when recall of a list is affected by the order of items in a list

Question 25

tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Answer 25

• temporary inability to remember information

Question 26

semantic network theory

Answer 26

• states that our brain might form new memories by connecting their meaning and context with meanings already in memory

Question 27

flashbulb memories

Answer 27

• a detailed and vivid memory that is stored on one occasion and retained for a lifetime

Question 28

state-dependent memory

Answer 28

• refers to the phenomenon of recalling events encoded while in particular states of consciousness

Question 29

mood congruent memory

Answer 29

• the greater likelihood of recalling an item when our mood matched the mood we were in when the event happened

Question 30

constructed (or reconstructed memory)

Answer 30

• can report false details of a real event or might even be a recollection of an event that never occured

Question 31

relearning effect

Answer 31

• if you would have to memorize something again, it would take you less time than it did the first time you studied them

Question 32

retroactive interference

Answer 32

• learning new information interferes with the recall of older information

Question 33

proactive interference

Answer 33

• older information learned previously interferes with the recall of information learned more recently

Question 34

anterograde amnesia

Answer 34

• people cannot encode new memories but they can recall events already in memory

Question 35

retrograde amnesia

Answer 35

• a loss of memory-access to events that occurred, or information that was learned, before an injury or the onset of a disease

Question 36

long-term potentiation

Answer 36

• a persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity

Question 37

phonemes

Answer 37

• the smallest units of sound used in a language

Question 38

morphemes

Answer 38

• the smallest unit of meaningful sound

Question 39

syntax

Answer 39

• words are spoken or written in a particular order

Question 40

language acquisition

Answer 40

• the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate

Question 41

overgeneralization or overregularization

Answer 41

• a part of the language-learning process in which children extend regular grammatical patterns to irregular words

Question 42

language acquisition device

Answer 42

• the ability to learn a language rapidly as children

Question 43

linguistic relativity hypothesis

Answer 43

• the language we use might control, and in some ways limit, our thinking

Question 44

prototypes

Answer 44

• what we think is the most typical example of a particular concept

Question 45

images

Answer 45

• the mental pictures we create in our minds of the outside world

Question 46

algorithm

Answer 46

• a rule that guarantees the right solution by using a formula or other foolproof method

Question 47

heuristic

Answer 47

• a rule that is generally, but not always, true that we can use to make judgment in a situation

Question 48

representativeness heuistic

Answer 48

• judging a situation based on how similar the aspects are to prototypes the person holds in his or her mind

Question 49

belief bias or belief preserverance

Answer 49

• concern our tendency not to change our beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence

Question 50

functional fixedness

Answer 50

• the inability to see a new use for an object

Question 51

confirmation bias

Answer 51

• we tend to look for evidence that confirms our beliefs and ignore evidence that contradicts what we think is true

Question 52

convergent thinking

Answer 52

• thinking pointed towards one solution

Question 53

divergent thinking

Answer 53

• thinking that searches for multiple possible answers to a question

Question 54

availability heuristic

Answer 54

• judging a situation based on examples of similar situation that come to mind initially

Question 55

George Sperling

Answer 55

• he documented the existence of iconic memory (one of the sensory memory subtypes)

Question 56

George Miller

Answer 56

• he established the average number of 7 items that we can remember with short term memory

Question 57

Alexandra Luria

Answer 57

• was one of the founders of Cultural-Historical Psychology

Question 58

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Answer 58

• he was a German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory

Question 59

Noam Chomsky

Answer 59

• theorized that humans are born with a language acquisition device

Question 60

Elizabeth Loftus

Answer 60

• cognitive psychologist and expert on human memory

Question 61

Benjamin Whorf

Answer 61

• theorized that the language we use might control, and in some ways limit, our thinking

Question 62

Wolfgang Kohler

Answer 62

• he documented details of the “aha experience”