Chapter 4: cognition Flashcards
cognition
how our brains process and respond to great information overload presented by the world
Information Processing Model
Thinking requires sensation, encoding, and storage of stimuli; Stimuli must be analyzed by the brain; Decisions made in one situation can help solve new problems; problem solving is also dependent on content & complexity of situation
cognitive development
development of one’s ability to think and solve problem throughout life
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
lifespan divided into 4 stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
schema
organized pattern of thought and behavior; as child develops, new info has to be placed into the new schema
Adaption
comes about through assimilation (classifying new info into existing schemas) and accommodation (existing schemas modified to encompass this new info)
Sensorimotor stage
birth-age 2; learns to manipulate environment to fit physical needs; primary circular reactions:repetition of body movement that originally occurred by chance, but then was found to be soothing (sucking thumb); secondary circular reactions: repeat a behavior that doesnt directly affect body, like throwing a toy, in order to get response from environment (parent); object permanence: objects continue to exist even when out of view, occurs at end of stage
Preoperational stage
age 2-7; symbolic thinking:ability to pretend/imagine things; egocentrism: inability to imagine what another person thinks or feels centration: tendency to focus only on one aspect of phenomenon and inability to understand concept of conservation (difference between quantity by number and actual amount)
Concrete operational stage
age 7-11; children understand conservation, understand perspective of others; able to engage in logical thought
formal operational stage
starts around age 11; ability to think logically about abstract ideas; abstract problem-solving
fluid intelligence
consists of problem-solving skills, peaks in early adulthood
crystallized intelligence
use of learned skills and knowledge, peaks in middle adulthood
Delirium
rapid fluctuation in cognitive function that may be caused by medical reasons; can lead to rapid decline in cognition
Mental set
tendency to approach similar problems in the same way
Functional fixedness
the inability to consider how to use an object in a nontraditional manner
Deductive (top-down) reasoning
starts from set of general rules and raws conclusions from the info given
inductive (bottom-up) reasoning
starts with specific instances and try to draw a generalized conclusion
Heuristics
simplified principles used to make decisions, also called rules of thumb; ex. availability heuristic: used to decide how likely something is, make decisions based on how easily similar instances can be imagined
representativeness heuristic
categorizing items on whether they fit stereotypical image of category; ex. flipping a coin: after getting heads ten times, predict that you will get heads the next time more or less than 50% which is actual probability (base rate fallacy)
disconfirmation principle
if evidence from testing doesn’t support hypothesis, hypothesis should be discarded or revised
confirmation bias
tendency to focus on info that fits an individual’s beliefs, while rejecting info that goes against them, leads to overconfidence (interpret self decisions/knowledge as infallible
recognition-primed decision model
recognition and experience of similar situations leads to an intuition towards the right action for a given situation
IQ
(mental age/chronological age) *100
EEG waves and sleep stages
Beta: alert/awake, high frequency
Alpha:awake, but relaxing
Stage 1: theta waves, slower frequency
Stage 2: theta waves, sleep spindles, K complexes
Stage 3/4: slow-wave sleep, delta waves, low frequency, high voltage, memory consolidation
REM: beta waves, paralysis of muscles, dreaming, memory consolidation
