Ch 7/8 Memory, Cognition, Language Flashcards
Herman Ebbinghaus
Created the nonsense syllable to study “pure” memory.
He devised a relearning method to measure how much he forgot over time
Noam Chomsky
1965
Behind every string of words people produce, called surface structures, there is a deep structure (abstract representation of the relationships expressed in a sentence)
Ann Premack and David Premack
Taught their chimp, Sarah, to communicate by placing different shaped chips, each symbolizing a word, on a magnetic board
Elizabeth Loftus
Explained why someone might “remember” a traumatic event that didn’t actually occur.
Suggest b/c books or psychotherapists that use guided imagination/ hypnosis. Denial is “evidence” of denial of truth
David Premack
Known for Premack’s Principle (ch6)
(List of behavioral preferences from most desirable to least desirable)
and teaching chimp to communicate
Benjamin Whorf
1956
Language determines how we think-
Language determinism
Auditory (acoustic) memory
Mental representations of information as a sequence of sounds
Tunes
Storage
The process of maintaining information in memory over time
Ex. Vacation from 2008
Visual memory
The mental representation of information as images
Ex. Best friends face
Maintenance Rehearsal
Repeating information over and over to keep it active in short term memory
Ex. Repeating a phone number
Elaborative rehearsal
A memorization method that involves thinking about how new information relates to information already stored in long- term memory
Ex. associating someone’s name to something you already know
Sensory registers
Memory systems that hold incoming information long enough for it to be processed further.
Ex. Temporary storage bin
Selective attention
The focusing of mental resources in only part of the stimulus field
Ex. Taking test
State dependent memory
Memory that is aided or impeded by a person’s internal state
Ex. Learn something while under influence, more likely to recall better if under
Context specific memory
Memory that can be helped or hindered by similarities or differences between the context in which it is learned and the context in which it is recalled.
Ex. Eyewitness of crime creates a mental map
Decay theory
A description of forgetting as the gradual disappearance of info from memory
Ex. Words on Ring fade
Repressed memory
A painful memory that is said to be kept out of the consciousness by psychological processes.
Ex. Abuse
Information processing system
Mechanisms for receiving information, representing it with symbols, and manipulating it
Ex. Computer
Reaction time
The time between the presentation of a stimulus and overt response to it
Ex. Dropping a ruler.
Evokes potential
A small, temporary change in EEG voltage in the brain that is caused by some stimuli.
Ex. P300 are normally stronger in response to unusual stimuli rather than predictable ones
Natural concept
A concept that has no fixed set of defining features but has a set of characteristic features.
Ex. An ostrich can’t fly but is still a bird.
Prototype
A member of a natural concept that possesses all of most of its characters if features.
Ex. A chicken is a prototypical bird
Mental model
A representation of particular situations or arrangements of objects that guided our interaction with them
Ex. Someone explaining what their living room looks like.
Script
A mental representation of a familiar sequence of activity.
Ex. Going to a restaurant and knowing the sequence of events that you can expect.
Concept
A category of objects, events, or ideas that have common properties.
Ex. Square is defined as a shape with four equal sides and four right angle corners
Cognitive maps
A mental model of familiar parts of the environment.
Ex. Navigating house when lights are off.
Propositions
A mental representation of the relationship between concepts.
Ex.
Heather-> Dumped-> Jason
Images
A mental representation of visual information
Ex. Friend talking about event.
Algorithms
A systematic procedure that cannot fail to produce a correct solution to a problem, if a solution exists.
Ex. Math formulas
Narratives
Like a script??
Syllogism
An argument made up of two propositions, called premises, and a conclusion based on those premises.
Ex. P1: this class is for seniors. P2: I am not a senior. Conclusion: I cannot take this class
Artificial intelligence
The field that studies how to program computers to imitate the products of human perception, understanding, and thought.
