Chapter 8-Cognition and Language Flashcards
Information-processing system
Mechanisms for receiving information, representing it with symbols, and manipulating it.
Cognitive psychology
The study of the mental processes by which information from the environment is modified, made meaningful, stored, retrieved, used, and communicated to others.
Thinking
The manipulation of mental representations.
Reaction time
The time between the presentation of a stimulus and an overt response to it.
Evoked potential
A small, temporary change in EEG voltage in the brain that is caused by some stimulus.
Concept
A category of objects, events, or ideas that have common properties.
Natural concept (natural category)
A concept that has no fixed set of defining features but has a set of characteristic features.
Prototype
A member of a natural concept that possesses all or most of its characteristic features.
Proposition
A mental representation of the relationship between concepts.
Schemas
Generalizations about categories of objects, places, events, and people.
Script
A mental representation of a familiar sequence of activity.
Mental model
A representation of particular situations or arrangements of objects that guides our interaction with them.
Image
A mental representation of visual information.
Cognitive map
A mental model of familiar parts of the environment.
Reasoning
The process by which people generate and evaluate arguments and reach conclusions about them.
Formal reasoning
The process of following a set of rigorous procedures for reaching valid conclusions.